THE AFLW finals series kicks off on Saturday with a crucial qualifying final.

The match between North Melbourne and Fremantle will see the winner face Adelaide in a prelim the following week. 

Last time they met

In round five this year, the Kangaroos got to work on how Fremantle had been piling on big scores, forcing the visitors wide or far from goal, and countless Dockers' shots fell just short. This led to Fremantle's lowest goal accuracy of the season, with just 16.7 per cent of shots resulting in a goal, less than half of the club's season average of 39.6 per cent. 

Gameplans

If the Dockers are to reverse their fortunes against North Melbourne, they will need to break through the Roos' clever defensive set-up and get the ball deeper inside 50. While a forward marking game would be ideal from the likes of Roxy Roux and Gemma Houghton, they will need to rely on recapturing the burst from congestion into attack that Hayley Miller and Ebony Antonio have offered for much of the year. 

Head to head 

North Melbourne and Fremantle have played each other twice in the last two years, with the former taking the four points each time. They haven't been easy wins, however, as the Kangaroos have won by a combined 11 points. 

Ash Riddell has had 30 or more disposals seven times in her career - the most of any player - and the first time she broke through the 30-touch barrier was in round nine last season against the Dockers when her Roos fell over the line by one point into finals. 

FINALS FIXTURE Who faces off in the qualifying finals?

For the Kangaroos, they were greatly helped by arguably Tahlia Randall's coming of age in attack. Randall had been teasing fans with some big leaps in the early part of the season, but had not yet put a big game together. Against Fremantle she took three contested marks and kicked a crucial goal when the Dockers found momentum. 

Players to watch 

Jasmine Garner 

Much like her team, Garner had a slow start to the season but really hit her straps after a couple of games, including a game-high 29 disposals in round five against Fremantle. Her ability to play in any position and do some damage in the process will no doubt be front of mind for Trent Cooper and his team of coaches.  

Ebony Antonio 

Has been a game changer - and game winner - for Fremantle this year with her composure and agility with ball in hand. More than once, Antonio has neatly slotted a goal from distance after evading a number of opponents, lifting her team in the process. 

WATCH IT LIVE Kangaroos v Dockers

Dream match-ups 

Tahlia Randall v Janelle Cuthbertson 

Cuthbertson looks ready to return after a fractured cheekbone saw her miss the last eight games of the season. Her strength and intercept ability will match well with former defender Randall, especially given both are as strong in the air as they are on the ground. 

Emma King v Aine Tighe 

Both rucks have proven to be particularly useful at either end of the ground this year. King kicked two goals and took five marks against the Eagles on Sunday, while Tighe has registered more than 10 intercepts in a game twice this year despite spending time in both defence and attack. 

Season so far 

North Melbourne 

The Kangaroos started the season slowly, with a narrow win over Geelong and a 13-point loss to Adelaide, but found some momentum through the middle stages where they won five consecutive games by an average of 21.8 points. An issue for the Roos this year, however, has been when coming up against sides above them on the ladder. The team's three losses have come against Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne, although it did defeat Fremantle when the Dockers were comfortably sitting in second spot. 

Fremantle 

Fremantle hit the competition hard early, debuting six players in round one and winning its first five games of the season by an average of 25.4 points. Similar to North Melbourne, the Dockers simply haven't been able to beat the sides above them this year, with their three losses coming against Adelaide, Melbourne and the Kangaroos. They do, however, have a better record in Victoria this year (4 wins, 0 losses, 206.5%) than they do at home (2 wins, 2 losses, 88%), so missing out on a home final might not be the worst result. 

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FREMANTLE is into a preliminary final, kicking seven goals in the second and third terms to comfortably overcome North Melbourne by 38 points at Arden Street.

It's season over for the Kangaroos, who had finished in fourth spot but once again struggled to consistently perform against other top-six sides, losing their second successive qualifying final.

Fremantle had far too many options in attack, with a healthy goalkicking spread of 10 players in the 4.7 (31) to 11.3 (69) result.

North Melbourne looked ominous early, with Ellie Gavalas snapping a terrific opener from the boundary, but as has been the theme at times this season, the Roos failed to fully capitalise on their early dominance.

The two sides combined for six goals in the second term as the Dockers got rolling.

Gabby O'Sullivan (18 disposals, six clearances) and Hayley Miller (21, five and an important goal on the stroke of half-time) wrested control in the midfield, and Fremantle jumped out to a 10-point lead. Two goals in a minute brought the Roos right back into the game, but it was short-lived, the momentum swinging back the visitors way for a nine-point lead at the major break.

KANGAROOS v DOCKERS Full match coverage and stats

It was nearly party time in the third term. While the stats sheet looked fairly even, Fremantle was far more damaging with ball in hand, booting three goals to just two behinds.

Jas Garner provided a brief note of hope with the opening goal of the fourth after Emma Kearney was thrown into the middle, but Kiara Bowers' work rate and Kara Antonio's quick reply was the final nail in the coffin.

The Dockers lost ruck Sarah Wielstra to a left ankle injury following a marking contest in the first quarter, while Roos counterpart Kim Rennie was concussed in the second term.

Sore Bowers works way into match
An uncharacteristically quiet Bowers recorded zero disposals and just one tackle to quarter-time, but finished with a head full of steam. By the final siren, the champion Docker had 21 touches, eight clearances and three tackles, and coach Trent Cooper explained she had woken up this morning with a stiff back. It's not expected to affect her in the long term.

Roos' structural problems exposed
The importance of recruiting Rennie has perhaps been undersold this year. After she suffered a concussion, Emma King was moved into a full-time ruck role, with Tahlia Randall left as the sole tall forward. In the moments King needed a break, blue-chip midfielder Jas Garner was needed to face Mim Strom, robbing the Roos of a quality ball-winner.

Maybe the stats do lie?
A quick glance at the team v team statistics would suggest a closely fought affair, or even a North Melbourne victory. But Fremantle was so efficient, it didn't matter that the Roos recorded three more inside 50s or three more marks inside 50. The real difference was exposed in the clearance count, which the Dockers won by eight.

Say what?
"The first quarter, the game was looking pretty good for us. We were playing the game pretty much the way we wanted to, our contested footy was strong in that first quarter, our inside-50 count was really strong, but we probably didn't build the scoreboard pressure we would have liked." – North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker

"Very happy. We had a tough run for a few weeks, but we felt we were really building and training has been really solid this week. Coming back to Victoria was great, we're five from five this year. We made sure we kept our structure today, and I'm really proud of how the forwards managed to do that." – Fremantle coach Trent Cooper

Up next
Fremantle's preliminary final will be against Adelaide in Adelaide, with a date and time yet to be determined. North Melbourne's season is over, and it will finish fifth or sixth depending on the result of the Brisbane-Collingwood clash.

NORTH MELBOURNE     1.4     3.5     3.7     4.7     (31)
FREMANTLE                    1.1     5.2     8.2    11.3    (69)

GOALS
North Melbourne: Gavalas, Abbatangelo, Randall, Garner
Fremantle: Hyde 2, Roux, O'Sullivan, East, Houghton, Miller, Webb, Tighe, K. Antonio, E. Antonio

BEST 
North Melbourne: Riddell, Kearney, Garner, Bruton, E. King
Fremantle: Miller, O'Sullivan, Bowers, Tighe, Cuthbertson

INJURIES 
North Melbourne: Rennie (concussion)
Fremantle: Wielstra (ankle)

Reports: Nil

Attendance: 1509 at Arden Street Oval

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