A MASSIVE VFL Women\u2019s season and finals series all leads up to the Grand Final this weekend, with a blockbuster match between Western Bulldogs and Collingwood kickstarting a big day of footy action at IKON Park. While Collingwood sat atop the ladder for majority of the season and have class and confidence to boot, the Bulldogs have the added bonus of a six game winning streak, with the most recent a 12 point victory against the Pies in the semi-final two weeks ago. However, the Magpies cannot be written off, with a stellar performance in the preliminary final last week earning them a well-deserved spot in the grand final.<\/p>\n
WESTERN BULLDOGS v. COLLINGWOOD<\/p>\n Grand Final – 22\/9\/19 With big names headlining both sides, this match is a battle that will be won through the midfield. Though both coaches have their own game plan, Collingwood\u2019s Penny Cula-Reid<\/strong> and Western Bulldogs\u2019 Sean Kavanagh<\/strong> can agree on one thing – they must stop the midfield flow to limit ball movement coming out of their attack.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll really need to control and influence the supply, not just through our backs but emphasising through our midfield and the way it comes out of our forward line as well,\u201d Kavanagh said, stating that star players like Jaimee Lambert<\/strong> will find the footy regardless of defensive efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt seems like we\u2019ve got similar game plans,\u201d Cula-Reid said. \u201cIt\u2019s stopping it at the source, trying to defend the whole ground and not just our back half. We know they\u2019ve got a few speedsters down back so it\u2019s just making sure the ball doesn\u2019t get down there, that\u2019s the biggest thing,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Dominant players such as Britt Bonnici<\/strong> and Bri Davey<\/strong> have the ability to find the ball anywhere on the ground so it is key for the Bulldogs to limit ball movement coming out of their attack. The Western Bulldogs will be aiming to prevent the Pies from getting any freedom in the forward half, with Lambert able to take advantage of any ball coming her way. <\/p>\n The 2019 leading goalkicker has impressed week on week, dictating play with ball in hand and proving to be a massive threat inside 50 with her accuracy and footy smarts to boot. <\/p>\n While the Dogs may not have that one star player up forward who they rely on to boot a bag, it creates a host of issues for the Magpies who will need to lock up their defensive half to reduce the options inside forward 50. Brooke Lochland<\/strong> and Danielle Marshall<\/strong> are just two of a smattering of impressive performers inside 50 for the Bulldogs who could cause headaches for the Pies.<\/p>\n The Bulldogs\u2019 semi-final victory graced the side with a week off prior to the grand final, while the Magpies played the Southern Saints in the prelim. With both sides making their first VFLW grand final appearances on the weekend, it make this match a big one for the progression of women\u2019s footy especially ahead of the AFLW draft.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of our main things was to play as many games as possible, giving our VFL girls the opportunity to showcase what they have ahead of the drafting,\u201d Cula-Reid said, with the extra game last round hopefully giving the Magpies an added edge when they take on the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n For Kavanagh, it is the improvement of young up and comers that has spurred on the Dogs in their finals campaign. The Bulldogs come into this match with confidence in their back pocket and a good batch of players that has solidified with every match this season, forging connections across the field with young gun Elisabeth Georgostathis<\/strong> fitting in seamlessly with the likes of captain Mickayla Ward<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe gap between our AFL and VFL girls is closing which has been very pleasing. That\u2019s our role, that\u2019s my role, to develop these girls for the draft,\u201d Kavanagh said. \u201cIf they end up in a Bulldogs jumper – fantastic, and if they don\u2019t, if they\u2019re on an AFLW list next season that\u2019s ultimately where we want to get them to. So that development is probably where our improvement has come from.\u201d<\/p>\n While the Bulldogs have confidence and improvement on their side, the Magpies have the belief, class and determination to call the shots if they play their game right.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s which team can play their brand the longest, which team can play four quarters, who doesn\u2019t have the lapse of concentration during the game,\u201d Cula-Reid said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long season for the girls, the staff, the coaches, but it\u2019s one more week, one more game, it just happens to be the most important game of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bulldogs play a great brand of footy and we\u2019re really excited \u2026 hopefully we play our game a little longer than they play their game and see the best team win.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A MASSIVE VFL Women\u2019s season and finals series all leads up to the Grand Final this weekend, with a blockbuster match between Western Bulldogs and Collingwood kickstarting a big day of footy action at IKON Park. While Collingwood sat atop the ladder for majority of the season and have class and confidence to boot, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":58063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3121,137],"tags":[9075,7822,3087,8901,3395,3031,5766,4610,8812],"class_list":["post-58053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-vflw","category-womens","tag-bri-davey","tag-britt-bonnici","tag-brooke-lochland","tag-danielle-marshall","tag-elisabeth-georgostathis","tag-jaimee-lambert","tag-mickayla-ward","tag-penny-cula-reid","tag-sean-kavanagh"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n11:35am
\nIKON Park<\/strong><\/p>\n