The Mounts are the competition’s reigning premier, and are not only gunning for a second straight title but their third in the past four seasons.
Pleasant enters the big dance off the back of another strong regular season and finals campaign.
Cam Carter’s side finished the initial phase with a 12-2-2 record to take out the minor premiership, the highest it has placed in the regular season over the last five years.
A strong start saw the Mounts not lose a game until round 11 as they won seven of their first nine matches.
But among their form line was also two draws, with grand final opponent North Bendigo being the first side to take points off Pleasant when the two played out a 90-90 thriller in round six.
The two sides have a plethora of recent history, particularly in the current era of the HDFL.
The Mounts and Bulldogs are facing off for the second straight year in the decider, while they have both finished in the competition’s top four across four of the past five regular seasons.
“It’s a fantastic rivalry; we matched up with each other last year,” Pleasant coach Carter said.
“We were lucky enough to sneak across the line in the end, and our games this year have been really close.
“They've got so many forward options, they've got so much class through the midfield; obviously Ryan Hartley won the league medal.
“We've got so much respect for him and how he goes about his footy and there are guys there that have just been there and done it before.”
Last year’s grand final was a thriller, with Pleasant holding off a fast-finishing North Bendigo to prevail 13.11 (89) to 13.6 (84).
The Mounts’ route into the decider in 2025 was a lot more challenging than this time around, coming from second and having to win two qualifying finals.
Pleasant only needed to play one qualifier against Colbinabbin to reach the big dance this time around.
But the trade-off was that match-up, given the nature of the finals format, was only one of two fixtures the Mounts have played over the past month.
“It’s a path we've known we could potentially follow,” Carter said.
“We've known this is what we're going to do so we've prepared ourselves for this; we think the group's really mature.
“We’ve obviously been there and thereabouts now with a lot of the same group for a number of years now, so we're really confident in the path we've taken, and we just think that extra week off is crucial at this time of year to get blokes right, and we'll train accordingly and make sure we're cherry ripe.”
The Heathcote District Football League grand final will take place at Strauch Reserve on Saturday, September 5, with the first bounce at 2.20pm.
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