As the SWPL approaches the split, the top four sides have set out their stalls ahead of what could be an era defining season for the game in Scotland. 

Picture this, it’s the late 2010s and the boxing heavyweight division is stacked with box office bouts between fighters in their prime as Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder have the potential to create eye watering match-ups.

Imagine that, only they actually get to all fight each other. Not once, but over and over with each being one being knocked down and knocking the other down off their perch with equal impunity and disregard.

Well that is exactly what you’ll find in the SWPL as Rangers, Celtic, Glasgow City and Hibs all sit on an incredulous  51 points going into the final game before the split where they will compete in the Golden Gloves stages of competition.

It’s time to meet your prize fighters.

The Favourites

For some, calling a side level on points with three other teams might beggar belief but that is exactly what Rangers were not so long ago.

Tucking teams away left, right and centre Jo Potter’s players toyed with their opponents and scored for fun as they the falling at the qualification hurdles of the Champions League against Arsenal and Atletico Madrid looked a distant memory.

110 goals in 21 games (not to mention the 24 against one unfortunate Scottish Cup opponent) forces a second glance and yet that is how dominant they have been.

A scorched earth policy has served the Glasgow side nicely as Potter remembers all too well the feeling of losing the title on the final day to Celtic on goal difference but the play itself is far more patient than the numbers would indicate.

Potter described the win over Partick Thistle as ‘a controlled performance’. The result being 6-0 only goes to show where the manager’s priorities lie.

Clever switches of play from the pinpoint Tessell Middag, the 44 cap Dutch international who can count Ajax, Manchester City, Fiorentina among others on her glistening CV forces sides who would like nothing more than to sit back and be compact to open themselves up.

Queue Katie Wilkinson, who recovered from the disappointment of leaving her childhood club Aston Villa to tear up trees in Scotland after arriving in the summer from Southampton. 29 goals in just 21 league games this season, it is fair to say Wilkinson is a shoe-in for top scorer.

As double cup winners last season, beating Celtic in November felt like a title unification bout that left them looking like runaway champions.

Any team that comes flying out of the traps however, is bound to hit a speed bump. Although no one could have predicated that they would lose not one, but two consecutive games 3-0 as Glasgow City and Hibs gave them an almighty bloody nose.

Potter bemoaned the panic, the lack of quality and her players coming off second best in their duels as it looked as though another title would slip through their fingers.

To their credit they put the results behind them and have avoided any slip-ups since with another win over their Glasgow rivals. ‘Nothing sweeter’ as Rio Hardy put it. Setting them on their way to defend their belt against Hibs in the League Cup final in March.

A squad that has managed to blend the experience of players like Lizzie Arnot from the bench or 147 cap Jane Ross has been invaluable in integrating the academy’s fledglings with Jodi McLeary and Kirsty McLean making their mark in the senior side or even Lily Boyce making her debut against Westdyke having been at the club since she was eight.

As in all great sides, there seems to be an addiction to winning trophies. Laura Rafferty describing how her ‘eyes light up’ for silverware is one not lost on Potter who has an FA Cup winner’s medal to proudly display in her home.

The question is, can her players deliver a first league medal to add to the collection.

The Poster Ghirls

It beggars belief but just a few months ago the title holders were considered an outside bet by some.

Misguided as it was, the explanation stems from their participation in the Champion’s League group stages representing Scotland on the European stage. An achievement that cannot be overstated in terms of the impact it could have on the domestic game but also led to them having games to claw back a nine point lead at the of table.

The effects of the truncated calendar still being felt by players. Maria McAneney feeling that the ‘schedule’s been all over the place recently’ after the weekend’s 2-2 draw ‘I don’t think I’ve had that in my professional career’ the midfielder had said after that goal.

In part also because an out of sorts Celtic were dealt one blow after another in a bruising October which saw them win them win just one game from five in all competitions. Victory coming in the form of a 1-0 squeeze past 9th place Spartans.

Tired legs and minds trudged forward, fighting on four competitive fronts and wisened from their European campaign despite not picking up a single point.

However when the suggestion was put to her that the side might be ‘leggy’, Sadiku, was unequivocal in her view that fatigue should not explain the off-colour form her side has endured.

Instead the side reset (in part thanks to a week in sunny Gran Canaria), added some depth to the squad with Emma Westin and Momo Nakao arriving with Abi Harrison returning for a second spell and scoring a hat-trick in her first start; powering the side to an undefeated run stretching back to November.

Caitlin Hayes’ departure to Brighton was a blow but it is perhaps testament to the side’s ability to turn players into WSL calibre. Besides, the side were confident they could to do job without her.

‘Relentless and ruthlessness’, that was what Sadiku wanted from her players following their setbacks and that’s what they got with a goal in the first 30 seconds from Amy Gallacher against City.

Granted, despite Saoirse Noonan’s potency in front of goal 20 goals (still not enough to see her add to the three caps since has earned for the Republic of Ireland in 2016), they are unlikely to score another twenty that would see them match their pre-split tally last season.

This time, points alone will suffice and they will need to show every bit of experience picked up from the draining season so far if they are to win their second ever title.

The Grizzled Veterans

After 14 successive league wins, the once standalone juggernaut of the game in Scotland have had to learn to share in this brave new world.

The rise of their title rivals sent tremors through Petershill Park last, their shared home with Thistle, and City were rocked.  Last season’s pre-split table that had seem them just four points off the top but stretched to nine come the final day.

Support for manager and club legend Leanne Ross was unwavering, even after defeat to Celtic in the league and League Cup this year left the sour taste of their rivals having their number.

There would be further stumbles too, a draw with Hearts and Rangers were by no means a death knell but doubts continued to creep as they were comfortably beaten by Hibs, the side they had finished 27 points ahead of last year.

But they recovered admirably, earning their revenge over Celtic in the Scottish Cup (although Ross would deny any such feelings), consigning Montrose to an 8-0 thrashing before a draw with Sadiku’s side in the league ensured there would be no mental disadvantage come the split.

They might not have the goalscoring output of rivals Rangers, but they remain the best defensive side in the league, with 10 goals shipped in 21 games. Thanks in no small part to the brick wall that is Lee Gibson, the shot stopper proving undisputed at both club and international level.

The return of Leanne Crichton from Motherwell (although poaching is maybe more apt) has been an important addition to the side. Crichton not only possessing a deep knowledge of the club from three spells but an impressive 72 caps for the national side to boot.

In spite of its relatively short 27 year existence, the club have built an impressive culture. Never missing an opportunity to honour those who have played a part in their remarkable journey to date.

As cliché as it might sound, there is something to be said about the spirit around the club. ‘We are like a family’ is how Natalie Wróbel described it after scoring a hat-trick against Rangers which put them firmly back in the conversation, just in case anyone had forgotten.

No one player being bigger than the club is something that seems baked into the club’s tactics too. It is not just Wróbel, but every match report seems to feature a different goalscorer. Ross often keen to stress how the club’s results, good and bad, are down to the collective.

‘Original Trailblazers’ might be a self-designated nickname but the club continues to break new ground, the weekend’s draw recently setting a new attendance record for Petershill Park, with fans lining up around the pitch for all to see on BBC Alba.

Hoping to bring even more to witness a crowning day come the season, the wise heads of the Heavyweight division have shown they’ve still got it.

The Underdogs

Last but certainly not least, it is the side that has flown ‘almost under the radar’ according to their own manager Grant Scott.

Never discussed in the same vein as their title rivals, it is easy to forget that Hibernian have been in conversation for the past decade. In that time, collecting an impressive three Scottish Cups and four League Cups but runners-up in the league four times too.

Turning professional in 2020, they looked destined to take things up a gear.

Instead, they stalled. Professionalism having the adverse impact on their success with the years since offering no trophies, finishing fourth in every season bar one where they stooped to fifth.

Around this time last season, the split was confirmed with the side sat in the familiar fourth spot, 21 points off top place Rangers.

With one game to go before we enter the next phase, they sit in that very same position, albeit 21 points closer to the top of the table having not dropped points in the league in November since they were held by a dogged Thistle side.

Well what’s changed? Yes the flow of goals has increased steadily, with ten more than they had with in 22 games last year. Childhood Hibs fan Eilidh Adams and Kathleen McGovern contributing a healthy 37 goals between them.

But Hibs understood that whilst attack wins games, defence wins titles.

The signing of keepers Erin Clachers on loan from Glasgow City and Noa Schumacher from the American college system, has proved crucial in reducing the goals conceded by half.

Disappointment last season has been harnessed in setting them on their way. ‘We have a good bit of experience in the team now in the squad.’ Ciara Grant had said after their League Cup semi-final. ‘Everyone, even the young players, have learned a lot from last year and you can see that on the pitch’.

Grant no stranger to success herself, winning the title with Rangers in 2022 but also as a Gaelic footballer, tasting glory in the Ulster GAA’s 2018 season with Donegal.

But for anyone who has them down as plucky underdogs, they would do well to remember that should you tally up the head to head points between the top four this season, Hibs would be top of the pops.

Scott has remarked in the past that their rivals possess bigger purses. Not that it seemed to matter as they dissected Rangers 3-0 on the road. A highlight of the season for sure but the jewel in the crown would surely be getting the better of Jo Potter’s side in the League Cup final in March.

The opportunity to earn their first trophy since 2019 coming against a side well versed in cup football but Grant was adamant, ‘nothing scares us anymore’.

A tagline for what could be the game of their campaign if ever it needed one as the heat rises in Scotland premier division.

Bloodied, bruised and battered, the four heavyweights have to do it all again. The stage is set and never has the league been so competitive but the game is all the better for it.