A triple-header of Summer Cup Finals awaits at Lightwood Park tomorrow, marking the culmination of both the NPL and WSL Pre-season competitions. While the preliminary rounds of the Summer Cup are typically characterized by player rotation and tactical experimentation from coaches in preparation for the impending regular season, the intensity escalates significantly once we arrive at this Cup Final stage. With clubs aiming to clinch the first trophy on offer for the season, as well as perhaps securing an early psychological advantage ahead of the League season, the focus now inevitably shifts towards results rather than preparation.
In the Women’s Super League final, a compelling showdown is on the cards as last season's top two sides, defending Champions South Hobart and Finals series winners, the Devonport Strikers, vie for supremacy.
South Hobart Coach Alistair Russell has been working on overhauling the style of his side this offseason, with a focus on scoring more goals to hopefully offset the departure of several key players at the back. He said he was looking forward to the occasion.
“We’re very happy to be in the final and looking forward to it. We’ve had a few niggly injuries over the past few weeks that will hopefully sort themselves out before the start of the WSL Season. So we’ve got a few players out but we will still be competitive I’m sure and hopefully can set the standard for a good season ahead.”
“We want to win tomorrow obviously, it’s a final and we don’t turn up to finish second."
"We’ve implemented a new formation and way of playing, the aim of which was to score more goals than last year.”
That approach seems to be paying off based on their group stage results to qualify, with the goals flowing, scoring some 18 across their 3 group stage games. An 8-4 win over the Lions was followed by a tight 4-3 win over Glenorchy Knights and then a 6-0 victory over Taroona.
South aren’t the only side undergoing some major changes over the offseason, with their opponents Devonport also looking to adopt a new style under new coach Tom Ballantyne.
Having led the Strikers Men’s NPL side over the past couple of years, Ballantyne has increased his coaching duties in 2024 and taken charge of the WSL program this season. With it has come a new style of play that he hopes will propel the Strikers from the title challengers of the past couple of seasons, to WSL Champions. Ballantyne expressed confidence in his team's progress and readiness for the challenge:
“We’ve made some massive improvements to the playing style that we’ve been working towards. The players have done really well, I’m happy with how the structures have been going, integrating new players into the system that we’ve been trying to work through, and just trying to come to grips with who everybody is and where they can best bring their best attributes to the group.”
"Mal has done a fantastic job over the last couple of seasons building and this year we want to take that group to the next step and so far we’ve been seeing some really good performances in terms of how we control games better."
The players have been really good, they're learning something new, it’s a different way of playing the game and they’ve adapted really well and really quickly, probably quicker than I would’ve expected, so we are tracking where I would like to be. The final should be a good challenge for us."
The Strikers were comfortable in victories over Northern rivals Launceston United and Riverside in the group stage, producing a pair of 4-0 wins to reach the final.
It will be a busy day for Ballantyne who will also lead the Strikers NPL side into a Cup Final against the Kingborough Lions who he expects will put up a strong fight.
I think they will improve further from where they were last year, they pushed us real close last year, they beat us 4-3 and then we beat them in the finals series a few weeks later. It seems they’ve kept the nucleus of that squad together so I expect them to be much the same as last year.”
Ballantyne suggested that this was a good chance for the group to take stock of their rivals ahead of the looming NPL campaign.
“The mood is good, the guys are pretty excited to see what’s been happening down South, obviously we hear whispers and rumours from the coaches and players that we all speak to but to see it first hand should be exciting.
"The process for us is still very much about building up for Round 1, we've had them running all week long and that will continue right up till Round 1."
The Strikers cruised through the group stage in the North, winning all three games comfortably. A 5-2 win over Riverside was followed up by a 3-0 win over Launceston United and 6-1 thumping of Launceston City.
They will take on a Lions side who caught fire in the back half of the 2023 season and so they enter this campaign amongst the sides most fancied to push the Striker's dominance.
Coach Alfred Hess suggested that whilst the league was the number one priority, he was eager for his side to seize the opportunity to claim silverware and head into the season on a high.
“We’re looking forward to it, it's a great day for the club to be hosting the finals and a great opportunity for us to test ourselves against the side that has set the standard in recent years.”
"It's an interesting balance, it’s always a process of continued improvement but the opportunity to win silverware is not regular, so it’s a great opportunity for us there.”
““Its still early days, it’s a process of improvement and we’re still trying things. I've been pleased, certainly, we are trending in a positive direction. We’ve been more consistent in our demonstrative behaviours, so I’m pleased with how we’ve been going.”
The Lions fought their way into the decider with a 2-0 win over Glenorchy Knights in their final group stage game that served as a quasi semi-final. That result followed a 2-2 draw with South Hobart and 3-1 win over the Clarence Zebras in their opening fixtures.
Kicking off the day’s action will be the Under 21’s Final which will see South Hobart taking on Riverside from 11:00am.
Both sides were undefeated in the group stage of the competition, with South Hobart blowing out Kingborough 7-1 in their first match before shutting out the Clarence Zebras 3-0 and Glenorchy Knights 5-0.
Riverside began with a 2-1 win over the Devonport Strikers before downing Launceston City 2-0 and Launceston United 3-1 to punch their ticket through to the decider.
All three of the finals will be live-streamed on the Football Tasmania YouTube page
Saturday 9 March
Lightwood Park
McDonalds NPL Under 21s Summer Cup Final - 11:00am
South Hobart v Riverside Olympic
McDonald's WSL Summer Cup Final - 1:30pm
South Hobart v Devonport Strikers
McDonald's NPL Tasmania Summer Cup Final - 4:00pm
Devonport Strikers v Kingborough Lions