On Saturday we see the culmination of the TAC Cup Under 18 season with the Grand Final between the Eastern Ranges and the Calder Cannons.

The big game will be played as a curtain raiser to the AFL Grand Final at the MCG.

A terrific weekend of weather for week one of the TAC Cup Under 18 final series. Dandenong Stingrays played the Western Jets in the first elimination final on Saturday with the Stingrays winning by 39 points.

The Stingrays had too much class up forward for the Jets with smallman Ricky Morris kicking 6 goals and wiry youngster Anthony Raso kicking 5. The Jets were best served by the strong marking Wayde Twomey and lithe ruckman Andrew Lorimer.

Game 2 was a terrific game between the Oakleigh Chargers and Gippsland Power in a qualifying final. Gippsland led all day only to be overun by the Chargers in the final quarter and lose by 16 points.

The Chargers were best served by James Barton, who kept Gippsland gun Dean Polo quiet and Adrian Bonaddio who had a huge last quarter taking a number of strong marks and coverting them into goals. Gippsland's Andrew McQualter won a heap of the footy in the midfield due to the excellent ruckwork of team-mate Stephen Foster.

A big weekend ahead for the Under 18 TAC Cup competition with the start of their finals series. All games are to be played at Optus Oval with the Dandenong Stingrays playing the Western Jets and the Oakleigh Chargers playing Gippsland Power on Saturday.

On Sunday the Calder Cannons play the Eastern Ranges and the Geelong Falcons play the Sandringham Dragons.

This year's final series is as open as it has been for many years with every team a real chance of going all the way. The Calder Cannons dominated the first half of the year but have dropped back to the field in the latter part. All the metropolitan teams will be boosted by the addition of all their private school players and in almost all cases will be at full strength for the first time for the year.