IT is a story of hope, determination and fighting spirit that would make Ned Kelly proud.

This time last year Glenrowan's Kelly Tigers football club was winless at the bottom of the ladder with an average losing margin of 29 goals, a typical crowd of five fans and little hope in sight.

Today they will compete for the Ovens and King premiership in a grand final showdown with league power Milawa at Wangaratta.

In a classic case of rising from the ashes, the team has gone from being the laughing stock of the league to the pride of "Kelly country" in a single season as it competes for its first flag in 32 years.

After last year getting belted by more than 300 points in one match and scoring just seven points in another, the Tigers are talk of the town after writing their own extraordinary tale of sporting redemption.

Coach Nigel Robinson said tears had welled in the eyes of the club's most staunch supporters recently as the enormity of their transformation was realised.

"Last year no one wanted to come to Glenrowan, now the town is absolutely up and about,'' he said

"The whole town can hold its head up high now.

"They can say 'we're Glenrowan' and talk about their footy team.''

With their club racked with debt and failure, a group of Glenrowan supporters waged an off-season offensive that replaced the board, recruited more than 30 new players and breathed new life into the team.

After going 32 games without a win, they this year finished the season fourth and hold high hopes of capping a fairytale season this afternoon.

Jack Gannon, who coached last year's team, which included fathers aged in their 50s through its nightmare season, said those players also deserved credit for the buzz in town.

"The blokes that gutsted it out last year are quite special to me because if they didn't there wouldn't be a club this year and this wouldn't be happening,'' he said.

"In country towns you never want to see a football club fold or the hotel close down because it's the identity of the town where people meet of a weekend and form the community.''

Robinson hoped his team's story could inspire similar success among cellar dwellers near and far.

"To the smaller footy clubs - you're never down and out,'' he said.

"It's amazing what a year can do.''

By Peter Rolfe

Article first appeared The Herald Sun, September 14 2013