With the regular season over, attention now turns to the uniquely Australian format of finals football.
The format for WA is that the top two teams play each other in a “double chance” semi-final – the winners advance directly to the grand final, whilst the loser plays the winner of the elimination semi-final, which is played between the teams that finish 3rd and 4th.
The finals series started with the elimination final between Fremantle City and Hyundai NTC. The youngsters won 2-0, thanks to goals from Ischia Brooking and Tanika Lala.
On Sunday, league champions Perth RedStar took on second-placed Perth SC and won yet another tight encounter as Carla Bennett’s second half strike ensured a 1-0 victory. RedStar now await the winners of the game between Perth SC and NTC, which will be played on Wednesday evening.
Click here for the goal highlights from both games
Perth RedStar’s hard work brings rewards
Perth RedStar’s game on Sunday was their 30th without defeat in all competitions. Once again, the win was achieved through a collective effort, rather than a display of individual brilliance.
Coach Carlos Vega Mena has his side working as a unit to win possession quickly and maintain as much pressure on the opposition as possible. Sunday’s front three of Larissa Walsh, Sarah Carroll and Olivia Wood all acted as the first line of defence to slow the ball coming out from the Azzurri back line, whilst the midfield trio of captain Shawn Billam, Jay Coleman and Carla Bennett covered huge distances to ensure that their direct opponents were not allowed to enjoy any lengthy periods of clean possession. This pressing meant that when the ball did make its way forward, the back four of Kim Carroll, Emily Dunn, Andi Teixeira and Quyen Doan were very rarely caught in one on one situations. Perth SC was unable to maintain long periods of sustained pressure on the RedStar goalkeeper Maya Diederichsen.
Vega Mena made mention of the desire to win the ball back early in his post-match comments.
“It was a really tough game. I thought we dominated the first half and created more opportunities (than Perth SC) but I think we were rushing in our decision-making, our control and our passing, but we recovered the ball really quickly and that was really impressive. In the second half, we gave everything to get the goal, which we did, and we could have maybe scored a second but in the end, it was tense as they could have got the equaliser to take it into extra time. This would have been bad for us as the girls were really tired.”
Alyssa Van Heurck continues to impress
The Perth captain and centre-back had another fine game for the Azzurri, and her displays this season have marked her as one of the best defenders in the league.
She reads the game exceptionally well, is a strong tackler and comfortable in bringing the ball forward, or setting up forward movements through her accurate passing range.
Perth SC leads the league in average number of passes per game and Van Heurck is a major reason for this. Amongst NPLW WA players, she has the highest number of total passes for the season and (unsurprisingly) the highest average number of passes per game.
Van Heurck has been a big contributor to Perth SC’s defensive record (second-best in the league) as she marshalls the back four superbly well and is very rarely beaten in one-on-one challenges.
Coach Peter Rakic was philosophical about the loss after the game and reflected on how small errors can often lead to defeats in tight games, but he was also less than happy with his team’s performance.
“We didn’t do enough, it was as simple as that. I thought it was a game of mistakes and that’s what cost us at the end of the day. I just thought our performance was quite off from the get-go, our football wasn’t smart, it wasn’t short and yeah it just wasn’t us today. RedStar is a tough team and they’re tough to break down and they play their game plan well.”
Stars shining brightly for Hyundai NTC
Friday night’s win for Hyundai NTC saw the appearance of a regular name on the score sheet. Tanika Lala continued her excellent season when she scored her side’s second goal late in the game to seal the win, but there was another name whose performance signalled that she may be a new star for NTC in coming years.
Ischia Brooking was credited with the opening goal, although a large deflection off Natarsha Smith certainly played a significant part in the ball beating Fremantle shotstopper Dayle Schroeder. Whilst the goal was a significant part of Brooking’s game, it was also her display in midfield that caught the eye in a frenetic contest. Brooking is part of NTC’s U15 squad that plays in the NPLW U21 competition and showed signs that she will be a force to reckon with as she starts to become stronger physically. She has great technical ability and was able to match it with the older players from Fremantle.
Lala was also very good again and her physical prowess to score at such a late stage of the game shows why she is a real handful for all defenders in the league.
NTC coach Ben Anderton was impressed with his young team’s performance when he spoke to the Perth Football Podcast team after the game:
“I think the game was lightning fast today and probably a little bit quicker than I would have liked it to be. I thought that maybe we could have controlled the tempo and been a little bit brave at times. I think in terms of the overall performance coming off the loss to them last week, I wanted them to show a bit of character, be brave on the ball, be brave with your teammates and I think we saw that out there which is really important and they did really well.”
Fremantle City: close but not close enough
The run-in to the finals was a strong one for third-placed Fremantle and this included a 3-1 victory against Hyundai NTC in the last game of the regular season, so the side was brimming with confidence as they looked to book a spot in the major semi-final.
They started the game brightly, forcing NTC keeper Lily Bailey into making a double save from Jess Darmargo as early as the fourth minute. However, despite that early pressure they couldn’t convert and when Fremantle fell behind in the 24th minute they seemed to lose their composure. The game then became a series of attacks and counter-attacks by both teams but NTC always seemed just that little bit more in control.
Fremantle gave their all, especially the impressive Laura Waltman, but the break wouldn’t come and the last-minute sealer in the 91st minute put them out of the Top 4 Cup. The club has now not made a final since the two they made in the inaugural NPLW season of 2020, when they won the Night series and were runners up in the Top 4 grand final.
There are many promising youngsters in the team, and they have a solid core of experienced and skilful players, but they have suffered from inconsistency all season and perhaps the pressure of the occasion on Friday got to them and prevented Fremantle from performing at their very best.
And then there were three
With Perth RedStar already booked into the Grand Final, all eyes now turn to Wednesday evening’s game to see who their opponents will be.
During the regular season, NTC coach Ben Anderton has had the better results against his close friend and ex-coaching colleague at Queens Park, Peter Rakic. NTC have beaten Perth SC on all three of their previous meetings in 2022, but this is finals football and any previous form can fly out of the window.
One factor that will be key for both coaches is how their players have recovered from the weekend games. Anderton will perhaps be a little more relaxed as his players have had a couple of extra days to recover, but Rakic’s team will be more determined than ever to end the run of losses against NTC, and he spoke about the challenges his team faces.
“This will be a big match for us. They’ve taken nine points off us this year and they played really well against Fremantle City to get themselves into the semi-final and we’re expecting a proper battle.”
