Tayla Harris heads goalward during Melbourne’s last clash with Brisbane in February. GETTY IMAGES
If you like a little history with your women’s football, then tune into Saturday’s AFLW preliminary finals. You’ll be coming to the right place.
For the first time — and one can’t help but wonder what took so long — an AFLW match will be played on the hallowed grounds of the home of football, the MCG.
There, Melbourne will seek to make history by playing in a grand final within the same year as its brother club. But to do that, the Demons have to knock out reigning premier Brisbane.
Later, in Adelaide, less than 24 hours after a Friday night Crows-Power men’s Showdown, the 2021 grand finalist Crows women aim to return to their fourth playoff in the AFLW’s six-year existence.
Adelaide must first defeat Fremantle, itself motivated to make their own history by reaching a first AFLW grand final and perhaps the club’s first flag in either AFL competition.
Ladder status determines grand final home ground advantage, so Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane — not Fremantle — all have that opportunity. And, barring any late outs, half of the recently named AFLW 2022 All-Australian 40-member squad will feature in the two matches.
MELBOURNE (9-1) v BRISBANE (9-2) (Saturday 12.40 pm, MCG)
Brisbane All-Australian top-40 small forward Greta Bodey must be wondering if she’s the footy goddesses’ chosen one to bless or curse with opportunity. Eerily, in the last two meetings between these sides, Bodey has had the ball in her hands for a potential match-winning set shot after the final siren. Each time she has missed — once in the final 2021 home-and-away round, and again in Round 7 this season. Last year, the miss had no overall bearing on the Lions’ flag-winning campaign, but this season it’s worth noting that a straight kick could have possibly landed the Lions a top-two finish and a first-round finals bye. Bodey is just one of many Lions deadly scoring weapons, along with Jess Wardlaw, Dakota Davidson, Courtney Hodder, and Sophie Conway, in what is arguably the competition’s best forward line, that mightily contributed to kicking a league-high 496 points. Bodey’s fellow All-Australian top-40 teammates, winger Orla O’Dwyer and midfielder Emily Bates this year have given the forwards overflowing supply of the ball, while Nat Grider has been a defensive linchpin. Grider likely will have the big job of playing on Melbourne star goalkicking key forward Tayla Harris, who booted 18 majors in the regular season. The Dees’, too, also boast a steel spine, with seven top-40 All-Australians, from Libby Birch and Shelley Heath down back and Lauren Pearce in the ruck, to Kate Hore, Tyla Hanks, Kate Hore, Daisy Pearce, and Harris up forward. Through the middle, Karen Paxman and Eliza McNamara should also make their respective presence felt, as should speedster Alyssa Bannan on the wing. The Dees won’t have their windswept Casey Fields home ground — where they’ve won 13 in a row —as a psychological advantage over an opponent, and the Lions aren’t ones to shy away from formidable opponents. In what should be a cracking match, with two equally strong sides, the result may simply come down to which side kicks straighter. Surely the footy goddesses wouldn’t for a third time put the burden on Bodey, would they? Although the Lions are due to exorcise the Demons, Melbourne will again get over the line this time, just.
GIL TIPS: Melbourne
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ADELAIDE (9-1) v FREMANTLE (8-3) (Saturday 2:40 pm, Adelaide Oval)
For the last two seasons, the two-time premier Crows have again been flag fancies and, coincidentally, matches against Fremantle each year have represented Dockers’ peaks and valleys. In 2021 Round 3, the Dockers — coming off an undefeated, pandemic-shortened season — faced their biggest test in taking on the Crows at their Norwood Oval home, routed them by 30 points, and won their 11th straight match, but two weeks later Fremantle’s season began to unravel. This season, in Round 8, the Dockers hosted the Crows at Fremantle Oval, fresh from a two-week rest, only to have Adelaide turn the tables and win by nine points. While the Crows went on to hold off the Magpies and steamroll St Kilda, the Dockers’ list was decimated by COVID-19 and physical injury and sunk to an unprecedented low with an 88-point loss to the Dees, before rebounding with a resounding win over the Suns. Fremantle’s Kiara Bowers, equal 2021 AFLW best-and-fairest, didn’t play against the Crows this year, but her recent strong return has bolstered her side’s overall confidence. Dockers’ captain, midfielder Hayley Miller, a top-40 All-Australian, alongside teammate Gabby O’Sullivan, played their best matches of the year in a 38-point thumping of a strong North Melbourne side, in a qualifying final victory which featured 10 different goalkickers. Adelaide, meanwhile, narrowly missed going undefeated, as it took a Herculean effort for the Western Bulldogs to win by a solitary point. The Crows feature a bruising midfield corps, with the tenacious tandem of top-40 All-Australians Ebony Marinoff and Anne Hatchard, plus Ash Woodland, the competition’s leading goalkicker and small forward sidekick Eloise Jones up forward, and Sarah Allan down back. Meanwhile for the Dockers, winger and first-time top-40 All-Australian Ebony Antonio has arguably been her side’s most dangerous player. The Crows have the bigger and more seasoned names between the two sides, while the Dockers have emerging stars such as defenders Sarah Verrier, Emma O’Driscoll, Jess Low, swingwoman Aine Tighe, and high-flying forward Roxy Roux thriving, while flying under the radar, plus tall forward Gemma Houghton as an ace in the sleeve. This will be a quintessential contrasting game-styles match: Adelaide loves the handball chains, while Fremantle favours kicking; Adelaide plays the uncontested marking game, while Fremantle pressures and tackles. The result will come down to who can get the game on its terms for the longest time. The Dockers weren’t too far off in the last meeting between these sides and since their humiliation at the hands of the Dees, they’ve played with a massive chip on their shoulder. Adelaide also can be inaccurate in front of the sticks, as its 54.81 for the year attests. Look for underrated Fremantle to pull out an upset win.
GIL TIPS: Fremantle
