Battle of Macarthur: Bulls FC Academy and Macarthur Rams meet in the NSW NPL Women’s decider

Newcomers Bulls FC Academy believe they can dethrone reigning champions Macarthur Rams in their first ever NSW NPL Women’s grand final on Sunday. Here’s how they plan on doing it.

Bulls FC Academy will take on reigning NPL NSW Women's champions Macarthur Rams in the 2023 grand final

After 26 rounds and two blockbuster semi-finals, only two teams remain to fight it out for the NPL NSW Women's Championship.

Bulls FC Academy have made it to the final in their first ever season in the competition, taking down premiers APIA Leichhardt 2-1 in the semis to book a date with reigning champions and local rivals Macarthur Rams.

“From the start we said we were a top four team,” Bulls captain and goalkeeper Trudy Simmons said.

“All credit to the club and our coach Jamie for putting together such a great team.

“This whole week lead up with the team has been great, the girls are buzzing.”

Bulls FC Academy stunned premiers APIA Leichhardt in the NPL NSW Women’s semi-final. Photo: Damian Briggs/Speedmedia

The two teams have met twice over the season with the Rams coming out on top both times with a 4-1 win in round 11, and a 3-1 win in round 24.

“The first game they probably didn’t know how we played and were just learning from it,” Rams player Madison McComasky said.

“They definitely did their homework for the second, they’d obviously changed their game plan and it was a really close one.”

Macarthur Rams in the NPL NSW Women's competition. Picture: Alen Delic

The loss to the Rams at the back-end of the season was the only black mark for the Bulls, who otherwise boasted five wins in six matches as they scraped their way into the finals series.

McComasky said her team isn’t relying on past performances, knowing how strong the Bulls defence is especially with Simmons behind the goal.

“Trudy is really, really strong, we’ve had a lot of shots against her and they just go nowhere,” McComasky said.

“They’re really good defensively and are a hard team to break down so that’s something we need to focus on in the game.”