Saints go marching into Grand Final, Caulfield continue to defy odds

The first week of the William Buck Premier Women’s finals saw two scintillating contests go right down to the wire, as Caulfield live to fight another day after overcoming Kew by 4 points, while St Kevin’s have booked their spot in the Grand Final after an impressive turnaround victory against Old Scotch.

Caulfield Grammarians kept their fairytale run alive, defeating 2023 Grand Finalists in Kew 5.7 (37) to 4.9 (33) in a hard-fought contest.

The two sides came into the match with the ledger from their previous two meetings squared at 1-1, with Kew taking an impressive 39-point win back in Round 2, while Caulfield came out on top by a single point in their nail-biting Round 16 encounter.

With the sun shining on Box Hill City Oval, Kew came out the more switched-on side, launching the ball forward early where they were able to keep it locked in their offensive half for the first ten minutes of the game. Caulfield struggled to rebound the ball out of their defensive 50, with Kew’s structure and pressure making it impossible for them to break through.

Kew failed to capitalise on their early dominance, registering just four behinds, before Caulfield made the most in a lapse in Kew’s pressure, finding the composure to slowly work the ball into their own forward half. Caulfield strained to find a target inside 50, however, with the Kew defenders seeming to intercept the ball on every entry.

Frustratingly for both sides, neither team could find a major in the first term, leaving Kew ahead by a narrow 2 points at the first change.

Caulfield came out firing in the second and were rewarded at the 3-minute mark when Ella Baxter made the most of her opportunity to kick the first goal of the day. Kew reclaimed the lead when Claire Dyett scored their first major, however, it did not last long as Maggie Minchin soon kicked Caulfield’s second after being rewarded a free kick in the goal square.

Kew remained under siege for the rest of the quarter but were lucky to only concede a few more points due to Caulfield’s wayward kicking, with eight points splitting the two at the main break.

The third term was a yo-yoing affair, as the two sides took turns kicking goals. Disappointingly for Kew, Matilda Mottram marked and converted from the goal square with only minutes remaining on the clock, allowing Caulfield to take a game-high 13-point buffer into the final term.

Momentum swung back in Kew’s favour in the final term, as they threw everything they had at the Grammarians. They edged closer but were unfortunately let down by a couple of narrow misses, until Rachel McDonough kicked a captain’s goal to bring them back within 5 points. It was a frenetic final 5 minutes of play, as Kew scrambled to get the ball forward while Caulfield did all they could to wind down the clock.

Ultimately, Kew had left their push too late, falling short by a devastating four points at the final siren to bring their 2024 season to an end.

For Caulfield, the growth of the side this year has been evident for all to see, with this performance testimony to the united front they have been able to build. There were five individual goal-scorers as all players on the field played their role in getting their side over the line.

On the back of her Rising Star nomination, Charlie Anderson received the coaches votes for her brilliant performance in defence, capped off by a goal of her own.

On Sunday, all eyes were on Elsternwick Oval to witness the Semi Final between Old Scotch and St Kevin’s, that would determine which side would have to face Caulfield Grammarians in the Preliminary Final and which side would earn the right to progress straight through to the Grand Final.

The knowledge of what was at stake had nerves running rampant on both teams early, as both teams were uncharacteristically fumbly and wasteful in front of goal.

It was only Anna Vrsecky who managed to work the ball between the big sticks to score the first major of the day, giving Old Scotch a 5-point advantage at the first break.

Dean Anderson’s Scotch Stars returned to the field energised, displaying a greater level of polish than the St Kevin’s Saints, who appeared to have forgotten how to play their attacking brand of football. Goals to Millie Fraser-Smith and Emily Tassiopoulos saw the Stars head into the rooms at half time 18 points clear, with St Kevin’s yet to score a goal.

When the going gets tough, St Kevin’s get going, and that is what they did in the third term. Kate Stanton provided the spark to ignite her team, setting up their first goal and then booting one of her own, leaving the Old Scotch players scrambling to regain control.

St Kevin’s were able to snatch the lead after star forward Sarah Cameron took a strong contested mark and converted truly.

With the pressure gauge now through the roof, it was evident how much this result meant to both sides. Rewarded with a free kick in the goal square, Ashleigh Summers slotted St Kevin’s fourth consecutive goal of the quarter to afford the Saints a handy 9-point advantage going into the final break.

Sarah Cameron continued to make up for her quiet first half, kicking the first goal of the last quarter to make things difficult for Old Scotch. Credit to the Stars, they refused to go down that easily and when Maggie Wilson kicked a beautiful set shot to draw Old Scotch back within 8 points, it seemed as though things might just go their way.

A chaotic final few minutes ensued, as Old Scotch continued to roll the dice, moving the ball forward with pace while St Kevin’s found themselves sweating as the clock ticked down. Annabelle Embelton was tremendous in defence, with multiple goal-saving efforts denying Old Scotch of the fairytale finish. As the final siren sounded, St Kevin’s led Old Scotch 5.6 (36) to 4.4 (28), calling all Saints fans aboard the Tommy Purcell train, running express to the Grand Final.

As is well documented, “defence wins premierships”, and it was suitably the defenders who received the coach’s plaudits for their respective sides this week. Nadia von Bertouch and Bella Gray were two strong pillars in defence for Old Scotch, crucial in holding St Kevin’s goalless in the first half, while Annabelle Embelton, Lauren Suleiman and Emily Condon all contributed to keep the Old Scotch forwards quiet by their usual sharp-shooting standards.

Despite the disappointing result, Old Scotch will be sure to benefit from the experience of playing in a competitive finals match against another top team as they look ahead to the Preliminary Final against Caulfield.

Old Scotch coach Dean Anderson said, “We certainly took some learnings from the game to work on for this week. St Kevin’s got us in key stages at stoppage clearance and that put us under pressure into a strong breeze. We have some key decision-making learnings, and defensive craft to sharpen up on.”

“We are looking forward to and expect a very hard final knowing that Caulfield have a very potent offensive game.”

While Old Scotch have won their previous two match ups against Caulfield by a cumulative margin of 101 points, Caulfield have been steadily rising as the season has progressed. Although Old Scotch will go in as clear favourites, this is Finals football and anything can happen in September.

Get yourself to Martin Reserve for the first bounce at 2:30pm this Sunday to bear witness as the next page of history is written in the William Buck Premier Women’s competition.