BRISBANE is through to yet another AFL Women\u2019s Preliminary Final after downing Hawthorn by a mere goal in yesterday\u2019s Qualifying Final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After such a close result, Lions coach Craig Starcevich<\/em><\/strong> admitted post match he was feeling a \u201cbit of relief, like there is after most games.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut credit to Hawthorn and the way Daniel’s prepared them,\u201d Starcevich said, also praising his former assistant coach Daniel Webster<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey’re a serious team now, so that was hard work. Really pleased with our resolve and application after halftime. We were 11 points down or whatever it was, so there was no real panic in there, there was a real desire to flip things around and fix it up and they got to work, which is really good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo happy from that point of view. It’s something that fortunately our team’s got a bit of a reputation for fighting to the end, so that sort of came out in spades today, which is great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Starcevich also thought there was \u201ca little bit\u201d of a sense of disconnection in the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think when the opposition are pressuring you, the natural tendency is for all your forwards to get up and help out and that’s fine, but once they get up, there’s nothing left when you go forward\u201d Starcevich noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo that was a bit of a problem for us, just structurally, just resetting, getting some sort of decent one vs ones in your front half and being able to compete. They were just picking stuff off and sending it back again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n One player that drew praise from Starcevich post match was Cath<\/a>y<\/a> Svarc<\/a>, who was praised for her ability to change the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe can help you in the middle with her explosion out of stoppage, but she can also be, just in recent times actually, she’s become a really damaging high half forward,\u201d Starcevich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSo she’s got great overhead hands, she’s always got that speed and explosiveness, so she can be a real asset for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen you need that type of player in that situation. It wasn’t really a day too much for people taking big, overhead marks in your front half. So Dax and Tay sort of had their battles down there. And that’s where Eli Hampson and Cath stepped up, which was great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n