The 2021 ORFFW home and away season has concluded and the top 4 teams have qualified for the knockout finals series over rounds 8 and 9 of the AFLW season. As with previous seasons the 2021 ORFFW finals series is configured to maximise the number of first time clashes for the year in the first week in recognition of a lopsided 7 week partial home and away draw. With the Devils having already played the Krushers and Sirens and the Mystix also having already played the Sirens there is only one combination available that features 2 such matchups. Prelim Final 1 - Lake St Clair @dmandrews (6-1, 5532 points scored, 1st) vs Manildra TTH (5-2, 5309 points scored, 3rd) The sides share a healthy rivalry and combined for 1678 points scored in an 861-817 victory when they last met in the final round of the 2020 ORFFW season. Another high scoring match is a strong chance but rest assured the 2 coaches want a victory above all else and will be happy to close down the game and play ugly if it helps them to improve their chances of qualifying for next weeks big dance. Prelim Final 2 - Katanning @FreoDockers (6-1, 5346 points scored, 2nd) vs Scone @Tracey (4-2-1, 4598 points scored, 4th) At first glance this is a match that appears to be one sided and the last clash between them was a massive 230 point win to the Krushers on their home turf. However the Sirens are by far the most improved team in the competition and will be trying their darnedest to complete a fairytale journey from wooden spoon 2nd runners up to Grand Finalists within 12 months. The home side will be tightening up their defence after nearly conceding a 4 figure score at their last outing but can rely on a host of matchwinners across the park to step up under the pressure of finals football this weekend. If it is close late in the game don't count out the Sirens who featured in 5 regular season games out of 7 that were decided by razor thin margins of 22 points or less. ----------- With the mens AFL comp kicking off this week the Friday AFLW match is another early 510pm start and with Saturday action completed before sundown the full ORFFW round lockout will apply from 1240pm Sunday afternoon. Hopefully some regular score updates will be flowing over the weekend as the prelim finals are played out. Good luck to all the teams still competing at the business end as they continue the battle for the ultimate prize.
The Krushers go in unchanged, however there are some emergencies being played out of position due to an escalating injury list.... Def: Hannah Priest, Issy Huntington, Kerryn Harrington (Bianca Jakobsson) Mid: Bri Davey, Jaimee Lambert, Hayley Miller, Steph Cain Ruck: Rhi Watt (Lauren Bella) Fwd: Jordan Ivey, Katie Brennan, Daisy Bateman (Emily Goodsir) IC: Tarni Brown, Sarah Hosking (Celine Moody)
Lake St Clair Devils Finals week 1 team Out: Emma Swanson (suspended) In: Tahlia Randall (new) Def: Meghan McDonald, Sarah Allen, Tahlia Randall (Amber Ward) Mid: Kirsty Lamb, Lily Mithen, Monique Conti, Catherine Phillips (Najwa Allen) Ruc: Emma King (Jesse Tawhio-Wardlaw) Fwd: Jasmine Garner, Eden Zanker, Aishling Sheridan (Tait Mackrill) Int: Stephanie Chiocci, Hannah Dunn (Tahlia Meyer) Lake St Clair Devils vice-captain Emma Swanson will miss the remainder of the ORFFW season after receiving a two game suspension and has been replaced in defense by Tahlia Randall who is making her Devils debut after being named an emergency for all seven home and away rounds of the 2021 season. In the Devils final against the Manildra Mystix both defences are going to have their work cut out to curtail the opposition forward line and the game might be decided by which defense does a better job of this. Even with Swanson out only two of the Devils 13 player team for week 1 of the finals weren’t at the club at the end of 2020, Lily Mithen and Tahlia Randall are the exceptions having been recruited at the 2021 PSD. Three players in the team have been redrafted by the Devils in 2021 after being delisted before this season’s PSD, midfielders Steph Chiocci and Catherine Phillips at the PSD followed by forward Aishling Sheridan at the MSD. Eight LSC Devils players for the club’s first ever final were selected by the club at the inaugural ORFFW draft - Meg Mac, Sarah Allen, Kirsty Lamb, Monique Conti, Emma King, Jasmine Garner, Eden Zanker and Hannah Dunn.
The Mystix selection committee have made 1 change for the 2021 ORFFW Preliminary Final against the Devils @dmandrews with Maddy McMahon replacing the injured Jordan Allen. Note this team is subject to change, once Sunday AFLW line-ups are announced Def = Cuthbertson, C Randall, McMahon (Molan) Mid = Drennan, Gavalas, A McDonald, Prespakis (M King) Fwd = Hore, E Antonio, Ashmore (Georgostathis) Ruck = Seymour (Parry) IC = Dillon, Elise O'Dea (Zreika) 2nds - Metcalfe, M McKinnon Injured - Millie Brown, Jordan Allen
After the early Saturday match Manildra now lead LSC @dmandrews 5/369 to 2/116 approaching quarter time.
After the 310pm match the Mystix now lead 6/409 to 5/236 midway through the 2nd quarter, with the Devils @dmandrews holding a 3:2 advantage in the next game and their big gun Jasmine Garner looking to post a big score.
As at the completion of Saturdays play Manildra have maintained the lead 8/535 to 8/355. For the home side @dmandrews Mon Conti, Sarah Allan, Kirsty Lamb, Lily Mithen and Eden Zanker remain while Gab Seymour, Chelsea Randall, Rhi Metcalfe, Ebony Antonio and Kate Hore are stil to run out for the Mystix.
Half way mark and the Krushers are in deep trouble 8/378 ave 47.2 against the Sirens 7/435 ave 62.1 Nothing short of a miracle will help the Krushers tomorrow and it will come down to the last match of the round with 2 players on each side potentially making the difference.
It appears that a major boilover has occurred with the reigning premiers Devils @dmandrews knocked out by the Mystix. Unofficial scores have Manildra on 825 and LSC on a club record low of 606, a week after they set the ORFFW competition record score to close out the regular season.
Scores not confirmed in the Krushers v Sirens match.... however it looks like the Krushers have crashed and burned and the fairytale for the Sirens will continue into a grand final... congrats and well played
Congratulations on the Manildra Mystix victory @TheTassieHawk. A week sure is a long time in ORFFW footy with the Lake St Clair Devils going from posting an ORFFW record score of 993 last week to posting a club record low score of 606 this week. The Mystix have beaten the Devils in a final in both seasons that the ORFFW have had finals - the GF of the 2019 stand-alone season and now the second season of the keeper league this season. The Mystix have been more consistent than the Devils in 2021, have posted multiple 800+ scores throughout the season and deserve the victory.
The 2 ORFFW preliminary finals saw the bookie favourites rolled by the long-shots, as Manildra and Scone posted upset wins to qualify for the 2021 big dance. The Scone victory saw them post their highest ORFFW score and largest ORFFW winning margin as they ground out the win against a Katanning side that lost their final 2 matches after a commanding 6-0 start to the 2021 season, and eerily enough finished the season with the tally of “666”. In my experience of fantasy footy scoring a record high score is associated with one certainty - a significant and worrying drop off the following week. So it proved for the Lake St Clair side who posted their club record low score and losing margin this week, which provided Manildra with an easier than expected task to knock the reigning premiers over and to qualify for the Grand Final. Commiserations to @dmandrews and @FreoDockers for their untimely exits and congrats to @Tracey for the Sirens win. The ORFFW will welcome fans of all teams along to watch the Grand Final at Flour Girls Park this weekend before a capacity crowd and also to watch the Too Serious State Of Origin All Stars match curtain raisers which will see the cream of each ORFFW side representing themselves and their teams and communities on the final weekend of the season.
In a week where towns across NSW have experienced tremendous floods and devastation the ORFFW Grand Final sees 2 tiny NSW towns face off to decide the destination of the holy grail of the 2021 ORFFW premiership flag. Wikipedia will tell you this match is Scone -horse capital of Australia - population 4624 (named 1831) versus Manilda population 464 (proclaimed 1885). In actual fact it’s the pride of the entire Upper Hunter region versus the team representing the folks of every small NSW town west of Orange. A cavalcade of cars, buses and utes have choked the Golden and Mitchell Highways since midweek as the Sirens diehards have travelled the 345km journey to see their heroes run out in the big dance. A capacity crowd of 2000 is expected and the 3 pubs in Manildra have ordered 10 times their usually weekly amount of firewater to quench the thirst of fans of both the Grand Final sides. A stunning start to the year and the ability to dig deep when needed has the Sirens one win away from achieving the ultimate fairlyale of a wooden spoon runners up (2-4) in 2020 to Premiers transformation in a single season, all achieved while their franchise player Nina Morrison looks on from the sidelines and provides line coaching support to @Tracey. The fairytale run of the Sirens has not been without it’s hairy moments as a narrow Round 6 loss to the Devils @dmandrews coupled with a sluggish start to the Round 7 match against Glenbrook @ver_redit_optatum had them uncertain of a finals berth until the final seconds of the regular season before a late matchwinning burst got them over the line.. The Mystix have risen from the depths of an 8th placed (2-4) finish and feared a similar debacle after 2 close losses in the opening 4 rounds – including a 4 points way loss to their Grand final opponents - had them languishing in 7th and needing to reel off 3 successive wins to ensure their qualification to the finals. Both sides shone on the preliminary finals stage to upset the Krushers @FreoDockers and Devils and now they clash for the second time this season with history to be made and eyes of the ORFFW and fantasy football world upon them.
The 2 sides have been named and will line up as follows (pending changes after Saturday night selection) The powerful Sirens @Tracey midfield will be looking to shark the taps of Metcalfe and bomb it into their dynamic forward line of matchwinners. Meanwhile the Mystix will try to clamp down on the supply and rebound with speed to their own forward 3 and use a strong bench to provide extra contested grunt and run when the starting 13 need a breather in what is sure to be an intense battle over the 100 minutes of action. Match by match - this is the breakdown of players - to allow for reasonably quick calculation of the progress scores #1 - Seymour vs Fitzgerald #2 - E Antonio, Ashmore, Gavalas vs Roux, Campbell #3 - Hore vs Grider #4 - McMahon, A McDonald, Drennan vs nil #5 - Randall, Metcalfe vs Hatchard #6 - Prespakis, Elise O'Dea vs Bennetts, Plane, A Parker, Egan, E McKinnon, Vescio #7 - Dillon vs B Smith, Gibson It is clear the Mystix will need to start strong and build a big lead to make the most of their 10 to 5 player advantage prior to the GWS vs Carlton match and the Sirens will be hitting the scoreboard hard in the final stages as they look to take out the 2021 ORFFW decider.
An entertaining match has the home side leading 8/469 to the visitors @Tracey 4/199, who will be looking for Hatchard to kick the second half off well before a 7 player assault in Sunday's middle game will give us all a better idea of which way the grand final will pan out. #5 - Randall, Metcalfe vs Hatchard #6 - Prespakis, Elise O'Dea vs Bennetts, Plane, A Parker, Egan, E McKinnon, Vescio #7 - Dillon vs B Smith, Gibson
The Round 2 home and away match between these sides was a 4 point margin and the Grand Final is also poised to go down to the wire with the Mystix 12/700 (Dillon) currently leading Scone @Tracey 11/643 (edited from 638 posted earlier - B Smith, Gibson) on unofficial scores.
Wow To the Mystix's we thankyou for a very hard fought but exciting game The Sirens really have had a fairytale 2021 session and one that was unexpected. Catch you all for 2022 season.