{"id":120776,"date":"2022-11-18T17:52:03","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T07:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/?p=120776"},"modified":"2022-11-18T17:52:05","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T07:52:05","slug":"aflw-stalwarts-ready-to-lock-horns-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2022\/11\/18\/aflw-stalwarts-ready-to-lock-horns-again\/","title":{"rendered":"AFLW stalwarts ready to lock horns again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MELBOURNE\u2019s Karen Paxman<\/a> and North Melbourne\u2019s Emma Kearney<\/a> are two stalwarts of the competition, and have seen a lot in their time. They also face each other tomorrow afternoon, as their sides do battle for the second spot in the Season 7 Grand Final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paxman said she and the Dees were expecting a tough contest at Ikon Park, just like the Round 2 clash between the two sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEach time we play North it is fiery and a heated contest, so certainly there\u2019s a lot of learnings to come out of that game (Round 2),\u201d Paxman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReflecting on probably our own game, not too sure what round that was, but earlier on in the season I think fundamentally we were a little bit off, but North are always a strong competitor, so it\u2019s going to be hot. It\u2019s finals footy, so that\u2019s what we\u2019re expecting around the contest absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paxman said that the team has done a lot of growing across the season, especially since the Round 2 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think compared to when we started off the season to where we are now, we\u2019ve taken a lot of confidence in our growth, and I think a lot of that\u2019s come from a mindset standpoint, and we\u2019ve been doing a lot of mindset work over the last few seasons, and I feel like that\u2019s coming into fruition now certainly,” she said. “I think for us it\u2019s controlling what we can control, and the rest should hopefully take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paxman pointed to what she thought went wrong in Melbourne\u2019s Qualifying Final against Adelaide that saw them get off to a poor start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think our contest was a little bit poor\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cObviously finals footy is quite hot and heavy, and we were a little bit off the mark in that first quarter when the Crows came out firing, so certainly probably a good little lesson to learn coming into our next final and you can\u2019t start slow in finals certainly, and against North they\u2019re a fast starting side so definitely coming into this week with that in the back of our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not the first season Melbourne has had a week off in the finals, and Paxman believes that past experience helped her and her teammates approach the week off last week in the best way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just that maturity and it\u2019s the leadership within our group,” she said. The week off is nice, but we know we still have to get to work on certain things and you can\u2019t unwind too much so I guess it\u2019s about balance, having the week off. You can rest up and refresh, but also we still work hard in that break.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile Kearney reassured everyone that her knee, which has given her issues recently, is all good to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah it\u2019s good. It\u2019s pulling up better every game, so fingers crossed it\u2019ll come good on the weekend,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kearney said that the way the Roos have gone about this finals series has given her and her teammates extra confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPrevious seasons we\u2019ve been knocked out in an elimination final, so to be able to get the win against the Cats just released a bit of pressure and then got the game looking how we wanted to look against Richmond and really attacked them in that second quarter when we had the advantage with the wind and that got us the win from that quarter really,” Kearney said\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much like the Dees, Kearney said that her side took a learnings out of the clash between the two sides in Round 2 and have improved a lot since then too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI reckon the biggest thing for us coming from that game is our ability to match it with those big three clubs, Melbourne being one of them, one of the best in the comp and for us I reckon in previous seasons we\u2019ve really doubted our ability to match it with them, but I reckon that gave us belief,” Kearney said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But I think, and Paxy probably would have said the same thing, they\u2019ve probably improved since Round 2, we\u2019ve seen enormous growth in our players since Round 2. Vikki Wall<\/a> was just playing her second game, Taylah Gatt<\/a>, Tess Craven<\/a>, Bella Eddey<\/a>, all really inexperienced players now a bit more experienced coming into this finals campaign and should be good for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also like Paxman, Kearney is fully aware of what to expect from her opponents tomorrow.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMelbourne\u2019s one of those ones where they score one goal, they score two, three, four in a row really quickly,” Kearney said. If we can try to maintain some of that or limit their impacts and then when we highlight when they are getting momentum being able to slow that down a bit that\u2019ll help us really well but we\u2019ve got a really good team defence and we\u2019ve been able to limit scoring as much as possible, so we\u2019re going to have to be at our best to stop them that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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