Friday, April 2, 2021

AFL WOMEN’S Rankings: Round 9 2021

The most intriguing AFLW season ever reaches its end.

Well it took some fixture-shuffling, but the 2021 AFLW season has made it to the finals series, and few would argue against the six best teams having made it through. This sets up a very intriguing three weeks of knock-out matches to determine a premier, and whoever gets through this gauntlet will possibly be the most admirable champion in the competition’s five years of existence.

First up this week Collingwood take on the Kangaroos again, in a reprise of last season’s thrilling final, while Melbourne has worked their way up to a home final against Fremantle. Based on the rankings the Magpies and Demons are expected to win, but it would be no great shock if the two teams that were favoured to play in last season’s Grand Final before it was cancelled got through.

The two winners of this week’s matches will then play Adelaide and Brisbane – with some uncertainty over the venue for that second final. Assuming they are played in those two teams’ home states the Crows and Lions are at this stage narrowly favoured to win through to the big one. From there, I’d favour the Crows. Again though, no result would greatly surprise, whoever gets through from this weekend to play them.

In summary then, the rankings are picking the Adelaide Crows to win their third premiership in five years. They would likely do it much tougher than 2019 though, and I would by no means be putting any substantial sum on it. That means however we could be in for the finest three weeks of AFLW we have seen to date.

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