As we head towards the playoffs, finals positions in the 2009 Central ABL men’s and women’s leagues are well and truly open, producing critical round 17 and 18 games for a number of teams.

In the men’s competition, league leaders Sturt and Norwood should be involved in a tantalising round 18 matchup, to determine both the minor premiership and home court advantage throughout the finals. The teams are tied with a 14 and 2 record, and if they win this week’s games against West Adelaide and Central Districts respectively, the round 18 result is all that matters. Even a loss to either team still leaves both open for the minor premiership, though a Norwood loss leaves them with the unenviable task of overturning Sturt’s 49 point head-to-head advantage.

A Norwood win over Centrals is not a given, the Lions fighting for their own lives and in great form. Despite the loss of Dan Carlin (AIS) and Oliver Prince, their July has been impressive, with wins over South Adelaide, Eastern and West Adelaide and a solid effort against Sturt. Only one game out of the top five, the unlikely scenario of both a win over Norwood and South upsetting North could set up another pivotal round 18 game between Centrals and North in which only the winner survives. With the incentive of a rare chance at finals, expect the Lions to leave it all on the floor.

West Adelaide’s women are two games clear at the top of the ladder, but due to a loss against Forestville last week, are still not guaranteed of claiming the minor premiership. If Forestville win their remaining two games against Southern and Eastern, the Bearcats still need to defeat either Sturt or Southern to be certain of a home-court advantage through the finals.

Battling to stay alive are 6th placed Norwood, who host Centrals and Sturt in their final two games, 5th placed North who play South and Centrals and 3rd placed Sturt who play West and Norwood. One entertaining scenario is that a rejuvenated Norwood, buoyed by the return of Jess Foley, could beat Centrals and Sturt, and Sturt could lose to West this week. This would leave Norwood and Sturt with an 11 & 7 record, potentially tied for fifth place, leaving the final outcome down to the margin of the round 18 game between the two teams.

Another potential outcome is if in addition to the above scenario, North loses to South and defeats Centrals, North could also be tied with Norwood and Sturt with 11 wins and 7 losses. In this case, Sturt and Norwood would scrape into the finals and North would miss out, on the basis of their 1 and 3 record in the 6 games between the three tied teams.

Based on the above, Marion should be packed to the rafters for both games on Saturday, but expect a number of teams to be tested across the league, with the finals picture becoming clearer next week.