THE Queanbeyan Tigers football club have shoved aside any speculation they are a club on the downward slide, with their AFL Canberra first grade side taking out the minor premiership last Saturday.
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Playing at home at Dairy Farmers Park as the certain raiser to the club's last NEAFL match, they destroyed the Belconnen Magpies 22.19.151 to 3.4.22 to finish on top by five percentage points over Ainslie.
They face Ainslie in a grand final qualifier at Gungahlin on Saturday, and with both sides taking wins over each other already this season, it could prove to be a tight tussle.
But what is most important is the fact the side's achievement puts the club back in the good books, after a tumultuous year which saw it pull from the NEAFL after finishing third last and winning just four matches in that competition.
"To be honest, the club has finished the last three weeks on a massive high," said Tigers AFL Canberra coach Paul Campbell.
"We got the last win in the NEAFL, my boys won the minor premiership, the under 18s finished second, and the women finished first in their pool."
The under 18s 'Rising Stars' side will also play Ainslie on Saturday in a chance to go straight to the grand final, while the women play Molonglo at Greenway Oval on Saturday in a must-win clash.
The club's youth girls team beat Weston Creek in an elimination final last Sunday, and will play Ainslie Red in a must-win semi-final this Sunday at Greenway.
For Campbell's men, they will be desperate to win straight through to the grand final and prepare to take their first premiership since 2011.
They won three in a row between 2009 and 2011, and with Ainslie having won the last two, Campbell said there will be extra incentive to beat them early in the finals series.
"Keiran Shea will be back in the side from a couple NEAFL games, and we'll also get Matt Liddle back from the NEAFL," said Campbell.