AFL WOMEN'S Rankings: Round 4 SEASON 7

The Lions rule

In the battle of (arguably) the two strongest teams in the AFL Women’s competition, the Brisbane Lions triumphed over Melbourne/ Naarm by 15 points, coming back from a three-goal deficit in the first quarter. As expected, Brisbane did not dominate the scoreboard or the main statistics to the extent they have in their first three matches of this season. After the first ten minutes though they were able to effectively ‘put the clamps’ on the Demons, recording six more inside 50s, 11 more contested possessions, and perhaps crucially 18 to six tackles inside their 50 metre arc.

The Demons are a fairly deep team, but the Lions may be even deeper. For all of their experience, Melbourne still have some relative ‘newbies’ filling out their team (i.e. started in the past two years) including West, Mackin, Chaplin, Gillard, Fitzsimon, and debutant Campbell. Aside from the precociously talented Farquharson and Pullar, Brisbane didn’t have anyone that was not at least in their fourth season. They may not have much in terms of ‘superstars’ outside of reigning AFLW best and fairest Emily Bates, but their level of depth (Anderson, O’Dwyer, Davidson, Svarc, Conway, Dawes, Wardlaw, Hodder, etc.) is going to be hard to stop.

The Crows show they are still a force

Last week’s post focused on how this season’s Adelaide Crows were a step below their premiership-winning teams of the past several years, but the Crows were quite impressive – though inaccurate – in their win against a solid Collingwood side on the weekend. Adelaide dominated territory, with 36 to 15 inside 50s, but also got their ‘outside’ game going with 23 more uncontested possessions than the Pies.

The Magpies have been impressive this season, however the absence of Brianna Davey and Brittany Bonnici was probably more evident against a midfield that boasts Ebony Marinoff and Anne Hatchard. Marinoff and Hatchard are not just impressive ‘in the coalface’; they can get the ball around the ground too, with Hatchard ranking second in the league for disposals this season despite not always starting in the centre

The Crows’ experience profile is more like the Demons than the Lions, and their match against the Magpies seems like it was more ‘the bronze medal match-up’ compared with the ‘championship bout’ between Brisbane and Melbourne / Naarm. Still the Crows look to have stamped themselves as at least the third best team, or at least one of the top five teams alongside the Lions, Demons, Magpies, and the Western Bulldogs, this season.