THIS weekend’s VFLW action kicks off with a rare Friday night clash as Port Melbourne hosts North Melbourne.

Port Melbourne vs North Melbourne
5:05pm
ETU Stadium, Port Melbourne

HEAD TO HEAD

Despite these two sides being in the competition for a few years now, there is not a long history between the pair.

Tonight’s match will be the fifth clash between the sides, with each side having won two of their previous meetings each.

Crucially though, North Melbourne’s two wins have come in the last two clashes between the sides, and although ETU Stadium is Port Melbourne’s home ground, North Melbourne have won two of the three clashes between the pair at the ground.

LAST TIME THEY MET

Tonight’s clash will actually be the first time these two sides have met this season.

Last time these two sides met was all the way back in Round 7 last season, and these two sides found themselves in a very different situation back then compared to where they are today.

The Borough were sixth on the ladder while the Roos were eighth, but ladder positions meant little in the end as the Roos ultimately prevailed by two points.

In a peculiar match scoring wise, no one could score any goals all game, but ultimately the Roos snagged some key behinds late to take the win.

KEY MATCH UP

LAUREN CARUSO VS MADDIE DI COSMO

Success in a game of Australian Rules always starts in the midfield, and arguably the most important midfielders for these sides, especially recently, is Caruso and Di Cosmo.

Di Cosmo is the type of midfielder that can sneak out the back of a contest and be really dangerous, but with Caruso’s experience in defence, she might be the one that gets sent to Di Cosmo to just shut her down and keep her out of the contest. Although if the Borough decide to do that, they will need to find other players to tag the likes of Alana Barba who are just as dangerous.

RAMIFICATIONS

This clash is a pretty pivotal one for both sides.

North Melbourne currently sits in fifth spot on the ladder, but only half a game behind the fourth placed Bombers and only half a game ahead of the sixth placed Dees.

The Borough are currently in seventh place on the ladder, half a game behind the aforementioned Dees. Crucially for the Borough their percentage is much better than every side around them on the ladder, which will come in handy if they can bank the wins.