Women ready to make history

IT will be a step into the unknown for South East Suns and Lindisfarne in the inaugural SFL women’s grand final at North Hobart Oval today.

Just ask Suns captain Hannah Scott, who won the SFLW best-and-fairest award, and Lindisfarne onballer Janita Mather, who was runner-up by a vote.

After an initial thrashing of Lindisfarne by ESE, two of their past three games were decided by less than a goal and the other was a draw. Most players from both sides have never played in a grand final and almost half of the women playing today are in their first year of football.

On top of that, Lindisfarne won its preliminary final at North Hobart Oval last weekend, but the Suns have never set foot on the traditional home of Tasmanian football.

So both sides are nervous and thrilled about their grand final chances.

“We are so excited,” Mather said.

“We have 10 girls who have never played women’s AFL before so for them to be stepping up to a grand final in their first year is a massive achievement.”

Scott hopes her on-ballers can give the side an advantage.

“We are good in the midfield so if we can start off well there we might get a good lead,” she said.

“We were in the State League last year and then we were brought down this year.

“It suits us and we are loving it.”