BRISBANE'S start to the season has broken numerous records as the side stands undefeated atop the AFLW ladder with 401.8 per cent, but is this the best attack the competition has ever seen?
It might just be three weeks into the season, but Brisbane's forward line doesn't look like it has any vulnerabilities. Between their talls, smaller pressure forwards and midfielders who can hit the scoreboard, they attack opposition defences from all angles.
With Ally Anderson's goal 10 minutes into the third quarter during Saturday's QClash, the Lions became the first side in AFLW history to kick 200 or more points in the first three rounds of a season, eclipsing Carlton's 177 points in 2019. No AFLW premier has ever scored fewer than 100 points in the opening three rounds. The Lions have more than doubled that.
Most points scored in the first three rounds of a season
Sixty-four per cent of the Lions' score this season is generated from turnovers, indicative of the pressure the side applies across the field, including an average of 19.7 tackles inside 50.
In addition to this, their 75 points per game to date has broken Adelaide's average of 56.6 points throughout the 2019 home and away season, from which they went on to win the premiership in dominant fashion.
Adelaide's forward line in 2019 was stacked with Stevie-Lee Thompson, the competition's leading goal kicker that season, Grand Final best on ground medallist Erin Phillips and emerging stars Danielle Ponter, Chloe Scheer and Eloise Jones. The quintet combined for 42 goals across the nine-round home and away season.
So far this season Brisbane's first-choice forward line of Greta Bodey, Jesse Wardlaw, Zimmie Farquharson, Courtney Hodder and Taylor Smith have together kicked 22 goals in three games. It is not just their forwards, however, who are doing the damage.
The Lions have enjoyed 12 different goal kickers so far this season, more than any other side in history this early on, including Adelaide in 2019 (eight) and 2021 (nine), Fremantle in 2020 (eight) and North Melbourne in 2020 (nine).
Brisbane's prolific forward line
Not only is Brisbane averaging the second-most inside 50s the competition has seen – just 0.7 behind the side's record average last season – but it is goaling from more than a quarter of those entries, another record.
This prolific scoring comes from not just getting the ball forward, but specifically where they have been able to possess the ball once inside 50. While other high scoring sides have done well to control territory, Brisbane's possessions so far this season have remarkably been focused at the top of its attacking goalsquare, giving it the best possible opportunity to make the most of those entries.
Brisbane the outlier
This has ultimately led to 66.7 per cent of the Lions' score to date coming from shots within 30m of goal. They aren't simply delivering the ball inside 50, much of that attack is entering the most dangerous attacking zone: inside 30.
Other high scoring sides have relied on methodically working their way forward from stoppages or using a slingshot out of defence. The Lions, however, are going direct and dominating possession right in front of goal.
While greater tests for this Brisbane outfit are on the horizon, most specifically Melbourne on Sunday and Adelaide in round eight, the side is well equipped to continue this barrage in attack right until the Grand Final.
