Your complete guide to the Illawarra Premier League finals games

Premiers Albion Park will be well rested after sitting out the first week of finals watching Cringila and Olympic battle and bruise each other in a monstrous 120 minute battle.

In the end the Lions caused Olympic too many blows and will face the White Eagles at Wetherall Park for a spot in the grand final at WIN Stadium on September 17.

Meanwhile there are no second chances when the aforementioned Olympic tackle Coniston at JJ Kelly Park. The winner of that will face the loser of APWE/Cringila and the loser can say goodbye to 2023.

Albion Park coach George Antoniou said his team were able to rest up in that first week of finals.

"We were pretty lucky to have the week off because we had a couple of niggling injuries so we were able to rest some of the boys," he said.

Read more: How Wollongong Olympic's Sandy Lowcock took on cancer and smashed it

"You probably want to keep up the momentum [in that week off] but obviously you want to make sure you've got your players on the park for an important game.

"Hopefully we just turn up on the weekend and it'll obviously be a tough game and there's a lot up for grabs. It can go both ways. It will definitely be a dangerous game on the weekend. Cringila obviously have done very well this year and it's not going to be an easy game either way."

The White Eagles have had grand final success in recent times. In 2016 they beat Kemblawarra Fury in the decider and they will be hoping for a last day triumph once more.

But Antoniou said they needed to do their job against the Lions before thinking about grand finals.

"We haven't really talked about it too much because obviously it's going to be a tough 90 or 120 minutes," he added.

"But at the end of the day we have [done that] all year. If we can do that it will put us in the grand final which is obviously what everyone wants to achieve at the start of the year."

Kickoff for the grand final qualifier is 2:30pm on Sunday (September 3).

Meanwhile the day prior there will be one less team fighting for silverware when Olympic face Coniston.

It has been a remarkable turnaround for Coniston this season with Franc Pierro taking over midway through the campaign.

After a rocky start, the former club captain has 'Cono' humming after their 3-1 win against Bulli in the elimination final.

He knows more than anyone just how big a test Olympic will be.

"For me Olympic was a team that I could see being in the grand final from earlier on in the season," he said.

"So to verse them now to know that only one team is going to progress. It's going to be quite a show."

Pierro said he and his coaching stuff were still focused on improving the team's performance every week, even in do-or-die circumstances.

"The boys have really respected us new coaches when we came in. Not just me, John Klappas as well, he has been vital as well as Mile Mihajlovic," he added.

Read more: What went right, what went wrong for Bulli in 2023 Premier League

"Earlier on in the piece we knew there were going to be a few hurdles but they've responded really well. They deserve to go on a good streak. But the training and the focus, the way the boys have battled for each other, I believe the boys deserve to be here at this point.

"Whatever happens now I am still really proud of them. We're focusing on the performance and hopefully we can go all the way, but we're still taking it one step at a time."

Kickoff for the elimination final is 2:30pm at JJ Kelly Park (September 2).

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