Watch out for Central District in this year's SANFL finals series.
The Bulldogs were languishing in eighth position just a couple of weeks ago, but — as usual — have come good at the right end of the season.
They beat the ladder-leading Woodville West Torrens Eagles by 20 points last weekend to push Glenelg out of fifth spot and will now play Norwood in the elimination final on Saturday.
Coach Roy Laird said his players deserved to play finals after steadily improving throughout the season.
"Certainly a sense of excitement around having just snuck in [to the finals] … very much looking forward to it," he said.
"We were really disappointed with our consistency early obviously, we certainly underperformed in the early part of the year."
Norwood coach Jarrod Cotton admitted his team would face a tough test against the Bulldogs.
"Centrals gave us a touch up three weeks ago so they are playing some really good football so it's going to be a great challenge for us," he said.
"The top-five, it's a great mix this year, I mean anyone could win on any given day."
Norwood will be without Simon Phillips and Lewis Johnston, while captain Jace Bode will be tested later this week.
Saturday's double-header at Adelaide Oval will also see Port Adelaide take on Sturt in the qualifying final.
The Double Blues and Norwood played out a draw last Saturday and Sturt will need to improve to repeat last season's premiership success.
Sturt will face a Port Adelaide team containing up to 17 AFL-listed players with Magpies coach Chad Cornes to find out on Thursday which Power players are available.
"The whole club treats it really seriously, keeping in mind that the AFL's the number one priority," Cornes said.
"We'll go into this week obviously wanting to win and go really deep into the finals."
The top-placed Eagles have the weekend off and will play the winner of the Sturt v Port Adelaide clash.
The elimination final at Adelaide Oval starts at 12:10pm on Saturday with the qualifying final from 3:10pm.
