SUNDAY’S game between the GWS Giants and Yartapuulti came down to the wire, after a comeback from latter saw the Power take home the win.

They won by a solitary point after Gemma Houghton kicked the match-winner with less than a minute left. GWS led all game, which would have been a massive upset considering their differing seasons this year.

Yartapuulti will now continue through to the post-season, securing their first AFL Women’s finals berth with an elimination final against Richmond awaiting them. Unfortunately for the Giants, their season ends following an eight-game losing streak, although they looked promising throughout.

GWS head coach Cam Bernasconi spoke post-match about the finish to the game.

“That’s a pretty brutal way to finish a game, I’m just so proud with how the group came and fought so hard,” Bernasconi explained.

“They are a very good side and to be leading all game and to lose at the last minute, it rips your heart out but I’m so proud of the way that the group came in today, not just expecting to be competitive but expecting to win, but it’s a pretty tough way to lose.”

When asked about how his side managed to come out to play with the mindset to win, Bernasconi pointed to their leader Alicia Eva‘s 75th AFLW game and the debut of draftee Indigo Linde as additional motivation.

“We’ve always played our way at times, but I think over the last month we’ve played against some really good sides and we’ve struggled to play our style against the better teams,” he said.

“We probably spent a bit more time on us to be honest, like let’s just go play our way so I thought that was improved.

“Probably the biggest improvement came from their ability to want to win for Alicia [Eva] and for Indi [Linde]’s debut.

“There was a lot to play for cause they are a very connected group so they play for one another and I think that’s where most of it came from, was their fight to want to win for their teammates.”

When reflecting on the tough season for his side, Bernasconi was measured and hopeful for the future. Seeing their brand of football materialise in flashes, he hopes that they will have more continuity, which will result in better performances in 2025.

“You certainly sit on this for a few days and not make any big decisions,” Bernasconi continued. I think the biggest learning will be [the fact that] we’ve seen a lot of growth in the way we want to play and I think we’ve played our footy, our brand in every game, whereas last year we were pretty up and down with it.

“I think when we get the game looking like a Giants game, it’s a really good brand of footy. The foundations are there, so it’s not like we have to bring in, we brought in nine new players last year to try and get going, I think we’ve got the foundations now.

“It’s probably just honing in on the details now of simple execution, so our fundamentals, but doing that under a bit more pressure, and probably a bit more continuity within the playing group, when you have so much change and two new assistant coaches, and nine new players, it takes a while for everyone to figure it out.

“I think it’s probably not changing too much, [that’s] the risk you could do, it’s more finding the two or three core things that we need to probably look to tweak, and then just double down on what we do well and just make sure we can be better at that so we can hold up against the better teams.”