As the Central ABL edges towards the post season, Norwood and South Adelaide’s women will feature in the most critical of round 14 games.

After the Panthers shell-shocked undefeated West Adelaide last week, they set up a tantalising matchup which should have a significant effect on the final five.

Norwood and South have been tied on the ladder for the last five rounds, with synchronous wins and losses since May. Norwood’s recent run included getting with 8 points of West and sneaking a one point win over Southern, while South’s other results included an 8 point loss to second placed Sturt. With two games separating 2nd and 6th, this game is critical.

North Adelaide head up the hill to Mount Barker on a high, with both their men’s and women’s teams clinching one point thrillers over Forestville last week. Erik Burdon continued his solid form, his 29 points included a 3 pointer in the dying seconds to seal victory. Eastern dropped to league-leaders Norwood last week but are only two weeks removed from a victory over South Adelaide, made all the more impressive by the absence of Brad Hill on national duties. Hill is back on board and although it is not a likely matchup, his extra reach may be called on at some stage to challenge Burdon’s shooting.

After a mid-May loss to the then lossless Bearcats, Sturt’s women are on a six game winning streak, and with West Adelaide their only home loss, the Sabres are a strong favourite to defeat Southern at Pasadena. Their June/July effort included comfortable victories over Centrals and Woodville but also steady wins against top-five challengers Norwood and South and as they head into their second game of four in a row at the Cave, they are strong contenders for the double chance. Southern meanwhile are fighting to stay alive .Two games out of the five and finishing the season with games against each of the league’s top five teams, a win in this game is their only realistic chance of playing in the post-season.

At Wayville, Forestville host Woodville in a night of celebration of Forestville’s premiership winning teams. After an unexpected loss, Forestville’s men will be raring to return to the circle of winners, however Woodville would be on a high after their overtime win over Southern last week. Perennial triple double recipient Cam Wilson is no stranger to the impressive stat line, but his leadership across 50 minutes in this game, his 42 points and 16 from 18 free throws was more than a contributing factor.

Expect a positive reception for Daniel Cioffi when he returns to Port Adelaide to lead his Lions against West Adelaide. Cioffi, who has spent the last few years playing professionally in Italy (and occasionally on-loan to Spain), was a Bearcat junior and with Centrals still theoretically a chance to make the finals, expect an impressive performance. West’s current 4th placing would give them home court advantage in a potential elimination final and while they also hold the split head-to-head advantage in the series with North, they need to keep winning with games against Forestville and Sturt still to come.