An Aberfeldie and Oak Park grand final is a somewhat fitting end to the Airport Toyota Women’s Premier Division season.
The two sides have been the standouts since day one and there hasn’t been much between the teams all year.
Abers have won all three meetings between the two teams, including the semi final match up, which are the Kangaroos only three losses of the year.
Abers' only loss of the season came in the final round, when they had nothing to play for, against Keilor and even then it was by just one point.
Offensively, the Kangaroos have on average scored a goal more each week than Abers, while Abers' defence is slightly more than a goal better per game than the Kangaroos.
In the games between the two sides, the average winning margin is just under 10 points with all three games being low scoring affairs.
For Abers, they are going for their second premiership having previously won the 2019 season with the perfect year.
Several players from that team still remain, while a number of the team also played in last year’s grand final loss.
Ellie Huggard has been the standout player for Abers this season and will be among the contenders come best and fairest night.
Huggard has been named in the best in all 15 games this season, including best on ground on the Nena and Pasadena EDFL Match of the Day back in Round 9.
The flexibility of Huggard to set things up in the middle of the ground has been vital and her return to the club where she won a premiership has been one of the big positives.
The return of Alicia Reivers and the arrival of Kate Scott and Marlo Zambelli have been other handy inclusions.
Abers has also been boosted by the return of Olivia Madden from injury the last two matches. Madden, who has played VFLW, has been named in the best in six of her nine matches.
While Abers has added some top end talent into the squad this year, they have a strong youth program as well.
Their Under-18.5s have played off in two straight grand finals, with the senior side starting to see that impact.
Sienna Rocci and Aarzu Mavi both played in the Under-18.5 grand final last week and were in the Abers Premier side for the semi final.
A number of other players have come through the side, while some like Harriet Cashmore and Emily Newton are playing their first full senior seasons.
Meanwhile, Oak Park was always going to be a team to beat this year.
The Kangaroos entered the season with a lot of fire in the belly after being kicked out of the finals last year with their first grand final appearance in sight.
The Kangaroos looked to add some more fire power to strengthen the side coming into 2023 and Alex Quigley was no doubt the biggest signing for the club, giving them another option up forward.
Quigley hasn’t disappointed, kicking 47 goals and leading the league goal kicking and providing a nice one-two punch up forward with Samantha German.
The Kangaroos have always had a lot of depth on every line which has been one of the strengths of the side.
Hannah Fosbrooke, Marnie Jarvis, Quigley, Mia Briedis, Ebony Bennett, Olivia Storer, and Mikayla Barnes all have VFLW experience.
Like Abers, the Kangaroos have a number of young guns trickling through the side.
Briedis, Trilby Sheppard, and Erin Graham lead the way in that category.
Abers will enter the grand final as favourites purely based on the fact that they have won all three games between these two sides.
In the semi final they were able to get the jump on the Kangaroos, but earlier in the season they had to come from behind, showing they can win in different ways.
Grand Final experience and the experience of playing on Windy Hill could be vital too.
The Kangaroos best is very good and if they play it for four full quarters they will be hard to beat.
The Kangaroos look their best when they get the run and carry going through the likes of Emily Findlay and Briedis.
One area they will need to address if they are to win, is finding more goal scoring options.
Of the eight goals they’ve scored against Abers, five have come from the boot of Quigley, including all three in the semi final loss.
The likes of German and Shanel Camilleri, the only other two players to kick more than seven goals this season for the Kangaroos, need to step up.
Having already had a couple of thrillers between the teams this season, let’s hope we see another one at Windy Hill.
Can Greenvale go one better this season or can Essendon Doutta Stars secure their second Airport Toyota Women's Division 1 premiership?
This year’s Division 1 Grand Final shapes up as an interesting contest, with lots of positives for both sides when looking at who might get up.
The Jets have been the top side for a second straight year, but faced a few more challenges this year.
Both Burnside Heights and the Stars beat them during the regular season, while they were lucky to get over the line against the Bears in the semi finals.
Like last season, the Stars have gotten better as the season has progressed, looking impressive in their two finals wins.
The Jets came into this season with a lot of motivation after a disappointing performance on Windy Hill 12 months ago.
While there was some sickness that went through the club Grand Final week, the reality was they were beaten by a better side in Strathmore on the day.
The side will only be better for the experience of last season.
Of those who played in last year’s grand final, 12 played in the side’s semi final win against the Bears.
The stars remain for the Jets in Terira Fry, Haylea Cooke, Zoe Hardiman and Alisa Magri, but the spread has increased with a number of players stepping up.
Nicolette Paschalis who is one of the smallest players on the field has stepped up from under-18s this season and provided another option up forward for the Jets.
She has 39 goals for the season, the fourth most in the division.
Talia Motta, who could still be playing Under-18s, kicked two goals in the semi final including the winner with four seconds to go.
Chanel Caruso and Amy Hakim are others that have continued to make inroads for the Jets.
The Stars on the other hand have built on a Preliminary Final appearance from 12 months ago.
They lost a few players in the off-season and had a couple sign on VFL lists, but managed to add some more talent to the squad.
The Stars have more depth than last season and have had an increase in playing numbers which also helps.
Jessie Hulett, who kicked five goals in the semi final against Gisborne has added some more experience to the Stars forward line and is their leading goal kicker.
Casee Gazelle crossed from Aberfeldie and made an impact, while Neve Crowley has taken her game to a new level.
Meg Runting is one who has had the opportunity to play at the higher level this season and has come back through the final stages of the season and fired in finals.
A lot has changed for the Stars since their first grand final in 2019.
For the Stars, just two players who played in the Preliminary Final last week remain from the 2019 premiership team in Runting and Candice Peterson.
Playing coach Marie Napoli is also no stranger to Grand Final day in the EDFL either, coaching Pascoe Vale to the first standalone EDFL Women’s Premiership in 2018.
The two sides enter the grand final familiar with each other, having played each other three times this season.
The Jets had a big win back in Round 1, before the margin was 13 points in favour of the Jets the second time.
The Stars, who were the only team to beat the Jets in the regular season last year, then had a big win in Round 13, the Jets' second loss of the season.
The key for the Jets is to get their running game going and link up a bit more.
They struggled with that early in the semi final, but once they got that going they were hard to stop and produced plenty of inside 50s.
If they can get Alisa Magri in the game early, that would be vital in their hopes and get the side and the crowd up and going.
On the other end, they have to stop the Stars early in the game.
All six goals the Stars have conceded in their two finals games have come in the final quarter, when the game has been over.
The Stars bring plenty of momentum into the grand final and have looked the best team in the final series so far.
Sometimes playing each week in finals pays off and if the last two weeks are anything to go by, it could work in the Stars favour.
They are another side that likes to link up and move the ball quickly and once they get going, they are hard to stop.
The big ground of Windy Hill should suit the Stars with plenty of room to run and carry.
While the Jets will likely go in favourites having been the top side all season, this game shapes up as one that could be a cracker.
Can Airport West be stopped?
That is the biggest question heading into the Airport Toyota Women’s Division Two Grand Final between Airport West and Aberfeldie 2.
The Eagles have produced one of the more dominant seasons in senior football in the league in a number of years and will go into the grand final red hot favourites.
The Eagles are yet to lose a game this season and can complete an almost perfect season.
Their first match against Abers was called off in the first half due to an injury, with the Eagles leading 4.3 (27) - 0.0 (0) at the time, which is the only thing stopping them from having won all their games.
Of the 12 matches when they took to the field, having had two forfeits against them, they averaged 114 points per game, while conceding on average just 4.3 point per game
No team has kicked more than two goals against them and their lowest winning margin was 57 points.
Five of the top six leading goal kickers are Airport West players.
Emily Gipp leads the way with 51 goals, winning a second straight leading goal kicking award.
Abers on the other hand has had to work harder to make it through to the grand final.
Reforming a second side, having previously in 2019, Abers becomes the first second team to win through to a grand final.
Abers were the clear second best team, finishing with three more wins than both Coburg Districts and Moonee Valley 2.
They have been pushed and been able to come away with some thrilling wins late in the season, most recently in the Preliminary Final against the Fog, which they won by three points.
Abers' Premier Division side is also in the grand final which is a remarkable achievement for the club, but could impact who lines up for Abers in the early game.
The first task for Abers on Saturday is they need to put scoreboard pressure on early in the grand final.
Last year’s Grand Final which the Eagles controlled for a large part, was wet and slippery at times with teams finding it hard to score.
Abers needs to lock down and limit the ball getting into the Eagles forward line. Once they get in there, there’s too many options to stop them all.
If they can then get it forward, they need to find different avenues to score.
Jacqueline Wade is the key in the Abers forward line, sitting fourth in the league goal kicking with 19.
She kicked a bag of seven late in the season and has been able to score a bit more in the back half of the season.
Wade also has some experience on the big stage, being part of Abers' Premier Division premiership back in 2019.
Michelle Reid is the next best with eight goals and Eloise Sexton is the only other player to kick at least five goals.
Lily Robinson has been Abers' most consistent player this season, named in the best six times.
Felicity Whelan, Emelia D'Aquila, and Jessica Moloney, who was best on ground in the Preliminary Final win, are other standouts this season.
For the Eagles, the task for them heading into the Grand Final is to just stick with what they’ve done all season.
Most of the team has played on the big stage at Windy Hill, but this year they go in as favourites, not underdogs.
They’ve got the goal scoring ability and their midfield and defence have made it hard for other teams to score.
Defender Natasha Campbell leads the way being named in the best seven times, with nine players being named in the top six at least four times.
They’ve got Cheyene Macumber, who won the league best and fairest last year, and Shae Montrose, who finished runners up, showing the star power.
All things point to an Airport West premiership to go through the season undefeated, but we’ve seen stranger things happen on Grand Final days.
THIS WEEKEND’S FIXTURES
ABERFELDIE v OAK PARK
🎥 Cluch TV
📻 98.9 North West FM
Saturday 2:25pm at Windy Hill
GREENVALE v ESSENDON DOUTTA STARS
🎥 Cluch TV
Saturday 12:20pm at Windy Hill
AIRPORT WEST v ABERFELDIE 2
🎥 Cluch TV
Saturday 10:15am at Windy Hill
