Chloe Molloy has been influential in the middle for Collingwood this AFLW season. Photo: AFL MEDIA

The pointy end of the AFLW season is here and this week all 18 clubs will be decked out in specially designed guernseys celebrating Pride Round.

While Pride Round embodies and epitomizes diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, shows support for and solidarity with LGBTQIA+ communities and coincides with Australia’s National Coming Out Day, pride also has another meaning.

While contending clubs battle for ladder supremacy — like Brisbane and Adelaide, who square off in a blockbuster — clubs with little or no mathematical chance of making finals, such as the expansion sides, are playing purely for pride.

CARLTON (2-3-2) v RICHMOND (5-2) (Ikon Park, Stadium, Friday 5.30 pm local time)
The Tigers, riding a five-game winning streak, are stalking a top four spot and sit only a game behind the top four clubs after defeating West Coast, while The Blues last week broke a four-match drought with a smashing of St Kilda. Even without captain and goalkicker Katie Brennan, the Tigers have been playing some of their best footy, with the performance of their backline especially strong. Brennan may be fit to return this week and young gun Ellie McKenzie may be at full strength after a calf injury. Blues’ ruck Breann Moody was a powerhouse last round and Mimi Hill and Abbie McKay won plenty of ball, but Richmond is too hungry and in too good form to slip up here.
GIL TIPS: RICHMOND

BRISBANE (6-1) v ADELAIDE (6-1), (Metricon Stadium, Friday 7.30 pm local time)
This one is the marquee matchup of the round and should be a cracker. These two sides have squared off in the 2017 and 2021 AFLW grand finals, with each side winning once. This season, both clubs have had but one hiccup and could again be on a collision course to face each other in the decider. The Crows’ prolific ball-winners Ebony Marinoff, Anne Hatchard and Chelsea Randall have been on fire lately, but so have the Lions’ Ally Anderson and Emily Bates. The difference may come down to which club can flip on the goalkicking switch. The Crows have shown the ability to do that under pressure, but the Lions, in Jess Wardlaw, Greta Bodey, Courtney Hodder, and Dakota Davidson, have more threats and lead the competition for scores. This could be a nail-biter, with the Lions winning at Metricon, their second home, by a whisker.
GIL TIPS: BRISBANE

PORT ADELAIDE (1-5-1) v NORTH MELBOURNE (4-3) (Alberton Oval, Saturday 12.10 pm local time)
The Kangaroos boast the player in the best form of the year, Jasmine Garner, according to the numbers in the AFL Coaches Association Most Valuable Player Award voting, which show her comfortably ahead of her nearest competitor, Essendon’s Maddy Prespakis. North Melbourne also boasts a potent midfield, twin towers up forward and a solid backline, but it just hasn’t been able to get past the strongest clubs. Inaccuracy doomed the Roos last round against Brisbane, but they should easily dispatch expansion team Port, which is averaging less than four goals per match.
GIL TIPS: NORTH MELBOURNE

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ESSENDON (2-5) v SYDNEY (0-7) (Ikon Park, Saturday 2.10 p.m. local time)
The Bombers looked great out of the gate, showing the ability to put up healthy scores and battle to the death in losing a couple matches by razor-thin margins, but the reality of their position as a first-year club has caught up with them in a four-game losing streak. The fledgling Swans, meanwhile, have yet to win and for the most part have had weekly hidings. Prespakis and co. are poised to take out their frustration in what shapes yet again to be a growing pains game for Sydney.
GIL TIPS: ESSENDON

GEELONG (5-2) v WEST COAST (2-5), (Ikon Park, Saturday 4.40 p.m. local time)
Speaking of stars with the Prespakis surname, this round the Cats get back Georgie, suspended the last two rounds for a dangerous tackle, but still sitting third in the AFLCA MVP voting, immediately behind sister Maddy. Without Georgie, though, the Cats have been playing some of the AFLW’s most exciting footy, winning three straight games and riding the white-hot form of on-ballers Amy McDonald and Nina Morrison and forwards Chloe Scheer and Shelley Scott. Despite the Eagles losing their last three matches, in those defeats they’ve had three different players — Sarah Lakay, Ella Roberts, and Charlie Thomas — win or share the round’s AFLW Rising Star nomination. While the Eagles are building toward a future rise, the future has already arrived for Geelong, which will bare its claws and saunter closer toward the top four.
GIL TIPS: GEELONG

GOLD COAST (4-3) v MELBOURNE (6-1) v (Metricon Stadium, Saturday 6.40 p.m. local time)
With the Bulldogs nipping at their heels one ladder rung below, this match represents a huge opportunity for the Suns to entrench themselves inside the top eight if they can muster an upset over the Dees. But with Melbourne still in the premiership frame, a shock Suns win looks unlikely. No recent opponent has had an answer for the Dees’ Olivia Purcell, the former Cat who is winning the ball at a phenomenal rate. While the Suns scorched Sydney last round, star-studded Melbourne is coming off a 64-point steamrolling of the Dogs and shows no signs of a letdown.
GIL TIPS: MELBOURNE

WESTERN BULLDOGS (4-3) v ST KILDA (2-5) (MARS Stadium, Sunday 12.10 p.m. local time)
The Bulldogs sit just outside the top eight, but will be back in if they can beat St Kilda and Gold Coast loses to Melbourne. That should be plenty of motivation for the Dogs to take out some frustration from last round’s humiliation at the hands of the Dees. St Kilda has lost five games straight and its only two wins have been against expansion sides playing their first and second-ever matches. It all points to a cakewalk for Ellie Blackburn, Kirsty Lamb and the Dogs, playing at their Ballarat home away from home.
GIL TIPS: WESTERN BULLDOGS

GWS (2-5) v HAWTHORN (3-4) (Henson Park, Sunday 2.10 pm local time)
The Hawks are soaring, having banked three consecutive victories after dropping their first four, while the Giants’ offense was missing in action for three quarters last week against Collingwood, going goalless most of the way before kicking two late in the piece. Scoring outages have happened far too often for the Giants, yet they’ve still scored more this season than Hawthorn. Jess Duffin has been an excitement machine lately for the Hawks and if her teammates can shut down Giants’ prolific goalkicker Cora Staunton as the Pies did last round, Hawthorn will win comfortably.
GIL TIPS: HAWTHORN

FREMANTLE (1-5-1) v COLLINGWOOD (6-1) (Fremantle Oval, Sunday 4.10 pm local time)
The Magpies are rolling off three wins on the trot and moving toward locking in a top four berth, while the struggling and banged-up Dockers are limping toward the finish line. With defensive pillars Sarah Livingstone and Ruby Schleicher leading the way, Collingwood has conceded the AFLW’s fewest points, while Jaimee Lambert and Chloe Molloy have been influential in the middle, and the electric Eliza James has added sizzle up forward. Fremantle will be without the injured Gabby O’Sullivan and Janelle Cuthbertson, but holds out hope that recovering star Ebony Antonio and young gun Dana East may return. The Dockers showed signs of life late last round against Adelaide, but the Magpies should get over the line easily out west.
GIL TIPS: COLLINGWOOD