"It's going to be great for women's football to get a lot of people to Youngtown to support and see how much the women's game has grown in the state's north."
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South Launceston full-forward Lisa Patterson summed up the buzz ahead of the women's footy gala day at Youngtown Oval on Saturday.
It's the inaugural Domestic Violence Awareness Round and the NTFA wants to raise $10,000 for Launceston women's shelter, Magnolia Place, to help them provide short-term accommodation for those experiencing domestic or family violence.
The shelter also helps women and children facing homelessness.
Players in all NTFA competitions will wear special armbands to mark the round.
A huge clash will start the day with division one top-two teams South Launceston and Meander Valley facing off at 9am.
In premier women's, Old Scotch battle Hillwood at 10.30am, Old Launcestonians take on Bridgenorth at 12pm and Launceston and Scottsdale meet at 1.30pm.
Patterson described the progress of the women's game.
"I've been involved for about three years and from when I started to where it is now, it's great to see how much development has gone into the program," she said.
"The standard has increased over the years. It's been obvious, especially in the premier league division this year with the competitiveness all sides have brought to the competition which has made for a good league.
"Moving forward, women's football is going in a good direction and it's great to see girls are getting the opportunity to be recognised on the biggest stage at AFLW level and are putting themselves forward to be drafted."
Former AFLW player and OLs coach Abbey Green shared in the excitement of the first gala day of the year.
"With eight different teams playing that's a lot of presence, that's a lot of people watching these girls," she said.
"It's exciting because you never know who's going to have a standout game and where that could lead in the future."
Given she has played at the top level, Green provided great insight into the NTFAW standard.
"It's a lot harder than I expected which is great for women's football in Tasmania," she said.
"Every week has been a challenge so far and the development from the younger girls and ones that have been playing for a while (is impressive), you notice their skills are improving each week.
"Coming into finals everything's a competition now, it's always challenging and there are no easy games and that's due to the hard work these women have put into their personal development."
Patterson spoke about the importance of this weekend's cause.
"Domestic violence is huge and it's a big topic of conversation in our community at the moment and especially with women," she said.
"To know there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes to ensure women and families are being placed in safe spaces is extremely important within our communities.
"Having Magnolia Place come on board and us as a league being able to support in a small way is huge and a credit to the association for reaching out and getting on board.
"It's great that as women we can be advocates for (raising awareness about) family and domestic violence. It's a huge issue and only getting bigger.
"If we can make a small impact and raise some awareness from the weekend, that's something we all should be proud of. But obviously keep it as an ongoing conversation within our communities and in our football clubs."
There will be fundraising tins on match day and there's also a GoFundMe fundraiser online.
Meander Valley mentor Scott Bellinger said it would be a fantastic day to be part of.
He expects a great test against the Bulldogs and he wants his side to take it up to the top team.
"The opportunity to play South in the last round (is awesome) - they're the benchmark of our competition," he said.
"They're exceptionally well coached and a very well-drilled, disciplined and dangerous team.
"They're quick and their defensive game is very good.
"When they move the ball quickly, they're very hard to shutdown when they get into their forward 50."
The Sunettes coach spoke of the inroads his side had made this season.
"I'm proud of the fact last year we had two wins and this year we've been able to nail down second position on the ladder regardless of this weekend's results," he said.
Meander Valley won't be at full strength due to COVID and injuries.
"But at the end of the day, we're not going in with the mentality of putting the cue in the rack," Bellinger said.
"We want to see where we stand in terms of the competition we may come up against in finals."
Patterson said the Bulldogs were aware of the Sunettes' rise and were prepared for the clash.
"We're not going to be taking this game lightly as we know we can meet Meander in the coming weeks in finals," she said.
"We know Meander is probably the in-form team at the moment and they've shown the biggest improvement across both leagues this season.
"They're playing really good footy and we recognise that. For us, it's just keeping to what we know and ensuring everyone comes ready to play."
Will the OLs and Bridgenorth match go down to the wire again later in the day?
Green summed up the intensity of their previous duels.
"It's probably one of our toughest games for the year because we have gone into both matches against Bridgenorth trailing all the way up until the last quarter," she said.
"We've managed to come back and win by less than 10 points each time.
"They match-up really well against us. They're fast and play a similar game plan to us. It's going to be a massive challenge and it's going to set us up, win or lose, for success in finals."
Parrots mentor Bobby Beams likes the gala day concept and said it presented as an opportunity for the premier sides to get a good look at each other before finals.
"We had a bye last week so it'll be good to have a hit-out before finals. We'll have a few that will miss for different reasons," he said.
"But we've still got a pretty decent side and it'll be good to have a great hit-out against a side we've had a couple of ripping games against so far this year.
"We're looking forward to the challenge, we've got a bit of a rivalry us and OLs. It'll be a good contest no doubt."
Why have their clashes been so close?
"We match-up pretty similar to each other," Beams said.
"I know both clubs take our programs very seriously and the girls are really invested in both clubs and when they go out and play, they mean business that's for sure."
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