The Gunnedah Poochettes and Inverell Saints will contest the AFL North West NSW women’s grand final for the fourth year in a row, as the rivals square off at the Inverell-based Varley Oval this Saturday.
The Saints won the 2022 decider by one point at Tamworth before winning last year’s decider by one goal on home soil, with the Poochettes having won the 2023 decider by 13 points on Gunnedah soil.
Inverell has beaten Gunnedah in three of the four meetings involving the two teams this year, with margins of 10, 67 and 16 points while the Poochettes won the other encounter by one point.
That one-point loss has been Inverell’s sole defeat this year, while the Saints have been the only team to defeat Gunnedah.
Last year the Poochettes had an undefeated season, until they stumbled in the game that mattered the most.
This year the winner of the preliminary final earned the right to host the grand final, with the Saints turning a 3.2.20 to 2.5.17 deficit into a 5.6.36 to 3.2.20 victory in the last quarter.
While the Saints also earned a break last weekend, the Poochettes won the preliminary final by 15 goals against the Tamworth Kangaroos.
The Poochettes missed Abbey Ruttley with ankle ligament damage while Charlotte Renshaw was away with work commitments, and had another setback when Meg Foster sustained a lower leg injury.
Foster hobbled badly and is in extreme doubt for the grand final, and will not be 100 per cent fit even if she is able to take to the field.
While the Inverell women chase two premierships on the trot, the Saints men are chasing three successive premierships as they oppose the Tamworth Swans for the third year in a row after the Swans lost the 2022 decider to New England.
