GREATER trust in one another and the gameplan, a ‘yield to none’ mindset and fighting spirit are the catalysts behind Central District’s rise into the 2023 SANFL Women’s Grand Final. The Bulldogs were yet to contest a finals series in four seasons, but under second year coach Ben Hunt, rose up the ladder and are now one win away from ultimate glory in tomorrow’s decider.

For Hunt, the rise into the finals, and then grand final, has been off the back of trust and belief, which was built over the past year.

“I think it’s just that connection and trust that the group has in me and that I have in the group,” Hunt said. “The relationships, we’re a lot more comfortable with each other and we’re 12 months more into the gameplan.

“At preseason we were able to focus on the gameplan a little bit more than focusing on skills and I was assessing players how many months ago or two years ago. The big one is just the relationship and the trust, that’s a word we’ve used a little bit, the trust in myself with the players, and the players with me as well. I think that’s the big thing.”

In past years, the Bulldogs have often let winnable games slip, or just drop off in patches, but the 2023 edition has been ruthless, and win, lose, or draw, never look out of the match. That has never been truer than when the Bulldogs came back from a 28-0 quarter time deficit at Prospect Oval against North Adelaide.

“I know the North game at quarter time, Shelby (captain Shelby Smith) grabbed the group and spoke to them and said ‘we put that quarter behind us and we’ve just got to chip away at it now’ and I was the same,” Hunt said.

“I didn’t change anything, I thought we just needed to trust ourselves and tidy up some skill execution. The girls then had that belief and were able to win a few close ones and come from behind, I think they now have belief in themselves that no matter what the situation is, we can fight our way back and keep ourselves in games, and hopefully win games.”

From the opposite end of the scale, just last week, the Bulldogs were 40 points clear of Norwood in the preliminary final with a quarter to play, but rather than ease up like many might, the red, white and blue fought until the final siren.

“I was really pleased with the girls from that aspect,” Hunt said. “I don’t think our pressure or the way w went about it changed at all from the first minute to the last minute. “I think that was just the mindset of the group, that we’re here to play and win the game of footy.

“We spoke about it, it is just a game of footy to be won, and I think the group had that attitude that it’s a game of footy and we’ve got to play a full four quarters to win the game, and that’s the way they went about it. From that aspect it was really pleasing. Hopefully without dropping off we can carry that momentum into this week.”

Hunt also said earning Coach of the Year honours at the SANFLW Awards night along with five players in Team of the Year – the most of any club – was “massive for the club” and everyone from the players to the fanbase was “pumped” about the result. But now it was about focusing the players attention on the task at hand, South Adelaide.

Though a very different style to the Bulldogs with the Panthers the best defensive side in the league, and Hunt’s charges being the greatest offensive team, the Central District coach said he was not planning on changing too much and sticking to the team’s brand of football.

“We will be going out there to play our brand of footy and make adjustments as need be, and South are very good defensively, but also Round 4 we were able to play our brand and score so we’ll be thinking we can do the same thing,” Hunt said. “I know that they probably worked on our defensive side a bit more and made changes themselves, but so have we and we’ve got players who are up and about, so we’ll back ourselves in.”

In yesterday’s preview, South coach Rick Watts said the first 10 minutes of the match would be crucial for his side to settle the game down and control proceedings. For Hunt, while his team would “love to really have a great start”, the past month or so excluding the Norwood match, showed that the Bulldogs can fight back from anywhere.

“The brand of footy we play I think we’re always in the game, and I know that was a while ago, but again going back to that North Adelaide game, 28 points down at quarter time,” Hunt said. “Some teams might just not go on, might just collapse a bit, but we believe we’re always in a game no matter what the scoreboard says.

“We’ll keep fighting and I think that’s the beauty about our team, we’ve got players who will never give up, we’ll show up. That’s our little phrase at the club, yield to none and that’s the way we play.”

Hunt is more confident has players have settled into the finals series now and is less concerned with the team being overawed, which could explain the first final against the more experienced Panthers.

“I think we had a lot of girls who were really nervous at the start, and Rick and his girls plays really well,” Hunt said. “Executed what they wanted to do, anyone who was at the ground would have heard their runner was continually out there talking about stoppage, stoppage, stoppage, stoppage, so we will try to make some adjustments.”

“But I think now if I’m honest, it’s pretty hard to keep powerful teams down, and I think we have got some powerful players in our team, but so do they. I know they’ve got some good marking power in the forwardline. We’ve got to match it with them, there’s a reason they finished top, and that’s because they’ve been the best team all year.”

South Adelaide and Central District have won their respective matches at their homegrounds, and now the season 2023 tiebreaker was taking place. Both teams have played North Adelaide at the venue, and Hunt’s team was the one who got up over the Roosters.

“I suppose if you wanted to be cheeky, we haven’t lost at Prospect this year so there’s that aspect,” Hunt joked. “But I think it’s a similar size ground to ours and it’s a similar size to South’s as well, so I don’t really know if there’s much in the venue itself.

“I suppose for us, it doesn’t hold any fear factor or anything like that. Even last year I think we only lost by a point by a point there to North. We think we play good footy on that oval, but I’m sure South will think the same too. Hopefully it will just be a good deck and a good spot for a good crowd to get there.”

The playing group has been focused all week, with Hunt also being able to enjoy a different build up to the game, with media commitments far and plenty. While he and his side enjoy going about their business outside the spotlight, he said he was “extremely proud” of the group and everyone involved at the football clubb.

“They’ve trusted me, they’ve listened and they’ve executed,” Hunt said. “Just so proud of them all, win, lose or draw on the weekend, we can mark it down as a successful season, but like I said the girls are the ones who are driving they want to make the most of the opportunity.

“I do too by all means, but they are the ones who are pushing for it. It’s been fantastic, a lot of work’s gone into it, and I’m just going to enjoy it the best I can. I don’t know how I’ll be at three-o-clock on Sunday but anyway we’ll wait and see.”

Central District takes on South Adelaide at Prospect Oval from 2:15pm local time tomorrow to determine the 2023 SANFLW premiership.