Last year’s decider between North and Brisbane was epic, but could this year’s top it? Sarah Black takes a look at why Roos v Lions 2.0 could be even better than the first.
COULD the sequel be better than the original?
North Melbourne and Brisbane are set to face off in a successive AFLW Grand Final, once again played at Ikon Park.
The Lions won last year’s edition, overwhelming the Roos by 17 points in a stunning fourth-term onslaught.
Playing against Brisbane must be like paddling around in the ocean.
You’re having a lovely time, then suddenly realise the water level is dropping around your legs. Looking up, a wave is building quickly, threatening to overwhelm you, before dumping on your head.
Then you’re in the washing machine, not sure which way is up as you desperately try to regain your footing, only to emerge spluttering and slightly embarrassed, ego battered and bruised.
It’s how Brisbane plays its footy – when the Lions turn it on, it’s an onslaught of pressure and manic energy, opponents buffered and battered from one side of the field to the other, and suddenly Dakota Davidson’s kicking truly from 30m and the game’s done and dusted.
Despite their astonishingly long stint of wet-weather footy earlier this season, North Melbourne is much more a dry-land side.
They work in layers – a carefully structured defence, which can contract and expand upon command on specific spots of the field, while the forwards lengthen the field.
The wingers stream up and down the ground, always holding their width, while Alice O’Loughlin and Bella Eddey turn their opponents upside down and inside out, charging back to goal where the three tall forwards – giraffes, if you want to continue the animal analogy – roam.
North Melbourne has always been silky, but there’s now a hardened edge of steel, honed over years of disappointment.
Not that the Roos have struggled over the years, but they’ve often faltered at critical moments, those beautiful passes crumbling under pressure.
They knocked off the Lions in round one – a result that the Victorian side will take more out of than the Queenslanders, having been their first win against Brisbane – and toughed out a gritty qualifying final against Adelaide.
“I think the biggest change for us is that there’s a calmness within the group. Throughout this season, I think we’ve given ourselves enough evidence to know we rightfully should be back here, on this stage,” North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker said.
“We’re in really good shape for what’s to come tomorrow night.”
Libby Birch added North to her Melbourne over the off-season, providing some extra rebound power in defence, while Vikki Wall has crashed and bashed her way back into the forward line after making a bid for Ireland’s rugby side.
Brisbane has made a fine art of flicking the switch, and the Lions’ confidence is astounding. No matter where they are positioned in a match, they WILL find a way to claw their way back to the top.
There was a shaky start in week one against the Roos – not the first time the Lions have dropped an opening-round match – and something of a wake-up call against the enigmatic Geelong in week eight, but aside from that, Brisbane has been imperious.
“I think there’s some decent resilience within the group to keep fighting, and that’s something our team is pretty proud of,” coach Craig Starcevich said.
“We’ve got some fight and grit about us, though we didn’t show it in round one, that’s not us. But there’s some confidence in preparation, the been-there-before thing is probably part of it, there’s some decent mental strength there as well, I think.”
For skipper Bre Koenen, it’s become self-fulfiling – the players know their style of footy works, therefore when they’re executing their game-plan, even if behind on the scoreboard, they know the ship will right itself.
“I think it’s more to do with our method,” Koenen said.
“If we’re playing the way we want, and it’s looking the way we want, then that gives us confidence.”
Brisbane has found a few more “break glass in case of emergency” options this year – Jade Ellenger can be employed as a tagger, Cathy Svarc is a genuine line-breaking forward who’s impossible to beat in a one-on-one, Lily Postlethwaite can provide pace at both ends of the ground, and forward Charlie Mullins can provide trouble on the wing.
“We found out the hard way a couple of years ago when we were absolutely cruising through ’22B, and didn’t have to change too much, then all of a sudden got confronted with a few different obstacles when we played Melbourne up home in that Grand Final,” Starcevich said.
“There was a real necessity to have a few different plans up our sleeve. We started that process last year, a little by necessity when people were missing, but we needed to trial a few different things, and it kept growing from there. Part of it is, the coaches have to have enough confidence to do it, and the players have to buy into it as well.”
Then there’s the coaches themselves.
Will Starcevich become the first three-time AFLW premiership coach, having led the Lions to an astonishing six of a possible eight Grand Finals?
Or will Crocker finally lead his club – for years mired at the bottom of the men’s ladder – back to the top, 28 years after he himself played in a flag for the Roos?
North Melbourne is better than it’s ever been, a team of champions who have done plenty of heavy lifting when it comes to setting standards and promoting the women’s game, and are yet to see the ultimate reward.
But never. Ever. Ever. Write off the Brisbane Lions.
