A huge thanks to Jellis Craig for presenting this weekend’s women’s fixture.
Some matches carry an extra layer before a ball is even kicked, and Friday night’s trip to Bundoora is one of them. Top of the VPL Women after five rounds, 13 points on the board, four wins and a draw, and a goal difference of +13, the Redbacks arrive with the best form line in the competition. Bundoora United, sitting third on 11 points and still unbeaten, are hot on their heels.
The table tells the story. Eltham lead on 13, Clifton Hill are a point back on 12, and Bundoora are one further behind on 11. Southern United, Ringwood City and Brunswick Juventus are grouped together on eight. The top three are already pulling away, and three points on the road at Bundoora would be a statement on two fronts, widening the gap to a genuine title rival and doing it at their ground.
The narrative hook writes itself. Head coach Jonathan Barrientos spent four years at Bundoora United before joining the Redbacks, guiding their senior women’s program to promotion into the VPLW and a pair of Nike Cup semi-finals along the way. When he moved to Eltham for 2026, several of his Bundoora players followed. Izzy Berks, who topped Bundoora’s scoring charts with 12 goals last season, has carried that form straight into Redbacks colours, with seven goals in five matches. Taylor Halabi, a two-season Bundoora regular, now wears the Eltham captain’s armband. Young right back Alessia Napolitano is another, who made 22 appearances and scored twice for Bundoora last year as a teenager. Add in midfielder Claudia Dimasi, whose connection with Barrientos stretches back to her junior years, and you have a Redbacks spine shaped by the man standing in Bundoora’s opposing technical area this Friday.
For the players involved, this is a reunion rather than a grudge match, but reunions still have edge. Familiar faces, familiar habits, familiar dressing rooms, and the knowledge that the people on the other side of the ball know exactly how you play. Both squads will be doing their homework this week, because both squads already know half the answers.
The recent form underlines why this matters. Last Friday at The Web the Redbacks dismantled Banyule City 5-0, with five different scorers finding the net in a performance that looked as close to complete as a team can produce at this stage of a season. Berks is operating at better than a goal a game. Paige Foa, Ally Giovino, Aimie Adcock and Halabi are all contributing. Tiana Orfanidis has two clean sheets in five. The depth is real, the structure is there, and the numbers back it up.
Bundoora, unbeaten with three wins and two draws, will present a different kind of problem. They know Barrientos, they know Berks, they know Halabi and Napolitano, and they will be desperate to protect home turf against a side that used to be half theirs. The Redbacks have every reason to believe they can handle it.
Up the ‘Backs.