Welcome to the Friday Forecast for another week as hit Round 12 in the MyState Bank Women’s Super League season. The season really has flown by and it’s hard to believe we’ve already reached July. This is the point of the season where heavy pitches tend to impact games more and the physical toll it can take on the players playing on these surfaces is more pronounced. This where all those running sessions over Summer really start to pay off. They provide teams who have put in the hard yards over the off season with an additional edge.
This week will kick off on Friday night with a game between two teams in dire need of points in Olympia and the Lions, whilst Launceston United will be expected to cruise at home against Taroona the following day. The game of the round is undoubtedly at Darcy Street where South Hobart take on the Devonport Strikers in a match that will have significant ramifications at the top end of the table. Let’s dive in.
A Chance For Badly Needed Points For Lions and Warriors
The Round will kick off on Friday night as the Kingborough Lions head to Empire Couriers Park to take on the Olympia Warriors. To say both sides need a positive result here is an understatement, with just the one win between the pair and that came from the Lions beating Olympia earlier in the year. The Lions handled them comfortably in that match by dishing out a thumping 9-3 win back in Round 5 so they will be expecting to be able to chalk up victory number two here.
After seemingly trending in the right direction over the past month, last week was a real blow for the Lions as they suffered their worst defeat of the season. A 10-1 home loss to South Hobart was by far their worst performance they have put in this year and it was a big step backwards. It’s hard to reconcile that effort with the week prior where they pushed the Clarence Zebras in a close 3-2 game, or even the fight they showed in the Statewide Cup Final before falling 3-1 to Launceston United. Those are the performances they are capable of, but they’ve been all too rare this season and is why they are languishing with a 1-0-7 record. They have 50% of their remaining games to play against the bottom two sides though, which starts here tonight so this is where they can begin to start accruing some points.
For the Warriors, they will hope to have regrouped after the bye last week. Given the gap between them and the top 4, this is one of the games they will be targeting as a real chance to break their duck and finally get some points. After shipping 34 goals in the last 3 games against the sides sitting 2nd-4th on the table the Warriors will hope their season has hit the nadir for and things will start to improve. A home game against a side coming off a huge defeat certainly represents a big opportunity for them.
All Eyes on Darcy Street
The game of the Round will be at Darcy Street as South Hobart take on the Devonport Strikers in a rematch of one of the games of the season. Last time around, South Hobart survived a furious second half push from the Strikers to claim a 5-4 win in a game that they had at one stage lead 4-0 at half time! If we get a game even half as entertaining as that this time around then we will be very well served and there is every reason to think we will given how evenly these sides are matched.
The whole top four of this league are separated by razor thin margins. In fact, there have been nine games this season played between the top 4 sides and none of them have been won by more than 2 goals. Nearly every single one of these matches has been a really entertaining game and it’s unfortunate the disparity between top and bottom half of the competition is so pronounced meaning they are so many games week to week that have been complete blowouts. Because at the top end when these sides play each other, it’s been compelling football and I fully expect we will get more of that here.
South Hobart and Devonport are both in hot pursuit of Launceston United and both need to take three points to remain on track. The Strikers have significantly less margin for error, sitting 8 points back of South though they do have a game in hand. Still, anything other than a victory here would slam shut their already slim chances of the title. They became the first side all year to take points from Launceston United last week and whilst they may well be too far behind, that shows they are going to play a significant role in shaping the title race. They could do United an enormous favour here by taking points off the side nearest to them. To do that will need to find a way to slow down the sparkling form of South Hobart’s attack which was utterly ruthless in dismantling the Lions last week in a 10-1 win. Double digits won’t happen this week but expect plenty of goals in this one all the same. There will be some serious attacking talent on display from both sides.
United Big Home Favourites Against Pirates
The final game of the round will see Launceston United taking on Taroona at Floorworld Park in game they should have few problems securing the points in. The last time they met Taroona fought admirably, but it was still a very comfortable 5-1 win for United and in the North this time, it’s hard to see anything other than a similar game result here.
This is a weekend where United will be hoping for South to drop points and then take full advantage to extend their lead on top. They have a few of those weekends coming up in the second half of the season with an easier schedule left to play than their rivals. Whereas United have already played six games against the top four sides and have three left to play down the stretch, the chasing pack of South/Zebras/Strikers all have five of those games left to play. So United remain very much in the box seat despite last week’s slip up against the Strikers.
The bigger question for United this week may well be one around player management. Rob Shaw reported in the Examiner that Ellie La Monte, who has been playing with a heavily strapped knee, is managing a joint injury. That leaves the coaching staff with a dilemma, do they rest up players like LaMonte or anyone else who may be carrying a niggle and let them heal up for the more important battles ahead, or do they go full strength and try and close the goal differential gap to South? Taroona will be hoping for the latter because their away performances this year have not been pretty, shipping 30 goals in their 3 games away from Kelvedon Park.