Falcons lock in finals spot, St Mary’s minor premiers, and road to glory starts

With the home and away season in the books the road to glory begins in Division 3 Women’s, but not before Round 16 provided some thrilling encounters. Albert Park locked in an important victory to secure their finals spot, St Mary’s Salesian put on a show once again to claim the minor premiership, whilst Old Camberwell and Ormond produced confidence-boosting performances ahead of their finals campaigns.

Albert Park locked in their finals berth, with their tenth victory, this time over Prahran by 68 points, as well as a healthy percentage, enough to secure fourth spot on the ladder after the home and away season.

This was the third time these two sides have gone head-to-head in 2025, with the Falcons coming up trumps on all three occasions. The weekend’s contest was arguably the biggest win of the three for Albert Park, with their defensive effort just as strong as their attacking prowess holding Prahran scoreless for the match.

Albert Park shared the load with 6 individual goal scorers and Caroline Ma, Bridget Turner, and Ashlea Wilson contributing two each. Ashlea was deemed best afield by the coach alongside vice-captain Emma Sullivan and their skipper Jessica Newitt.

Prahran had not submitted their best players at the time of writing.

St Mary’s Salesian locked in the minor premiership for 2025 after a dominant season in Division 3 Women’s. Their final scalp was that of Wattle Park claiming victory by 21 points, 5.5 (35) to 2.2 (14) on the road at Bennettswood Reserve.

Things were all tied up at the first break at a goal apiece. St Mary’s added three behinds in the second to take a narrow lead at half time, but credit must be paid to the Animals defenders with good pressure applied to minimize clean entries to goal.

The Saints got their skates on in the third adding three majors to their tally, whilst Wattle Park were able to claw the margin back ever so slightly with a late goal of their own.

Holding a 14-point buffer heading into the final change, St Mary’s looked in control, but Georgia Cropley was not done yet! The Cropley show took with every score for the quarter for the Saints coming off her boot to end the match, and home and away season no less in fine fashion.

For Wattle Park, Lucy Eales and Ailini Vaihi played their best for the home side, kicking one goal each. Whilst Sophie Tsakonas stood out for the visitors.

Mazenod finished their season with a win defeating a resilient South Melbourne Districts side by 9 points, 2.3 (15) to 1.3 (9). The visitors had an eight-point lead at quarter time, before the Bloods hit back on the scoreboard with a goal to Keisha White, reducing Mazenod’s lead to one-point at half time. Mazenod kicked one goal in the third quarter to extend the margin to seven points.

The scoring dried up in the fourth term in a hard-fought contested battle, keeping the match as a low scoring encounter. Kiesha White played her role brilliantly for South Melbourne, whilst Ella Camerotto and Erin Hopkins led the charge for the Nodders.

Mazenod have once again put together a comprehensive season with 10 wins, 6 losses, but unfortunately miss out on a final’s appearance by the narrowest of circumstance with percentage being the ultimate decider.

Old Camberwell round out their season with a third-placed finish after defeating North Brunswick by 29 points, 4.5 (29) to 0.0 (0) in the last round of the home and away season.

Old Camberwell came out firing in the first quarter, booting three majors. Their ascendency continued from there, extending their lead at every break. Their backline applied defensive pressure and held the Bulls scoreless for the match.

Bridget Facey continued her fantastic form, kicking three goals in front of the sticks. Olivia Willie played a great role kicking the one goal.

Ormond finished their season in impressive fashion, defeating Elsternwick by 121 points and claiming second spot on the ladder.

The home side came out of the blocks firing, kicking three goals in the first quarter. Ormond kicked four second-quarter goals, six third quarter goals and four fourth-quarter goals to finish off a massive day out.

It was a festival of goals, with five goal kickers hitting the score sheet. Indiana Harrison was superb with 8 majors to her name. Lily Skinner booted four goals, Bo Fox and Hannah Foran finished with two and Eleni Balassis slotted just the one goal.

Heading into the first week of finals, Division 3 Women’s has some strong contenders all vying for that ultimate success. Kicking things off, third-placed Old Camberwell will take on fourth-placed Albert Park in an Elimination Final at Moorleigh Reserve on Saturday morning in the early time slot. They are one-apiece in their previous encounters this season and the stage is set for an enticing contest.

Full credit to Old Camberwell who as a club have worked hard to revive their women’s program and are now seeing their hard work pay off and translate into on field success. To make a final the year after they had to combine their women’s team with another club is no small feat.

Rounding out the weekend, in the top of the table clash, St Mary’s Salesian will go head-to-head with Ormond in a Semi Final to earn that illustrious spot straight through to the big dance, while the loser will be afforded that all important second chance in the Prelim. This clash will take place on Sunday morning, 9:20 am at the home of the VAFA, Elsternwick Park.

The recent history between these two opponents is also one win each way. With everything to play for this is sure to be an exciting game of football and one not to be missed.