It’s a far cry from the side that swept through last year’s Leonard Cup competition but Tolland’s first grade women are nevertheless primed for another title tilt in 2018.
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The Wolves were nigh untouchable throughout their 2017 premiership season and looked likely to dominate again before losing a host of grand final stars over the summer.
The damage wasn’t entirely known until their opening game of the season kicked off against traditional powerhouse club Henwood Park.
The Hawks dished up an 11-0 thrashing in what was a torrid day for Tolland fans, who could have been forgiven for lowering their expectations after seeing their side go on to lose two more games in a horror month.
Yet, like all good teams, the Wolves have bounced back from adversity and will enter this year’s decider as favourites off the back of a brilliant finals campaign.
Tolland did it tough against South Wagga in their minor semi final, coming back from a two-goal deficit to run out 5-3 winners, before leaving it late against Junee in last week's preliminary final.
Coach Florence Wilson said the side had managed to rebuild itself just in time.
"A couple of girls have come up from reserves this season ... but I think we'll still have seven players from last year's Leonard Cup grand final," Wilson said.
The link between first graders and their reserve grade counterparts has been particularly strong at Tolland this season, as evidenced by both teams making it through to the decider.
"We had the ressies in the grand final too last year but they lost," Wilson said.
"It'd be great if both teams could get up this weekend."
With Tolland set to take on Young in the Madden Trophy on Sunday morning and then Henwood Park in the Leonard Cup later in the afternoon, the weekend shapes as a potential premiership double for the club.
The first grade side should be particularly pumped to tackle the Hawks after registering two wins from their last two encounters, including a convincing 4-0 result last month.
“Everyone’s pretty excited. We beat them last time, so yeah, we’ll just see how we go on Sunday,” Wilson said.
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