Welcome to the Friday Forecast for Semi Final weekend in the MyState Bank Women’s Super League. A post-league season Cup is back on the agenda as finals returns for the first time in several years. Now to be clear, the existence of these finals doesn’t invalidate South Hobart as the Champion Team of 2023. This isn’t the A-League model and South Hobart has still won the major prize for the year. This is simply one more piece of silverware on offer for the clubs to try and add to their trophy cabinets and end the season with some excitement. It’s basically another Cup competition, which you qualify for with your results in the league. It should provide an entertaining final fortnight to the year and give one last chance for the sides to bolster their trophy cabinets.
South Hobart On Guard Against Zebras
In the first Semi-Final, the League Champions South Hobart will take on the Clarence Zebras at Darcy Street.
South Hobart will undoubtedly be expected to progress given the season they just put together. An undefeated WSL campaign with 17 wins, 3 draws and just 6 goals conceded all season is a remarkable record. It’s a defensive record that will be hard-pressed to ever be eclipsed. They’ve only conceded one goal since Round 7, which is frankly ridiculous! They won the first three meetings against the Zebras in comfortable fashion, securing 3-0, 4-0 and 6-0 victories. With the Zebras some 32 points behind them on the table, this seems like an extremely slanted matchup on paper, but the most recent meeting between the pair will give the Zebras some heart.
Four weeks ago the pair met at that same venue and despite only having 10 available players, the Zebras somehow emerged with a 0-0 draw in what was an absolute masterclass in parking the bus. They sat back deep and defended courageously to somehow hold out against the League Champions despite the numerical disadvantage and lack of substitutes for the entire match. It really was one of the more remarkable results of the entire league season given the circumstances and it should give the Zebras some hope of producing an upset here.
If there is any weakness in the South Hobart team, they have at times struggled to break down sides who sit in a low block and get numbers behind the ball. Scoring against them has proved nigh on impossible, but there have been plenty of periods in matches where South has bossed possession but not really done much with it. One such game was the 2023 Summer Cup Final, in which the Clarence Zebras defeated South Hobart 1-0. Whilst the Summer Cup is taken at varying levels of seriousness by the sides and isn’t always the most reliable guide, it’s something else the Zebras can point to as reasons to believe they are capable of playing spoiler. They defended stoutly that day and then took a chance when it arrived; that will be their recipe again on Saturday, though that match back in February was the last time South tasted a defeat. It will take a mighty effort to deny them their place in the final.
Strikers Eye Prime Chance For Silverware
The other semi-final pits second and third against each other at Valley Road as the Devonport Strikers host Launceston United.
With the final to be held at Valley Road the following week, the Strikers won’t have to leave their home base again and this therefore offers them an enormous opportunity to finish their 2023 season with a trophy. Their road form has at times been patchy, but at the Portress they've generally produced their best football. They've got stars on all lines of this side and none have more star power than the most prolific goalscorers in WSL history who leads the line in Jazmin White. Crowned the league best and fairest once again, White has continued to add to the individual awards but will undoubtedly be eager to fire her side to some team success here.
The Strikers finished just two points ahead of Launceston United on the table, which was largely achieved in the head-to-head results. United picked up more points in games against the rest of the league, but only took one point from four clashes with Devonport. That point came from a 0-0 result at Valley Road where Jazlin Venn produced the goalkeeping performance of the season to steal a point for her side. The other clashes ended 3-0, 5-0 and 2-0 in the Striker's favour and all four games have been largely dominated by Devonport.
Whilst tight on the table, United have distinctly felt like the #3 seed for much of the season. Whilst they’ve been too strong for the sides below them, they've been unable to dent the sides two above them. In nine combined games against Devonport and South Hobart in 2023 they are yet to score a single goal. They’ve been competitive in plenty of those matches, but the fact remains that after over 800 minutes of football they’ve not been able to get the ball in the back of the net against either of them. To win this Finals Series, they are now likely going to need to beat both those sides in consecutive weeks, which appears a tall order. They’ve shown they can hold against these sides for long periods and limit the scoring against them, but they need the likes of Gunton, Ikeda and Smith in attack to spark something if they are to make any waves in this postseason.
Semi Finals
Saturday 16 September
Devonport v Launceston United, Valley Road, 12:15pm
South Hobart v Clarence Zebras, Darcy Street, 2:30pm