TODAY’s second AFLW final is between a finals returnee and a finals debutant, as the Suns host the Swans tonight.

Today at 7:15pm
Heritage Bank Stadium

How They Got Here

Gold Coast are making a return to the AFLW finals after a three season absence, while for Sydney, it is about to embark on an inaugural finals campaign. Both teams had to wait until the final round to book their spots in the finals, but did so with wins over Essendon and Fremantle respectively.

History

As Sydney is only in its second season there is not too much history between these two sides. However they did meet in Season 7, which the Suns won.

Key Stat Areas

Both of these sides prefer to handball the ball over kicking, so that kind of cancels any advantage that kind of game style may have.

One thing that particularly the Swans will need to be mindful of is inside 50 efficiency. Already they have significantly less inside 50s than the Suns, but combine that with a poor inside 50 efficiency and that could be trouble for the Swans.

Key Match Up/s

Tara Bohanna vs Brenna Tarrant

Bohanna’s importance to the Suns is much talked about, so whichever Swans defender ends up on her is going to have a busy evening. Tarrant may not be the most obvious choice height wise, but has the muscle presence and smarts to match it with the Suns’ skipper.

Meara Girvan vs Rebecca Privitelli

Up the other end, Privitelli is the equivalent of Bohanna for the Swans, but plays more deeper more often than Bohanna does. Girvan or whoever ends up on Privitelli will have a big job ahead of them, and will always need to play in front.

Claudia Whitfort vs Laura Gardiner

The core of their respective teams’ midfields, these two are the in and under players first to the contact and first to try and get the clearance for their teams. Both have really grown as players this season, but also both face a pretty new beast today in finals.