Pies keep their eyes on the prize

NORTH Geelong and Drysdale will ramp up their premiership assaults this weekend when finals action heats up in the AFL Goldfields women’s competition.

Dominating their maiden Goldfields season after last year’s VFLW appearance, ladder-topping North Geelong stands undefeated in division 1 and hosts Redan in tomorrow’s second semi-final.

Despite 15 players from their 2016 team advancing to the Geelong Cats’ VFLW side, leaving only seven existing players, the Magpies have reaped success.

While they have faced several injuries over recent weeks, coach Shannon Knox said her side was fresh after a week’s hiatus. “That’s (premiership) been the vision and we haven’t taken our eye off that,” Knox said.

Despite the transitional year, Knox said the team’s focus on core values of commitment and respect had allowed the old and new players to jell effectively.

“That’s probably more important than the ability of our team,” she said. “There are a lot of girls who have the ability, but I think there’s a lot more to winning premierships than just ability.”

Division 2 side Drysdale Hawks will face off against Gisborne tomorrow in a knockout semi-final, also to be held at Osborne Park.

Drysdale’s Stuart Craven said the second-placed team would be making the most of its second chance after a loss to up-and-coming Bacchus Marsh in last week’s qualifying final. While the Hawks are also nursing injuries, Craven is confident in the depth of his squad to progress through to next week’s preliminary final.

“We’ve played Gisborne three times and we’ve won three times so that gives us a fair bit of confidence,” he said.

With women’s football growing in popularity across the region and more clubs planning to field women’s teams, there are hopes a local Geelong women’s league will be established next year.