HE admits he was surprised to see St Pat’s reach the grand final - but Group 10 president Linore Zamparini still expects the blue and whites to push Mudgee all the way on Sunday at Carrington Park.

The Saints have been regular finalists in recent seasons but have not won the premier league title since 2001.

Interestingly it was Mudgee who St Pat’s beat seven years ago, prevailing 28-6 in wet and muddy conditions. It is a scoreline they would no doubt like to repeat on Sunday.

“I guess it’s a surprise to see Pat’s there but certainly not a shock. In previous seasons Pat’s have certainly been in the top five and everything after that is a bonus,” Zamparini said.

“At the start of the season Mudgee said they were confident they would make the grand final, Workies on previous form always looked like being there, Panthers if they didn’t have the injuries they had would have gone better and CYMS bought very well in the pre-season.”

The Saints, who this year are coached by Kevin Grimshaw, gave the first indication they would be contenders in 2008 when reaching the final of the annual Bathurst Football Challenge. They lost that decider to Lithgow but since then defeats have been few.

They lost their first two games 40-30 to Hawks and 32-28 against Mudgee, but from there won 12 in a row to clinch the minor premiership.

Pat’s went down in their final-round clash 26-18 to Lithgow, but hit back in the grand final qualifier against Mudgee to be the first team to qualify for this year’s decider.

Fellow finalists Hawks, CYMS and on Sunday Lithgow all fell out of the chase, leaving just the Dragons and the Saints.

While the Saints have lost just once from four meetings with Mudgee so far this season, Zamparini tips the decider to be a close one.

“I think it is going to be pretty close. When you get two teams like this, who in their earlier meetings this year have been pretty close, it should be a good game,” he said.

“In fact all three grand finals I’d say will be close, especially in the under 18s as they’ve been up and down sides.”

The first division grand final sees Bathurst Panthers up against CYMS, the Orange club also represented in the under 18s decider against Mudgee.

For Zamparini, who is in his first year of the Group 10 presidency, the biggest day of his competition is shaping as a good one and he can’t wait for it to arrive.

“It’s been a great season so far, I couldn’t ask for anything better, we have a great mix of teams from all over,” he said.

“It is exciting, it’s my first year as Group 10 president, I think having that grand final in Bathurst will be great because Carrington Park is a great venue.”