YESTERDAY Naarm finished its 2024 AFL Women’s season with a bang, downing Collingwood by 47 points in arguably the most dominant performance the red and blue have had all year.

“That was exactly what we were hoping to achieve today,” Dees coach Mick Stinear said post-match.

“We can’t control the outcome from now, but we certainly could control what happened in that four quarters of footy and I’m really pleased with the way we competed and finally started to compliment that contest and competitiveness with our connection, particularly on offense, and to get reward for effort in front of goal.

“I think the group should get a lot of belief. “We haven’t been able to open up a game like that throughout the year, so really pleased with what we were able to produce and now hopefully a little bit of hope and optimism for the next couple of hours and we’ll see where we go next.”

Unfortunately Demon prayers were not answered as later in the evening Essendon got the job done over Carlton to squeeze the Dees out of that coveted top eight position.

Reflecting on the tough year that was, Stinear agreed that not having key personnel early in the year really hurt his side, particularly star midfielder Liv Purcell.

“I think not having Loz (Lauren Pearce) and Liv to call members of our midfield certainly took its toll and we had to adjust, but Liv had a ripping preseason,” Stinear said.

“She got fitter, her high speed running and work rate went to a whole other level. She’s already a contested beast around the ball, and then just with the last month of a bit more match play, she’s starting to get that back up as well, so she’ll be one that’s hoping we’re not done yet.

“But the type of injury it was like, there’s a lot of rest. She wasn’t able to keep taking the legs over and maintain that fitness, so she’s done a brilliant job like today to play the type of footy she has off the back of that injury and interrupted preparation.

“But there’s some core members of our team that were missing early, and it took us a little while to find our feet, but proud of the last month or five weeks of footy we’ve had, been a really successful period.”

The end of Naarm’s season also means the end of the career of Rhi Watt, who publicly announced her retirement during an in-game interview.

“I think she’s really taken to the in-game interview, I think she’s getting a reputation for it to announce her retirement there,” Stinear said with a chuckle.

“I think as a group, we were aware there was no formal announcement, but that was probably the first time it had been made public.

“She’s had a significant impact. “I think coming across from St Kilda, her first conversation with the team is, I just want to see you guys lift the Premiership Cup. “It has never been about her and needing to play games.

“It was all about how she can elevate the team, and she was part of that Premiership success. “One of the core group of people when she ended up in our senior leadership group, that made it about the team, and her actions were all about how can we help the team, not individual sort of brilliance.”