Adelaide’s Teah Charlton celebrates her side’s nail-biting win over Collingwood as the siren sounds. Photo: AFL MEDIA
The top six AFLW sides did battle on the weekend, the top team hanging on by its fingernails, No. 2 inflicting an almighty belting on an illness-stricken opponent, and a reigning premier dominating a “home” match that had to be relocated due to severe weather.
With the right to host a grand final, first round byes and home qualifying finals all at stake, it was an opportunity for the best clubs to stake their claims on ladder supremacy, one side to keep its slimmest of finals hopes flickering, and for also-rans to play for club pride.
ST KILDA 2.6 (18) d GEELONG 0.9 (9)
The Saints triumphantly returned to Moorabbin, enjoying prevailing winds, which rendered their opponents marginally more inaccurate at goal than they. Perhaps it was payback from the footy goddesses after St Kilda’s string of heartbreaking defeats earlier this season. Geelong became one of a handful of sides in AFLW history to fail to kick a major score in a match. Chloe Scheer, who entered this match with 6.2 in front of goal, sprayed two shots for minor scores, while teammate Rachel Kearns also missed two. St Kilda’s Tilly Lucas-Rodd was a force, scoring a midfielder’s equivalent of a basketball “triple-double,” racking up 22 touches, 10 tackles and 12 clearances. Her hard work didn’t go in vain, as the “G-Train,” Caitlin Greiser, and Kate Shierlaw, provided the only goals the Saints would need.
RICHMOND 7.4 (46) d GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 6.2 (38)
Perhaps no other Tiger was as enthusiastic in welcoming back a previously injured teammate as captain Katie Brennan was seeing her foil Courtney Wakefield back in the fold. Within the opening minutes, there was Wakefield, taking a strong contested mark, then pouncing on a crumb and snaffling a goal. Brennan would soon follow with a major of her own, and the Tigers, with an opening term score of 5.2 (32) recorded the AFLW’s highest total in a quarter — which Melbourne would smash three hours later. With Tessa Lavey’s snap scooting through the grass on the quarter-time siren, Richmond built a 31-point lead, and needed to do little more offensively in what amounted to an eight-point win. Mon Conti (26 touches, six tackles and four clearances) and Sarah Hosking (23 disposals, seven tackles and eight clearances) propelled Richmond’s attack in the first term as much as Giants’ coach-killing, kick-in turnovers in their back half. If not for Greater Western Sydney’s clangers, power forward Cora Staunton’s three majors in the final term might have been enough to pull out a victory. The Giants’ Rebecca Beeson led all comers with 31 possessions, but GWS lost prolific midfield star Alyce Parker, who was concussed during play, which would rule her out for next week’s season finale.
MELBOURNE 16.11 (107) d FREMANTLE 3.1 (19)
The terror that reigned at Optus Stadium wasn’t the stuff of classic Hollywood horror films, but for over two hours the venue was possessed by Demons. By unleashing an all-out blitzkrieg of historic proportions, Melbourne added insult to Fremantle’s illness and injury-ravaged outfit, shattering league records for dominance as if it were smashing annealed glass with a sledgehammer. The Dees became the first AFLW club to break the 100-point threshold, propelled by kicking 7.1 (43) in the third term — a new high-water mark for a quarter. Melbourne’s final scoreline is a new best and its 88-point massacre takes the prize for AFLW’s biggest winning margin. Spearhead Tayla Harris booted three goals to take her league-best total to 18 and surpass the league’s individual single-season high of 16, while Daisy Pearce kicked three majors in the record-setting third term, en route to a personal best five. Lily Mithen and Eliza West were Melbourne’s most prolific ball-winners, collecting 25 and 24 touches respectively. The Dees’ massive percentage boost ensures them no worse than second spot on the ladder, while the Dockers — playing without nine of their best 16 due to injury or COVID isolation — have plummeted from third to fifth spot.
WESTERN BULLDOGS 10.8 (68) d WEST COAST 1.2 (8)
As if one thrashing of a home side at Optus Stadium wasn’t enough, the Doggies piled on more pain in their mauling of an Eagles side, which for nearly three full quarters threatened to make history with an “all donuts” scoreline. Coupled with Collingwood’s loss, the finals door remains ajar. Ellie Blackburn was everywhere, running up impressive numbers, including 23 disposals, nine contested possessions and 379 metres gained. On the scoreboard, the Dogs’ Brooke Lochland — whose single-match record seven goals only about an hour earlier was under threat from Melbourne’s Daisy Pearce — was a major beneficiary of Blackburn’s distribution and ball-winning, kicking three goals. The Doggies’ Bonnie Toogood and Nell Morris-Dalton added two majors apiece, while Kirsty Lamb added another, to go with 20 touches. The Eagles were dealt a cruel blow late in the piece, with star Dana Hooker — who missed nearly the entire 2021 season with a foot injury — escorted off the ground by trainers after a blow to her left shoulder.
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BRISBANE 7.8 (50) d NORTH MELBOURNE 2.2 (14)
Damaging Queensland floods caused the league to move this Lions’ home match to Victoria University Whitten Oval, where after an opening Roos’ goal, it started raining goals in Brisbane’s favour. The Lions kicked three in the first term on their way to building a 28-point lead at the major break, winning by a cushy 36-point margin and gaining a stranglehold on third spot on the ladder. Despite missing prolific winger Orla O’Dwyer, Lions Emily Bates (16 touches and 11 tackles) and Ally Anderson (13 touches and 11 tackles) commemorated their 50th respective AFLW matches in style, while Sophie Conway and Maria Moloney booted two goals each. Brisbane was far harder at the ball, dominating the contested possessions, contested marks, tackles, and tackles in forward 50 categories. Roos star Jasmine Garner kicked one of her side’s two goals, but her 14 touches — thanks to being restricted by her opponent, Cathy Svarc — were significantly below her average of 22 per match. North’s Ash Riddell did no harm to her standing in the race for AFLW Coaches Association best-and-fairest, collecting a match-high 28 possessions.
ADELAIDE 4.6 (30) d COLLINGWOOD 4.4 (28)
In this nail-biter — which resulted in the Crows hanging on to top rung on the ladder and the Pies’ sixth and last finals spot remaining in question depending on next week’s results — it didn’t take Crows star Erin Phillips to make a strong impact. In Adelaide’s dominant first term, Phillips took two early intercept marks — one of which resulted in her slotting a set shot — on her way to collecting nine of her 17 touches on the day. The Pies were stale in the first term, not even advancing into their forward end, but they turned the tables in the second, booting two goals and holding Adelaide scoreless. Collingwood defensive pillar Ruby Schleicher repelled Crows’ attacks all day on her way to amassing a career-best 31 possessions, while small forward Eliza James, last round’s Rising Star nominee, showed off some fancy footwork to snag two goals, including a go-ahead major in the third term. But shortly afterward, Adelaide’s leading goalkicker Ash Woodland bobbed up, taking a strong, juggling mark in the forward pocket and slotting a set shot for her second goal of the day, to put her side back in front. Collingwood’s Chloe Molloy brought her side back to within two points in the dying minutes with a snap from a standing start. But Ebony Marinoff, playing in her 50th match — lifted in the final term, to finish with 24 touches and seven clearances, after being kept in check in the second and third quarters by the Pies’ Jaimee Lambert. Anne Hatchard, who looked a bit proppy early on, nearly matched Marinoff as her side’s leading ball-winner, with 23 touches. With top spot, the Crows are now in the box seat to lock in a possible home grand final if they win next week, and then win a preliminary final.
CARLTON 7.4 (46) d GOLD COAST 2.4 (16)
With their young guns Mimi Hill (25 touches, four inside 50s, and 423 metres gained) and Gab Pound (23 touches) and continuing to lead the way, the Blues ended their home season on a winning note, mathematically ending the Suns’ bid to make their second finals appearance in their short existence. Carlton got off to a flyer in the first term, with Nic Stevens booting two goals and the Suns squandering seven inside 50s to kick just one behind. Gold Coast closed within one straight kick by half time thanks to the ball-winning of Claudia Whitfort (career-best 21 touches) and goalkicking of Tara Bohanna and Ellie Hampson, but its attack stalled afterward, as it managed just two behinds. Carlton’s Jess Good added a career-best two goals, while Darcy Vescio added to their all-time best goalkicking tally, recording their 51st major.
