Photos: South Yarra SC, SMFC, Helen Tran
It may only be a km or two distance between Lakeside Stadium and Fawkner Park, but there will be more than a few tweets, text messages or phone calls flying between the two grounds late on Sunday afternoon.
The fate of the Women’s SL1 Northwest division title will be decided in concurrent games being hosted by leaders South Melbourne (40 points) and close competitors South Yarra Lions (39 points) in the final round of the season.
Adding extra edge to these games will be the caliber of their respective opponents. South Melbourne plays fourth-placed Eltham, one of the two clubs to have beaten them this season. If South Melbourne wins this game, they will top the ladder, and all other permutations become academic. But if they don’t, the Lions could overtake them with a win. South Yarra hosts third-placed Melbourne Uni. who in a final twist have themselves also a mathematical possibility of winning the title.
The students could finish top if a South Melbourne loss and University win in Round 18 erases the six-goal differential South Melbourne hold over them. That would be a stunning comeback and end to the season for the 2015 SL1 champions, however intricate the plot lines required to get there may be. South Yarra won their first meeting mid-season, and are yet to concede more than two goals in any game this season. Indeed in front of new goalkeeper Frances Land the Lions have only conceded a grand total of two goals in its last seven games.
Perennial contenders South Melbourne seemed to have held most of the cards this season, yet is now in a last-chance scenario to close out the title after dropping five points in its last two games. The club had even speculated the title could be won without playing ahead of their Round 17 fixture, as South Yarra was playing a Friday night game – which they triumphed in 2-0 – while South Melbourne’s players were otherwise engaged in a club Trivia Night. To add salt to the wound, University plundered away to a 1-0 win over them on the Sunday afternoon, courtesy of a goal to Savannah Holliday. There was certainly a stunned silence from their supporters and usually animated coach Socrates Nikoladis when the final whistle blew at Princes Park on Sunday afternoon and those hopes were dashed. The season-long, three-horse race had the bolters holding up, and the chasing pack closing heading into the final furlong.
With the prospect of a ninth WNPL franchise being opened just this month by FFV, South Melbourne might appear to have much more to lose than the other contenders. Neither the University nor South Yarra applied to join the inaugural group of eight WNPL clubs twelve months ago, while South Melbourne were bitterly disappointed not to have been included in that group. Fellow excludees and now also presumptive-applicants Boroondara Eagles will no doubt emphasise its own competitive basis for inclusion after wrapping up its SL1 South-East division title over the weekend under the leadership of coach John Kyrgios.
But this week, with a North-Western division title still on the line, that discussion is perhaps putting the cart before the horse. A neutral observer can see a case for any of the three leading clubs to be deserving champions. Unfashionable South Yarra, for example, can point to having had fewer losses and conceding fewest goals over the course of the year, something that Lions coach Jeff Thomas said was down to focusing on their performances.
“All we can do is what we have been doing; consistently playing good football and then let the results take care of themselves.”
Reigning champions University remain the only club to have done the double over leaders South Melbourne and have proven they can match it with the best – which provides even more reason to suggest this week’s match-up against the Lions will be a high-quality affair. South Melbourne on the other hand will point at their consistency over the season, having won all but four of their matches and housing some quality individual performances from the likes of Caitlin Greiser and Sara Alberici, who’ve combined for 39 goals for the league’s most potent attacking force.
Given the circumstances of this week’s NPLW expansion news, we speculate there might be some more-than-usually interested FFV observers – whose offices sits directly on the path line between both Lakeside and Fawkner – keeping an eye on the final outcome of this weekend’s round.