Northern Blues aim for third flag in as many years after climbing into VAFA Division 2 top four in final round

NORTHERN Blues will enter Victorian Amateur Football Association finals with confidence its experience over the past two years will prove advantageous.

VAFA footy: Old Paradians V Northern Blues at Bundoora Northern Blues coach George Wakim Picture: Mark Wilson

NORTHERN Blues will enter Victorian Amateur Football Association finals with confidence their experience over the past two years will prove advantageous.

The Blues have claimed back-to-back premierships in Division 4 and Division 3, earning another crack at the ultimate prize with victory over Monash Gryphons on Saturday.

Northern replaced Old Eltham Collegians in the Division 2 top four after a 16.19 (115) to 15.9 (99) win over Monash at W.R Ruthven Reserve.

The Blues will face Old Paradians in a semi-final this weekend, knowing they are within two wins of their third promotion in as many years.

“We certainly feel that if we go up a division we’ll have a bit more success in trying to get some players across,” Blues coach George Wakim said.

“We’d be a lot more of an attractive proposition for potential new players.

“It’s important for the club that we go up a division.

“We’ve been fortunate in the last few years that we’ve gone up and we’ve reaped the benefits from it every year in the way that we’ve managed to retain most of our players.”

Damon Marcon tuned up for finals with a five-goal haul in the victory over Monash, while Todd Beames and Liam Carter were prominent.

Northern has faced Old Paradians twice this year, splitting the contests at one win apiece.

Wakim said the Blues would have to be at their best to overcome a side they beat in Round 17 by 20 points.

“They’ve got some really good players (and) they move the ball pretty well also,” he said.

“We probably play a pretty similar brand of footy.”

He said Northern Blues’ experience would help it adapt to the extra pressure associated with finals football.

“We’re certainly pretty confident that we can do well during the finals,” he said.

“I don’t want to get over confident though, that’s the problem we’ve probably had during the year.

“We’ve gone and approached some games where we just thought all we had to do was turn up and win it.

“We ended up getting over the line but probably not as convincingly as we would have liked.”