As Melbourne’s leading goalkicker this season, Kate Hore has been one of the Demons’ very best players. Photo: AFL MEDIA

With the AFLW home-and-away season done and dusted, let’s hear it for the ladies.

Many AFLW players, no matter what club they played for this calendar year, have completed not one, but two physically and emotionally gruelling campaigns.

They had to wait longer than they expected from the league to learn when exactly season seven would commence, thereby casting uncertainty over when out-of-contract players could sign new deals, seek trades to different clubs and train for pre-season.

Some players have balanced two seasons with the responsibilities of motherhood, a few with the academic rigours of their last year of secondary school, and the overwhelming majority with their full- or part-time jobs outside of footy.

And let’s not forget that some players rehabbing from serious injuries missed both seasons.

Now that finals are here, the league faces the imminent challenge of locking in dates and venues as cricket season begins. But all of that can wait – at least for now.

This weekend features four cracking games, including last season’s premier (Adelaide), runner-up (Melbourne) and one of the losing preliminary finalists (Brisbane).

Even more excitingly, the Western Bulldogs return to finals action after a four-year hiatus, Geelong is back after a three-year absence and Richmond makes its finals debut with a double chance – just two years after suffering through its winless debut season.

MELBOURNE (9-1) v ADELAIDE (8-2) (Princes Park, Friday 7.10pm local time)
What better way to start the finals series than with a grand final rematch? The Demons set the tone of their heated relationship with the Crows in Round 1 on the road as they avenged their grand final loss by beating Adelaide by three goals. In a portent for things to come, Melbourne’s Eliza West, Olivia Purcell and Kate Hore all starred, while for the Crows, season six league-leading goalkicker Ash Woodland lit up the scoreboard with three majors, but neither that bag, nor Anne Hatchard’s 24 touches, were enough. Because of that result, and its 78-point hiding of West Coast in Round 10, Melbourne’s confidence will be through the roof. By virtue of its reigning premier status, Adelaide has every right to trust its system, but last round it struggled to put away lowly St Kilda and the round before, it was very nearly pipped by a desperate Geelong side. While Ebony Marinoff continues her excellent season, it hasn’t helped the Crows that captain Chelsea Randall, a test for this match, is still hobbling with an ankle injury. Form matters — and Melbourne will ride it to win this qualifying final.
GIL TIPS: MELBOURNE

BRISBANE (9-1) v RICHMOND (7-2-1) (Metricon Stadium, Saturday 4.10pm local time)
Notice that 1 in the Lions’ win-loss record? Which opponent do you think gave that to them? Yep, you got it — the Tigers. Richmond had all the answers on that blustery day at Punt Road and its backline was magnificent in holding Brisbane, the highest-scoring club in the comp, to a meagre 1.8 (14). Tigers Gabrielle Seymour and Maddy Shevlin, who had 24 touches, starred, while Mon Conti had a quiet match by her standards, with 14 possessions and two missed shots on goal. Seymour is carrying an ankle injury and is a test, but Richmond’s most influential player may be forward Courtney Wakefield, who has expertly played her role as foil to captain Katie Brennan and has been a goalkicking force (including two in that win over the Lions) when Brennan has been rested or was injured. The Tigers enter the match unbeaten in their last eight games, but this time they won’t have their home deck’s tricky winds to aid them. They’re also facing a wrecking ball of a side with a plethora of weapons, a knack for learning from past mistakes and a chip on its shoulder from last season after getting knocked off in a preliminary final. Midfielder Ally Anderson is in career-best form, as is Jesse Wardlaw, a member of the comp’s best forward line who last round tied the all-time AFLW record of 19 goals in a season. Back the Lions, at home, to get the chocolates.
GIL TIPS: BRISBANE

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GEELONG (7-3) v NORTH MELBOURNE (6-3-1) (Kardinia Park, Saturday 7.10pm local time)
The Cats have played phenomenal football all season, far exceeding all expectations, while the Kangaroos — despite having perhaps the best midfield in the competition, including arguably the best player Jasmine Garner — have continually wasted opportunities in front of goal and lost to finalists Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane while they drew with Richmond. But North Melbourne did defeat Geelong by two goals in their round four meeting in the wet, at the Kangaroos’ home away from home in Tasmania. Garner and Ash Riddell were a dynamic pair that day, combining for 48 disposals, while Emma Kearney — who is under a cloud due to a knee injury — contributed 20. For Geelong, young jet and clearance queen Georgie Prespakis is also in some doubt with an ankle injury she incurred last round, but with her passion to play, it’d be hard to imagine her not getting up for this one. Unlike in their last meeting, no rain is forecast and the Cattery should be rocking with Geelong fans in full voice. The Cats’ Chloe Scheer and Shelley Smith have formed a dangerous tandem up forward and Amy McDonald has run rampant all season through the middle. Roos mids supplying plenty of ball to tall timber like Emma King and Tahlia Randall, or dangerous small Sophie Abbatangelo, has never been the issue — it’s kicking straight, for which there is rarely a quick fix, especially before a match of this magnitude. The Cats are a flag smoky and will prove that with a win.
GIL TIPS: GEELONG

COLLINGWOOD (7-3) v WESTERN BULLDOGS (7-3) (Victoria Park, Sunday 3.10pm local time)
Whenever you think the Bulldogs are done for, they come back to bite their opponents — just ask Carlton. Until the dying minutes, the Blues had to have been feeling they’d done enough to have put a dent in the Dogs’ finals hopes, but inspirational captain Ellie Blackburn — playing through an injury — blasted through a match-winning snap. That captain’s goal is the kind of thing that defines heart and sustains hope — two key ingredients that can propel a team to victory in an elimination final. Seventeen-year-old Bulldogs wunderkind Rylie Wilcox (leg) is facing a fitness test, while a hip injury to star Collingwood defender Ruby Schleicher could have a big say in the result as she is one of the Pies’ defensive pillars. Jaimee Lambert has admirably carried a larger load in the midfield for Collingwood without the presence of stars Britt Bonnici and Brianna Davey, and Chloe Molloy has made the most of her time in the guts, but against two finalists in the last two rounds, first North Melbourne and then Brisbane, Collingwood got belted each time. The Doggies have played with their backs to the wall all season and they’ve been resilient in close matches. They have more fight in them than flight, and they’ll win this one in hostile territory.
GIL TIPS: WESTERN BULLDOGS