THE rebel VFLW finals are here at last, with six teams remaining to fight for the ultimate prize.
The best two teams all year – Essendon and Hawthorn – have lost just one game between them all season and will lock horns at Windy Hill on Saturday morning, with the winner advancing to the second semi-final and earning two cracks at making the Big Dance on Sunday, July 3.
The loser will be consigned to the hard route of winning three sudden-death finals to claim the flag before both make their AFLW debuts in August.
rebel VFLW FINALS WEEK 1 TEAMS, click here
rebel VFLW FINALS WEEK 1 INJURY LIST, click here
Casey Demons led the competition for the two thirds of the season before slipping to three losses in their last five matches, with the reward and consequence for winning or losing their elimination final against Collingwood on Sunday being stark.
A first-ever finals win will catapult them into the second semi-final against either the Bombers or Hawks and give them a double chance, while defeat will end their season.
Geelong hosts Southern Saints in the other elimination final on Saturday, and the winner will be barracking hard for Collingwood to sink the Demons, because that will put them into that double chance semi-final.
Last year Essendon finished fifth and went straight into the top two with a thrilling win over the Demons first-up getting them through to a preliminary final..
Here are all the selected teams for the first week of the rebel VFLW finals series.
Twitter: @BRhodesVFL
QUALIFYING FINAL
1.ESSENDON (12-0-2) v 2.HAWTHORN (12-1-1)
Saturday, June 11, 11.05am @ Windy Hill
(www.warfradio.com, 10am; www.afl.com.au, 11am)
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Hawthorn 3-2-1. At Windy Hill: Hawthorn 2-0. Streak: Essendon 2½ (last loss 2019). This season: Hawthorn 4.7 31 drew Essendon 4.7 31 (Box Hill City Oval, May 15, 2022)
ESSENDON
IN: E. Ashley-Cooper, C McIntosh
OUT: B. Ayre, E Everist (omit)
HAWTHORN
IN: S. Bolding, L. Camilleri, C. Granville, L. Guastella, A. Holmes, J. Richardson, N. von Bertouch
OUT: E. Humphries, A. Kemp, I. Porter (AFLW elevated), A. Favell, M. Hutchins, C. Schmidli, J. Wise (omit)
Brendan Rhodes’ says
Huge ins for the Bombers with reigning best-and-fairest winner Eloise Ashley-Cooper and star veteran Cecilia McIntosh returning from injury, while the Hawks have changed a third of the team that beat Williamstown, bulking up with Nadia von Bertouch, Abbey Holmes and Jenna Richardson but losing AFLW-elevated trio Emma Humphries, Ainslie Kemp and Isabelle Porter. Undefeated Essendon controlled last month’s meeting for 3½ quarters but was powerless to stop the Hawthorn comeback in the dying stages, setting up a cracking contest here. Hard to split them, but the home ground advantage and the first 70 minutes of that previous game tips the scales slightly in favour of the Bombers.
Prediction: Essendon by 3
SECOND ELIMINATION FINAL
4.GEELONG (10-4) v 5.SOUTHERN SAINTS (9-4-1)
Saturday, June 11, 1.05pm @ Deakin University
(www.afl.com.au, 1pm)
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Geelong 5-1. At Deakin University: Geelong 3-1. Streak: Southern Saints 1 (last loss 2021 1st semi final). This season: Southern Saints 6.3 39 def Geelong 3.1 19 (Deakin University, March 5, 2022)
GEELONG
IN: M. Boyd, K. Hardingham, M. Maguire
OUT: R. Caris (AFLW delisted), P. Sheppard (AFLW elevated), A. McKeegan (omit)
SOUTHERN SAINTS
IN: C. Keohane, W. Laing, C. Ryan
OUT: B. Enno, O. Robinson, A. Woodward (omit)
Brendan Rhodes says
The Cats will be without most of their best players, with Laura Gardiner having been put in cotton wool a few weeks ago and now Paige Sheppard joining her, while ruck Rene Caris is out after being cut from the AFLW squad this week, meaning it will be a young team charged with seeing off the Saints. The visitors regain Winnie Laing among three changes and have the confidence of having won here early in the season, as well as the motivation of having their 2021 season ended by the Cats at Trevor Barker Oval. It is a golden opportunity for revenge and it will be a victory to savour if Geelong can get the job done.
Prediction: Southern Saints by 14
FIRST ELIMINATION FINAL
3.CASEY DEMONS (11-3) v 6.COLLINGWOOD (7-7)
Sunday, June 12, 11.35am @ Casey Fields
(www.warfradio.com, 10.30am; www.afl.com.au, 11.30am)
HEAD-TO-HEAD: Collingwood 4-1. At Casey Fields: Collingwood 3-0. Streak: Collingwood 1 (last loss 2022). This season: Collingwood 4.7 31 def Casey Demons 3.3 21 (Casey Fields, May 8, 2022); Casey Demons 5.6 36 def Collingwood 4.5 29 (AIA Centre, April 2, 2022)
CASEY DEMONS
IN: B. Borchard, A. Dowler, R. Grant, Z. Mitchell, C. Selleck, L. Wales
OUT: A. Brown, C. Conroy, M. Fitzsimon, S. Heath, S. Johnson, A. Laing
COLLINGWOOD
IN: T. Cowan, K. Lee, N. O'Connor, A. Smith, E. Wroe
OUT: M. Zander (hand), G. Matser, A. McCulloch, N. Weston, E. Woodford (omit)
Brendan Rhodes says
Both teams have been rocked by key unavailabilities, with the Demons losing captain Sammie Johnson to a calf injury, plus Alison Brown, Megan Fitzsimon and Shelley Heath, while the Magpies will be without gun midfielder Matilda Zander for the rest of the season with a hand injury. Casey has clearly been in the best three teams all season, but have some skeletons to kick out of the closet, having lost its only previous finals appearance as the home team at this same point last year. Collingwood will also have the confidence of having won here just last month to keep its season alive. Can it repeat the dose? Yes, definitely. Will it? That’s a harder question to answer.
Prediction: Casey Demons by 5
Brendan Rhodes’ winners: Last Round: 5. Season: 68
In a first for VFLW, all finals matches in 2022 are live streamed free via afl.com.au and the AFL Live Official App. The qualifying and first elimination finals will also be broadcast live on warfradio.com with a one-hour pre-match before each game.
To access live scores, results, ladder, stats and to link to live streams/replays, download the VFL/W Official App from the Apple or Google Play app stores.
Keep track of your VFLW team via our VFLW Match Centre, which features live scores, team and player stats, match timeline, events summary and Fantasy points. Check it out at https://www.afl.com.au/vfl/fixture