Oakleigh Cannons, South Melbourne meet in 100th Dockerty Cup final

This year’s Dockerty Cup is that extra bit special as heated rivals Oakleigh Cannons and South Melbourne battle for the 100th Cup and their own slice of history.

Oakleigh and South Melbourne clash in the Dockerty Cup final.

Saturday’s Dockerty Cup final is just that little bit more special.

It is the 100th year of the cup, one of the oldest club competitions in the world.

Add to that Oakleigh Cannons eyeing back-to-back titles and NPL Victoria rival South Melbourne looking to end a nine-year drought.

It’s all to play for at the Home of the Matildas in Bundoora.

Oakleigh is through to its third straight cup final and having claimed its maiden title last year, with a 3-0 win over Heidelberg United, to hoping to defend its prize.

Oliver Kubilay in action for Oakleigh Cannons. Picture: Hamish Blair

South Melbourne, meanwhile, is an eight-time winner but hasn’t held the cup aloft since 2015.

The Cannons have had the wood over Hellas in recent years and has bragging right this season after a 2-1 win at Lakeside Stadium and draw at Jack Edwards Reserve.

In their most recent final meeting, Oakleigh claimed a dominant 5-0 win in the 2022 NPL Victorian grand final.

Cannons star Oliver Kubilay scored the match-winning goal at Lakeside Stadium in July and was looking forward to the challenge.

“It will be a really good game, every time we play South it’s feisty and a close game,” Kubilay said.

“It’s a final, you can’t understate how big the game is.

“Winning trophies is something you aspire to at the start of every season and like every year we look at the Dockerty Cup as something we want to get.

“Back-to-back would be nice, it’s the third final in a row, so it’s something we expect of each other.”

Nahuel Bonada in action for South Melbourne. Picture: Andrew Batsch

South Melbourne eyeing a local treble, leading the league premiership and warm favourites to win the championship.

The Dockerty Cup is the first target.

Nahuel Bonada is a new addition at Lakeside Stadium this season and revealed the cup was a big focus in setting pre-season goals.

“It’s one of the first big objectives that we have as a group and as a club,” Bonada said.

“We have an opportunity to make a statement as a club.

“It’s one of three that we have on our table and it’s up to us to get them.

“It’s been a big focus, every game we played we took it that way.

“Now making the final, finals don’t come around every day, so we’re taking it very seriously and will throw everything at it.”

South Melbourne only needs a point in its final two games to claim a second premiership in three seasons.

After a shock loss to Dandenong City at Lakeside Stadium, Bonada said the playing group had been quick to reset.

“Dandenong City was after a big week, like the one coming, but it’s not an excuse,” he said.

“We changed the page last Friday and had a big win against Port Melbourne and move closer to our goal of winning the league.”

Oakleigh sits third on the NPL Victoria ladder and is targeting a home final.

Whether that’s an elimination final or preliminary final, Kubilay said the club would be doing all it could to win its final two matches and see where that took it.

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“We’ve got two more games left in the league, we’ll try to get six points and that second or third spot,” he said.

“It’s tight, we’re annoyed we’ve put it in the hands of other teams but you can’t dwell on results.

“We’d love a home final, so we just need to win those game games and see what happens in finals.”

The Dockerty Cup final kicks off at 3pm at the Home of the Matildas.