BRISBANE has absolutely annihilated Collingwood in the second of the AFL Women’s Qualifying Finals, winning by 50 points. After the game was delayed a week due to a Covid outbreak at the Pies, Brisbane led at every change and just kept building on its lead each quarter.

TALKING POINTS

Brisbane’s premiership defence marches on

The win yesterday meant Brisbane lived on to fight another day, and the chance of back-to-back flags for the Lions remains a strong possibility. The clinical nature of yesterday’s win sent an ominous warning to next week’s opponent Melbourne, and the rest of the competition. Count Brisbane out at your own peril.

Collingwood’s horrid interstate run this season continued  

One thing that has been the Achilles heal of Collingwood all season has been interstate trips. Yesterday’s match was their fourth this season, and the Pies did not win any. That might be something that coach Steve Symonds and his team need to seriously address ahead of next season if they want to go deeper in finals.

Brisbane’s jitters in front of goal early

Brisbane had a bit of the jitters in front of goal early, which is something they will want to fix in training this week ahead of next week’s Preliminary Final. It did not matter in the end against a weakened Collingwood, but against a side like Melbourne it could get them in a little bit of trouble.

Maggie’s magic call-up

It is not very often you get called up for debut in a final, and even less likely finding out on the day, but that is exactly what happened to Maroochydore talent Maggie Harmer. When Lions talent Indy Tahau fell ill, Harmer received the news she would make her AFL Women’s debut. After a shaky first kick that went out on the full, the former AFLW Academy member settled, and finished with six touches, two marks and two tackles in the win.

Svarc stops Lambert

Without star duo, Brianna Davey and Brittany Bonnici, it was no surprise to see Brisbane tagger Catherine Svarc stand next to Jaimee Lambert in midfield. The pair had quite the tussle throughout the match, though the fact Lambert only recorded the 12 disposals, three marks and five tackles, meant Svarc – who had 13 touches and laid seven tackles herself – took home the points in that duel.

Orla dazzles in front of family

Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, Irish talent Orla O’Dwyer‘s family were yet to see their loved one play live, and finally got the chance to do so in the preliminary final. The hard-running midfielder produced a massive effort with almost 400 metres gained, as well as 19 disposals and six clearances to be the star of the show for the Lions, and really helping in booking their preliminary final.

Could things have been different if Covid was not a factor?

It has been well publicised that Collingwood had quite the Covid interrupted lead up into the match. The match even got postponed because they did not have enough players.

That meant very little opportunities to train as a team in the lead up to the match, and it was clear which team had the week off last week and which one had been riddled by Covid.

Though they are questions that will never be answered, would things have been any different if Collingwood did not have the Covid outbreak? Would the match have been closer?

The stats told the story

If you take a look at the stats, it paints the picture of Brisbane’s dominant win.

They comfortably won most of the stats, including:

• The disposal count (220 to 189)
• The contested possession count (122 to 81)
• The tackle count (51 to 36)
• Both the inside 50 (45 to 21) and marks inside 50 count (12 to 1)
• The hit outs (28 to 13)
• The clearances (28 to 14)

NEXT WEEK

Collingwood’s season is now done, but the Lions move on to face the Dees in a Preliminary Final next Saturday at the MCG.