BERRY and St Georges Basin will face off in the Shoalhaven Hockey Competition grand finals this Saturday, in both the men's and women's season deciders.
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Berry is gunning for a fourth consecutive title in the men's competition, while the women are looking to go back-to-back.
Their opponents, Basin women won through the season decider with a 2-nil win over Allsorts in last week's final and Basin men beat Burrawang 1-nil.
It is fitting these teams in both divisions will face off in the deciders, as both finished in the regular season in the top two positions of their respective competitions.
For the second year running, the Berry women finished on top of the ladder on 23 points, with seven wins and two losses from its nine matches.
Basin was just a point behind on 22, with six wins, two losses and a draw.
Berry has the ability to score goals, slotting 39 goals into the back of the net, while conceding just 11, while Basin scored 18 goals for the season but let in fewer goals than the minor premiers, with just eight for the whole season.
Which is pretty remarkable when you consider Berry scored four against them the last time the sides met two weeks ago.
Berry has taken the honours in two of the three clashes this year, beating Basin 1-nil in the opening round, but lost 1-nil in the next clash.
In the deferred round four clash Berry won 4-1.
Saturday's decider will be a close affair - Berry will again be led by leading goalscorer Suzi Jarman who scored 13 goals in the regular season.
Berry is a mixture of experience and youthful talent, but Jarman is the key - she puts the side around the field
Eleanor Dodd will be another big contributor for the Magpies, having scored 10 goals this season, while Kerri-Ann Brereton up front has slotted away six.
Add in the experience of Barb Muldoon and Nicole Stone at the back, marshalled by experienced keeper Kay Stone, plus the youthful exuberance of Natty Sparks, Elly Simms, Madeline Gaffney and Iszi Crawford and Berry is a strong outfit.
But as results have shown the clashes between the two sides have been hard fought all year.
Ashlee Williams, up front, again scored in Basin's final victory last weekend, securing her tag as the side's leading scorer, while Taylor Mathieson-Gee also scored from an early deflection off a short corner.
Alison Reminis has also found the back of the net plenty of times this season and along with Danielle Dolby and Erin Pavitt give the Basin plenty of options.
The Basin's defence has been strong all year - you could even say miserly.
That has been led by keeper Wendy Williams and her daughter Melissa at the back.
Add in Jenny Moffatt and you can see why Basin has been hard to break down in defence.
Should be a great clash that could go either way just depends who is up for it on the day.
The men's clash should also be a hard fought encounter - there is no love lost between these two teams.
Berry and Basin have fought for domination all year.
Berry finished minor premiers on 25 points, two points clear of Basin, with eight wins from their nine matches and just one loss although that was to this weekend's grand final opponents.
Berry scored 42 goals for the season, conceding just seven.
Basin posted a seven win, two loss record, scoring 30 goals and conceded just six.
During the season the Magpies scored two 2-nil wins over Basin, but in round seven Basin upstaged their rivals 4-2.
Last week's 1-nil finals' win over Burrawang, where Brendon Gilmore scored, was not a flash encounter but a hard fought victory, just what you need at this time of the year.
Berry, however, would have welcomed the weekend off with a number of "walking wounded" players.
Although dangerous all over the park Myles Burke has led the scoring for the Magpies with 14 goals for the year, while Mark "Sticks" Croker up front has nine.
The experience of captain Tim Mather, Nick Simmons, Matt Clarke and Shaun Wheeler will put the Magpies around the park and of course there is also their dynamic keeper Luke Croker.
The question is whether Terry Kennedy, who suffered a hand injury late in the season, will play - he is a danger whenever on the ball and if he's out that will be a loss for the defending premiers.
Although he missed out last week, Berry will have to look out for young Basin striker Matty Rayner who led his side's goalscoring with 11 goals from seven games, including five in one match.
But there is goalscoring ability across the park - captain Lachlan Butfield, Daniel Chard, Daniel Troy and Tim Chard are each capable of scoring, as they have done on multiple occasions already this year.
Throw in Gilmore, who scored in the final, Adam Norton, Michael Jarrett and Anthony Anyon and the Basin is a strong side.
Keeper Scott Gee has had an excellencent season in goals only letting in six goals for the year.
Again this should be a close encounter and a lot will depend who gets the upper hand and can maintain that pressure and momentum.
Both Berry sides will be wearing special pink socks on the day supporting the "Pink up Berry" campaign, which the club is a sponsor of, raising money for the Jane McGrath Foundation.
The Pink up Berry committee has a strong presence of past Berry Hockey Club members with the chairperson being club life member Debbie Woolford.
A donation collection tin will be available in the dugouts, while the Berry Club will also be selling more socks and stubby holders on the day.
The grand finals will be held at the Shoalhaven Regional Hockey Complex at the Bernie Regan Sporting Complex at North Nowra.
The women's final at 1pm is Berry v St Georges Basin, while the men's decider between Berry and St Georges Basin is at 2.30pm.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, spectators at the grand finals will be limited and there will be no presentations following the deciders.
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Courtney Ward
Sports Journalist for South Coast Register and Milton-Ulladulla Times, who loves all things sport and travel. All views are my own.
Sports Journalist for South Coast Register and Milton-Ulladulla Times, who loves all things sport and travel. All views are my own.
