In their last meeting the Magpies surrendered a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 after a penalty and header by dangerman Rene Ferguson from a set play.

"They have scored half their goals from set pieces or penalties so we have to be switched on at all the dead-ball situations," Magpies coach Mick Bolch said.

"Rene Ferguson and Scotty Smith are very dangerous on corners and free kicks and we need to be aware of those critical moments where you can switch off. It's cost us in a couple of games this year."

But Maitland have plenty of potency up front with competition golden boot Braedyn Crowley scoring six goals in the past three matches and fellow striker Joel Wood also finding the back of the net in the Magpies' run to the finals.

The Magpies go into the game without injured duo Andrew Swan and Matt Comerford, who both have season-ending knee injuries, and Swan's brother Matt is only a 50-50 chance of being fit for the final.

Maitland has already brought Sam Webb and Dylan Bozinovski into the first grade squad and will settle on final line-up after training on Friday night.

"Whatever team we put on the park they will be up for it, they will compete," Bolch said.

"We've been playing semi-final football for three weeks now. We had to win our last three games to make the semis and we achieved that. We've got everything to play for on Saturday night.

"When you break it down we've conceded one goal in the last 270 minutes and that was against Edgeworth.

"We've had two clean sheets out of our last three and we go into the game with that positive mindset on Saturday.

"We'll still have our same backline, we'll still have Crowley and Woodsy up front and if Pratty (Sean Pratt) or Joey (O'Connor) starts in the middle then those boys will step up and do a job for us."

Bolch said the addition of Ryan Clarke to the team had made a big difference for the Magpies.

"With Clarkey and Jimmy (Thompson) in wide areas we look a lot more dangerous," he said.

"Crowley has started to hit form he has six goals in his last three games and I'm sure that coincides with the boys going out to wide areas and Woodsy being a bit closer to him up front.

"We will create chances, we've just got to take them, it's as simple as that."

Bolch has called for a big Maitland crowd to go down on Saturday to back the Magpies' first and reserve grade teams who are both in action.

"I'm sure there will be a big Azzurri crowd down there because it has been a few years since they have played finals and we need to get our folk down to support our boys as well," he said.

Kick off in reserve grade where Maitland plays against Adamstown Rosebud is at 3pm, and the main game starts at 5pm.

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