NORTH Melbourne's midfield dominance was the tone-setter in Saturday's Grand Final victory.
The work of its contested ball players – the Jasmine Garners, the Ash Riddells, the Mia Kings – was important, as was the efficiencies of its outside runners like Tess Craven, Taylah Gatt, and Amy Smith.
This meant that the Roos' clearance work was especially damaging, coming out of the hands of the inside midfielders, and propelling forward via the whole line.
"Not all clearances are equal," Gemma Bastiani said on Credit to the Girls podcast.
"The Lions might get the first handball out, but then the next possession was lost. North Melbourne was very dangerous in the way they attacked out of clearance.
"You know, we again talk about the Jasmine Garners and the Ash Riddells, but (Ruby) Tripodi and Emma King, those sorts of players did massive amounts of work.
"And the wingers outside, Taylah Gatt, Tess Craven, and Amy Smith was one of the leading inside 50 players as well. So, their ability to turn clearance into forward movement was really important, but also the speed that they did it at."
It was a clear area of improvement from last year's Grand Final loss, where the Roos struggled to make the most of their clearance work.
"Last year's Grand Final, it was almost the opposite," Lucy Watkin said.
"The Lions were sort of letting the Roos win those clearances, but they were making sure that second possession, they couldn't get out and get that uncontested possession and move the ball quickly in the way that they wanted to. And so it was a reversal. It was learning your lessons from the Roos.
"But once the Roos gained control of the football in the way that they did, it just looked impossible for the Lions to get back on top of it."
Garner was the leading clearance player on the field with 10, while Mia King (six), Riddell (four), Smith (three), and Tripodi (two) all finished with multiple clearances. Meanwhile six other Roos registered at least one for the game.
And it was with an air of "quiet confidence" that Garner led that midfield, to finish with 35 disposals and 13 tackles, to go with those 10 clearances, according to Watkin.
"Like, 'I'm going to be okay, I know I've got this, I know that I can do this, and there's not much anyone can do to stop me. I'm just going to play my game'," Watkin said.
"A slow start wouldn't have made her worry, it wouldn't have held her back. She just worked herself into the game beautifully, and I think she just did it all again. Won the football, the way she hit up her teammates, it was on from the beginning."
Even with a unique kicking style, she is reliable in her disposal, hitting targets across the field, including setting up the first goal of the game to Craven.
"There's a sense of predictability amongst her teammates as to where they need to be for it, but she will always hit a target with those kicks. Very rarely will it be a turnover," Bastiani said.
