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AFLW grand final preview: Who wins the ultimate prize?

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Roar Guru
6th April, 2022
8

We are down to the final match of the 2022 AFL Women’s season and it will be two of the foundation clubs – the Adelaide Crows and Melbourne – that go head to head for the ultimate prize.

In one corner are the Crows, who have been the most consistent and dominant sides of the competition since its founding in 2017, with this to be their fourth grand final and third consecutive at home.

Already with two flags to their name (2017 and 2019), Matthew Clarke’s side have the opportunity to further consolidate themselves as the most successful side in the league’s short history, and will start hot favourites to land their third flag on Saturday afternoon.

The Crows booked their place in the decider by defeating Fremantle by 14 points, with Anne Hatchard and Ebony Marinoff gathering over 40 disposals between them, and the league’s leading goalkicker Ashleigh Woodland booting two majors.

But it came at a significant cost with young ruck Montana McKinnon to miss after being handed a one-match ban by the judiciary for rough conduct on Kiara Bowers.

She joins Katie Brennan in missing an AFLW grand final due to suspension, while in the men’s league, Jason McCartney, Jason Cloke and Anthony Rocca all suffered the same fate, and in the case of McCartney, he missed the Kangaroos’ 1999 premiership victory.

A Crows victory on Saturday afternoon could also provide veteran Erin Phillips with the perfect farewell from West Lakes, with speculation continuing to grow that she will head to Port Adelaide at season’s end, where she would be the Alberton club’s marquee signing.

Erin Phillips

Erin Phillips of the Adelaide Crows (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

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Further, it would also cap off another dominant season, with the only loss being by a solitary point against the Western Bulldogs at home in Round 6.

Their chances of grand final redemption will also be helped by the presence of Chelsea Randall, who missed last year’s loss to the Brisbane Lions after being ruled out of the decider due to concussion.

In the other corner are the Dees, who could become the first club in history to hold the AFL and AFLW premiership cups simultaneously, their men’s side having famously smashed a 57-year premiership drought behind WA’s hard borders last September.

The club has qualified for the grand final for the first time after several years of near-misses, including not being able to play its preliminary final against Fremantle after the 2020 season was abruptly terminated in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mick Stinear’s side got there by holding off a late challenge from defending premiers the Brisbane Lions, in the first official AFLW match to be played at the MCG, with Alyssa Bannan booting three majors.

It was worth the three-week wait for Dees supporters after the Lions had beaten Collingwood by 50 points in a qualifying final that was delayed by a week due to a COVID outbreak within the Pies’ camp that prevented them from fielding a competitive enough side.

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Like the Crows, the Dees suffered just one defeat for the season, and it came against their grand final opponents by 14 points at Norwood Oval in Round 4.

The major incentive for them to win will be the fact that Daisy Pearce will play her final AFLW game before retirement, the super-mum having been the heart and soul of the club ever since representing the club in the women’s exhibition match that was played in 2013.

It stands to be a huge weekend for the club, with the men’s side also in town for a Thursday night clash against Port Adelaide at the Oval.

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Pearce’s impending retirement, as well as the fact that this could be the final game for Erin Phillips and a host of others in Crows colours before the expected raid of the playing list by Port Adelaide later this year, are the main subplots ahead of Saturday’s AFLW decider.

It will also be the final game of the 14-team era, with the AFL Women’s competition expanding to the full 18-team suite next season; along with the Power, Essendon, Hawthorn and Sydney will round out the roster.

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Now that you’ve got all the inside information, it’s now time to crunch the all-important numbers below.

Adelaide Crows vs Melbourne
Saturday, April 9
12:30pm AEDT
Adelaide Oval

This season: Adelaide Crows 4.11 (35) defeated Melbourne 3.3 (21) in round four at Norwood Oval.

Last meeting in a final: Adelaide Crows 5.3 (33) defeated Melbourne 1.9 (15) in the first preliminary final at Adelaide Oval.

The stats that matter
* This is the Adelaide Crows’ fourth grand final, and third consecutive at home. In five completed seasons, the Crows have only missed out on qualifying for the decider only once, in 2018.
* This is Melbourne’s first grand final. Tayla Harris will be playing in her third grand final after previously featuring in the Brisbane Lions and Carlton sides that lost to the Crows in 2017 and 2019 respectively.
* Angela Foley, Ebony Marinoff, Erin Phillips, Stevie-Lee Thompson, Justine Mules, Chelsea Randall, Anne Hatchard and Sarah Allan all have the opportunity to become the first triple-premiership players in AFL Women’s history.
* Melbourne only has one premiership player on its list – Libby Birch, who played in the Western Bulldogs’ 2018 premiership-winning team.
* With a win on Saturday, Melbourne can become the first club in history to hold both the AFL and AFL Women’s premiership cups simultaneously, and also become just the second Victorian club to win the AFLW premiership after the Bulldogs did so four years ago.

Predictions

Match: Adelaide Crows by 14 points.
First goalkicker: Ashleigh Woodland (Adelaide Crows), Tayla Harris (Melbourne)
Best-on-ground: Ebony Marinoff (if the Crows win), Daisy Pearce (if the Dees win)

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