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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald
Sport

Premiers Warners Bay turn focus to achieving a title double in NPLW Northern NSW

Warners Bay with the NPLW Northern NSW premiers plate on Sunday. Picture by Valentine Sports Photography

Warners Bay have had one hand on the first ever NPLW Northern NSW premiers plate since beating main rivals Broadmeadow 5-0 in round 18.

Now, with it officially secured after a 6-1 win over Adamstown in the final round last Sunday, the Panthers are targeting an elusive premiership-championship double.

The club were Herald Women's Premier League champions in 2016 then premiers in 2017 and 2018 but lost the grand final in both years to Merewether.

Merewether (2015), New Lambton (2019) and Newcastle Olympic (2020) achieved the double in NNSW Football's top-flight women's competition, which was elevated to National Premier Leagues (NPL) status this year.

Coach Craig Atkins felt Warners Bay, who finished first with 55 points, were in a good place ahead of their major semi-final clash with Broadmeadow (52).

Sunday, 5.15pm: Major semi-final: Warners Bay v Broadmeadow. Minor semi-final: Azzurri v Olympic. Both games are at John Street Oval.

"We pretty much knew we had it in the bag but we wanted to win that last game and win it well, and I thought the girls did that," Atkins said.

"We played some really good football and I believe they thoroughly deserved the premiership.

"We know semi-final football is a different ball game. We've got Magic and it's going to be a different game to when we played them last time. The girls are really focused. They want to go all the way so we'll turn our attention to that now and be ready to go."

Olympic (34) play Charlestown (41) in the elimination minor semi-final. Both matches are being run simultaneously at John Street Oval at 5.15pm on Sunday. Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility is the alternative venue if wet weather intervenes.

The reserve-grade semi-finals will also be played at John Street Oval (3pm) while the 13s (9am), 15s (10.45am) and 17s (12.30pm) games will be contested at the Speers Point facility

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