SOUTHERN Saints missed out on the Victorian Football League Women’s (VFLW) minor premiership after going down in the final round of the home and away season, but with a win in their only clash against eventual minor premiers Collingwood, the Saints know they are a huge chance to claim the victory in the huge qualifying final. Coach Peta Searle said the group had achieved everything they wanted to in the regular season for 2019, adjusting goals as they met the next requirement.

“Obviously it was a little bit disappointing to lose last week and potentially finish off the year on top is a good end to the year isn’t it?” she said. “But our goal coming into the season was to play finals, but once we reassured that up, well then we want a bit more than that so the goal was to finish top two to get the double chance so to be able to do that, is a tick … but I wouldn’t say there’s been very minor hiccups for me, we’ve won some games that we probably could have lost. “Then we’ve lost some games we probably could have won, but that’s football.”

While the Magpies are the only side with the home final this weekend due to finishing on top of the table, Searle said they were far from the only side to worry about, when asked about which side was the biggest threat to her team’s flag campaign.

“That’s a hard question because any of the teams are good enough to win,” she said. “You know you’ve got Melbourne Uni … you have a look at their list and now Emma Kearney‘s in the side running out, it’s just like any team can win it. “Obviously Collingwood hold a bit of pole position finishing the year strongly. “Any team is more than capable, every team is a threat.”

But before the Saints can dream of a maiden premiership, they have to get over the line against Collingwood this weekend and move to just two wins away from the title.

“I think what we’ll do is this week, we’ll build our positivity in our group, look at things we do well, look at things we need to do to try and beat Collingwood,” Searle said. “Collingwood are a class outfit, their midfield is A-Grade elite AFLW class. “Like every game has been for us, it’s an opportunity for our girls to compete with elite people or against elite people and grow and learn something about themselves.”

The Saints are preparing for life in the AFLW next season, and have brought a number of players back to the club after stints with AFLW sides in 2019, while also pre-listing a number of talented Under-18 players. With access to the Dandenong Stingrays and Sandringham Dragons programs to pre-list players ahead of the draft, it was a duo of Stingrays that caught the eye for the Saints.

“Isabella Shannon and Molly McDonald have been fantastic,” Searle said. “We would have loved to have them longer, loved to have them for more footy, I think that would have been more beneficial too for them going into AFLW but we understand the requirements around it and we understand too that they should play with their own age group. “But they’ve slotted into the team great, obviously Molly’s had a really good hitout on the wing, she was almost close to one of our best on ground two weeks ago. “A couple of weeks in a row she’s kicked some amazing goals, and Isabella Shannon, I’ve really loved watching the growth in her this year. “She’s come into our side and she’s now been picked as part of our best seven defenders and all the girls are now getting picked on, not what we’ve got to achieve in 2020, but what we can achieve in this finals series and definitely Isabella and Molly have earned their spots in our side.”

Southern Saints travel to Magpies’ heartland on Saturday, August 31 to face Collingwood. The game at Victoria Park kicks off from 12pm with free entry for those keen to check out the top two sides going head-to-head in a qualifying final.