Qualifying Final
Charlestown Azzurri v Maitland FC
Lisle Carr Oval, Saturday 4pm
Charlestown Azzurri coach Heath Whyte believes composure in key moments will get his side over the line when they welcome Maitland FC to Lisle Carr Oval in the qualifying final on Saturday afternoon.
Azzurri and Maitland have gone head-to-head five times in 2025 with three regular season matches, the Women’s League Cup final and Women’s State Cup final.
Maitland have won just one of these matches when they downed Charlestown 3-0 in round seven but were awarded joint winners of the Women’s State Cup after the match was abandoned due to injury.
Charlestown have won the other three, but only one goal has separated them every time. Azzurri were victorious 3-2 in the Women’s League Cup and 1-0 in both round 14 and round 21.
But the premiers were pushed to the very end in their round 21 clash, not finding the back of the net until the 88th minute.
Whyte believes execution, composure and awareness of Maitland’s abilities will make the difference in their sixth clash of the season.
“As you're entering the finals competition, it's a whole new level of football. I think both teams need to be acutely aware in a strategic sense,” Whyte said.
“It comes down to execution, opportunities will be fewer and fewer. You’ve got to convert those opportunities and doing it early is hugely important to get on the front foot.
“You do need to be strategically aware of your competition and changes that they may make. We certainly have done some preparation around that.
“What I've been doing the last 48 hours is certainly reviewing those strategic plans and starting to make the girls aware of what we need to do in certain circumstances.
“It won't be a material change, but it will be more of an awareness of your opposition's change and how we need to adapt.
“We have a message, and we got that message across to girls last night. They're aware of those key moments.
“I think this game could potentially come down to the heart again like it did on the weekend. It was very close. It's been very close between both teams all year.
“I think the key in those moments will be composure, which has always been a theme that I've really tried to develop across the squad throughout the season.”
In their premiership match last Sunday, concerns about Azzurri’s injury list continued to grow, but Whyte confirmed Danielle Bartels will be available on the weekend and Kalista Hunter will have a final assessment on Friday.
“We’re actually going remarkably well. The girls in consultation with Colin Sanctuary got immediate care and assessment,” Whyte said.
“Danielle [Bartels], she's all good to go, so she'll be fine by Saturday.
“Kalista Hunter, no evidence of any breaks or ligament damage. We believe after the initial swelling; she'll probably be good to go Saturday as well. We'll do a final assessment on Friday, but we're optimistic.”
Maitland will enter the weekend determined to rewrite the script and secure their second victory over Charlestown this season.
Coach Joe Wright said there were positives to take away from their 1-0 defeat last Sunday but understands his side will need to convert their chances in the qualifying final.
“We’re excited to get back on the pitch, to be honest. We had a few days now to reflect, and now we're solely focused on Saturday,” Wright said
“I think that we created some opportunities against Azzurri, we just didn't convert a lot. I'm happy that we're creating chances, but I’d like to see us convert a few more.
“There's a lot of what-ifs that you could throw about. There are things that we identified that we could do better, and then there's things that we identified that we did do well.
“We're just going to see if we can tweak the things that we can improve on and then see if we can exploit the places where we did well.
“But you can't win if you don't score. We put some in the back of the net, then we start putting pressure on the opposition.
“We’re in the final series now, so they won't want to lose to anybody. The girls are going to go out there and they want to get a positive outcome.”
Elimination Final
New Lambton FC v Newcastle Olympic
Alder Park, Sunday 4pm
New Lambton FC coach Aaron Stedman says he wants to see his side play with passion when they go head-to-head with Newcastle Olympic at Alder Park in the elimination final on Sunday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles and Newcastle Olympic faced off in what Stedman called a ‘trial run’ on Tuesday night in their rescheduled round 21 match.
The two sides could not be separated and walked away with a 4-4 draw.
Tara Andrews, Jaqueline Marshall and Olivia Starkey, all found themselves on the scoresheet for New Lambton, while Jorjia Hogg, Kiera Bainsfair and Sophie Walmsley found the back of the net for Olympic.
While an own goal in the sixth minute for the Golden Eagles was something they would not like to repeat on Sunday, Stedman saw positives in his side coming from behind twice.
“I think the biggest thing out of the whole match was we just wanted to be able to play well and there's a few things there that we're upset about, 100%. But to show character and keep playing shows that we can fight back,” Stedman said.
“It's 90 minutes of football and anything can happen. I was really proud of the fact that we were able to come back twice and get some goals and come away with a draw. I thought that was a big positive.
“I think after playing the game and the way the game went and then getting a draw, at least we can be happy with that. But if we had a loss, I know we'd be very upset.
“It was a bit of a trial run in everyone's eyes. I think it's probably a good thing that happened because we can refocus and go, okay, we can't do that because the first half for us was poor, we can't have that happen again.”
New Lambton and Olympic have gone head-to-head three times this season and both sides have walked away with one win.
Olympic downed New Lambton 5-1 in round seven, while the Golden Eagles got the upper hand in round 14 with a 2-1 victory.
Stedman believes his side needs to continue their style of play to replicate their round 12 win and continue their four-game unbeaten streak.
“I think we've got to stay the way we are. We play that way then we are in that match,” Stedman said.
“But I think the biggest thing we've got to do is understand that there's no tomorrow. I think we've just got to play for the whole 90 minutes.
“The big thing for me is to see them play with that passion for 90 minutes. No stopping, no downtime, stay positive, and just keep going.
“That's final football. Everyone lifts, so you have to lift it up a little bit more and go harder.”
For both side’s added motivation to go another week stems from both head coaches leaving their respective clubs at the end of the season.
Stedman will step away from New Lambton to take on the role of NPLW Coach Future Firsts at Lake Macquarie City FC.
Newcastle Olympic coach Craig Atkins will be New Lambton’s NPLW head coach in 2026.
The two sides will be hunting for a victory to further extend their time under their current head coaches.
Olympic will enter the match determined to get the upper hand after leading 4-2 on Tuesday night and dropping points in injury time.
A big loss came for Olympic in their rescheduled match after captain Jemma House was shown a red card for violent conduct in the 61st minute.
House was handed a two-match suspension and will not feature for the rest of the season unless her side makes the grand final.
Olympic ended the season with mixed form, with two draws, one win and one loss.
But many of Olympics’ squad have finals experience which coach Craig Atkins will hope they can use to help them get over the line on Sunday.
