CASEY coach Justin Plapp has acknowledged his side “should go in as favourites” against Footscray at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The Scorpions will play in their first VFL Grand Final since 1999 and after dropping just three matches for the season and will enter red-hot favourites.   

“Our finals have been pretty commanding victories and without any disrespect to Footscray, we have had a good year and we probably deserve to go in as favourites,” he told Melbourne TV.  

“It doesn’t add any more pressure, whether we’re favourites or not.

“We’ve still got to be able to get out there and do our jobs and play our roles and compete on a level that we need to, to get the job done.”

Although a host of Melbourne-listed players will be on show, Plapp said there were several VFL-listed players to watch out for, including Oscar McInerney and Declan Keilty.

“[Oscar’s] really developed. He’s a 206cm ruckman that plays with a lot of aggression and a lot of competitive instincts around his game,” he said.

“His craft work is as good as I’ve seen for a kid of his age … and he’s just got better with games. He’s going to play a really important role for us on the weekend.

“Declan Keilty is a second-year player out of TAC Cup and he’s been able to develop as a key position player. He played one [senior] game in 2015 and has played every game in 2016. He’s had some pretty big jobs on opposition key forwards. He’s a massive improver from last year.”

Plapp said it had been a big journey for the Scorpions, after it was previously known as Springvale and then became an aligned club with St Kilda, before Melbourne took up a partnership with Casey.  

“It’s a big day for our club. It hasn’t been an easy five or six years for our club,” he said.

“We’ve been knocked out in finals … 10 finals and not getting through, so there are a lot of external things that have been said that have put a bit more pressure on the past few weeks. But I couldn’t be more proud of our people and our players over the past two weeks and how they’ve really embraced what we’ve tried to achieve.

“If we can get the job done, it’d mean the world to me and the club and the alignment as well, so we’re looking forward to it.”