Melbourne players surround skipper Daisy Pearce after her match-sealing goal against North Melbourne. Photo: AFL MEDIA

SECOND PRELIMINARY FINAL
MELBOURNE 5.3 (33) d NORTH MELBOURNE 2.4 (16)

Melbourne’s veteran captain Daisy Pearce, who had pondered her football future after her side came up short in last season’s AFLW grand final, has led her side back into a second consecutive season decider, snapping truly with just under three minutes to play to seal a 17-point preliminary final win over a brave North Melbourne.

Melbourne will travel to Springfield in outer Brisbane, to face the Lions in the grand final after outlasting the Roos in what was a grinding, hard-fought contest at Ikon Park.

By the time the final siren went, though, it was the combination of the Demons pouncing on North Melbourne mistakes and the Roos squandering a wealth of third quarter opportunities in which they dominated territory and possession, that tipped the battle Melbourne’s way.

The Roos got off to a flyer, hitting the scoreboard within the first minute when Emma King — known more for her aerial skills than ground game, scooped up a loose ball in the square, put a silky spin move on a defender, and snapped truly.

North Melbourne’s pressure kept the Dees silent for a short while before a Karen Paxman pass found Megan Fitzsimon, who converted a set shot to tie the scores. Melbourne’s next two majors came courtesy of North errors, which helped it open a five-point half time edge.

First, the Roos conceded a 50-metre penalty, which the Dees’ Lily Mithen turned into a set shot goal. Later in the second term, an errant handpass by North Melbourne’s Sarah Wright propelled the Dees into attack, where Casey Sherriff booted her first goal of the season.

The Roos starved the Demons of the ball in the third term, winning the inside 50 count by a whopping 18 to two. But in their myriad forays forward, the Roos hacked the ball long rather than lowering their eyes to hit up short targets and mustered only two minor scores, closing the gap to three points.

In the final quarter, first Kate Hore, then Pearce hit the scoreboard for the Dees. Tyla Hanks was Melbourne’s most influential player with 20 touches, 12 tackles and four clearances, while Karen Paxman contributed 19 disposals, seven tackles and six clearances. North Melbourne’s Jasmine Garner had a match-best 24 possessions, nine tackles and four clearances, and Emma King kicked the Roos’ second major.

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FIRST PRELIMINARY FINAL
BRISBANE 7.4 (46) d ADELAIDE 3.5 (23)

Even in a preliminary final it’s easy for a star to slip under the radar in a side with a galaxy of them — especially when not constantly hitting the scoreboard.

But in the Lions’ comfortable victory that ends the Crows’ reign and sends Brisbane into its fourth grand final in seven seasons, Emily Bates sent a message recalling the title of the Simple Minds’ classic hit from yesteryear: Don’t you forget about me.

Bates — seven months removed from winning the AFLW’s best and fairest award — gathered a team-high 22 possessions and had three clearances, but was most instrumental during a purple patch from late in the first term until half time when her teammates peppered the goals and put the match away.

One of Bates’s clearances, in the dying minutes before the major break, directly set up Courtney Hodder’s second goal of the night, a set shot that effectively put the match beyond Adelaide’s reach.

While Brisbane massively out-tackled the Crows and ramped up its pressure across the ground, Adelaide’s undisciplined acts contributed to its own demise.

As if Brisbane’s league-leading goalkicker Jesse Wardlaw needed any extra help, Chelsea Biddell’s pushing her in the back gifted Wardlaw one set shot close to goal, then Hannah Munyard’s straying into the protected zone after Wardlaw marked incurred a 50-metre penalty and gifted her a second.

Wardlaw easily converted both, making her the first player in AFLW history to kick 22 goals in a season — a feat made even more remarkable considering she’d kicked a total of just 23 across the previous four campaigns.

The Crows’ only scores to half time were two rushed behinds, leaving them 29 points down. Adelaide found two quick goals in the third term, through a Caitlin Gould long bomb that skidded through the goal square, and a Danielle Ponter snap from playing on after a sensational contested mark.

But Brisbane’s Breanna Koenen kept Ponter well in check the entire night and Dakota Davidson’s goals in the third and fourth quarters kept Adelaide safely at bay.

Still, Anne Hatchard was the Crows’ best, registering a match-high 25 disposals and fittingly, their courageous captain, Chelsea Randall — who accumulated 15 touches playing in the middle, down back, and up forward in the match and whose body absorbed multiple dents, pings, and scratches during the finals campaign — kicked her side’s final goal of the season.