The Stingers won the right to bid for the grand final after finishing minor premiers and then booking their spot in the final with a victory over premiers Cloncurry three weeks ago.

Then they had to wait two weeks to find out who they would play before Town also proved too strong for the Eagles winning their elimination final in Cloncurry by 40 points to 22.

The Mount Isa side now face the daunting 500km trip to the Gulf to take on Normanton who are so hard to beat at home with memories still fresh of an agonising close loss in last year’s elimination final at the same venue.

In Round 3 an undermanned Town travelled to Normanton and were well beaten. The sides met again in Round 8 at Alec Inch Oval and Townies got revenge making a strong start and then going on with it to record a comfortable 56-16 victory.

This weekend Townies start with a grand final breakfast on Saturday morning at the Buffs Club before making the long trip north.

Sean Wade said his side was ready after a stiff workout against Cloncurry.

“We went to Cloncurry with a good side expecting a tough game and we were not disappointed, we got off to a good start and Cloncurry probably didn't start as well as they would have liked,” Wade said.

“While we got out to an 18 point lead, we were never confident, and on the stroke of half time Cloncurry scored to reduced the margin to 12 points.”

Wade said Cloncurry had all the momentum in the second half.

“They tested out defence time and time again, with Cloncurry reducing our lead to six point,” he said.

“Townies got a couple of late tries but the score was not a true indication of the closeness of the game.”

Wade said Townies had come through the game with a few injury concerns to a couple of key players which they would monitor during the week and at training. 

“We have got good numbers to training and there is plenty of interest in heading up to Normanton and taking on the minor premiers,” he said.

“It will be good tough encounter in Normanton and we know we are in for a tough game of footy.”