Grand Final Preview – NPL Women’s NSW
CommBank Stadium will be the venue for the blockbuster clash in the National Premier Leagues Women’s NSW Grand Final between the Macarthur Rams and APIA Leichhardt this Saturday.
It comes down to this crucial match, after 26 rounds of entertainment and hard work, as well as tough semi final battles for both sides to qualify for the ‘Big Dance’.
These two teams come into this game being the most consistent and best teams in the competition, finishing one and two on the season ending standings.
The Macarthur Rams secured the 2024 Premiership with a win on the final day of the season ironically defeating their opponents for the big final, APIA Leichhardt FC 2-1 in a direct clash to lift the Premiership trophy.
Stephen Peters’ troops will come into this game as firm favourites, with APIA carrying the underdog tag.
Results between the two teams hang in the balance, APIA won the first clash 2-1, Ash Crofts and Estelle Fragale’s goals separated by Tenealle Hay’s strike all the way back in May.
Only a couple week’s ago, the Rams struck back at Lambert Park, Kelli Brown scoring a brace with Crofts again scoring against the Rams, but that goal was only a consolation as the match and APIA’s Premiership hopes were dashed losing out 2-1.
Macarthur have been on a remarkable run in the second half of the season.
An amazing 13 consecutive games (including last weekend’s semi-final) the Rams have gone without defeat, keeping 10 clean sheets across those games.
Defensively they have tightened things up and are extremely difficult to break down, the central defensive pairing of Maya Lobo and captain Maddison McComasky have stood tall in front of the excellent Teresa Morrissey who has been a giant underneath the sticks.
It’s the midfield trio though that is the motor of this side. Darcey Malone, Mel Caceres and of course Beth Gordon have for the large part of the campaign over-run their opponents.
The Rams will hope that Gordon is fit, hobbling off in the first half in their semi-final against Sydney Olympic.
India Breier has also stepped up, her lethal left foot creating major problems for opponents, while Miku Sunaga has been in fine form all season.
Finding some scoring form at the right time in the season is Kelli Brown, scoring six goals in her last five games and will be of major importance for the Rams.
You can’t look beyond the man that has overseen this success, Stephen Peters who takes part in his third straight Grand Final with his Macarthur Rams, looking to complete the three-peat before commencing his long awaited journey as head coach of Perth Glory in the Liberty A-League Women’s competition.
APIA will be participating in their first Grand Final since gaining promotion to the top tier in what has been an excellent rise from the club.
As a club striving to be the best, a trophy here will go a long way to underlining that, having secured two pieces of silverware in 2023 and consecutive Club Championships as well.
Their form has been questionable over the last six weeks, securing three wins and three losses over that period.
That dip in form coincided with numerous injuries and player unavailability’s during that time.
One major absentee was their star attacker Ash Crofts who still managed to score 16 goals this season despite missing a month of action.
Her goals are key to coach Brad Attard’s team pushing this Rams team to their limits.
Similarly to their opponents, they have an excellent midfield with pint-sized midfielder Estelle Fragale, Mona Walker and Angelique Hristodoulou at their disposal.
They have true leaders in the centre of defence with inspirational captain Charlotte Young and Tash Prior as well as an excellent goalkeeper in Sally James.
This promises to be an unmissable game and one that everyone was hoping for to round out another fantastic season in the NPL Women’s NSW competition.
For those not able to attend the match you can catch the big match live and exclusive from 2pm on Football NSW’s YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/footballnsw
By – Nikola Pozder
