MELBOURNE and Adelaide kick off a blockbuster AFL Women’s Finals Series, with the first of four matches in the inaugural top eight post-season series. Rookie Me Central will preview each game individually, with the Dees and Crows looking to book the first spot in the 2022 preliminary finals.

FORM

Just like many seasons gone, both of these sides have had pretty flawless seasons. They have also only lost to the teams that finished above them on the ladder. For Melbourne, that was a single loss to Brisbane in Round 4. For Adelaide, that was the Dees in Round 1 and the Lions in Round 8.

HISTORY

As two of the inaugural sides in the competition, there is quite a history between these two sides. The two sides have met eight times, with both sides having won four of the clashes each. However crucially for Adelaide, they have the wood over the Dees in finals, with the Crows winning both times these two have met in finals previously.

INJURY LIST

Both Melbourne and Adelaide are pretty lucky in the sense that their injury lists are pretty short at the moment. For Melbourne, Jordan Ivey came off the injury list and was available for selection this week but ultimately listed as an emergency. It is unclear when Georgia Campbell will recover from her illness, nor when Sabreena Duffy‘s foot pain will subside.

Meanwhile the Crows were able to take a huge name off their injury list this week, with Chelsea Randall straight back into the team after recovering from an ankle injury. That means it is just Ailish Considine left on the injury list, who still has ongoing issues with her hamstring injury.

TEAMS

Melbourne

B: L.Birch 9  T.Gillard 17
HB: S.Heath 30  M.Gay 3  S.Goldrick 23
C: B.Mackin 31  T.Hanks 5   S.Lampard 8
HF: A.Bannan 16   K.Paxman 4  K.Hore 10
F: D.Pearce 6   T.Harris 7
Foll: L.Pearce 15  O.Purcell 2  L.Mithen 14
I/C: M.Chaplin 13 C.Sherriff 18 E.Zanker 29 E.West 11  M.Fitzsimon 24

Emerg:   C.Wilson 20  J.Ivey 19 M.Caris 21

Adelaide

B: N.Allen 8  S.Allan 39
HB: C.Biddell 12  C.Randall 26  Z.Prowse  4
C: M.Newman 17  A.Hatchard 33  S.Thompson 14
HF: R.Martin 5   D.Ponter 15  E.Jones 2
F: A.Woodland 24 C.Gould 1
Foll: M.McKinnon 21 E.Marinoff 10 T.Charlton 25
I/C: K.Mueller 13 A.Ballard  27  H.Button 6 N.Kelly 23 H.Munyard 20              

Emerg: L.Whiteley 22  B.Tonon 28 M.Rajcic 32

KEY MATCH UPS

The midfield battle between the likes of Olivia Purcell, Tyla Hanks, Ebony Marinoff and Anne Hatchard is obviously going to be an enticing one, but it is not the only one.

Will Shelley Heath get a tagging role on someone like Danielle Ponter?

Will Tahlia Gillard have her hands full dealing with Ashleigh Woodland or Caitlin Gould?

Then there’s the question of which of Melbourne’s tall forwards will Chelsea Randall be tasked with keeping quiet? Will it be Tayla Harris, Eden Zanker or someone else?

PREDICTION

This is going to be a nail biter. Both teams are going to fight to the death and not give up until the final siren, there is no doubt about that. But in terms of who is going to win, a lot does point to a Dees win.

Even though playing it at Ikon does take the weather and wind advantage away from the Dees, the Crows have had to travel twice in the last week (including tonight) while Melbourne has not had to travel since Round 8.

The Dees are in some seriously scintillating form, and the pain of last year’s Grand Final is still bound to be burning in the playing group, and they will be keen to make sure that never happens again.