Four teams remain in the hunt for this year’s Great Southern Football League Women’s premiership, as Royals and Albany put their seasons on the line on Saturday.
The first week of finals will see both the qualifying and elimination finals played in the GSFLW while the same finals will also be contested in the youth girls competition that was introduced for the first time this year.
The Lions and Sharks finished third and fourth respectively and will do battle at the ground they share, Retravision Stadium, to see who will progress to next week’s preliminary final.
Having won their past five games, the Lions will enter the finals full of confidence but encounter the side that has given them the most trouble in 2025.
The Sharks have won both their meetings this season, claiming a one-point triumph in round one and then prevailing by five points in round five.
However the Sharks will need to turn around their own form, having lost the last five games including a heavy defeat to Railways.
The pair will face off at 6.45pm on Saturday, the loser knocked out of the title race while the winner will progress to a preliminary final to face either Mt Barker or Denmark-Walpole.
The Sharks will be desperate to progress, having lost the past two GSFLW grand finals, and for the Lions they will be looking to avoid a second straight year of exiting in an elimination final.
The Lions are the most successful GSFLW team having won three of the six premierships awarded and boast spearhead Gracie Gibson and talented utility Nardia Humphries who loom as key players in their finals tilt.
On Friday night the Bulls and Magpies will do battle at Sounness Park with a grand final spot on the line.
The reigning premiers have enjoyed a superb regular season, their only blemish coming in round nine when a lighting issue forced their game against the Lions to be abandoned with the Lions in front.
The Bulls were 22-point winners in their most recent encounter against the Magpies and they were also victorious in round two against the same opponent by 23 points.
Kaitlin Eades and Sophie Richards are both pivotal players for the Bulls in their bid to win back-to-back flags while Rebecca MacDonald, Rebecca Goodliffe and reigning GSFLW best and fairest winner Grace Dempster will have big roles for the Magpies.
The qualifying final starts at 6.45pm on Friday.
In the youth girls competition, North Albany tackle the Magpies in the qualifying final at 5.45pm at Sounness Park on Friday and then the Lions and Tigers face off in the elimination final on Saturday from 5.45pm at Retravision Stadium.
https://thewest.com.au/news/albany-advertiser/gsflw-2025-four-teams-in-the-hunt-for-premiership-glory-as-lions-and-sharks-face-off-in-elimination-final-c-18156736
