OAK PARK v ABERFELDIE
Saturday 2:25pm at Windy Hill
It’s round two for Oak Park and Aberfeldie as they do battle in the Airport Toyota Women's Premier Division grand final for a second straight year.
After an absolute thriller last season, neutral fans will be hoping for the same this Saturday.
For much of the season, it didn’t seem like we would see the same teams back again.
Hillside was the team to beat and got wins on the board against both sides, but Abers showed the Sharks were beatable late in the season.
Both the Kangaroos and then Abers had impressive wins in the finals against the Sharks to set up another grand final clash.
For the Kangaroos, their only two losses this season came against the Sharks, the last of them in a Round 10 thriller.
In the front third, the Kangaroos had the best scoring rate in the competition, scoring nearly 200 more points than the next best team.
While Alex Quigley still leads the way for the Kangaroos, the side has been able to add some more depth and other options in front of goal.
They’ve had more of a spread of goal kickers, which has seen them score 252 points more during the regular season than last season.
In the middle of the ground the Kangaroos got stronger with Chiara Guarino crossing from Strathmore.
Already one of the best players in the competition, she has added a point of difference to the Kangaroos group.
Leah Spargo, who was at Keilor, is another that adds flexibility and depth to what the Kangaroos want to do.
Defensively, only Hillside conceded less goals.
Only four times this season has the Kangaroos conceded four or more goals in a game.
Two have been against Aberfeldie, but they’ve been able to do enough offensively to still get the job done on both occasions.
There’s been real stability in the group this season. Majority of last season’s premiership team returned.
Fifteen players from the premiership side played in the side’s semi final win against Hillside. This will help with nerves and standing up under pressure and they know how to get the job done.
For Abers, they continue to show why they have one of the strongest women’s programs in the competition.
They won in 2019, before losses in 2022 and 2023. Four players from that 2019 premiership played in last week’s win.
Abers are yet to beat the Kangaroos this season, but we know that meant little last year when the tables were turned.
The first of the match ups was in Round 1 when Abers was finding their feet, the other had plenty of scoring which was different from the match ups last season.
The side took a while to get going this season. A number of players had gone and played VFLW, while there was a focus on giving some of those younger players an opportunity.
About 10 players from last season’s grand final side played in the preliminary final team this year, showing how vastly different the group is.
The group started to settle and their VFLW players then came back into the mix.
Coach Rob Green said you could see the extra confidence in the likes of Ellie Huggard, who had won last season’s league best and fairest award, coming back into the side.
She has been named in Abers' best in all six games, having been in the best all but one game last season.
As the group came together, it meant Abers' last loss was back in Round 8 against the Kangaroos.
They’ve built from that moment on and were impressive in both their finals.
Former Collingwood player Emily Smith has embraced the culture at Abers and has been one of their stars.
She kicked three in the preliminary final and can play in a number of different positions. Ashleigh Gunn is another who has fitted into the side.
It’s been a real team effort for Abers. Their reserves side is playing off in a second grand final, while the under-18.5s are playing in their third grand final.
It means there’s plenty of competition for spots and they’ve had the whole group training together throughout the finals.
For the grand final, it is one of those games which is a genuine 50-50.
Oak Park will go in favourites having not lost to Abers this season, but both sides have a lot of pros in the pros and cons list.
The battle in the middle will be key in setting up the contest and giving their side first use.
Both sides have a number of goalkickers and any of them can bob up when needed.
Stop the flow inside 50 and it goes a long way to getting the job done.
The first grand final was a brilliant game of footy, expect this one to be as well.
