Redemption so close now for the LionsFriday, September 18, 2020 - 10:59 AM - by Chris Pike

SUBIACO has had to stew over last year's disappointing finals exit for a long time to try and get redemption in the 2020 Optus WAFL Women's Premiership Season and now the chance presents in Saturday's Grand Final.

Subiaco had a tremendous home and away season in the first ever WAFL Women's campaign in 2019 to finish on top of the ladder and earn the inaugural minor premiership for the competition that was initially made up of the Lions, East Fremantle, Swan Districts, Claremont and Peel Thunder.

The Lions put themselves in prime position to have a real crack at making history and winning the first ever WAFLW premiership by finishing in that first place, but it wasn’t to be.

Subiaco went on to lose the second semi-final to East Fremantle and then the preliminary final to Swan Districts to bow out in straight-sets and that pain has been burning long ever since for the players involved.

That includes captain and Fremantle Dockers AFLW star Hayley Miller. They were ready to begin their road to redemption earlier this year but then the season was delayed and for a while there was no guarantee it would happen at all.

But in the end things got underway midway through July and ever since it has been a Subiaco team on a mission to make sure they don’t feel the way they did last September again.

The Lions backed that up with another strong season over the seven-round home and away campaign, winning six of seven matches to finish up clear on top of the ladder and claim a second straight minor premiership.

But so far they had only achieved as much as they did back in 2019 heading into the second semi-final against Peel Thunder at Leederville Oval.

Wet weather greeted both teams and it was a hard fought contest, but Subiaco prevailed by a goal to book themselves a spot in this Saturday's WAFLW Grand Final which will be played at Joondalup's Provident Financial Oval.

Their opponents were determined last week and it will be Peel that Subiaco plays in this Saturday's decider and for Miller and her Lions teammates, there's no doubt 2020 has all been about making up for the missed opportunity of last year.

"There's been a couple of years where we probably haven’t performed to what we wanted to and it was really nice obviously to win that prelim final a couple of weeks ago to book our spot in the Grand Final early," Miller said. 

"And then we've had a really good couple of weeks on the track which will take us feeling ready into the weekend. There's just some unfinished business I guess.

"We were really disappointed with how things ended last year especially when you win all season and then things fall apart at the end even though both Swans and East Freo were incredible teams. We were really driven to succeed a little bit more this year to go that next step."

Peel has its own terrific story to share heading into the WAFLW Grand Final coming from a wooden spoon finish last year to now be one win from the premiership, but Miller and Subiaco won't be getting caught up in that.

Nor will they be taking the Thunder lightly but for Miller she will always be confident that should the Lions go out and play anywhere near the best particularly if they get a good run with the weather that they will be tough to stop.

"We've played Peel in some pretty horrible conditions both times we've played this year so I'm hoping it will be a little bit nicer on Saturday, but looking at the radar and it might be raining again," she said.

"So it might be a bit of a tough contest again like we've had, but you do take confidence from beating them a couple of times. 

"But we know they are a strong team with some incredibly talented young girls who will just be super hungry for a win. We know that we have to go out there really hard to compete from the start."

It will be a big day planned with the Rogers Cup, Reserves and League WAFL Women's Grand Finals all played at the Joondalup venue on Saturday, and Miller couldn’t be happier with the ground chosen to play host to the occasion.

"This oval is amazing in terms of the facilities they've now got here and the ground itself is top notch," Miller said. 

"In my opinion it's one of the best actual grounds that we've got here in Western Australia so to have the Grand Final here is just perfect."