ONE of the most storied AFLW rivalries will add another chapter on Friday night, with Brisbane and Adelaide meeting in a preliminary final for the first time. The Lions come into the game after a week off, while the Crows have had to scrap for their place after a week one loss and a win in arguably the toughest conditions of any AFLW game in history.
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Brisbane v Adelaide at Metricon Stadium at 6:40pm AEST
Head-to-head history
Two inaugural sides, Brisbane and Adelaide have met eight times across the history of the competition, with the former ahead on the ledger, five wins to three, although each has won a flag against the other. The biggest margin between the sides was 30 points in round one last season, the fateful game where Kate Lutkins ruptured her ACL, and the slimmest was just three points in their first meeting in 2017.
Last time they met
The pair last faced one another just over a month ago when the Lions won by 22 points as they rampaged towards the minor premiership. It was a top-two clash at the time, but a late ankle injury to captain Chelsea Randall shifted the trajectories of both sides in the final fortnight of the home and away season.
Ebony Marinoff ran rampant around the ground, winning 33 disposals, and Randall set the Crows up from the middle with six clearances. That work on the ball from Adelaide's stars led it to win the clearance count by seven, but it ultimately couldn't control the ball consistently enough once it got to the outside.
This was due to the Lions' willingness to work both ways. Brisbane won the disposal count by 26, but also applied 20 more tackles than the Crows. Cathy Svarc led the way with 12 tackles, while both Sophie Conway and Jesse Wardlaw kicked two goals.
It was a tight, tough opening quarter as the teams traded blows, but a stunning, four-goal second quarter from Brisbane saw it break away and win control of the contest. Much of that scoreboard impact came through the Lions' signature forward pressure.
Key match-up
Shutting the season's leading goalkicker, Jesse Wardlaw, out of the game will be an important step in beating the Lions, and it is likely we'll see three-time All-Australian Sarah Allan handed the task. They went head-to-head when the sides met in round eight and although Wardlaw kicked two goals, Allan did well to limit the Lion in the air.
Wardlaw failed to take a mark in that game, despite averaging 3.3 per game across the rest of the season, while Allan won five intercepts and six rebounds on the night. Both players are super athletic, dangerous not only in the air but on the ground, and both are willing to apply plenty of defensive pressure, which makes for an appealing battle.
What this will also allow for Adelaide's defensive unit is for leading interceptor Chelsea Biddell to focus on that intercept game. While there are other tall targets in Brisbane's attack that will need to be considered, Wardlaw is arguably the biggest aerial threat.
The state of play
Over the first two weeks of the finals series, star Crow Ebony Marinoff has been largely shut out of games, or forced to play a less effective game. In the past fortnight she has averaged 12 fewer disposals and 313.8 fewer metres gained than she was able to throughout the home and away season. Added to this, Marinoff has failed to register an inside 50 or score involvement in finals to date, proving how limited she has been in her ability to attack.
Given how effective close run-with roles on Marinoff have been in the past two weeks, there is every chance the dynamic Cathy Svarc will spend some time with the Crow throughout the game to further limit her output.
What will be looming largest for Adelaide in its preparation of this game will be Brisbane's immense forward pressure. The Lions have three tall marking targets up forward – Wardlaw, Dakota Davidson and Taylor Smith – but even if they are equalled in the air, they have dangerous players like Greta Bodey and Courtney Hodder on the deck. For that reason, the Crows will need to apply plenty of pressure high up the ground to restrict Brisbane's forward entries as much as possible.
Something Adelaide has done very well over its finals to date is dob the opening goal at lightning speed. In its qualifying final against Melbourne, Danielle Ponter broke the record for the fastest opening goal in just 19 seconds, and last week Eloise Jones landed herself in equal-second in 20 seconds. Given the Crows' strength around the ball, jagging those quick scores straight from stoppage is an opportunity for them to break through Brisbane's stout defence.
In Adelaide's attack, Caitlin Gould has the potential to be a dangerous target once again. When up forward, defences often focus all their efforts on her, which tends to leave last season's leading goalkicker Ashleigh Woodland in space at ground level.
Tip: It's hard to look past the immense assets the Lions boast in attack. Brisbane by 15 points.
