West Coast won five of its eight games to make the final.
Those wins included a 35-17 thrashing of North Otago, a result which should give the Coasters added confidence for today's final, the first in Greymouth since the inception of Heartland play-offs.
West Coast's game is built around a tight physical forward pack led by try-scoring hooker Rowan McGowan, solidly built props in Blair Mirfin, Sam Durie and Gordon Iafeta and backed up by a classy inside back combination of halfback James Ferguson and first five-eighth Josh Cornish.
Pete Nicholls and Tere Wycliff are more than capable jumpers in the lineout, while in Mitchell Sincock, West Coast has a non-stop flanker in the Ross Hay mould.
North Otago player-coach Mike Mullins is not concerned about the Coast's favouritism.
"I would hope they'd be favourites. They're coming off two big wins over the last two weekends.
"I'm sure they're confident, but finals are a bit different . . . we've got players who have had finals experience and it's a one-off and anything can happen in a final."
Aisake Fonua returns to lock the North Otago scrum with the in-form Taua Limuloa.
"Yes, he's available again. But that's probably been the story of our season: availability of players.
"Aisake comes back in and he'll give us that grunt that we need."
Duncan Simpson, who moved into lock last week, returns to wear the No 6 jersey.
Mullins praised the flanker's high work rate, saying he wanted "guys who can run and run and run".
"That's probably how we'll want to play the game."
As far as changes to the North Otago game plan, Mullins is aiming for much of a muchness.
"I think we just want to try and replicate what we did last week. Get a good start with our forward pack and play in the opposition half."
Mullins has named two flankers in his forward bench in Paula Fonokalafi and "AJ" Paton.
"Again, we're looking for players who can run all day. In the backs, we've brought Tane Puki back into the squad. He can play anywhere from nine to 15 and he's a player with that X factor that wins games."
According to West Coast coach Anthony Lawry, his players are relaxed.
"The boys are pretty low key about it, really. We had a fitness blowout on Wednesday night for about 30 minutes and then 30 minutes split training, so they got caned and that's what they wanted. We had a light training run yesterday to finish."
But support on the Coast has been slow to develop.
"This is the first time Coast have ever made a final and it's the first time we've really got any support out there. We made the semis last year and we were lucky to get 100 people at the ground.
"Our rugby union doesn't get behind it at all."
West Coast's game has only come together late in the season.
"We've only hit our straps. It's taken us so long to reach this stage because so many of the guys are away or work in the mines and none of them can travel.
"When we went to King Country, we had only 19 players and the next weekend against North Otago I had to make eight changes.
"It makes it pretty hard, but at the end of the day if the guys are playing for the right reasons - having fun, winning and enjoying the company of the people they're with - then its all worthwhile."
- Terry O'Neill
Lochore Cup
Final
Greymouth, today, 1.05pm
Live on Sky Sport 1
North Otago: Peter Breen, Lemi Masoe, Mike Mullins, Aaron Kimura, Ekeroma Sefo, Daniel Waenga, Jason Forrest, Josh Collier, Ross Hay (captain), Duncan Simpson, Taua Limuloa, Aisake Fonua, Tavite Mafi, Mike Essex, Palenapa Mafi.
Reserves: Fraser Fletcher, Ralph Darling, Paula Fonokalafi, AJ Paton, Nick Webster, Mike Mavor, Tane Puki.
West Coast: Robert Thomson, Luke Hughes, James Ward, Jared Cropper, Maleli Tora, Josh Cornish, James Ferguson (captain), Mark De Goldi, Mitchell Sincock, Chris Mason, Tere Wycliff, Pete Nicholls, Sam Durie, Rowan O'Gorman, Blair Mirfin.
Reserves: Michael Monk, Gordon Iafeta, Alan Monk, Josh Hill, Nik Davy, Damien Blackburn, Brad Houston.
TAB odds: West Coast $1.55, North Otago $2.30
