Playing in her fourth grand final, Melbourne star Tayla Harris will be looking to finally taste premiership success. Photo: GETTY IMAGES
BRISBANE v MELBOURNE (Brighton Homes Arena, Sunday, 2.40pm local time)
If it feels to you like the AFLW just played a grand final, well, it’s because it did.
A little over seven months ago, Melbourne, which this Sunday goes in as underdog against the Brisbane Lions, entered Adelaide Oval in the last grand final also as the outsider against the Crows.
This go round it’s Brisbane, the 2021 premiers and now four-time grand finallist, standing in the Demons’ way.
In April, it would’ve been the Lions, not the Dees, who faced off against Adelaide, if not for Melbourne knocking Brisbane off in a memorable four-point preliminary final thriller at the MCG.
This season, the Lions bested the Dees for the minor premiership by less than half a percentage point.
This Sunday, the Lions are literally putting their new 8000 capacity home ground in Springfield on the footy map.
It’s so new, in fact, that Brisbane had never before this week so much as trained on it.
In the only meeting between the Lions and Melbourne this season, Brisbane exacted revenge in round four, winning by 15 points.
That result was a watershed moment for both clubs as Brisbane ended a five-match losing streak against Melbourne after clawing its way out of a 13-point quarter-time hole.
The Lions also defied Casey Fields’ infamous swirling winds that, for the previous three years, victimised the Dees’ opponents.
Before then, no other team had beaten Melbourne at that venue in 13 attempts.
In a bit of foreshadowing, two Brisbane players who were prominent during the AFLW award season shone.
Ally Anderson — who this week was crowned the league’s season seven best-and-fairest — starred with a team-high 22 possessions, six tackles and three clearances, while All-Australian forward Jesse Wardlaw kicked two of her record-setting 22 goals.
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Alyssa Bannan was Melbourne’s biggest hero in last season’s preliminary final, kicking three majors, but in round four the Lions kept her off the scoreboard and restricted her to just five touches.
Prolific Demons goalkicking tall target Tayla Harris didn’t play in this season’s only clash between the two teams as the result of her suspension for a dangerous tackle the previous week.
Speaking of Harris, this will be her fourth grand final. For her, that’s the good news. Here’s the bad: she’s been on the losing end every time and in those three premierships deciders, Harris has averaged just three disposals and has been held to a solitary goal.
So, who likely goes to Harris Sunday? Kate Lutkins, the experienced Lions defender who earned best-on-ground honours in the 2021 grand final.
That’s just one advantage Brisbane will hold, in addition to Anderson’s and Wardlaw’s prowess.
While both sides are at full strength, the Lions also boast three other All-Australians besides Wardlaw — captain Breanna Koenen, one of her backline partners, Natalie Grider and forward Greta Bodey.
They also have at their disposal last season’s AFLW best-and-fairest winner, vice-captain and gun midfielder Emily Bates, coming off a preliminary final performance that arguably was her best of the season.
The Dees also bat deep and have two All-Australians in forward Kate Hore and ball magnet Olivia Purcell, plus perennial stars like the speedy Bannan, running machine Karen Paxman, contested ball maven Lily Mithen and inspirational captain Daisy Pearce.
Conjecture will swirl as to whether the aging Pearce can follow Geelong men’s captain Joel Selwood by ending her career as he did in September as a premiership captain.
This match will be a cracker, with clearly the comp’s two best sides against each other, but at the final siren Brisbane, with its slight edge in firepower, plus its star power and finals experience, will again claim the throne.
GIL TIPS: BRISBANE
