Yet, due to Lilydale's untouched golden season, the Saints head into Saturday's Windsor Park contest as substantial underdogs, a tag which doesn't faze St Pats coach Alex Russell in the slightest.

"Lilydale are obviously a quality team and we are probably going to be up against it as underdogs but we probably enjoy that tag," he said.

"We've had it the last couple of weeks and we believe we can match it with them on the day. It's a big ask but we are very confident internally."

TIME TO DECIDE:

Breaking their finals hoodoo by collecting their first sudden-death win since 2015 with a win over Evandale two weeks ago, the Saints trounced newly-found rivals East Coast by 41 points and are now seen as the in-form team.

"I don't think there's any pressure [being labeled the in-form team]. I think we are really comfortable just where we are at and the football we are playing.

"We are having lots of shots on goal so if we can convert those and create a lot of pressure, hopefully we can come away with the result."

Starting off the season with a dominant 199-point win over Uni-Mowbray, the Saints' fortune suddenly shifted with the side sitting at 1-2 following losses to Lilydale and East Coast but an eight-game winning streak before falling to Saturday's opponents put them on the right track again.

Finishing this year's home-and-away season in third, Russell believes there's a major difference between his side and the last St Pats side to make a grand final, the 2015 outfit.

"I think there would be all of about three or four players from it [2015]. We've pretty much started from scratch and it's been a bit of a process since then to try and get things right.

"The last three years have been like stepping stones, from elimination finals to prelims to a grand final so it's been good to slowly build into that and see a bit of light at the tunnel in this weekend.

"The turnover of players was about 12-15 directly after that grand final and that's when I came back to the club and had a lot of new faces."

Poised for a battle of the midfields featuring prolific ball-winners in St Pats' Jacob Knight, Jacob Murphy and Jake Laskey and Lilydale's Thane Bardenhagen, Wil Lockhart and Logan Reynolds, Russell is aware of the challenges that lay ahead.

"The midfields are elite for both teams, especially with Thane and their rucks in the middle. They are a formidable target but I believe, on their day, our mids are very, very good and can match it with the best so whoever wins out of the middle, both forward lines are pretty good."

With main ruckman Jake Kilby coming off a best on-ground performance last week, the combination of him and Phil Hazzlewood are set to take on former St Kilda footballer Andrew McLean and Patrick Sulzberger in the former's last game of football.

"Big Red [McLean] is a seasoned performer. He's got two best on grounds I think in grand finals so Kilby will be up against it but him and Phil have done a mountain of work and I'm really impressed with the way they've stepped up their games in the last two months."