Great Northern Football League: Reigning women’s premiers have ‘point to prove with Royals’

They’re heading for the grand final and they’re hungry for victory. Brigades have booked their spot at the big dance by steamrolling Northampton 7.0 (42) to 1.4 (10). The reigning premiers have taken the long route to the big day, but captain Jessica Giudice-Nairn said that meant they had a point to prove after losing to the Royals twice this year. Heading into the game with a full-strength squad, they would aim to highlight the women’s game and hope the supporters turned out. “We’re just really pumped, to be honest,” she said. “We’re pretty keen to get a win over them — we’re going to be hungry. “I think all the girls are all healthy. “We’ll probably have to drop a few girls, we’ve got that many. “I don’t think we’ll be favourites, losing to them twice. “I think ... it’ll be a close game. “Get out, have a look around and support us as much as we can. “Three years in and the (women’s) competition is going pretty strong. “With more support, we’ll get even better.” Coach Joel Mitchell said the club was pleased with the result and had taken no prisoners against the Rams. “We went in there all-guns-blazing, not prepared to hold anything back,” he said. “We’re pretty stoked with the result, luckily enough we’ve got another week. “All the girls in all the teams are enjoying the footy. Now it’s the grand final, everyone’s aware the job’s on, and we’ve got nothing to lose.” Brigades lost to the Royals 2.5 (17) to 3.5 (23) in the regular season, before going down 1.3 (9) to 1.1 (7) in a tight semi on September 17. The grand final will be played this Saturday at 1.30pm at Eadon Clarke Oval in a stand-alone fixture.