TYNTYNDER will be aiming to create a slice of history tonight by winning their third consecutive under-15 girls premiership when they play Swan Hill in tonight’s Central Victorian Football League Northern grand final at Birchip under lights.
It will be the first time the newly installed competition-standard lighting at George Cartwright Oval will be utilised, with Birchip-Watchem’s female friendly changerooms and state-of-the-art electronic scoreboard making for an ideal venue to host the third grand final since the competition’s inception in 2022.
The game will be a rematch of last year’s grand final, which Tyntynder won by 47 points at Woorinen, with the young Bulldogs having a mortgage on the competition having also won the inaugural decider against Birchip-Watchem by one point.
In fact, Tyntynder are yet taste defeat in the past three seasons since the competition’s inception, winning all 16 games.
For AFL Central Rivers league manager Jessie Chester, it all points towards an exciting finish to another season for the girls, who will be keen to show their wares in front of an expected big crowd tonight.
“It’s been great to see girls of all ages getting out there and playing over the last six weeks, there’s typically not been a huge pathway in the past and the competition is a really good initiative that has been developing over the past three seasons and is one that we can continue to build on next year,” Chester told The Guardian this week.
“Unfortunately, the girls have had some ordinary weather on a few Friday nights this season, but that will only prime the girls for tonight I’m sure.
“It should be a really good night, we’ll have every team playing, including the under 12’s who will play a final game, along with our third versus fourth game between Woorinen and Birchip-Watchem and then the grand final, which is very exciting.”
While Tyntynder have been the dominant force over the first three seasons, the Swans are expected to provide the undefeated Bulldogs with a stern test this evening, with the two clubs yet to play after a Swan Hill forfeit a fortnight ago saw the match handed to Tyntynder.
Swan Hill have however proven themselves to be a worthy adversary for the undefeated Bulldogs however, with big wins over Woorinen and Birchip-Watchem showing themselves to be more than ready to end Tyntynder’s reign.
For Chester, the completion of this season tonight will only see her focus quickly shift towards next year, with plenty of work ahead of the organisers to take the league forward and continue the growth of female participation Aussie rules is currently experiencing.
“Our player numbers this season have been good, but there is still room to grow as well,” Chester said.
“There’s a lot of strategic planning that will take place ahead of next season and what that looks like, I don’t know.
“Do we capitalise on the AFLW when it is on later in the year, when is the right time of year to hold the competition, do we start it earlier or later, these are all considerations that we’ll have moving into next year.
“But the numbers have been good and obviously the main aim is getting girls of all ages out there playing footy.
“When there have been instances where there has been a forfeit, those teams with lesser numbers have been able to get players from other teams and still get out on the park and have a game, which has been a really good initiative by all clubs to make sure their girls are playing.
“We don’t want to lose anyone to the sport, we want to make sure we have opportunities for everyone and that’s definitely our main focus.”
The under-15s grand final between Tyntynder and Swan Hill will start at 7.10pm tonight and will follow Woorinen and Birchip-Watchem, who will play a curtain raiser from 6pm.
CVFL Northern Girls final round and grand final
6pm
Under 12
Woorinen v Swan Hill
Under 15
Woorinen v Birchip-Watchem (third v fourth)
7.10pm
Under 12
Kerang v Birchip-Watchem
Under 15
Tyntynder v Swan Hill (grand final)
