Saints co-coach Kate Foster said her side, which includes a majority of last year’s beaten team, is desperate to experience that winning feeling again.

“Looking back on last year, the only thing we have referred to is the hurt and we don’t want to feel it again,” Foster said.

“It hurts too when you know you are capable.

“We’ve lost grand finals before and perhaps you know you weren’t the best all year. We knew we could match North Warrnambool last year and we know what we can do during the season. It would be disappointing if we don’t produce that.”

Today’s match is likely to be the end of an era for the Saints, with co-coach Kate Dobson playing her 300th A grade match before stepping back to A1 next year. Foster is also preparing to scale back her A grade career and another long-time star of the competition Jacqui Bowman could follow suit.

Foster said her thoughts were on claiming a sixth A grade premiership.

“I’m highly likely to just be playing A1 but I just want to worry about this week,”she said.  “If I was still chasing a premiership or I felt like there was unfinished business and there was a need for me in the team I would play on. 

“But I’m so content with what we’ve achieved as a club. We have such a really great group coming through. It’s their turn to take the lead.”

Foster, who played in the Saints’ flags of 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2011, said the Saints were wary of today’s opponent, Hamilton Kangaroos, despite having beaten them in their three meetings this year.

She said her side had given a lot of thought to match-ups after it was forced to go with an unsettled line-up in a 17-goal second semi-final win over the Kangaroos two weeks ago.

That day defender Holly Greene suffered a back injury in the warm-up and was unable to start at goal defence and co-coach Kate Dobson was sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Foster said her side’s performance in the second semi-final underlined her players’ mental strength to put aside the distractions and complete a comfortable win.

“If you do the basics extremely well, the rest follows. That’s what we focus on. Everyone knows their roles and we are very confident in each other. ”

Kangaroos coach Sara Byrne said her side would take a different mindset into today’s decider compared with two weeks ago.

“They know what they have to do and what to expect on the day,” Byrne said.

“The key is to play our game and not be caught up in their fast-moving game. Like we did against North Warrnambool, when we put as much pressure over the ball, the girls will need to ramp that up. All seven players need to be on song, not one or two.”