Lambton Jaffas tipped to complete NPL title double

Jaffas will chase their first title double at Jack McLaughlan Oval after beating Magic by a point in the premiership race then defeating them 4-2 in the major semi-final to go straight to the decider.

Opposition coaches on Tuesday unanimously tipped Jaffas to prevail in the big one because of their experience.

Maitland boss Michael Bolch and Olympic assistant Glen Chapman pointed to the experience of Lambton, especially with former A-League players Ben Kennedy and Nikolai Topor-Stanley at the back, as vital in the contest.

Valentine player-coach Adam Hughes predicted a Lambton win on penalties after Magic's youthful movement and Jaffas' experience cancelled each other out.

Peter McGuinness (Edgeworth) said Jaffas had too much experience. Kew Jaliens (Weston) agreed, although he said Magic "play the better football".

Charlestown coach James Pascoe said: "Great achievement by a young Magic team to get there, but Jaffas to win it based on their individual player quality and experience."

Cameron Burns has got the nod to referee what will surely to be an intense and physical men's NPL decider.

Burns, who controlled Charlestown's 1-0 win over Weston in the minor semi-final at Lisle Carr Oval, will be in the middle on Saturday night, while Riley Kirkaldy and Oliver Wilcox will be his assistants. Hayden Langholz, who handled the intensity of Sunday's preliminary final well, is the fourth official.

Given the controversies in last year's decider and the cards given out this year, match officials likely face a test keeping control of the game, and emotions.

Jaffas defeated Maitland in the 2022 decider 1-0 after Magpies defender Zach Thomas was wrongly sent off for his reaction to a Reece Papas tackle. The red card was later overturned and replays showed Jaffas were lucky not to lose a player themselves for challenges that injured opponents.

This year, Jaffas have beaten Magic on all three occasions, copping 14 yellow cards and a red in the process. Magic players were booked five times.

Samantha Newell gained the top job for the NPL women's grand final between Broadmeadow and Olympic on Sunday at Magic Park.

Lucy Hungerford and Alison Macready will be her assistants, while Ayden Cutmore is the fourth official.

Charlestown coach James Pascoe hopes to keep his squad intact to build again next year after they went down "busted" but fighting 1-0 on Sunday.

Azzurri had Jacob Melling (elbow), Spaniard Miguel Angel Fernandez Herrera (knee) and Jethro Elkington (suspended) sidelined for the preliminary final against Magic, while Harry Frendo, Rene Ferguson (shoulder) and Nigel Boogaard (knee) played with injuries. Regan Lundy battled through a shoulder problem sustained in the game.

Still, Charlestown pushed hard for an equaliser until the final whistle after conceding an unlucky goal in the 30th minute.

"They are busted," Pascoe said. "So we would have been well bandaged up for next week had we got there.

"But at the end of the day, I'm really proud of the boys. It's been a good year."

Like last season, Azzurri led for most of the year before faltering late. However, this season they were on top for longer, finished a spot higher in third and went two weeks further into the finals.

"We've won five more games than last year, managed to go deeper into the finals series, so there's lots of positives and an opportunity to build something quite good in the next year or two," said Pascoe, who took over from Graham Law this season.

Asked if all his players were returning, he said: "I think so, but we'll sit down and go through that this week.

"But you only want to work with players who want to be here, and there's no indications that any of them don't want to be here. If that's not right, we'll replace them."

The performance against the young and fleet-footed Broadmeadow side was an improvement on their 4-2 loss to them two weeks earlier.

"We knew we had to do something different against them, so we changed our shape, which gave us a little bit more possession and allowed us to press in a different way," he said.

"I was really happy with that first half, but second half, the longer it goes while you are chasing it, it gets a bit ugly at times. But I can't fault the effort.

"Credit to Magic, they are good young side with good technical players.

"They will find it tough next week against a strong, experienced Jaffas team, but they should be proud of their year as well."

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