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KANGAROO Flat coach Mark Hull is confident his side's defensive structures will hold up on Sunday - but finding a way to penetrate the Golden Square backline shapes as the Roos' biggest challenge.
Golden Square and Kangaroo Flat will meet in Sunday's Central Victorian Football League Women's grand final at Weeroona Oval.
The pair have been the two clear standout sides all season - albeit with Golden Square having proven a further class above the Roos.
They have met four times this season and Golden Square has won all four, although, its round 11 59-27 victory was later reversed to a Roos' win after Square played two ineligible under-18 players to help make up the numbers.
Given the official score of the match is recorded as a 4.3 (27) to 0.0 (0) victory for Kangaroo Flat, that result reads as the only blemish on Golden Square's record in its debut season.
Kangaroo Flat heads into the grand final with a 14-3 record; the Roos' only three losses having all been suffered at the hands of nemesis Golden Square.
Square will go into the grand final red-hot favourites - its percentage of 842.3 testament to its dominance - but Hull says his side isn't fazed by its underdog status and is full of belief that it can pull off a massive upset.
Just like Mooroopna did in the neighbouring Northern Country Women's League grand final last Sunday when it came from fourth and defeated the previously unbeaten Echuca by 18 points.
"We've worked on some things at training this week that we think should hold us in good stead for Sunday," Hull said on Friday.
"They have obviously been a fantastic side this year, but if you're not going into a grand final with some confidence then something is wrong."
Looking back over Kangaroo Flat's past six games, the Roos have conceded just 11 goals - six of which came in the second semi-final loss to Golden Square by 36 points a fortnight ago.
"Definitely our defence has kept us in a lot of games and even against Golden Square, they haven't kicked big scores against us," Hull said.
"Our biggest problem against Square has been not kicking enough goals ourselves, so that's what we've been working on all week... getting those forward structures right.
"The biggest challenge for us is how to crack their defence and kick a winning score."
The Roos enter the flag battle boasting the competition's leading goalkicker in Kelly Mensforth.
Mensforth has booted 43 goals - 10 of which came on a Friday night against Kyneton in round 15.
But the Golden Square defence has done a strong job in containing Mensforth, who has been restricted to just three goals in four games against Square.
"She has been a good target for us this year, and we've got a couple of other young players up from the under-18s last year in Shelby Knoll (30 goals) and Lily McNair (15) who give us some firepower as well," Hull said.
The Roos' side features five players who were this week named in the CVFLW Team of the Year - Rachel Thomas (full back), Lily Campbell (half-back), Molly Metcalf (centre half-forward), Mensforth (half-forward) and Sarah Moerke (rover).
Metcalf (10 votes) and Moerke (9) both finished among the leaders in the league best and fairest, with the pair among 14 Kangaroo Flat players who polled votes.
Golden Square is coached by Rick Ladson, who has first-hand experience that no matter how red-hot a favourite a team may be leading into a grand final, anything can happen when the premiership stakes are on the line.
In 2008 Ladson was part of the Hawthorn team that upstaged the short-priced Geelong to win an underdog flag that he kicked the sealer in.
"Finals are always a different kettle of fish, but the beauty about this group is they are just a great bunch of girls who drive each other to improve be it on or off the training track and obviously on game day," Ladson said.
"From a coaching point of view, I've loved sitting back, moving the magnets for them and watching them do their thing and get better each week.
"We've got a variety of experience throughout the group; there's some who have been playing footy for a long time, some who have just started and some who are a few years in.
"To see how hard they've worked in trying to master the basic skills of footy and then see it come out in games has been one of the most pleasing things from my end."
Such a dominant force has Golden Square been this year, it has kept its opposition to one goal or less in 11 of its 16 games.
The magnitude of Square's wins late in the season have been particularly brutal, winning its past five games with scorelines of 43-7, 76-1, 101-0, 112-1 and 112-1.
Among the standouts for Golden Square has been Sarah Ingram, who finished runner-up to North Bendigo coach Alana Long in this week's league best and fairest.
"Sarah is a midfield-forward who has rotated with Olivia McEvoy. She is a Rochester girl in her first year of football and has had a great year," Ladson said.
"She has been a great inclusion and really consistent week-to-week."
Team-mate Amanda Carrod, who has kicked 35 goals, finished third in the best and fairest.
"Amanda has been around the footy circles for a while now. She had a couple of niggling injuries that she has been able to manage, but she is a classy player who has a super left boot on her," Ladson said.
"Her leadership has really stood out for our team."
The CVFLW Team of the Year included six representatives from Golden Square - Jessica Cox (wing), Liz Watkins (wing), Carrod (half-forward), Ingram (forward pocket), Olivia McEvoy (ruck-rover) and Madeleine White (interchange).
Like Kangaroo Flat, Golden Square - captained by former Bendigo Thunder stalwart Sarah Baldwin - also had 14 players poll league votes earlier in the week.
"The great strength of good sides is they share the workload and that's what we've been able to do this year," Ladson said.
"As I've said, the group really push each other and no matter how long they've been playing for, if they play their role within the structure and execute then they are going to be in the game."
Golden Square this year joined the CVFLW competition as a new team alongside Eaglehawk.
"This group of girls got put together in a very short space of time with some limitations to our list like the other clubs and the girls have just enjoyed their footy every week," Ladson said.
"Women's footy is getting bigger each year and it's great we've been able to be part of it. They have been a great group of girls to coach and we've all really enjoyed the year."
Sunday's grand final starts at 2.30pm.
THE TEAMS:
Golden Square
B: H. Speed, P. Robinson, T. Hipwell
HB: H. Guerra
C: E. Watkins, M. West, E. Turnbull
HF: A. Carrod, C. McRae, A. Rowland
F: T. Bradley, S. Ingram, T. Hore
R: G. Free, O. McEvoy, M. White
Int: A. Skvarc-Hayes, L. Bartlett, J. Mackinlay, J. Demeo, R. Berry, J. Morrison, L. Stewart
Kangaroo Flat
B: G. Beckmans, C. Lingen, M. Hull
HB: D. Symes
C: S. Faulkner, R. Campbell, H. Harper
HF: L. McNair, S. Knoll, P. Borserio
F: B. Rice, M. Wicks, C. Hurren
R: K. Mensforth, E. Cumming, L. Campbell
Int: M. Rice, K. Hare, E. Connor, T. Needs, M. Metcalf, R. Thomas
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