Wangaratta advance to Ovens and Murray grand final after defeating Corowa-Rutherglen

However, it became a bittersweet occasion for the Magpies as star goal shooter Georgia Clark was helped off the court in the final minutes of the match with a suspected knee injury.

Clark, who stepped in this season to fill the void left by injured goaler Amanda Umanski, landed 23 goals to help the Magpies over the line before she was forced onto the sidelines.

"Everyone's ecstatic to get the win, but we're really just hoping that Georgia will be ok," Wangaratta co-coach Chaye Crimmins said post-game.

"She's stepped in and has been huge for us this season.

"To see her go down, it just makes you think about next year as well."

The Magpies led at every break, with the third quarter proving to be the difference as they took a four-goal lead heading into the final term.

Kate Dean and Hannah Grady applied plenty of pressure in the defensive end for the Magpies, while Issy Byrne was strong in the midcourt in her 150^th A-grade game.

Sophie Hanrahan played a pivotal role for the Roos, while fellow defender Emily Laracy made several intercepts to change the flow of the game.

Grace Senior shot 27 goals.

After finishing the home and away season in fourth spot, the Magpies have now ended the run of Albury, Lavington and Corowa-Rutherglen to advance to meet Yarrawonga in the decider next weekend.

"As soon as we finished fourth, we knew it was going to be a hard road to get here," Crimmins said.

"Our girls have some fight in them and we know what it feels like to make it to the end and we wanted to get there again. Now we've made it.

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"It's just such a good feeling.

"In that third quarter, I think going off our centre passes plus also our turnovers really set us up.

"I think we were just able to make some good decisions and were patient with our ball."

It's a heartbreaking end to the season for the Roos, who after falling to the Magpies in 2019, had held momentum over the cancelled 2020 season to finish as the minor premiers for the last two years, with no finals contented in 2021.

In other O and M preliminary finals, Albury will advance to the B-grade decider against Lavington after outrunning Corowa-Rutherglen 50-46. The Panthers will also meet the Tigers in C-grade after accounting for Yarrawonga 38-33, and Wodonga and Raiders will clash in the under-17s grand final.

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