Dingos Advance To The Grand Final With Win Over Ottawa

The Toronto Dingos have advanced through to their third grand final in three years after defeating the Ottawa Swans in another tight finals contest 5.10 (40) to 4.6 (30).

Similar to the previous week, the game started tightly contested with the travelling Swans wanting to make their trip down the 401 worth their while, and the Dingos looking to make up for their loss the week prior. The two midfields battled it out in the opening 10 minutes, with each thrust forward being repelled by the opposing backs. However, as the game began to settle, the Dingos began to find their rhythm and kicked the first two goals through 2024 and 2025 Dingos Leading Goal Kickers Ben Sinclair & Matteo Lugarini of the game and giving them the lead at the main break.

The second quarter saw the Dingos continue to own possession of the ball, but fail to capitalize on their efforts on the scoreboard as the Swans pushed numbers back to mitigate the Dingos aerial threats and cleared the ball. The Swans threw their counter punch late in the quarter, with some tight ball movement from their backline to the forwards allowing them to snare two goals in the last 4 minutes of the half and tie the game up at the half.

The Dingos backline of Wooten, Barazza, Moore, Bocian, Gilbert & Malekjahani continued their amazing form from the 2025 season, cutting off would-be Swans attacks and keeping steady heads in the tight contest and holding the Swans to a single behind in the quarter and helping the Dingos recapture a two goal lead heading into the final quarter.

However, the Swans we're not going to go down without a final swing to capture a spot in an elusive Grand Final. The game settled back into the tight contest we saw early in the piece, with the Dingos midfield of Talbot, Barrat & Rusan doing their best to extract the ball and move it forward. The Dingos were unable to capitalize on the scoreboard, leaving the door open for a final Swans thrust.

A late goal brought the margin to just 10 points with a couple of minutes remaining, but the Dingos showed their resilience and managed to prevent any further scores from the Swans, securing their rematch against the Rebels in the 2025 Grand Final.

Goals: B. Sinclair (3), M. Lugarini & R. Rusan

Best: B. Sinclair, M. Lugarini, G. Gilbert, L. Barazza & L. Barrat