But, standing on the precipice of a memorable Wimmera Football League premiership, past form is forgotten, as finals football presents a different challenge that has caused many teams to stumble before.

A win in Saturday's semi-final would see the Burras into the grand final, and one step closer to a flag many have already pencilled to their name.

Minyip-Murtoa coach John Delahunty said his side remained calm heading into the contest.

"Nah (we're not feeling any) pressure. Everyone's really excited about it actually," he said.

"We've been preparing well, and we've got two really good opportunities to play in a grand final.

"We've set ourselves up in a really good position. We've got a full list to pick from, no real injury concerns and there's a good vibe around the club at the moment, which is exciting."

A host of rested, eager players may prove the difference in what Delahunty expected to be a tight contest.

"We saw the Giants and Ararat game on Saturday. It was really quite physical early on, so we're definitely expecting physicality from the opposition," he said.

Standing in the Burras way are the Southern Mallee Giants, who are in familiar territory.

The Giants comfortably saw off Ararat by 45 points in last weekend's qualifying final to give themselves the chance to play for a place in the grand final.

The Hopetoun-Beulah combine took the same route - via a first-round game - to last season's grand final.

Minyip-Murtoa has won both games against the Giants this season, though only a point separated them when they last met in round 13.

Giants coach Coleman Schache was hopeful his side would string together a complete performance.

"We've probably had some good halves and some really bad halves against them (Minyip-Murtoa) this year, so hopefully we can have four really good quarters," he said.

"It's always a good, physical game against Minyip-Murtoa. They'll be hard around the ball, and they play a tight zone, which is why they have been such a tight defensive game all year."

Schache said his group was taking momentum from the qualifying final win.

"All the boys pulled up well (after last Saturday)," he said.

"The boys are playing a good brand of footy at the moment, and hopefully we can keep that going and take that into Saturday."

On Sunday afternoon all eyes will turn to Nhill, where Ararat and the Horsham Saints will meet with their seasons on the line.

The Saints have beaten the Rats on both occasions this season, but only by an average margin of less than 10 points.

Saints coach Luke Fisher said he wasn't sure why the two sides always played out tight games.

"It's a really funny one, and I can't quite put my finger my on it, and I'm sure if Ararat could, it'd change the way they do things as well," he said. "Even though we beat them twice, they were always in the game. We've just got to prepare the best we can and hopefully what we've been doing works.

"As you can see from our result at the weekend you can't really read too much into what happened during the season. We'll just do our best, I suppose."

Central to the Saints' 34-point elimination final win against Stawell was a near-flawless defensive performance.

"If you can stop the opposition from doing what they want to do and get it on your terms then quite often teams don't have a plan B. Every team is different though, it's really hard to gauge and conditions come into it too," Fisher said.

Ararat will be without the services of Harry Ganley after he was offered and accepted a two-week suspension for striking a Giants opponent in the qualifying final.

Rats vice-captain Corey Taylor said the group remained positive heading into this weekend.

"We're staying really upbeat and positive. We know our best footy is really really good and we know that on our day we can beat anyone," he said.

"We've taken a lot of learning out of last weekend. We've worked hard on the track to give ourselves the best opportunity to get the win this Sunday."

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