NORTH Melbourne are VFL Women’s Premiers for 2024, after a 20-point win over the Western Bulldogs in today’s VFLW Grand Final.

The Kangaroos got off to a hot start, and withstood a massive Bulldogs’ comeback to emerge with the club’s first VFLW title. The Lisa Hardeman Medal went to Nyakoat Dojiok after an impressive day in the forwardline that netted her four goals.

North Melbourne got off to the perfect start, when Emily Paterno marked and converted straight out in front a mere minute into proceedings.

Despite Dominique Carbone’s strong work out of the middle on the restart, the Bulldogs could not capitalise on it on the scoreboard as Dojiok slotted North’s second goal within the opening five minutes of the match.

Maddie Di Cosmo made it three for North Melbourne in about 10 minutes, and the Kangaroos were in total control early.

The defensive pressure from North Melbourne right across the ground was seriously impressive, not allowing the Dogs any easy disposals. Carbone was also doing most of the work in midfield by herself, which was making things even more difficult for the Dogs.

Dojiok had her second minutes later, and the Bulldogs were quickly getting into some serious trouble.

The Dogs were finally able to build some more composed forays into attack in the final minutes of the term, but could only muster a single point for their efforts. As such the Roos took a 25 point lead into the first change.

North Melbourne was quick out of the middle again in the second term, but it was the Bulldogs who kicked the first goal of the term thanks to a Renee Saulitis snap from about 30m out. That goal seemed to give the Dogs a lift, who enjoyed a lot more attacking time than what they had in the first term, and when it did go into the Roos’ attacking 50, the defensive pressure from the Dogs was significantly better as well.

The Roos did eventually wrestle back control of the game, and after a beautiful rove and snap from Alana Barba saw the Roos record their first goal for the term and the fifth for the match. The goal really turned the game back in the Roos’ favour, as they dominated both the possession and territory game.

Dojiok then kicked her third goal of the match to really snuff out any Dogs’ resurgence from earlier in the term. However, just as the Roos were really putting the foot down, Mia-Rae Clifford was handed an easy goal and the Dogs had their second on the board.

The Dogs ended the quarter with the attacking momentum, but Clifford’s goal was the last of the term so they were still 24 points down at the main break.

It was the Bulldogs who got the first goal of the third term after Jaimi Tabb burst through a pack to kick truly. Tallia Pulcino really started to have a huge influence on the game, and when she kicked a goal seven minutes in, the half-time margin was suddenly halved.

The natural kick and mark game of the Bulldogs was starting to come to the fore and the North Melbourne defence was starting to panic under the pressure. As such the Bulldogs’ momentum continued to grow as Imogen Milford got herself on the scoreboard.

With 90 seconds to go in the quarter, Mali McLeod kicked her first goal and the match was all tied up. That is how the score also sat at three quarter time, with everything to play for in the final term.

As much as they were on the ropes at the end of the third term, North Melbourne got the perfect start to the final term as Paterno kicked her second goal for the game in the opening minutes.

Dojok kicked her fourth goal for the game minutes later, and the Roos were really starting to get on top again. Georgia Nicholas added her name to the goal kickers list with just under 10 minutes to go, and the Roos were close to putting the icing on the cake.

Like any worthy grand finalist though, the Dogs pegged one back through Keeley Hardingham, and the result was far from done. Despite the efforts of the likes of Jorja Livingstone, the seconds continued to tick down and the Dogs could not make the progression necessary on the scoreboard.

The Roos ultimately played the final minutes of the match really well, and denied the Dogs the chance to eliminate the deficit, and with one final icing on the cake goal from Audrey Rhodes, the title was theirs.

NORTH MELBOURNE  4.2 | 6.4 | 6.6 | 10.8 (68)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 0.1 | 2.4 | 6.6 | 7.6 (48)

GOALS:

North Melbourne: N. Dojiok 4, E. Paterno 2, A. Rhodes, G. Nicholas, M. Di Cosmo, A. Barba
Western Bulldogs: J. Tabb, R. Saulitis, T. Pulcino, I. Milford, M. McLeod, K. Hardingham, M. Clifford

BEST:
North Melbourne: N. Dojiok, A. Barba, M. Di Cosmo, A. Rhodes, M. Zander
Western Bulldogs: D. Carbone, M. Clifford, T. Pulcino, T. Crook, E. Bishop