Somehow, they managed to turn a nightmare season around over the past month to claim what most believed to be an unattainable finals berth in the last round of the home-and-away season.

When everyone was writing off the Stars at the season's mid-point, we should have remembered that this club is bunch of winners, a success-hungry team not willing to sit back and allow other teams their moment in the sun.

An outsider looking in would believe it is almost a prerequisite that if you want to wear the Stars cap, you must have self-belief and a never-say-die approach in the face of adversity, particularly in the big games.

This amazing spirit shone through again - not unlike the time they won from an unimaginable position over Keilor in the 2007-08 senior division grand final.

Ryan Green, who plundered 159 runs in the Stars' last round win over Hoppers Crossing away at Hogans Road Reserve, admitted they were dead and buried at certain times during the summer.

"We'd been struggling for the first part of the year," he said.

"The boys were just trying to avoid relegation."

Green, who always felt finals was beyond his side until 6.30 on Saturday night, is thrilled to get the chance to face off with Strathmore in the semi-final at the Syd McGain Oval in Strathmore this weekend.

"It has come out of the blue," he said.

"We weren't thinking finals three games ago.

"We didn't really know until about 6.30pm after we checked all the other scores and that's when we realised we were playing finals.

"To get there was a big relief for the club and it was good to see all the hard work pay off."

The Stars are the dark horse of the finals.

They are an unknown quantity.

Papua New Guinea imports Jeremiah Nagani and Pipi Ramo are the wildcards.

"They add a lot of spice to our side," Green said. "They're very fit and very quick.

"They put a lot of pressure on the batsmen with the way they attack the ball. They've been a good asset to us."