'All we've wanted is another crack': Rockingham eyes off redemption

While the playing group looks vastly different to the side that lost the 2019 Peel Football and Netball League grand final, the scars of that deflating performance still linger around Anniversary Park.

Only 10 players from that game have carried over into Rockingham's 2020 outfit, including leaders like Fraser Millar, Steve Kenny and Andrew Walsh.

Yet while coach Scott Franklin said 2019 will be far from his group's minds on Sunday, he stressed there were lessons to be learned from last year's collapse.

Flashback:

"If there's one thing we can take away from that game, it's that grand finals require a four-quarter effort," he said.

"It only took 20 minutes for us to lose that game last year. Baldivis piled on a bunch of goals when we went to sleep in the second term, and it was over after that."

The road to redemption has been a long one for the Rams.

All clubs were forced to wade through unknown waters when the Peel Football and Netball League suspended the season just weeks out from kick off, but only one had to do so while brooding over a missed shot at glory.

"All we've wanted is another crack," Franklin said.

"Just to get back to this day and have another chance to put our best foot forward."

That intent has been clear to see throughout the Dudley Tuckey Cup's regular season.

Going undefeated through their eight games, Rockingham clinched the minor premiership and a week off prior to entering the finals fray.

When they finally did play that first final, they earned another week off, and a spot in the grand final.

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But if any club knows not to take things for granted, it's the Rams.

Confronting them on Sunday will be a South Mandurah side eager to grasp their own glory, and Franklin and his crew know not to take them lightly.

"They can get hot quickly," the Rams coach said.

"Every game we've played against them they've had at least one patch where they just pile goals on, and in a grand final that can be all you need.

"We'll need to bring our best."

The Rams haven't won a flag since 1997, and while a win wouldn't count as a legitimate PFNL premiership in this strange and unprecedented season, Franklin knows what a victory here would do for his club.

"It's been a long time, and we're desperate to bring one home," he said.

"It sounds silly because we're undefeated, but this has been a tough year for everyone, so to cap it off with a win is all we want."