OFA 2025: History beckons as league powerhouses Gnowangerup and Jerramungup face off in grand final showdown

Jerramungup and Gnowangerup will face off in Saturday’s Ongerup Football Association grand final with the weight of history on their minds. The Eagles were the dominant force a decade or more ago, winning six flags between 2008 and 2014 but have not played a grand final since. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs go into their home showpiece as nailed-on favourites aiming to win their fourth flag since 2020. The pair dominated the regular-season campaign finishing well clear of defending premiers Lake Grace-Pingrup. However, the Bulldogs have had the better of their grand-final opponents, winning all four of their meetings so far this year. Three of those came in the regular season with the fourth a 19-point second semifinal victory which sent them directly through to the flag decider. They topped the home-and-away ladder by four points from the Eagles, their two surprising losses coming against Lake Grace-Pingrup and Boxwood Hill when both sides had especially good days, according to Bulldogs player-coach Timm House. “It’s been a very even competition, which is healthy,” he said. “We learned a lot from the loss to Lake Grace and I’m excited to play in the grand final. “I’m a bit nervous, to tell you the truth. “I’ve played a lot of footy but I still get nervous before the big games. “I watched the preliminary final and Jerramungup looked really good.” The Eagles’ defeats by their grand final rivals will count for nothing on the big day, said Eagles coach Travis Hawkins. “There will be hundreds of supporters making the trip and we are going to simply play to our game plan as we always do,” he said. He said watching his side gel together over the season had been a joy. “We had the first club meeting where we said we wanted to make finals and we’ve done that,” he said. “Then we made the prelim and now we’re in the grand final; I’m 150 per cent looking forward to it.” As the Bulldogs had a weekend off, the Eagles warmed up for Saturday with a convincing preliminary final win against Boxwood Hill. The Bulldogs lost the 2024 grand final by 34 points and missed out as Newdegate triumphed over Lake Grace in 2023. Prior to that, they won a hat-trick of flags from 2020. Key players will be Eagles’ Tom Schmidt who has 33 goals so far while Connor Smallwood has 32 for the Bulldogs.