BRISBANE battled tough conditions on Saturday night to beat Carlton by 55 points and maintain its spot in the top four of the AFL Women’s ladder.

Despite those tough conditions, Lions coach Craig Starcevich was happy with the scoreboard pressure his side was able to produce.

“Yeah those conditions were looking like it was going to be armwrestle all night and probably a couple of goals each,” Starcevich said.

“I thought midway through the first quarter we looked like we could handle the ball like a dry day, which was really, really pleasing. So to get that sort of result, I think we’ve ended up having 23 scoring shots or something like that.”

When asked whether the weather has become more of a challenge this AFLW season than in previous seasons, Starcevich simply replied “well that’s pretty much part of the territory, isn’t it?”

“Like, we don’t play in stadiums with roofs or anything like that so we don’t get that luxury, but all things considered, to get 23 shots in what, 75 minutes or 80 minutes is going at a pretty good rate, so we’re happy from our point of view.”

One player who did draw praise from their coach was Charlotte Mullins, who was the top disposal getter for her side and is really growing in her role as 2024 progresses.

“She’s had some more time up the ground in the last couple of weeks,” Starcevich noted.

“She reads the game very well. She anticipates what’s happening next. She’ll be first to move when the ball spits out of our back half. She’s a very intelligent footballer.

“She was very clean tonight when others sort of took their time to get into that mode, and a player who’s clean in wet conditions is a very good player.”

Bre Koenen also drew praise from Starcevich, with the captain and defensive steward described as “terrific”, and praised as a “great organizer, great leader, courageous, got good people around her, but yeah Bre’s a star.”

“She gets a lot of help from the people around her, but Bre last week probably took the mark of the season, the one in the dying minutes, but also there was one earlier in the game on Ponter, which was an absolute ripper one on one in D50, and tonight she was doing similar things.”