GROWING up Leeton's Jacob Hopper would kick the footy around with his brothers and dad, pretending he was playing in an AFL grand final and kicking the winning goal.
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That childhood dream will come to fruition on Saturday when he lines up for the GWS Giants in their first ever AFL grand final.
The Giants will be taking on Richmond, a side who just two years ago collected a drought-breaking premiership.
However, Hopper is taking all of the preparation and pressure in his stride and is eagerly awaiting stepping onto the MCG to soak it all in.
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GWS secured their position in the grand final thanks to a nail-biting victory over Collingwood last Saturday.
"It was an unreal feeling winning the prelim," Hopper said.
"We've been there before and lost a few times so to finally win and get into the grand final was huge.
"In the rooms afterwards I actually had to tell dad to rein it in a little bit. He was pretty excited."
The Giants will go into the grand final as underdogs, but will have a big fan base right behind them.
Supporters from Leeton will be in the crowd, including Hopper's family, while back home the town is turning its shopfronts orange.
"I've had a lot of phone calls from people back home this week wishing me luck," Hopper said.
"It's really great to know the support is there from my home town.
"Hopefully everyone paints the town orange and gets behind us."
While the preliminary final was a thrilling one against the Magpies, Hopper said the club had now put that behind them as they concentrate on that last Saturday in September.
"There's still a job for us to do now ... we don't want all of this to be for nothing," he said.
"It was great to book our spot in the grand final, but we've really got to show up if we want to win the premiership. Our preparation is pretty much staying the same. It will be good to get down there and just enjoy all of the lead up."
Narrandera's Zac Williams will also line up for GWS on Saturday.
It's a very exciting time and it still doesn't feel real just yet that we will be playing in a grand final this weekend," Williams said.
"I've already received a thousand text messages from people at home and it seems like everyone from the Riverina is getting on the Giants."
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