BOND University and Southport will clash to determine which Sharks side is more superior to face University of Queensland (UQ) in next week’s Queensland Australian Football League Women’s (QAFLW) Grand Final. The preliminary final is tipped to be a beauty after Bond University used their double chance after struggling to score last week against UQ, while Southport were comprehensive in their win over Maroochydore.

Although Bond finished higher on the ladder than Southport did, the ‘Shark Stoush’ is not as straightforward as it might seem. There have been some mixed results in clashes between the pair this season, so it could really go either way.

First time around, a great second quarter from Southport saw them turn around an early deficit to go on and win by 33 points. It was not just on the scoreboard where Southport dominated that afternoon. The Sharks had more touches than Bond Uni (both kicks and handballs), and a whopping 16 more inside 50s than the Bull Sharks did. They also laid 39 more tackles than Bond Uni did.

The second time – which happened to be the following weekend – saw the Bull Sharks narrowly emerge victorious in wet conditions. Despite the loss, it was again Southport who had more disposals (both kicks and handballs), but Bond had more inside 50s, and more tackles. Since they are two of the top sides from this season, unsurprisingly both sides have plenty of players to watch out for.

For Southport, Darcie Davies really stood up last week, kicking four and providing a strong target up forward, while although she did not really perform at her best last week Isabella Iverach has really had a good back end of the season so could be a danger for Southport.

Now for much of last weekend’s game Bond struggled to get it past UQ defender Jessi Henning who was playing a bit of a goalkeeper role. Now they may run into a similar problem this week in the form of Selina Priest, so that could spell trouble for the Bull Sharks if in fact Priest does not get moved forward and is left in defence.

So the match could really go either way, but which way will it go? Tune in tomorrow to find out.