North Companions to play North Armidale in Premier League reserve grade grand final

Northies will be vying for their third consecutive reserve-grade title, when the two sides clash at Scully Park.

Norths have had the wood over the reigning premiers during the regular season, prevailing in two of their three meetings.

The losses marked Northies' only two defeats of their season so far and inspired them to a 3-0 victory over Norths in the major semi-final.

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North Companions coach Gavin Thompson said the evenness of the two sides this season would set up "a classic grand final".

"The two sides are a bit different in that North Armidale are an older, more experienced side, whereas we are young, quick side," Thompson said.

"I think from the start of the season it was pretty obvious these two teams would be in the grand final, and you only need to look at how the ladder ended up for proof of that.

"It's going to be a tough test for us, but both sides play an exciting brand of football, so it should be a good game."

Thompson said the opening 20 minutes of Saturday's clash would be crucial to his side's hopes of victory.

"If you look back at our season, you'll see that we tend to play really well in the opening 20 minutes and then fall away," he said.

"It's quite remarkable for that to be the case and for us to have only lost two matches, but that's what works for us.

"That means that we will really need to be on our toes early in the grand final because I feel like if we are, it will help us go a long way to winning."

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Thompson said both sides had "a healthy respect" for each other.

"Norths are a really great side and while we want to win very badly, I certainly wouldn't begrudge them if they were to win it," he said.

"I'm just super proud of the effort all of our young kids put in to get us to this stage.

"It's pretty hard to win one grand final, let alone three in a row, but I'm confident we have the side to do it."

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