The Victorian Vipers will strive to win their first Australian Hockey League title since 2003 and only their second ever championship as they head into Finals Week in Darwin at the top of the pool.

Each of the eight teams have played each other once, and teams have now been split into two pools, with the top teams in the two pools by the last game on Friday 3 June set to play off in the Final on Saturday 4 June.

Despite Victoria (Pool A) finishing on top of the points table after the end of the seven round matches, the OAMPS Queensland Scorchers, who have been allocated into Pool B, will like their chances if they can progress to the Final, having inflicted Victoria’s only defeat of the season when the two teams met over the weekend with a 2-1 win.

A resurgent Southern Suns team, who are well lead by international players Elise Stacy, Holly Evans and Bianca Greenshields, will need to play at their absolute best in order to topple Victoria from first place on the Pool A points table. But their results to date have shown that they are a team on the rise having finished fourth on the overall points table leading into Finals Week, and they will not be short of self belief.

Powerhouse team the WA Diamonds have been late starters to date this season, not being able to get all their best players on the pitch at the same time which sees them enter Finals Week as a the fifth ranked team. Having won four of the past five AHL titles they can not be underestimated as they look to hit their peak during Finals Week.

Host team the NT Pearls will face a tough task if they are to upset the higher ranked teams in Pool A. Although they are yet to record a win, they have several young players of the future including Heather Langham and Elizabeth Duigud and they will be looking to cause some upsets in front of their home crowd during the week.

Queensland top Pool B leading into Finals Week, but will be tested by the likes of NSW who have a number of international players at their disposal including Casey Eastham, Kellie White, Emily Hurtz, Toni Cronk and Jade Close.

After recording a solid 4-1 win over WA in their last round match, NSW will enter Finals Week full of confidence as they look to recapture their form from 2009 when they won the Championship.

Tasmania and the ACT will face a tough challenge in order to overtake Queensland and NSW, however both teams have shown signs that they are capable of taking it up to the best. ACT will be particularly buoyed by their efforts against Queensland over the weekend when they went down 3-2 in a great game and their 2-2 draw with WA during the season. Tasmania have also shown glimpses of talent and while they will go in as underdogs, both teams have the talent to pull off some upsets against anyone who underestimates them.

POOL A
Victoria (1)
South Australia (4)
Western Australia (5)
Northern Territory (8)

POOL B
Queensland (2)
NSW Arrows (3)
Tasmania (6)
ACT (7)

Hockey Australia