By Chris McAsey

Asia will have a new women’s champion when Cambodia and Thailand battle for the inaugural AFL Asia Cup in Sunday’s final.

Neither country has won a championship in Asia since international women’s competition began in 2018.

Cambodia will enter Sunday’s final as favourites after going through to the Grand Final undefeated. They will have an edge after beating Thailand 7.2.44 to 2.6.18 in Round 3, but it was a competitive match with the Thais wasting opportunities to put scoreboard pressure on their neighbours.

Thailand has weapons in powerful utility Irravadee Makris and key tall Nattanan Sangvanloy.

Thailand’s Nattanan Sangvanloy breaks clear.

Makris had some big moments in the clash with Cambodia, beating two defenders to snap a goal and almost kicking another when her long bomb after three bounces was marked on the line.

The Thai defence is solid with key back Jirapaporn Damhai, a relative newcomer to the game, halting multiple forward thrusts with saving marks.

Cambodia looks to be the more rounded team and their skills across the ground are superior. But there is an injury cloud over inspirational captain Sreylak Koun,  and ruck Puthyda Prom will have to hold her own against bigger opponents around the ground.

Thailand’s Sojirat Pradisom works hard at ground level.

Ahead of Sunday’s final, Prom said the Cambodians are excited about the opportunity to play in the first AFL Asia Cup Grand Final.

‘We’re super excited and really proud of every single player who played a role to get us here.

‘We’ve been working so hard since our club was created. We lost matches for a long time but each year we learned from the losses and got better.’

Cambodia’s high pressure and gang tackling are a feature of their game.

Prom said the Cambodian men’s and women’s squads are very supportive of each other.

‘We train together and sometimes play some practice games. There’s so much encouragement and motivation from our coaches and the men’s team.’

Prom only started playing footy in 2022 and says she had a lot to learn when she started.

Cambodian coach Hannah Slaugher encourages her players.

‘Footy is kind of complicated and it’s a tough game, but Hannah (women’s coach Hannah Slaughter) and Kokke (men’s coach Peter Kokke) are the best coaches.’

She is proud that Cambodia always has a majority of local players and says that participation is growing strongly.

‘Once people have knowledge of footy they can see the beauty of the sport and then they join in.’

When asked if Cambodia can win Sunday’s final, Prom doesn’t hesitate.

‘Yes, 100%. We have to believe and we hope to win.’