By Chris McAsey

The 2025 Asian Champs saw the formation of a second women’s division for the first time, highlighting the rapid growth of women’s footy in Asia.

And the new division produced one of the standout team performances of the Champs, with the Hong Kong Dragons powering through an unbroken run of five wins to take their first-ever women’s title. Incredibly, the Dragons were only scored against in one match.

The level of energy and excitement in the Hong Kong Dragons camp was through the roof after their Grand Final triumph against Indonesia.

And no one was more pumped than hard-running midfielder Raine Sinarimbo, whose bursting runs out of stoppage were a driving force for her team.

With a look of almost disbelief after the big Grand Final win, Raine said she was ‘overwhelmed’ with the experience of winning the championship.

‘I really love this game,’ she said. ‘When I started playing three years ago everybody at the Dragons was so friendly and the club is so well organised.’

‘I’m a senior player now after three years, and we had a whole lot of new babies in the team. They were amazing.’

‘I never doubted these ladies!’

Raine was part of a formidable Hong Kong midfield alongside Annie Buntine, who provided multiple scoring opportunities for athletic tall forwards Kirralee Luiyf and Alexander Joseph-Hui.

Both Raine and Annie were later named in the All Asian team.

Raine (3rd from right) with other Hong Kong Dragons named in the 2025 All Asian team.

Raine said that her background playing rugby meant she had developed some skills with a similar shaped ball before taking up footy.

‘That gave me a bit of a head start,’ she said. ‘But our coaches have been  really amazing. I’m going to give the credit to coaches!’

Raine said that training with the men’s team had also helped the women develop the physical side of their game.

‘We train with the men sometimes and I think it made us tougher,’ she said.

‘The men tackled us – not really that hard, but we tackled them as well. I think that really helped us going into the Championships.’

The Dragons women’s team will deservedly be promoted to Division 1 for the 2026 Asian Champs. With a solid mix of experienced senior players and talented youngsters, next year could be the Year of the Dragon again.