Katrina Fanning Shield: Preliminary Final Preview

West Belconnen Warriors vs Woden Valley Rams

12:10pm, Sunday 7 September at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval

It's all on the line at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval with both the Woden Valley Rams and West Belconnen Warriors ready to go head-to-head in what will be a fiery matchup between the two clubs.

Fresh off a tough 28-10 loss against the Belconnen United Sharks the Warriors will be looking to bounce back in a big way and look to grab a win against the Rams.

Despite missing a handful of players due to other commitments, Warriors outside back Zanna Kamilo said that the team made a collective agreement to each other to leave nothing out there. 

"I think that during the game we decided that we shouldn't be relying on other players and to put our all in no matter what and that showed when we finally put points on the board, and the aggression showed a bit more as well."  

"I think it stalls a little bit when we don't have our glue-like players and our leaders that were missing that game, but I think we surprised ourselves," Kamilo said. 

For the Warriors, the focus shifts to their preliminary final against the Rams with the side looking to implement a style of football that can produce a premiership. 

"The focus this week is to come away with the win and do it playing a style of footy that will get us the grand final win next week hopefully, with the key doing it together and listening to our captains."

"I feel at times we make a lot of mistakes, including myself, which are completely unnecessary which won't help us in finals footy, with the key just getting the basics and fundamentals down pat."

With the return of multiple players, Zanna has identified that dummy half Lola Fletcher will be a key difference for West Belconnen this weekend. 

"She's very vocal on the field and she's very aggressive, being one of our captains she always knows what to say and leads by example and she definitely makes a difference."

West Belconnen will be looking to shut down the forward pack of the Rams on Sunday to ensure that they walk away with victory and grand final spot. 

"They have a lot of fast ball playing forwards, and we are hoping to shut that down and not give them any momentum."

Meanwhile, the Rams are coming off the back of a big win defeating the reigning Premiers the Yass Magpies in a tough and gritty 16-4 win at Raiders Belconnen, with centre Magdalena Velovski stating the key as the team playing with heart.

"We just played with the heart that we know we have and didn't let our minds take over before our body did the work," Velovski said. 

Velovski scored the try which kick started the comeback for the Rams, as they trailed 4-0 at the break, however the belief was always there. 

"It was so exciting, to score a try in the finals it makes a big impact on the game. I think it really helped our team come together and get a roll on."

"Our coaches mentioned that it was a new half, and we knew exactly what we need to do in the second half to come away with the victory."

The Rams are yet to beat the Warriors this year, with a draw and a loss respectively, however the focus remains on themselves, whilst also taking confidence from the performance in Round 1. 

"We are looking to stick to our game and make sure that we get to our backline sets and hopefully score some tries." 

"We take a lot of confidence [out of the Round 1 draw] and what it comes down to is our mindset, as we know what we have to do but it just all depends on how we show up on the day." 

Both teams will be aiming to grab those 2025 Grand Final tickets, and it will be a blockbuster clash between these two electrifying sides.