For the 10th time in its seven-year history, the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne will be vying for the Hampson-Hardeman Cup this Friday night.
The Cup was named in honour of women’s footy pioneers Barb Hampson and Lisa Hardeman, who developed the first women’s national championships in 1998, and was established by the two clubs for the inaugural exhibition match held at the MCG in 2013.
The exhibition games were played annually over four years, before the introduction of the official AFLW competition in 2017.
Since then, the teams have met a total of nine times, with the Demons leading the meetings six wins to the Bulldogs’ three.
Several players who were part of the early exhibition games are still active in both teams, including Ellie Blackburn, Lauren Spark, Daisy Pearce, Ellyse Gamble, Karen Paxman, Elise O’Dea and Hannah Scott.
“We always have really exciting games against Melbourne,” Bulldog Hannah Scott said.
“We know it’s going to be a competitive one, as it always is against Melbourne, but we’ll just be doing our best to get the four points.”
The Hampson-Hardeman Cup will be presented to the winning team on the field at the conclusion of the game on Friday, February 14 at VU Whitten Oval.
HAMPSON-HARDEMAN CUP HISTORY
June 30, 2013 – Melbourne 8.5 (53) def. Western Bulldogs 3.3 (21)
June 29, 2014 – Western Bulldogs 4.2 (26) def. by Melbourne 10.12 (72)
May 24, 2015 – Melbourne 4.13 (37) def. Western Bulldogs 4.5 (29)
August 16, 2015 – Western Bulldogs 5.6 (36) def. by Melbourne 6.4 (40)
March 6, 2016 – Melbourne 3.3 (21) def. by Western Bulldogs 6.5 (41)
September 3, 2016 – Western Bulldogs 14.6 (90) def. Melbourne 7.9 (51)
February 18, 2017* – Western Bulldogs 4.5 (29) def. by Melbourne 6.7 (43)
March 17, 2018 – Western Bulldogs 5.3 (33) def. Melbourne 4.7 (31)
March 9, 2019 – Western Bulldogs 6.2 (38) def. by Melbourne 5.9 (39)
*Official AFLW competition established
