VAFA R8 live stream: Premier Women’s big guns St Kevins and Kew clash for first time in 2023

It wasn’t pretty, but Kew won’t care. They got some pay back for last year’s VAFA Women’s Premier grand final defeat and are still yet to be beaten in 2023. Relive all the action from two big games.

Kew have now beaten two of their biggest rivals in consecutive weeks to take charge of the VAFA Premier Women’s competition.

Seven days after beating Old Scotch in a thriller, Kew held off a late challenge from premiers St Kevins to get some revenge for last year’s grand final defeat.

Kew only scored two points in the second half but they did enough in an impressive first half to deserve victory. The 23-21 scoreline wasn’t helped by the muddy conditions.

Meanwhile, competition leaders Kew got a big day for the club off to a winning start with 28-point success over VAFA Women’s Premier Reserves cellar-dwellers St Kevins.

Most of the game’s 42 points were scored in the first half and Kew led 22-7 at the main break.

The conditions made things tough in the second and Kew, who have still yet to concede 100 points for the season, kicked the only two goals to eventually win 35-7.

CATCH THE REPLAYS ABOVE AND BELOW.

VAFA Round 8 - St Kevins v Kew FC (Women Reserves)

PREVIEW

They were the two top teams last year, and after seven rounds of the new season, they sit first and second again.

It’s turning into quite a rivalry.

You can catch the Kew v St Kevin’s VAFA Women’s Reserves/Premier women’s double header LIVE on KommunityTV from 11.40am on Saturday from TH King Oval. See the live stream schedule below.

Kew should be hungrier than ever to knock off the reigning premiers after last year’s grand final.

While Stevs had the last laugh with a 23-point victory in the decider, the Bears forced them to play an extra game after defeating them by eight points in the qualifying final.

In the home-and-away season, the two sides won a game each, with the final head-to-head record finishing at 2-2 for the 2022 season.

On Saturday, it’s the competition’s best offense - Stevs - coming up against the best defence -Bears.

Stevs have scored the most points in the Premier competition this season with 261 (Kew: 242) and the Bears have had the least points scored against them with 77 (Stevs: 130).

St Kevin’s Teah Stepan on the attack in last year’s grand final. Pic: Valeriu Campan

Stevs enter the game with a 5-1 record and the Bears are undefeated with a 6-0 record, which they maintained last week with a nail-biting six-point win over Old Scotch.

Stevs are coming off a solid 38-point win over Collegians last week.

Both sides have lost some key players from last season, including last year’s Premier leading goalkicker Sarah Cameron, who departed Skevs for VFL, while last year’s Premier best and fairest winner, Dakota Villiva from the Bears, tore her ACL in pre-season.

Giving the Bears extra motivation will be the fact they are celebrating 10 years of women’s football at the club.

Bears coach Jessica Burger said she was looking forward to coming up against their biggest rival.

“We were definitely put to the test against Old Scotch on the weekend, so excited to have another challenge again this week,” Burger said.

“And SKOBS, off the back of their flag-winning season last year, will no doubt be another really big test for us.

Kew coach Jess Burger.

“It’s nice to get it just before the bye round.

“We have had some really good battles over the last 12 months - and no better example of that than the grand final.”

Burger said her side were focusing on playing their own brand of football.

“Largely this first part of the season is about making sure we understand the way that we want to play,” she said.

“And then we want to be able to respond to how other teams challenge us, make sure that our systems that are in place can be challenged, pushed and developed.

“Whatever team we come up against, we want to put our best foot forward.

“Naturally, I’m sure it (the grand final) will be on a few of the players’ minds, but this part of the season is still about finding our own way.”

In the Premier reserves, the Bears sit in top spot while Skevs are on the bottom of the table.