North Adelaide, South Adelaide, Norwood and West Adelaide set for SANFLW finals series
Three months ago, these players were unsure if the women’s league would restart after the COVID-19 shutdown. Now they are gearing up for the finals.
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Four rounds had already been played but, three months ago, SANFLW stars were unsure if they would be able to finish their 2020 campaigns.
SA was in a race to contain the spread of the coronavirus and all sport was shutdown.
But, last month, with the state’s low number of new COVID-19 cases and a lack of community transmission, footy returned and the SANFL worked hard to ensure the remaining women’s game could be played with a finals series.
Now North Adelaide, South Adelaide, Norwood and West Adelaide are preparing to contest the 2020 finals series and all eyes are firmly fixed on the premiership cup.
The Panthers, two-times flag winners, take on undefeated North Adelaide this Saturday at 10.30am before the knockout semi-final between Norwood and West Adelaide at 12.20pm.
Both games are at Thebarton Oval.
Roosters skipper Leah Tynan said her side had plenty to prove.
They lost the flag decider to Norwood in the competition’s inaugural season in 2017 and South defeated them last year.
“Hopefully we can take that extra step,” Tynan said.
“For someone who’s been at North from the start, going into finals with form like this means so much.
“With new coach Krissie (Steen) coming in with new structures and some players to top us up a bit has been great.
“We are very excited with the brand of football we are playing right now.”
Sam Pratt, part of the leadership group at South, said the Roosters would be her side’s biggest threat in its quest to win a third-straight flag.
“Going for a three-peat this year, I still feel like we are the underdogs,” Pratt said.
“The year has been different but we have all just rallied together and we have built up some a lot of resilience and it’s made our bonds stronger.
“North’s coach Krissie is our previous coach and they’ve been playing some good footy so they are our biggest threat.”
West Adelaide, which has been in the competition since it began, finally earned its first finals berth.
The Bloods missed out narrowly last season after losing its minor round match.
Captain Lauren Gee (nee Rodato) was keen to lead her side into the do-or-die clash against the Redlegs.
“I am incredibly excited,” Gee said.
“There’s a lot of anticipation and we are really happy to be there.
“The (COVID-19) break was difficult to manager but we managed to stay together as a group as much as we could and when we were able to start training again, it didn’t feel like we had missed much of a beat.
“We think our best is good enough, we just can’t let ourselves be intimidated and if we play our best I think we will go deep into finals.”
Norwood claimed the inaugural SANFLW grand final before being beaten by South in the 2018 flag decider.
But skipper Ali Ferrall said her side was entering the finals as underdogs with a new coach in Chris Howie who took over from premiership mentor Steve Symonds.
“We’ve been really strong every year so we are really pumped to be in the finals again,” Ferrall said.
“After last year we had so many girls get drafted (to the AFLW) so we’ve been able to get some young girls in and they’ve been great.”