By Beth Newman
Yeronga will be shooting for a third-straight women’s league flag, when it takes on Coorparoo in Sunday’s SEQAFL Women’s League Division One grand final.
The Devils have taken out the past two deciders and are yet to drop a game this season, including besting the Roos on four occasions, but coach, Nicola Zammit, said they wouldn’t be getting ahead of themselves.
“We’ve won by less than kick in most of those games (against Coorparoo), so it’s going to be tight,” she said.
“As a team, we have to shut down every single person on the Coorparoo side, because they have 24 quality players.”
As far as what they need to do to grab that three-peat, Zammit said it wasn’t very complex.
“Footy’s pretty simple, it’s just on the field when it turns messy,” she said.
“We just need to make sure we enjoy it out there on Sunday. If we try to push it too hard, the mistakes will come.
“We just need a mistake-free game over four quarters.”
While she said the players weren’t thinking about the three-peat, it would mean a great deal for them just to take this flag.
“To the players it means everything,” she said.
“Everyone wants to win a grand final.
“I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of teams that want to see us share it around but we’ll just wait and see what happens on the day.”
Coorparoo coach, Damien Richards, said his side was looking forward to having one last opportunity to knock off Yeronga at Kedron on Sunday.
“It’s a good opportunity for the girls,” he said.
“They’ve worked hard all season to try and knock them off and deserve to have another go.”
After their last two matches were decided by less than a kick, Richards said he felt confident the Navy Roos had the goods to knock the Devils off their perch.
With the best young player in the competition, in Maddie Protheroe, as well as a slew of other super talents, the Roos are not short on ability, but its their whole-team play that has been their biggest strength this season.
The Division One grand final kicks off at 1:45pm at EK Anderson Oval, Kedron.
DIVISION TWO
Griffith Moorooka faces a major challenge to try and topple Palm Beach in the SEQAFL Women’s League Division Two grand final on Sunday.
The Lions have been near unstoppable since the competition split in two, and will be hoping to continue their strong form on Sunday.
The Reds are certainly not short of talent, with Samantha Virgo ,Sarah Duncan and Jenna Vandyk just some of their players who are among the best in the competition.
Coach, Adam Fry, said there was a buzz around the club, after they qualified for the decider in only their second season.
“A lot haven’t had this feeling or experience and they’ll be getting quite nervous,” he said.
“There’s a lot of excitement around the club at the moment.”
Playing the biggest game in their short history, Fry said he would be focusing in channelling the players’ nervous energy into good on Sunday.
“We‘ve got to make sure we manage that well,” he said.
“We need to make sure the nervous energy is at right amount and we’ll be controlling that and planning a few things to make sure we can control the pressure and nervousness.”
Despite a lopsided result in favour of the Lions in the sides’ last match up, Fry said he was feeling confident ahead of the grand final.
“It’s going to be a greatest for us and for them,” he said.
“I wouldn’t say we’re far behind them, we‘ve just got to play for each other and do the simple things right.
“ If we can execute, it’ll go in our favour.”
The Lions boast a strong midfield, led by Queensland rep, Leah Kaslar, and Fry said his side would be focusing on cutting off Palm Beach’s ability to win in the middle and their forward supply.
“We’ve got to try and minimise their use,” he said.
“We want to minimise their strength and strong players.”
Palm Beach and Griffith play off for the Division Two premiership on Sunday at 11:00am, at EK Anderson Oval, Kedron.
Image supplied by: Dania Herdman, Coorparoo Women’s AFC.
