GNFLW Round 15 preview: Top spot could be sewn up for Chapman Valley while Railways eye third place

As we enter the final rounds of the GNFLW season the order of the final four could be set this weekend as Chapman Valley could sew up first place with a win over the Rams at home. With just two games left the Royals are sitting on top with just one loss and a whopping percentage of 820.93 meaning a win here will put them beyond the reach of the second-placed Towns. They face a Rams side who are in a tight battle for third with Railways level on points but with over double the percentage. But the Rams will face a tough ask to stay in third after this round having not beaten either of the top-two sides in their four games against them this season. In their previous meeting against the Royals they were thoroughly outplayed going down by 60 points as they managed just a single goal in the opening term before being held scoreless for the rest if the match. They did perform well against Towns last week, matching it with them before being overrun in the last term but the Royals look like a bridge too far. While they have dominated pretty much all season they are arguably playing their best footy of the year having conceded just one goal since the bye while in turn scoring 277 points. They have five players inside the top 20 best in the season so far with Taylah Broadhurst leading the way and having the leagues two best goal kickers in Tayah Palmer and Lucinda Rouse. Rams do have talent of their own with Asha Poletti in particular having a great season but they may struggle to find avenues to goal. Palmer has kicked more goals this year than the top three scorers from Rams combined and it’s hard to see how they are going to challenge the Royals. This leaves Railways women’s with a great chance to jump into third as they face the Brigades sitting second last on the ladder with three wins. However, one of those wins was against Railways in round 7 and in their other match they almost ran down the wayward Blues to lose by four so the Hawks are no easy beats. They will also be buoyed by their win over Rovers last week and could catch the Railways a little sluggish having just come off a bye. In the other game the Towns should put the Rovers to the sword to keep themselves interested should the Royals slip up.