By Dylan Smith
Finals Footy is here! The first week of the Senior Women’s Finals Series begins tomorrow morning so we’ve taken a look at each finals game to see how the sides match up against one another.
Premier division:
This fascinating women’s premier division season came to a climactic end on Saturday with a three-horse race for the only remaining finals spot, coming down to the final minutes. Vermont, who needed a win and for Mt Evelyn to lose, fell agonisingly short, going down to SBL Wolves by only 3 points. Meanwhile, Whitehorse Pioneers needed to win their game against Mt Evelyn by 11 goals points to grab the last spot in the top 4 and couldn’t quite get it done!
Finals Preview – Week OneSBL Wolves
Mt Evelyn
Ladder 3rd (7,5)4th (5,7)Form:WWWLLWLL
Previous Meetings:
Round 4: SBL Wolves 4.8 32 def. Mt Evelyn 0.9 9
Round 9: Mt Evelyn 3.2 20 def. SBL Wolves 1.3 9
The eventual holders of fourth place, Mt Evelyn, will now play off in an elimination final against a team who have occupied third place for most of the season the SBL Wolves.
Although a gap has existed between 3rd and 4th this season, the two teams have met head-to-head twice this year for one win a piece, the most recent contest being won by underdogs Mt Evelyn.
The theme for the Rovers this season has been restricting their opposition scoring. They held the Wolves to only 5 goals in total across both meetings and have put the clamps on numerous other opposition. On the flip side, they’ve struggled to score themselves, putting up the second worst total points in the division, all signs point to a low scoring, tight contest this Saturday.
Mackenzie Adams looms as Mt Evelyn’s most dangerous forward, she’s kicked four goals in her last 2 games and hits this do or die match in great form.
For SBL Wolves, they’ve found a niche for themselves in third place, at their very best, they can challenge the top two but haven’t been able to knock off either South Croydon or the Eastern Devils this season.
Olivia Flanagan’s 15 goals this season has been a major reason for their success, but the Wolves stack up well all over the ground, Bailey Withers and Georgia Grimmer have led the midfield and given the team power from the source.
Given the head to head matches this year, a close game is on the cards, If Mt Evelyn can take the Wolves to the trenches and dry up their scoring. Having said that, the SBL Wolves have been the better team all year and hit this game winning 3 of their last 4 while the Rovers have won just 1 of their last 4, For that reason, my tip is firmly with the Wolves!
SBL Wolves – 10 points
Eastern Devils
South Croydon
Ladder 1st (12,0) 2nd (8,4)Form:WWWWWLLW
Previous Meetings:
Round 2: Eastern Devils 6.5 41 def. South Croydon 4.6 30
Round 9: Eastern Devils 8.4 52 def. South Croydon 3.5 23
Any team coming up against the invincible Eastern Devils will have their work cut out, but their opponents this week, South Croydon kicked off this season matching it with the undefeated Devils. The Bulldogs won 6 of their first Seven with just an 11-point loss coming in round two. But things have changed and since a comfortable 26-point win in round 8 to Vermont, they’ve ended the season winning just 2 of their last 5 matches, dropping games to Whitehorse & Mt Evelyn on the way. Some of this can be explained by having a top two spot locked up for most of the season and not needing to bank the wins, a host of outs hurt them towards the end of the season, but the changes will cause disruption to their finals preparation and still missing Katie Prendergast would be a huge loss to any team.
To match up with the Devils and earn a spot in the Grand Final, they’ll need to recapture that early season form that saw them challenge the top placed side. Having competition leading goal kicker Taylah Black kick 6 goals in round 14 was an ideal momentum starter.
The Devils season has been flawless and was capped off with a final round bye to have the team fresh coming into a final’s series. The team is so well balanced it’s hard to point out individuals but Nicole Price has been outstanding and Shaneece Stratton has been huge in her 10 games.
Looking for weaknesses is hard, the second half of the season for the Devils didn’t cause any losses but the margins against the chasing pack did get smaller, showing the gap to rest is maybe not as large as once thought.
Eastern Devils – 25 points
Division 1Park Orchards
North Ringwood
Ladder 3rd (11,3) 4th (7,7)Form:WWLWLLWW
Previous Meetings:
Round 14: Park Orchards 11.8 74 def North Ringwood 2.4 16
North Ringwood were in a month-long battle with Knox to hold onto fourth spot, Both teams finished the season with back to back losses but it was the head to head back in round 10 that elevated North Ringwood to 4th spot and eventually gave them the opportunity to play finals.
This week they’ll come up against the side that defeated them by 58 points in the final game of the season and have been nipping at the heels of the top 2 all season.
Park Orchards have stood out from the chasing pack this season and only dropped matches against The Basin and Boronia, led by Jorja Livingstone (21 goals) and Alannah Boell (18 goals) up front as well as welcoming Elly Hartnett mid-season to give the side an even greater threat up forward. This side is well balanced and will have their sights set on the bigger things this season.
North Ringwood have had some great performers, Eliza Wilsen, Rachel Hoffman and Rachel Laucone have been huge, but they don’t quite have the quality across the board of a Park Orchards, Boronia or Basin at this stage. Fantastic achievement for them to make the top four but I think this is where their story ends.
Park Orchards have beaten North Ringwood twice this season by an average margin of 51 points. I expect a similar match here.
Park Orchards – 45 points
The Basin
Boronia
Ladder 1st (13,1) 2nd (12,2)Form:WWWWWWWW
Previous Meetings:
Round 6: The Basin 4.6 30 def. Boronia 3.2 20
Round 8: Boronia 9.6 60 def. The Basin 2.1 13
Back-to-back losses for the highly fancied Boronia Hawks in round 6 to the Basin and Round 7 to Park Orchards looks like the kick starter they needed to regenerate their season. Since then, they’ve gone on a destructive run, hammering their rivals the Basin by 47 points and 3rd placed Park Orchards by 29 points, as well as disposing of Chrinside Park by 107 points and Ringwood by 132.
But 7 wins on the bounce wasn’t enough to give them the minor premiership and The Basin’s form hasn’t been too shabby either. Wins against Park Orchards and an impressive drubbing of Beaconsfield by 94 points sealed their title as the number one seed. There’s still a thought however, that Boronia are the stronger side.
Ali Gottliebsen has been a rock all season and the Hawks team bats deep with 20 of there 26 listed players kicking goals this season. Rachel Slater has been immense up forward kicking 25 majors herself and been assisted by Stephanie Phillips, Delta Greenhalgh and Paige Deane.
For The Basin, Danielle Brotto (46 goals) won the goal kicking by some margin and was almost the second player across all the women’s divisions to kick 50 goals! Her sidekick Julia Baker’s been a star in her own right kicking 24 for the season. Zoe Alston’s been their most consistent performer from the midfield and will be one of their most important on Saturday.
This is as mouthwatering a clash as you could possibly get and i know it’s a cliche but the team who turns up for the contest and is more organised will win on the day.
Boronia – 2 points
Division 2Waverley Blues
East Burwood
Ladder 3rd (9,5)4th (8,6)Form:LLWLWLLW
Previous Meetings:
Round 5: Waverley Blues 9.6 60 def. East Burwood 5.6 36
Round 9: Waverley Blues 11.15 81 def. East Burwood 5.3 33
Waverley Blues kicked their season off in style winning 8 of their first 9 matches, entrenched in the top 2 double chance spots, but their form has slid in the back half of the year, in part it’s expected, coming back to the league and performing so well early a form drop off at some point had to happen but they will need to arrest the momentum to avoid exiting the finals in the first week.
They match up well against the Rams, defeating them twice this season by an average margin of 39 points but since defeating them in round 9, Waverley only managed to win 1 of their final 5 games. They’ve been well led by their captain Felicity Neligan all season and will need a huge performance from her in the ruck to get over the line.
This time the Rams will be keen to push them a lot closer but their scoring against top 4 sides is an issue, averaging only 3.1 goals a game against the three sides above them. They boast the number one goal kicker in the league Cecilia Baldassare (66 goals) but have very few avenues to goal outside her with their next highest goal kicker Sarah Jones (6 goals). They might need to sacrifice a player such as Jessica Mattiola from the ruck or even a highly talented small, higher up the ground to kick more goals.
Tough one to call but I’ll back in the quality of Waverley Blues.
Waverley Blues – 10 points
East Ringwood
Surrey Park
Ladder 1st (14,0)2nd (11,3)Form:WWWWWWWW
Previous Meetings:
Round 5: East Ringwood 11.13 79 def. Surrey Park 0.1 1
Round 8: East Ringwood 6.7 43 def. Surrey Park 3.2 20
This clash cannot be discussed without first acknowledging the brilliance of East Ringwood who have played 14 rounds without defeat and boast a percentage of almost 1400%, kicking over double the total score of the second placed panthers. But with that out of the way, I think we have a real contest on our hands! Surrey Park’s first half of the season saw losses to East Ringwood by a huge 78 points and also to Waverly Blues by 21 points but fast forward to the back half of the year and they pushed East Ringwood to just a 3 goal margin, restricting them to 6 goals for the match, they’re a much improved side and at their free flowing best they resemble a wave moving up and down the field!
East Ringwood are different kettle of fish however, and Surrey won’t have it all their own way with ball in hand like they did against others in the run home. I suspect a game more closely aligning with their round 8 clash where East Ringwood defeated the Panthers by just 23 points but the Roos have had very little adversity this season and if they underestimate their opponents, Surrey could surprise a few. This one is more of a gut feel!
Surrey Park – 1 point
Division 3 South Croydon
SBL Wolves
Ladder 3rd (6,5)4th (5,6)Form:LLWWLWWLPrevious Meetings 2023: 4.7-31R32.6-18
Previous Meetings:
Round Three: South Croydon 4.7 31 def. SBL Wolves 2.6 18
Unfortunately for South Croydon a quirky fixture saw them face the top placed Kilsyth in back-to-back rounds to finish the season. Fascinatingly, these two teams only met once this season, way back in round 3 with South Croydon winning by 13 points. The two sides have occupied 3rd and fourth for most of the season and are hard to split from a win loss perspective. As both clubs have a premier division side a lot will depend on the availability at top level and whether that will have a detrimental affect here.
If South Croydon’s full squad is available and have access to the likes of Danielle Zeniou up forward they will be a force as highlighted in their round 6 upset win against Eastern Devils.
South Croydon – 15 points
Kilsyth
Eastern Devils
Ladder 1st (10,1)2nd (9,2)Form:WWWW WWLW
Previous Meetings
Round 2: Eastern Devils 7.3 45 def. Kilsyth 6.4 40
Round 9: Kilsyth 8.8 56 def. Eastern Devils 2.2 14
Clearly the top two sides in division three but it’s Kilsyth who were a coiled spring in the early season and have found momentum at the right time. An averaging winning margin of just under 60 in their last 4 games shows the power in which they are scoring. Stars across the board like Kayla Villarreal, Shae Dale and Brooke Slaney have been super especially in their late run.
For the Eastern Devils, they held top spot early but haven’t been able to keep pace with the Cougars but newly added stars such as Simone Weragoda and Maddie Brooks if available, will bring much needed pace to the lineup. While up forward, Kelsey Reade will keep them in the contest.
Kilsyth – 12 points
Division 4 Mitcham
Fairpark
Ladder 3rd (9,2)4th (6,5)Form:LWWWWLLW
Previous Meetings
Round 2: Mitcham 4.9 33 def. Fairpark 0.4 4
Mitcham will have to balance how they handle this one, heading into the final game of the season, they were sitting atop the ladder, having only lost one game for the entire season way back in round 3 by 2 solitary points! but things were tight at the top, facing the in form Moorolbark in the final game of the season, The Mustangs handed them defeat, a percentage hit and eventually 3rd spot on the ladder and into a knockout final.
Fairpark’s journey to the finals was a lot different. A bit of Yo-Yo season for the lions, they were hard to get a read on, having impressive wins against Warrandyte in the final round and Nunawading in round 50. It came down to the last game of the season and they held on by percentage to the fourth place over Nunawading.
Mitcham’s strong 29 point win in round 3 is a good gauge between the two sides and given they spent the majority of the season in top spot, the tigers should get the job done here.
Mitcham – 20 points
Mooroolbark
Coldstream
Ladder 1st (10,1)2nd (9,2)Form:WWWWWLWW
Previous Meetings
Round 2: Coldstream 2.7 19 def. Mooroolbark 2.3 15
Round 9: Mooroolbark 8.8 56 def. Coldstream 2.4 16
The Mustangs have ended their 2023, home and away season on fire.
They’ve been good all year with their only loss coming in round 2 to Coldstream but they’ve improved a lot since that game and have been a run of blitzing teams since round 6.
Coldstream will take strength from the fact they are the only side to defeat Mooroolbark this season, but they played them at a time when the Mustangs weren’t kicking goals and the fire power will be hard to stop this time around.
Mooroolbark – 28 points