Three wins and six losses – as well as a 49-49 draw last weekend against Souths Pride – have put the pressure on Maryville, but with 12 points still up for grabs the squad is “holding on to a glimmer of hope”, coach Rachel Gardner said.

“Finals are looking very challenging for us at the moment, which hurts me to say because I always try to stay very optimistic about everything,” Gardner said. “There’s been a lot of injuries, bad news and absences across the season that have made it quite hard.”

Maryville’s injury list continues to swell as the season barrels towards play-offs, and includes Tracy Patton (broken thumb) and Erin Wynn (knee injury). Kirsty Jones was also sidelined last weekend, but returns to the starting line-up against BNC.

“We’ve had a lot of difficulties, but we are still holding on to that glimmer of hope that we can make it into the last games,” Gardner said.

“The only way that would see us feature would be to win every single game, and that’s no easy task.

“We haven’t faced Souths, we lost closely to Forsythes in the first round, and we have BNC this week who are always a tough opponent. They are a ‘never say die’ style team. That said, there’s that glimmer of hope so we’re going to go out and give it our all.”

As injury problems continue to dog Maryville, Gardner also took aim at the substitution system that the Open Championship currently has in place, which sees promotions from the A Grade “punished” with top sides unable to use a bench during that match.

Maryville’s co-coach believes a change to the system, with promotions from the lower grades more in line with pathways like football have on offer, would see more “youth getting strong chances to impress”.

“I think a scenario where you can bring players up from lower grades would be a lot better, gives them chances to play out just a quarter or two, or if the top side is short from injuries it doesn’t cost a lot to get the juniors to play,” she said.

“That is definitely something for the future that could be improved.”

Despite their mixed chances for finals, however, Gardner believes the ability to promote juniors into the grade has been a “major success”, and heaped praise on goal attack Erin Asquith, who is recording her first season in the Championship.

“[Asquith] playing amazing this year, it’s her first year in the grade and if you were just on the sideline you wouldn’t know it at all,” Maryville’s co-coach said.

“We have made her the main shooter for the most part, and she’s really stepped up to the plate for that. I would say she’s one of the best offensive players in the grade from this season, and I’m glad that she’s getting these opportunities week on week.”

Also at National Park on Saturday afternoon, Nova Thunder will take on the Souths Lions, as the second-place outfit looks to bounce back from a defeat at the hands of West Leagues Balance 1 last weekend.

In the later time-slot, Wests 1 will face-off against their sister team Wests 2, while Forsythes look to separate themselves from the mid-table pack as they come up against eighth placed Souths Pride.

TABLE: Wests 1 (35), Souths Lions (29), Forsythes, BNC (27), Nova (25), Maryville (21), Wests 2 (19), Souths Pride (16).