Women’s deciders to take centre stage at Herne Hill Reserve

AFL Barwon’s Female Football Grand Finals return to Herne Hill Reserve this Sunday (August 27) for the second year in a row with three huge clashes to decide this year’s premiers.

Action kicks off at 10.50am between Geelong West and Thomson on Drew Oval, with Thomson’s sights set on a flag in its inaugural year.

Tigers captain Belle Murphy-Bowen said the club’s first season had been nothing short of a success, regardless of whether her side came away with the win or not.

“From our first day of training, the president introduced himself to us, as did the senior men’s side, and they’ve included us in everything.

“Our coach as well, Simon Carvallo has been integral to our success this season, keeping everyone engaged and together, but also embedding a terrific culture within the team and the club.

“West are a very familiar side, they know its own strengths and have good structures in place, they’re really quick and move the ball really well, but that’s something that has actually inspired us.

“I’ve visualised being up there with the cup alongside the girls, it’s hard not to, but we’ve won in so many ways this year, coming away with a win on Sunday would be the cherry on the cake.”

At 1.10pm, North Geelong and Modewarre meet on in the Division Three decider.

Modewarre captain Clodagh Newton said her side had come a long way since beginning the season, training out of Connewarre while its home ground was dealing with drainage problems.

“We only had about five girls at the start of the season, we didn’t actually know if we get a team off the ground, but now there’s heaps of numbers and we’re going into the Grand Final – it’s huge.

“We didn’t expect to have many people at our Preliminary Final against Drysdale last weekend, but we ended up having a huge crowd behind us, we’re excited to see the club out there again supporting us.”

Concluding the day at 3.30pm in Division One, Geelong Amateur will defend its title as reigning premiers against Grovedale.

“Wammos” captain and 2023 league best and fairest Danielle Sgarbi said each game against Grovedale had been hard-earned, including a two-point win over the Tigers two weeks ago.

“They definitely make us work hard for every ball, two weeks ago was a four quarter battle, they did a great job of disrupting our flow.

“It was a challenge to find consistency early on in the season with several players being selected to VFL, but we’ve built momentum in the back half of the season and now we’re in another final, which is exciting.”

For submitted Grand Final sides, click HERE.