Delight for the Magpies, despair for the Roos, as the siren heralds Collingwood’s six-point victory. Photo: AFL MEDIA

Both higher-seeded home sides have won their AFLW elimination finals to advance to next week’s preliminary finals, but not without late scares that teased at possible upsets.

Those two teams – Melbourne and Collingwood – must now leave their home decks and fly interstate, the Demons set to travel to Adelaide to face the top-ranked Crows, while Collingwood heads north to Brisbane for a battle in the Lions’ den.

Will the Lions and Crows benefit next week from having their well-earned rests, or will the Demons and Magpies ride the momentum wave they’re surfing from Saturday’s big victories?

One thing is for sure. Both Melbourne and Collingwood are over the moon after landing knockout blows on Fremantle and North Melbourne respectively.

MELBOURNE 5.10 (40) d FREMANTLE 3.5 (23)

Take away the third term of this one, and it was a Demon domination. Melbourne is positively scorching, having won its last five matches — including two victories over the Dockers in the last three weeks.

The ball lived in Melbourne’s end all afternoon, particularly in the final term, when the Demons amassed eight scoring shots.

Maddi Gay’s sealer followed seven consecutive minor scores, but on a broiling afternoon, the accuracy didn’t matter, as the Dees wore the Dockers down.

Karen Paxman, acting captain in lieu of injured Melbourne skipper Daisy Pearce, collected 20 touches, while Gay was the Demons’ best, with 19 disposals, nine tackles, and the last goal.

With All-Australian goalsneak Kate Hore kept quiet, Shelley Scott assumed that role in the second quarter, first with a dribble, then with a snap, helping her side to a 19-point half time lead.

All season slow starts plagued Fremantle (it kicked just 3.12 in first terms during the home-and-away season) but its 0.2 first half, even by the poor standard it set, was horrendous. In fact, the Dockers went scoreless in both the second and final terms.

Remarkably, Fremantle charged back to within four points of Melbourne at three-quarter time, kicking three goals with the wind at its backs, as Ashley Sharp and big guns Gemma Houghton and Sabreena Duffy all hit the scoreboard.

But whatever momentum Freo built unraveled with about six-and-a-half minutes left in the final term.

With the Dockers trailing by eight points, speedy Docker Ebony Antonio was away, taking off on a burst through the corridor with a paddock in front of her. It seemed, for a moment, a two-point game was on the cards — until Antonio lost the ball after a bounce, which the Dees pounced on.

Docker Kiara Bowers (20 touches, 17 tackles) showed why she won the AFL Coaches’ Association Most Valuable Player award, but the Dees were harder at the contest, fitter, and faster.

While Melbourne advances, Fremantle must take a long, hard look at itself after spiralling from an 8-0 2020 season, then starting 4-0 in 2021, only to lose four of its last six matches — including its last three — to quietly exit the finals.

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COLLINGWOOD 7.8 (50) d NORTH MELBOURNE 7.2 (44)

Fans must have sprained their necks swivelling their heads from one side to another, watching each side’s prolonged purple patches and lead changes.

Both the Pies and Roos coughed up 14-point leads at breaks and saw the other side pass them. Fortunately for the Pies, they blew their advantage after the first term and not, as the Roos did, after the third.

North appeared to have the match salted away at three-quarter time, after run of five consecutive goals that began early in the second quarter, taking the Roos from a nine-point deficit to a 14-point break.

But the Pies’ Brianna Davey (31 touches) just wouldn’t quit, winning clearance after clearance and helping set up goals to Kristy Stratton, Chloe Molloy, and Tarni Brown.

Molloy’s final term goal – her second on the day – which brought the Pies to within one point, was one of the most bizarre efforts a footy fan will ever see.

She gathered a loose ball in the Pies’ forward end, threw it on her boot and kicked it so high it threatened to bring rain. The ball then landed in front of the goal square then hopped sky high again, across the goal line.

Brown snapped a crumb that proved the decider, but she too had an odd day in front of the sticks – in the second quarter, she ran the wrong way and actually kicked a behind for North.

The Roos were gallant, as Kaitlyn Ashmore’s rebounding out of defence was instrumental in pacing the attack that nearly got them over the line.

Bethany Lynch and Sophie Abbtangelo (two goals each) took advantage, while stars Ashleigh Riddell (22 touches) and Jasmine Garner (16 touches) added one goal each.

But credit the Pies for having massive self-belief and digging deep within themselves to fight back in front of their home fans to win. Collingwood had 13 forward entries in the last term and played like a team that absolutely would not be denied.

Now the Pies take on the Lions, trying to avenge a recent narrow loss, while North must wonder what else it can do next year to produce consistent, winning, four-quarter efforts.