Melbourne star Tayla Harris fronts up against her old club Carlton on Saturday night at Casey Fields. Photo: AAP

Five of the top-six AFLW clubs will spend a few hours this weekend before playing finals the way an orchestra does in the pit moments before a big-time engagement – fine-tuning.

Injury-hit Collingwood, though, in sixth spot, has the pressure to be on song to firm its finals place. Speaking of injuries, how many — if any — of seven sidelined, first-choice players will fifth-spot Fremantle regain this round, after copping the league’s worst hiding last week, without them?

How rude a welcome will a frustrated North Melbourne side extend to the probable new wooden-spooners?

Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane easily shape as the competition’s three most fearsome sides, but because footy is played on grass, not paper, no future finals outcome is certain. But hints will emerge in this season’s last home-and-away round.

GEELONG (2-7) v GWS (3-6) (Friday 5.10 pm, GMHBA Stadium)
It’d be hard to find a more inconsistent club than the Giants, who one round score at will, then the next struggle to score at all. The Cats have had more honourable losses than any other AFLW club this season, but last week were the poster children for inaccuracy in front of goal, kicking 0.9 in swirling winds. The Cats would be determined to kick straighter and give their home fans something to cheer about to end the season. Geelong playing at home, plus a season-ending concussion to star Giants’ midfielder Alyce Parker and the suspension of her gun teammate Chloe Dalton, should be enough to get the Cats over the line and get them two games clear of the ladder’s bottom rung.
GIL TIPS: Geelong

COLLINGWOOD (5-4) v RICHMOND (3-6) (Saturday 3.10 pm, Victoria Park)
The Pies last week put quite a scare into Adelaide from after the quarter-time siren to the finish, but came up short. ACL injuries have robbed Collingwood of two of the league’s biggest stars in Bri Davey and Britt Bonnici, but still the Pies soldier on. Sabrina Frederick and Chloe Molloy have reverted to their best form over the last two rounds, but that wasn’t enough to topple the Crows. An upset isn’t past the Tigers, who after Round 1 looked for all the world as if they’d be the AFLW’s most improved club, but the Pies have too much experience and too much pride to self-sabotage an almost-certain finals berth. Richmond was buoyed last week by the return of Courtney Wakefield, the forward foil to their biggest star, Katie Brennan, and the club remains fifth for scoring, despite being only four spots from the bottom of the ladder. But the Tigers have also conceded the third-most points, which will should allow Collingwood to win comfortably on its home ground.
GIL TIPS: Collingwood

NORTH MELBOURNE (6-3) v WEST COAST (1-8) (Saturday 5.10 pm, Arden Street Oval)
The Roos have the simplest task of any club this weekend: beat the likely wooden-spooners and clinch a home qualifying final. North Melbourne will still be smarting after the last two weeks’ losses to finals rivals Melbourne and Brisbane and will be keen to regroup, while the Eagles last week narrowly avoided an all-doughnuts scoreline, against the Dogs. Even worse, West Coast lost star midfielder Dana Hooker for the season with a shoulder injury. North boasts one of the league’s best midfields, with Ash Riddell leading the AFLW averaging nearly 29 touches per match. The season will soon be mercifully over for West Coast, but North is likely to be merciless in attack and another potential lopsided loss appears to be on the cards.
GIL TIPS: North Melbourne

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MELBOURNE (8-1) v CARLTON (4-5) (Saturday 7.10 pm, Casey Fields)
If any club can treat any match like a glorified training run, it’s the Demons taking on the Blues. Regardless of the result, Melbourne can finish no worse than second on the ladder and already has earned an “armchair ride” to a preliminary final. But don’t expect the hard-running Dees to be complacent — especially not when their goalkicking tall forward Tayla Harris gets to play against her old club, with a chance to add to her newly established AFLW record of 18 goals in a home-and-away season. The Blues will look to finish an improved second half of the season, as young guns Mimi Hill and Gabriella Pound are blossoming into stars. Melbourne has won 12 straight matches at its Casey Fields fortress and in this hit-out — shaping up as a fine-tune before their home preliminary final — nothing suggests Carlton will end the streak.
GIL TIPS: Melbourne

ST KILDA (2-7) v ADELAIDE (8-1) (Sunday 1.10 pm, RSEA Park)
It will be all too tempting for the Crows to underestimate the Saints and instead look two weeks down the road to their next match, a preliminary final. The last time Adelaide’s on-field body language revealed the appearance of taking victory over the opposition for granted was earlier in the season, when the Dogs came out snarling and pulled off a shock win. That’s why the Crows will be firmly focused despite taking on the lowly Saints who have won two on the trot. Adelaide superstar Erin Phillips returned last round and made her presence felt early. But will the Crows bring back captain Chelsea Randall and risk having her aggravate her hamstring, or do they rest her and any other sore players for two weeks for the prelim? That’s the burning question facing senior coach Matthew Clarke and the club’s selection committee. A Crows’ likely win here — barring a repeat of Melbourne obliterating an opponent so badly it would overtake Adelaide on percentage — means a guaranteed home grand final if they win the prelim.
GIL TIPS: Adelaide

WESTERN BULLDOGS (4-4-1) v BRISBANE (7-2) (Sunday, 3.10 pm, Mars Stadium)
Elite-level football returns to Ballarat in this showdown and the night before the opening bounce, the Dogs will know whether they’ve still got a shot at finals action. Even if Richmond upsets Collingwood, the Dogs would have to upset reigning premier Brisbane to pip the Pies’ sixth and last finals spot by a half-game. While those odds are considerably long, if any team could pull off such a heist, it’d be those Doggies, who pulled off this season’s biggest upset in edging the Crows. But the Lions are too deep, too experienced, and too hungry to suffer a shock loss. The injured Orla O’Dwyer, the queen of metreage, may be back out on the wing for Brisbane to further bolster her All-Australian credentials. If the Lions win, which they should, they get a home qualifying final, which is plenty of motivation.
GIL TIPS: Brisbane

FREMANTLE (6-3) v GOLD COAST (3-5-1) (Sunday 5.10 pm, Ikon Park)
The combination of injuries and COVID-19 has hit every club at some stage this season, but for the Dockers, it couldn’t have happened at a worse time than last week, when the top four ladder spots were up for grabs. Within a week, Fremantle lost seven of its best 16 players — and sunk from third to fifth spot — and there’s no guarantee all of them will be right to go for this match against the Suns, the league’s biggest improvers. While Gold Coast will be playing for pride, it would take a miracle for the Dockers to pass North Melbourne on the ladder to finish fourth and secure a home qualifying final. Even if the Dockers belted the Suns, it would also take an upset of North by a bottom-of-the-ladder Eagles outfit, or a significantly higher victory margin by the Dockers over the Suns, than a Roos’ win over the Eagles. With a finals ticket booked, Fremantle have the option of managing players like All-Australian Kiara Bowers, as she returns from injury, or getting some playing time into her. Either way, Fremantle should win, but the Dockers’ flag chances are, at best, iffy.
GIL TIPS: Fremantle