A thrilling final round of the Premier Division home-and-away season saw the St Kilda Sharks topple the Eastern Devils by five points and Melbourne University defeat Diamond Creek with the last goal of the day, resulting in the Devils heartbreakingly missing a finals berth on percentage.
While Eastern must now focus on 2016, four teams move on towards the big dance.
Let’s take a look at this Sunday’s Premier Division semi final match-ups.
Melbourne University (3rd) vs St Kilda Sharks (4th)
VU Whitten Oval, 12pm Sunday
The big query in this elimination final will be how St Kilda backs up from what was essentially another elimination final against the Eastern Devils last week.
If there’s no letdown, the Saints are well placed to defeat University, having already done so in two out of three encounters this season. In Rounds 4 and 9, St Kilda’s Moanna Hope was crucial in booting bags of four and five goals in eight and 27-point victories respectively. However, most recently in Round 13, University held her to just two majors while jumping the Sharks with a four-goal-to-one first term and holding off a St Kilda comeback to prevail by seven points.
Uni’s leading goalkicker for 2015 Karly Tapner kicked three snags that day, while a couple of their brightest stars Emma Kearney and Ellie Blackburn got off the leash.
After last week, these teams are used to matches going down to the wire, and this one might be no different.
Darebin (1st) vs Diamond Creek (2nd)
VU Whitten Oval, 2.30pm Sunday
These teams will have prepared well for this qualifying final, having wrapped up the top two spots a couple of weeks ago.
Darebin has lost only once in 2015 and that was to Melbourne University back in Round 2, so Diamond Creek will hold no fear. The Falcons have accounted for them three times this season, by 39 points in Round 1, 26 points in Round and 43 points in Round 10.
Darebin’s leading goalkickers this year, Katie Brennan and Darcy Vescio, kicked three and six goals respectively across those matches, while star Falcons Elise O’Dea and Daisy Pearce were regulars in the best players.
Diamond Creek, meanwhile, will be hoping for a big performance from captain Steph Chiocci – and a bag of majors from its leading goalkicker Christina Bernardi – to counter the might of their opponents.
How both clubs counter the missing talls in Aasta O’Connor and Tiarna Ernst will also be compelling viewing.
Despite Darebin’s dominant home-and-away season, both teams start this game on level pegging and anything could happen.
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Photo: Arj Giese
Last Modified on 28/08/2015 12:03