AN early Saturday morning clash between last year’s bottom two sides, sees a finds hopeful host a potential party pooper when West Adelaide and Woodville-West Torrens kick off Round 13 of the SANFL Women’s.

FORM

West Adelaide suffered a heartbreaking loss to Sturt last week, but fortunately due to the Eagles upsetting Norwood, it did not prove fatal to the Bloods’ season. However in order for West Adelaide to reach the post-season series, it has to win this game and hope Sturt knocks off Norwood. The Eagles cannot make finals, but they can certainly dictate who plays in them.

HEAD-TO-HEAD

West Adelaide: 4
Woodville-West Torrens: 4
Draw: 1

The head-to-head between these sides is delicately balanced with the winner to go ahead, or the sides to share in a record second draw. Incredibly, West Adelaide won the four clashes between the pair, but all came at Hisense Stadium. Since then, the Eagles have won four and drawn once – last year in Round 9 – and this match has more riding on it than most.

TEAMS

West Adelaide:

B: Georgie Pater (28), Jess Chyer (18)
HB: Tiana Fernandez (20), Madi Russell (1), Grace McNicol (21)
C: Emma Kilpatrick (27), Zoe Venning (9), Olivia Smith (6)
HF: Molly Petersen (28), Chloe Tonkin (14), Nicole Hooper (11)
F: Lucy Waye (50), Jemma Ellis (19)
R: Tess Huxtable (25), Asha Dufour (15), Illish Ross (60)
INT: Ruby Ballard (22), Emma Chapman (23), Ella Maxwell (29), Nicola Biagi (40), Emily Mableson (44), Niamh Davis (5), Maddie Fitzgerald (37), Sarah Campbell (47)

Woodville-West Torrens:

B: Audrey Holt (10), Amie Blanden (12)
HB: Annie Falkenberg (8), Marlie Fiegert (30), Sophie Whitwell (42)
C: Julia Watson (51), Sophie Zuill (24), Poppy Waterford (1)
HF: Imogen Trengove (22), Rosette Zerella (32), Chantelle Mitchell (5)
F: Klaudia O’Neill (18), Cher Waters (20)
R: Leah Cutting (26), Popi Gikas (2), Bianca Portaro (3)
INT: Christina Leuzzi (19), Lucy Moore (15), Ashleigh Forbes (40), Ashley Baker (44), Rose Clancy-Dillon (16), Erini Gikas (6), Zoe MacGill-Rankin (41), Mikayla Cavallaro (4)

CHANGES

West Adelaide will be without talented defender Lucy Boyd and the Eagles will be minus Grace Martin as both players head to Victoria to face off as part of the AFLW Academy’s clash with the Under 21 All-Stars. The sides will also be missing key duo Jess Macolino (West Adelaide) and Brianna Walling who are both unavailable.

The teams have added players to an extended bench with potential fresh faces Rose Clancy-Dillon and Zoe Macgill-Rankin among the ins for Eagles while the Bloods could unveil ex-Dog Nicola Biagi, with tall Jemma Ellis also set to make her return as a forward/ruck.

AFLW DRAFT WATCH

West Adelaide still has a stack of draftable prospects with top-agers Ruby Ballard, Emma Kilpatrick and Asha Dufour running around on the inside and outside of midfield, while Chloe Tonkin provides a marking target up forward, and Emily Mableson is a young, but calm head down back.

Woodville-West Torrens will look to top-ager Bianca Portaro who should gain plenty of midfield minutes, while Klaudia O’Neill, Imogen Trengove and Lucy Moore have all be able to impact games in each third of the ground.

STATS THAT MATTER

These sides are ranked top three in ball efficiency – creating scoring shots out of possessions – but can further develop that into bigger scores. Eagles have the upper hand in hitouts (ranked second to West’s sixth), while the Bloods are ranked third for disposal efficiency, and Woodville-West Torrens is last.

PREDICTION

There is more riding on the match for West Adelaide, though both sides are more than capable of taking this out. While key players are missing from respective teams, the homeground advantage and greater consistency this season leans towards the Bloods.