Brisbane celebrates its long-awaited AFLW premiership win last April against Adelaide. Photo: AFL MEDIA

Last April, the proverbial bridesmaids finally became the brides.

The ever-hungry Brisbane Lions finally captured the premiership tiara and shed the dreaded runner-up sash they’d reluctantly worn in 2017 and 2018 after losing each of those AFLW grand finals by a single, straight kick.

To beat their nemesis, Adelaide, which had defeated them in the inaugural 2017 playoff, by three goals on the Crows’ home ground had to have been the cream on the cake.

But now, as the sixth AFLW season gets underway on Friday night, the new queens of the footy jungle go from being the hunters to the hunted. And neither Adelaide, nor star-studded Collingwood, nor the deadly Demons or dangerous Dockers, are about to back down.

Here’s how the contenders for this year’s AFLW crown stack up.

ADELAIDE
This side plays beautifully when it’s angry and plays together, like a mighty murder. Just ask the Western Bulldogs. In Round 8 last year, the Crows unleashed a furious attack on the heels of being humbled the previous week by Melbourne, demolishing the Western Bulldogs by 56 points. Captain Chelsea Randall was cruelled by injury and was forced to miss the grand final, but she’s back, as is club legend Erin Phillips, and the star cluster of Ebony Marinoff, Stevie-Lee Thompson, Anne Hatchard, and Ashleigh Woodland. The Crows bat deep, and if losing last year’s grand final on their home deck remains stuck in their craw, the rest of the comp has something genuine to fear.

BRISBANE
In 2020, the Lions feasted and fattened up on weaker sides, leading some pundits to question whether in 2021 they could match it with the competition’s best. Traveling cross-country and ending Fremantle’s league-record, 11-match winning streak was the Lions’ first of several affirmative answers. Brisbane eventually knocked off Collingwood twice — in the home-and-away season just hours after landing at Tullamarine, and in the thrilling preliminary final. The Lions boast arguably the league’s most dangerous forward line, featuring Dakota Davidson, Jesse Wardlaw, Greta Bodey, Jess Wuestchner, and the electrifying Courtney Hodder. If avenging one grand final heartbreak wasn’t enough motivation last year, imagine the Lions’ hunger to quash a second.

CARLTON
Which Blues side will we see this year? Will it be the one in which Darcy Vescio is in superhero form, with Madison Prespakis as erstwhile sidekick, leading the charge in epic smashings of rivals, as fans saw last year when the Blues established a league record by scoring 87 points in a 60-point rout of Gold Coast? Or will Carlton be wasteful in front of the sticks or sloppy in defence, as it was on too many occasions early in the 2021 campaign, losing matches it really should have won? Focus is a great cure for inconsistent form, and the Blues will be tested to regularly play strong, four-quarters footy.

COLLINGWOOD
Any discussion of The Pies must start with their almighty midfield. Three of the competition’s top-10 ball winners last year, Brianna Davey (first), Brittany Bonnici (third), and Jaimee Lambert (eighth), all wear and black-and-white stripes, and their ferocious contested play can leave opponents with plenty of back-and-blue bruises. Collingwood is also head and shoulders above the rest of the pack in defence. Last year, the Pies conceded a miserly 190 points. Collingwood’s spine is rock solid, so with some unified play, this might very well be the year it transforms from a team of champions to a championship team.

FREMANTLE
Despite having such guns as club champion Kiara Bowers in the guts and star tall forward Gemma Houghton providing goalkicking firepower cred, the Dockers just couldn’t ignite out of the blocks, tardy starters in too many first terms of too many matches. Sluggish starts cost them three losses in their last five home-and-away matches and a qualifying final. Freo’s forward line has taken hits off-season, too, with Sabreena Duffy and Ashlee Sharp hanging up the boots — at least for this season — and its backline could possibly be without prized defender Philippa Seth for half the year because of an ankle injury she recently sustained in a practice match against West Coast.


Gemma Houghton is a star, but the Dockers’ forward set up has taken some hits in the off-season. Photo: AFL MEDIA

GEELONG
A long year at the Cattery could have been even longer if not for the Cats avoiding a winless season and wooden spoon by beating Gold Coast in last year’s final home-and-away round. Laura Gardiner was the Cats’ best on ground in that match and she, along with Amy McDonald and Rebecca Webster, could help lead Geelong a bit higher on the ladder this season. Trading its second-leading possession getter, Olivia Purcell, to Melbourne, though, doesn’t exactly bolster chances of a climb up the ladder.

GOLD COAST
One can really honestly see more clouds in the forecast for the Suns, who were thoroughly and consistently steamrolled from pillar to post through the duration of a nightmare year. Young ruck Lauren Bella was a bright spot and by virtue of its poor finish, Gold Coast secured the No. 1 draft pick, highly-regarded midfielder Charlie Rowbottom, the captain of a premiership winning Oakleigh Chargers’ side. Former North Melbourne head of football Cameron Joyce takes the reins this season as the Suns’ new senior coach.

PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE TO THRIVE BY BECOMING AN OFFICIAL FOOTYOLOGY PATRON. JUST CLICK THIS LINK.

GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
Unlike Carlton, which finished with an identical 5-4 win-loss record last year, the Giants don’t have an arsenal of prolific scorers. In fact, GWS conceded a total of 324 points — nearly 100 more than it scored. It was an emotionally difficult 2021 for GWS, as before pre-season it was mourning the tragic and untimely death of foundation player Jacinda Barclay at age 29. Then in pre-season, the Giants were sent reeling by their Irish teammate Brid Stack fracturing her neck after a controversial bump by the Crows’ Ebony Marinoff. The Giants will look to a fresh start this year to help erase their painful past.

MELBOURNE
The Dees ended 2021 as the hottest team in the competition, winning their last four home-and-away matches and eliminating Fremantle in a qualifier. But Melbourne just couldn’t sustain its fire when it travelled to Adelaide, kicking just one goal in a losing a preliminary final. The Demons turned their home ground, Casey Fields, into a fortress as its swirling winds conspired to blunt their opponents. Karen Paxman, Tyla Hanks, and Lily Mithen are a powerful midfield corps, stalwart captain Daisy Pearce has healed from injury, and the club has added ex-Carlton tall forward Tayla Harris to its attack.

NORTH MELBOURNE
The Roos, who won four of their last five home-and-away matches last season to sneak into finals, feature stars Emma Kearney, Jasmine Garner, Jenna Bruton, and Ashleigh Riddell in the middle. North’s quest for the 2021 premiership fell short, but only by one straight kick in a valiant finals loss to the Pies at Victoria Park. Don’t sleep on this side. Emma King can absolutely dominate in the ruck and Daria Bannister and Daisy Bateman are threats to score up forward.

RICHMOND
Forget for a moment, Richmond’s dreadful 0-4 start to 2021. Instead, look more closely at its 3-2 finish. The Tigers showed all the signs of a developing club that persevered and finished strongly. After struggling with set shots early, captain Katie Brennan caught fire, kicking 14 goals, to finish among the league leaders. Midfielder Mon Conti had moments of magnificence and young gun Ellie McKenzie was a revelation. There’s some genuine excitement about how high the Tigers could climb this season.

ST KILDA
Not even a last round win that broke a four-week drought could salvage the Saints’ 2021. Men’s team great Nick Dal Santo is in as senior coach, but he’s neither a medical doctor, nor a mystical healer — and neither he nor anyone else seems capable of convincing Georgia Patrikios, the club’s best-and-fairest winner and leading ball-winner, to get the COVID-19 jab. Thus she’s ineligible to play. Dal Santo also can’t speed best-and-fairest runner-up Tyanna Smith’s recovery from a torn ACL, which will cause her to miss the entire season.

WEST COAST
For the first four rounds of 2021, the Eagles looked like wounded wooden spoon contenders, especially because they missed their injured captain, Dana Hooker. But they rallied to win two of their last five matches and nearly pulled out another. Bella Lewis impressed in her first season to win the club’s best-and-fairest honours and young sensation Mikayla Bowen looked the goods in many matches as a bona fide ball-winner. Imhara Cameron and Grace Kelly showed flashes up forward. New senior coach Michael Prior will try to conjure some magic from the Eagles’ nest.

WESTERN BULLDOGS
The Doggies have a talented squad, with stars like Elle Blackburn, Kirsty Lamb, and Jess Fitzgerald, but last year finished just outside the middle of the pack, settling for eighth place in the 14-team comp despite having a winning record. The club’s 5-4 win-loss record and scoring ledger, points scored and conceded at almost break-even levels, epitomised its middle-of-the-road standing. The Doggies must dig deep for some collective X-factor in 2022 to separate them from being an also-ran.

GIL GRIFFIN’S TIPS FOR AFLW ROUND 1 (winners in bold caps)
St Kilda v RICHMOND
NORTH MELBOURNE v Geelong
Western Bulldogs v MELBOURNE
Fremantle v WEST COAST
ADELAIDE v Brisbane
Carlton v COLLINGWOOD
GOLD COAST v Greater Western Sydney