Katrina Fanning Shield: Preliminary Final Preview
A spot in the 2026 Blumers Lawyers Katrina Fanning Shield is on the line as the West Belconnen Warriors and Gungahlin Bulls do battle at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval.
The West Belconnen Warriors suffered a tight defeat against the Belconnen United Sharks last weekend in the Grand Final qualifier, which will see them go the long way round.
Halfback Janiana Ravu stated her side took plenty of positives from the performance despite the result.
"There's definitely heaps of positives we had good go forward, but we need to work on our push defence across the field as the Sharks had plenty of speed and they caught us out a couple of times."
West Belconnen finds themselves in a similar situation to last season, with the side playing off in the preliminary final for a second straight year and whilst Ravu wasn't a part of the premiership winning side, she noted the squad can take confidence from last year's victory.
"It gives us a bit of confidence knowing that last year the same thing happened, where we went the long way through to the Grand Final and then came away as the premiers so really excited for it."
The Warriors have tasted victory against the Bulls once this season, with Ravu stating the key to that win was their middles and admitted they will need an alternative game due to injuries in the middle of the field and the improvement of Gungahlin throughout the season.
"They've gotten a lot stronger as the season has gone on, looking forward to a really good battle across our forwards and backs."
"With our first win against them we had plenty of go forward from our pack, throughout the season we've had a lot of injuries in our middle so we will be looking to use our edges a little bit more."
Meanwhile, the Gungahlin Bulls enter in the contest in contrasting fashion, on the positive end of a tight elimination victory against the Woden Valley Rams, with captain Tikirah Ann Douglas declare the overwhelming emotion post-match was pride.
"The girls were pretty proud of themselves, including Gormo [Ian Gorman] he was super proud and we just had our foot of the throttle for the whole game and finished it off, so we were pretty proud of that," Douglas said.
Woden Valley started the better of the two sides on Sunday, however the Bulls responded to lead at halftime and once they held the advantage, they didn't let it go.
Gungahlin, know they need to start better in this week's Preliminary Final, especially against the strong forwards of the Warriors, with this being a main focus for the side.
"I think it's their middle, we have been really focusing on our defence they have big middles and place a big focus on that, and our attack will come off the back of that."
Whilst Saturday sees the Warriors named as the home side, the Gungahlin Bulls will see heavy support with the match to be played at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval with Douglas hoping this provides her side with an extra boost.
"I think with us, league tag and the under 19s all playing this weekend, I think we will get a really good crowd which will really boost morale and confidence."
A spot in the 2026 Grand Final waits for either side, with the Belconnen United Sharks eagerly waiting to meet the winner in next Saturday's decider.
