TOMORROW is the pinnacle of the 2024 VFL Women’s season – Grand Final day.

One of North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs will create history and win their club’s first VFL Women’s premiership.

But will it be Emma Kearney handing the Premiership Cup to Jess Jones and Brett Gourley, or Debbie Lee handing it to Dom Carbone and Rhys Cahir?

GRAND FINAL

North Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs
12:10pm tomorrow
ETU Stadium

RECENT FORM

After an at times inconsistent season, North Melbourne have really peaked at the right time of the year, winning the Elimination Final and then defeating the reigning premiers in the Semi Final to find themselves in tomorrow’s decider.

The Bulldogs on the other hand had to go the long way around to make today’s game, but dominated their Semi Final and Preliminary Final after losing the Qualifying Final to make it to the decider.

HEAD TO HEAD

Tomorrow’s clash will be the sixth clash between the two sides in their history.

North Melbourne leads the head to head clash three to two, but the Bulldogs won the most recent clash between the side and the only previous meeting between them at ETU Stadium.

2024 MEETINGS

These two sides have met twice already this season.

In round one, North ran out comfortable 22-point winners over the Bulldogs. In a high scoring affair, a slow start really cost the Bulldogs in the end, who were unable to make up the deficit.

Just over a month ago in Round 14 though, it was a different story as the Bulldogs booked their double chance in the finals after a tight win over the Kangaroos. Momentum shifted several times in the match, but ultimately the Bulldogs took control late to take the win.

TEAM SHEETS

North Melbourne:

B:           M.McSweeney (22)        A. Ling (24)       

HB:        J. Jones (17)       N. Hales (30)     E. King (5)

C:           M. Zander (10)  A. Rhodes (4)    E. Jackson (19)

HF:        E. Paterno (21)  N. Dojiok (40)    B. Slaney (7)

F:            R. Tierney (34)  G. Nicholas (9)

R:           K. Reynolds (44)              J. Guy (8)             M. Di Cosmo (12)

INT:        Z. Flanigan (16), A. Barba (26), P. Ryan (27), M. Daw (38) and T. Meier (2)           

EMG:     K. Delia (20), S. Hosking (13), S. King (46), T. Cowan (18), A. Scott (23), M. Purcell (28) and F. Theodore (1)

Western Bulldogs:

B:           A. Snow (57)      T. Crook (30)     

HB:        C. Ugle (29)       S. Asciak (28)    C. Pickett (59)

C:           T. Skenderis (34)             D. Carbone (54)              E. Bishop (35)

HF:        M. McLeod (31)               T. Pulcino (36)   R. Saulitis (56)

F:            M. Clifford (47) J. Tabb (63)        

R:           K. Hardingham (66)       S. Skinner (62)  J. Livingstone (44)

INT:       T. Hurst (45), M. Sandral (39), I. Milford (64), M. Klingbeil (53) and E. Ramsay (46)

EMG:     C. Leonard (38), M. Cowan (67), L. Ashcroft (42), J. Hutchinson (40), E. Cornish (55) and J. Henry (68)

CHANGES FROM LAST WEEK’S SIDES

North Melbourne:

NO CHANGES

Western Bulldogs:

NO CHANGES

KEY PLAYERS

Both sides have their areas of biggest strength.

For North Melbourne, it is ITS midfield. Alana Barba, Maddie Di Cosmo and Audrey Rhodes are hard working, non-stop machines that are prolific tacklers and proven goalkickers too.

For the Bulldogs, their tall targets up forward are daunting, with Mia-Rae Clifford, Imogen Milford and Jaimi Tabb having proven time and time again to be a hard match up to execute. However, Tabb and Milford have proven this season to be very versatile players, so can potentially still cause havoc for the Kangaroos in other parts of the ground.