Big performances, epic battles. We look at the biggest stories from the 2024 Grand Final.
THE 2024 NAB AFLW Grand Final delivered on the biggest stage. We look at the five biggest talking points to take from the game.
Star Roo shines bright
Remarkably, North Melbourne star Jas Garner is still somewhat underrated. Despite never claiming the League best and fairest, Garner’s impact for her side cannot be understated. She is a beast at the coalface, calm and composed with ball in hand and has a knack of hitting the scoreboard when her team needs her. Lions coach Craig Starcevich sent the versatile Jade Ellenger to Garner on Saturday night in an attempt to quell the influence of the gun Roo, but there was no stopping her. It seemed as though Garner was determined to deliver the ultimate prize for her footy club.
Garner recorded 35 disposals, the most ever in an AFLW grand final, completely dismantling the Lions around the contest. In the footy world, players are judged by their actions in big games and Garner well and truly confirmed that she will go down as one of the game’s greatest ever with her performance on the biggest stage of all.
Veteran Kanga cements legacy
Emma Kearney, take a bow. Kearney’s 2024 season was severely impacted by a serious hamstring injury, but that didn’t mean her fingerprints weren’t all over North Melbourne’s maiden AFLW premiership.
Kearney is a spiritual leader at Arden Street, her leadership qualities up there with the best in the competition. Whether it’s directing defenders behind the play or taking youngsters under her wing, the legacy that Kearney will eventually leave behind her is profound.
Kearney played just 38 per cent game time in the preliminary final victory over Port Adelaide last week, leaving some questions over whether or not she would be right to go, but those questions were put to bed right away. Right from her first contest, you knew she was on. Kearney had a glint in her eye and there was no doubting that she was going to leave everything out there.
It felt as though the Roos were priming their inspirational leader for the big dance, and in a symbolic way, it felt like all season the Roos were priming themselves for this one night in November.
Roos win ruck battle
It takes an entire team to win premierships. While North has plenty of firepower in the form of Garner, Ash Riddell, Alice O’Loughlin and Mia King, it was two unheralded Roos who made their mark early in the contest on Saturday night. Rucks Emma King and Kim Rennie were a force to be reckoned with around the ground, dominating the air and giving the midfield first use at stoppages.
Their sheer strength was too much for Brisbane ruck Tahlia Hickie, who struggled to compete with the Roos’ one-two punch. King finished the night with 12 disposals and 16 hitouts but was huge in the opening stanza when the game was there to be won, while Rennie had 13 touches and 21 hitouts in another strong performance. Hickie was able to shrug off an arm concern early in the second half to finish with seven disposals and 26 hitouts.
Wingers do the damage
Both North Melbourne and Brisbane have built a brand on the run and carry their respective wingers offer. With the rain cleared up before the opening stoppage, conditions were set for them to thrive, and it was the Roos’ contingent that got off to a blistering start.
After a six-minute arm wrestle between the arcs, Tess Craven slid forward to kick the opening goal of the game and set the tone for the night, but even more impressive was her willingness to press back into defence and take a vital intercept mark in the Lions’ goal square not long after.
It wasn’t only Craven (11 disposals, two contested marks) who shone a light on the position, with Amy Smith (21 disposals, three inside 50s) and Taylah Gatt (12 disposals, six tackles) seriously impactful right across the ground as the game wore on.
The Conway v Wright battle
From the offset, it was the matchup of Sophie Conway and Sarah Wright inside Brisbane’s forward 50 that caught the eye. Conway, typically a winger, offers Brisbane some neat speed and attack on the ball in the forward line, but contending with the dour Wright was a different story.
What the Roo lacked in speed when going one-on-one with Conway, she made up for in intelligence, and an ability to lean on her teammates. She finished the game with a game-high nine intercept possessions, along with 20 disposals and seven marks, forcing Conway back up onto the wing in the process. It was a crucial role in North Melbourne’s first AFLW premiership, and the club’s first since 1999.
