VIC Metro’s historic unbeaten run is under threat with Vic Country favoured to emerge victorious when the two powerhouses meet in the NAB AFL Women’s Under-18 Championships in Geelong on Saturday.
Metro is undefeated in junior competition since 2012 (Victoria fielded only one team in the 2010 and 2011 carnivals), but the talent-packed Country squad is expected to be too strong in the last match of round one.
“We could see a changing of the guard,” said Aasta O’Connor, the AFL’s female football talent operations manager.
“Country is a really strong squad on paper this year and I suspect there will be plenty of feeling in this game.”
Country’s squad features nine members of the NAB AFL Women’s Academy, including draft prospects Darcy Guttridge and Georgia Gee.
Guttridge, a 17-year-old from Gippsland Power, is a powerful inside midfielder/defender with a strong left boot. Gee, also 17 and from the Dandenong Stingrays, is a skilful outside midfielder and excellent decision-maker.
O’Connor, who manages the Academy squad, believes both shape as top-10 picks in October’s NAB AFL Women’s Draft.
Metro has been weakened by the loss of Monique Conti, who is taking part in a camp with the Australian junior basketball team at the AIS in Canberra.
Two Metro players to watch are Madison Prespakis and Olivia Flanagan.
Prespakis is a midfielder/forward from the Calder Cannons with neat skills on both sides of her body. The 16-year-old is an elite runner and won the 2km time trial at the Academy’s camp in Melbourne in April.
Flanagan, 18, is a 171cm inside midfielder who starred for the Eastern Ranges in this year’s TAC Cup competition and is honing her craft in the VFL Women’s competition with the Box Hill Hawks.
Saturday’s match, at Simonds Stadium from 2.30pm, will be streamed live on AFL.com.au/womens, with Melbourne AFLW player and former Vic Country captain Lily Mithen providing special comments.
Round two of the championships will be played on the Gold Coast from July 10-14, with Queensland and Western Australia expected to challenge the two Victorian teams for supremacy.
