Brisbane players celebrate another final quarter goal in their victory over Melbourne on Sunday. Photo: AFL MEDIA
A wet, windy spring weekend across Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania made results gloomy for some AFLW sides and glorious for others.
In the marquee matchup, undefeated Brisbane solidified its top of the ladder position, avenging a preliminary final loss to the Demons last season by defeating them at their Casey Fields fortress, snapping their 13-game win streak at the ground.
Elsewhere, reigning premier Adelaide again escaped with a win despite playing a quality of footy a country mile from its best, the Bulldogs won their fourth game straight, firming their finals credentials, the Dockers drew with Carlton, the Blues’ history-making, second consecutive deadlock, while expansion clubs Hawthorn and Sydney continued taking their lumps in lopsided losses.
NORTH MELBOURNE 4.4 (28) d GEELONG 2.4 (16)
Geelong has done well to restrict opponents from impacting the scoreboard, but its bugbear has been its weak attack. The trend continued on a soggy deck in Launceston over the weekend, as the dam wall burst in the second term, with the host Kangaroos kicking two goals and holding the Cats to just one behind at the major break. With Irishwoman Vicki Wall later kicking her second goal, even a Cats’ fightback with Laura Gardiner and Jacqui Parry booting majors and Georgie Prespakis playing Wonder Woman with a match-high 32 disposals, six clearances, and nine tackles, it wasn’t enough to match or come close to overtaking a Roos outfit which had four stars — Ash Riddell, Jasmine Garner, Emma Kearney, and Jenna Bruton — with at least 20 possessions.
WEST COAST 2.4 (16) d GWS 1.3 (9)
Eagles’ captain Emma Swanson led from the front in a match in which she demonstrated individual excellence while her teammates held down the fort, doing just enough to keep the Giants at arm’s length on the scoreboard. Swanson kicked one of the two Eagles’ majors, led her side with 23 possessions and laid seven tackles. While the Giants’ Alyce Parker led all comers with 26 disposals, West Coast kept Giants’ spearhead Cora Staunton scoreless, which went a long way toward an admirable rebound a week after getting dismantled at home.
GOLD COAST 5.12 (42) d ST KILDA 4.4 (28)
Fittingly, it was the Suns’ Charlie Rowbottom getting the last touch of the ball, at the final siren. The mark she took, out of defence, was her game-high 31st possession of the match, to go along with a game-high nine tackles. Though Gold Coast was wasteful in front of the sticks — notably, Ellie Hampson and Courtney Jones with a combined 1.6 — Kalinda Howarth kicked straight, booting two majors. For St Kilda, the “G Train,” Caitlin Greiser, was rolling, the power forward kicking two goals, and Bianca Jakobsson racked up 19 touches, but the Saints have now dropped two straight games after a fast start in which they beat two expansion sides.
PORT ADELAIDE 10.8 (68) d SYDNEY 0.2 (2)
Not even a rainy day at Alberton could put a dampener on history as the Power stormed to one of the most lopsided victories in AFLW history, crushing the Swans by 66 points for a first-ever win in the competition. Hannah Ewings was one of the Port Adelaide players who put on quite a show, kicking a bag of three goals among her 19 touches, and laying eight tackles. But Ewings’ tackle total was modest compared to teammate Abbey Dowrick, who recorded 14, in addition to kicking a goal of her own. While Power captain Erin Phillips was goalless, she was instrumental early, in setting up opportunities for her teammates. Young gun Montana Ham made a very welcome return for Sydney, from a knee injury, leading her side with 20 touches.
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FREMANTLE 5.2 (32) drew with CARLTON 5.2 (32)
What could be a more fitting end to a contest between two evenly-matched clubs then a drawn match, with each side left to rue several chances to have secured victory? For the visiting Blues, it was their second consecutive draw. Carlton — with one win on the board for the season — might take some solace in rallying from an 18-point, halftime deficit to nearly steal the game, but for the winless Dockers, it was yet another setback for their finals chances. Carlton’s Abbie McKay was best on ground, with a game-high 29 disposals, 10 clearances, and eight tackles, while teammate Breann Moody dominated the ruck, with 31 hit outs and what appeared to be a dying-minutes, match-winning major. But with less than two minutes on the clock, umpires paid a highly questionable free kick in front of goal to Fremantle key forward Aine Tighe, who missed the resultant sitter, drawing the match. Tighe kicked two earlier goals and, with Megan Kauffman (14 possessions, seven tackles, and a goal), were the Dockers’ brightest lights.
WESTERN BULLDOGS 6.1 (37) d HAWTHORN 1.1 (7)
After a scoreless first term for both sides, the Doggies went to work and remained relentless for the final three quarters. The daughters of the west can boast of the heroics of their own very formidable dynamic duo, Kirsty Lamb, and Ellie Blackburn. Lamb, playing in her milestone 50th match, touched the pill an equal game-high 25 times, kicked a goal, and laid five tackles. Doggies’ captain, Blackburn, amassed 22 disposals and kicked a goal, while her emerging star teammates Rylie Wilcox and Gabby Newton also added goals. Former North Melbourne Kangaroo Kaitlyn Ashmore kicked Hawthorn’s only goal among her 16 possessions.
ADELAIDE 2.9 (21) d COLLINGWOOD 2.4 (16)
In an eerie parallel to the finale of the preliminary final their brothers lost by a hair, the Magpie women threatened until the dying seconds to pull off a miracle win. But despite the Crows’ shocking wastefulness in front of goal, they managed to hang on and eke out a narrow victory, even with the ball living in Collingwood’s attacking 50 in the dying minutes. If not for the Pies’ Steph Chiocci’s dying seconds snap missing the mark and going through for a behind, Adelaide’s match-long inaccuracy would have been punished. Crows’ superstar Anne Hanchard led all players in disposals (26) and marks (10) but kicked 0.3 on the day. Prolific Adelaide goalkickers Ash Woodland and Abbie Ballard accounted for the Crows’ major scores. Ruby Schleicher and Mikala Cann (one goal) were the Pies’ standout performers, with each amassing 17 possessions.
RICHMOND 3.8 (26) d ESSENDON 3.6 (24)
The AFLW’s first-ever Dreamtime match, played at Port Melbourne, celebrating the culmination of Indigenous Round, proved an absolute thriller. The Bombers again narrowly lost to an opponent after mounting a grandstand finish. At crunch time, in the dying seconds, after the Bombers reduced their deficit to a solitary point, the ball ended up in the hands of megastar Mon Conti, who safeguarded the victory with a long, accurate kick to captain Katie Brennan. Conti excelled with 15 possessions, five clearances, nine tackles, and a brilliant snap from the pocket for a goal. Even with Conti’s heroics and Courtney Wakefield booting the Tigers’ other two majors, Sarah Hosking played an influential role, limiting Bombers’ star Maddy Prespakis to just 11 possessions. Essendon will rue its myriad missed opportunities in a dominant third term, played in monsoon conditions, when it kicked three consecutive, wayward shots on goal, before Amber Clarke finally stopped the rot with a snap to bring her side within one straight kick.
BRISBANE 6.6 (42) d NAARM 4.3 (27)
Even when they were down by 13 points at quarter time, any savvy observer could plainly see the Lions were prowling and smelling blood. Niram bolted quickly out of the blocks, thanks to Lily Mithen (match-high 23 disposals) and Tyla Hanks (16 possessions) winning plenty of ball and Kate Hore booting two goals in a five-minute span. But early in the second term, Brisbane started wresting control of the match, with Ally Anderson collecting some of her team-high 22 possessions (12 contested) and Isabel Dawes piling up some of her six clearances and Cathy Svarc applying manic pressure, laying a handful of her 10 tackles. The trio’s hard work opened multiple avenues to goal, with Jess Wardlaw toe-poking home two majors to help the Lions close to within four points at the major break. A Hanks goal in the third term had Naarm up by four points at the final change, but from there, it was one-way traffic on the scoreboard. The Lions kicked six of the match’s last seven goals, including three in the final stanza, with Sophie Conway, Courtney Hodder, and Ruby Svarc hitting the scoreboard. It was a dominant Brisbane finish, in which it held Naarm to a single point.
