by Daniel Viles
“One. Two. Three. Sharkies!” Pre-season 2022, the players in the Bond Uni huddle are stacking hands when they hear another team across the field beat them to their own war cry. Southport had arrived and women’s Australian Rules football on the Gold Coast entered a new era.
At that time, neither club had won a Bond University QAFLW Premiership. The Bull Sharks feared the worst when the (Great White) Sharks breezed past them into a Grand Final in their first season. UQ’s victory kept the Gold Coast score at nil-all before the 2023 Bond side took the prize in its sixth season. Victory for Southport on Sunday would yield the same number of titles in less than half the time.
Southport is the favourite. Any team that wins 12 straight matches, the minor premiership and the Qualifying Final doesn’t get a say in whether it’s the favourite; it just is.
The (non-Bull) Sharks begin games like no others, 46 goals in 15 first quarters this year, 13 of those goals in the last three matches. Last time they played the Bull Sharks, they had a 12-point lead inside five minutes.
Plan A is for Georja Davies to win the hit-out and find any one of Maddy Watt, Steph O’Brien or Kierra Zerafa. If it’s Watt, she clears by hand; if it’s O’Brien or Zerafa, they thump the ball deep inside 50 before the opposition realises it’s gone.
From there, the forwards circle the defenders to pressure them into a loose ball, on which Maddy Baldwin, Hannah Davies or Maighan Fogas will swoop and score, or an inaccurate clearance, which one of Alannah Welsh, Dekota Baron or Tayla Gregory will mark and score. This has happened over and over in 2024.
Bond University is the outsider, but also the defending champion, has won its last eight matches and is one of only two teams to beat Southport this year. No team in the Bond University QAFLW fears Southport less than the Bull Sharks. Respect? Lots. Fear? Not so much.
Whereas Southport closes opposition defences in, Bond stretches them out. Their Plan A has Havana Harris tapping the ball-up to Mia Salisbury or CJ Landwehr to hit a wide target with their laser-like passes, or finding Courtney Sexton or Ari Clarke on the charge.
When the wide runs of Tahlia Meyer, Shannon Nolan and Charlotte Taylor attract defenders, they’ve got the choice of finding Maisy Evans, Ella Calleja, or an advancing Havana Harris in space.
Southport’s problem is that the Bull Sharks defence is the most difficult to break down. Jasmyn Davidson and Sophie Balcombe have won all but a few of their battles with key forwards this year, Jemma Blair and Grace Moodie shut down anything that looks like space, and Paris Lightfoot leads by both voice and example. Their ability to switch the play more rapidly than teams can react is a hallmark of the Bond style.
Bond’s problem is stretching a defence that understands what their game is. Any defence would be solid if it contained just one of hard-as-nails Selina Priest, evasive Siobhan Ross, speedy Ebony Milne, precise Tearnie Brown, ultra-reliable Jo Baltais, or the brilliant, long-striding, long-kicking Kaylee Kimber. Having all six of them rotating through the backline is downright intimidating. Throw in wingers Abbie Pluples and Emma Suckling who run hard to add defensive numbers and it’s a hard day for opposition forwards.
The size of People First Stadium won’t be an issue for these teams. People First, Fankhauser Reserve and Bond University Oval are all about the same width with The Canal slightly shorter than Carrara and Fankhauser a bit longer.
Consequently, neither team needs to change its game. You will see two teams with every opportunity to play the way they want in the best conditions possible against the club that they most want to beat.
This decider is all Gold Coast, on the Gold Coast, showing two very different but equally brilliant clubs of the Gold Coast. There has never been a Bond University QAFLW Grand Final like this one.
Grand Final: SOUTHPORT v BOND UNIVERSITY
Sunday 25 August 2024, 2:30pm at People First Stadium, Carrara
Live stream with commentary on YouTube
Head-to-Head: Played 8 – Southport won 4; Bond University won 4
Last time they met: 8 Jun 2024 (Round 8) – Southport 8.6 (54) d Bond University 4.4 (28) at Fankhauser Reserve
Finals meetings: 2023 Qualifying Final – Bond University 7.9 (51) d Southport 4.5 (29) at Fankhauser Reserve; 2022 Preliminary Final – Southport 7.4 (46) d Bond University 2.4 (16) at Bond University Oval
You can watch all matches in the Bond University QAFLW by visiting the Official AFLQ YouTube channel.
