The women of BHSA take centre stage from 2pm when minor premiers West Panthers, like the B Grade Grand Final, take on St Joes in the premiership decider of the women’s competition.
The two sides have had an interesting rivalry over the season. West had the upper hand in their league fixtures, winning four out of five encounters, but St Joes held them goalless in the final of the KO Cup to lift the trophy at the completion of the competition after winning 3-0.
“We know it is going to be a very hard game for us. There is a reason they finished top of the ladder,” St Joes coach Dino Callegher told the Barrier Truth.
“But it is not impossible, we have done it before, and we can do it again. It’d be a great reward for our players. Hopefully we can come away with a win. It should be a very entertaining game to watch.”
On the other side of the coin, George Bugeja’s West side is taking a business-as-usual approach heading into the big fixture.
“Training has been good, we had a good session, good numbers. Everyone has been working hard,” Coach Bugeja told the Truth.
“We have to put it together as a team, stick to what our routine has been and go out there and win. There is not a lot more I can do for them at this point.
As far as tweaking the system to deal with the threat of an opposition side such as St Joes is concerned, that never crossed the mind of the veteran West coach heading into the weekend’s fixture, affirming “we’ll just play our style, maybe a couple of personnel changes, and we’ll go from there. We will stick to our routine.”
14-year-old forward Ava Turley looms as a potential match winner for the blue of St Joes, while West’s 50 goal striker Jessica Cox could be the difference maker for the Panthers.
“I have been thinking about this game for the last three weeks, we have such a good chance to win, and we are all set to go,” the West goal machine told the Barrier Truth.
As with all Grand Finals, previous form goes out the window, so head down to the O’Neill Memorial Park today, you don’t want to miss it– it will be must-see action.
