{"id":176731,"date":"2024-11-23T10:13:11","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T00:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/?p=176731"},"modified":"2024-11-23T10:13:13","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T00:13:13","slug":"preview-aflw-2024-preliminary-final-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2024\/11\/23\/preview-aflw-2024-preliminary-final-1\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | AFLW 2024: Preliminary Final 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>THE FIRST of today\u2019s AFL Women\u2019s Preliminary Finals is going to be a scorcher, as North Melbourne and Port Adelaide battle it out in the blistering mid-afternoon heat for the opportunity to progress to next weekend\u2019s AFLW Grand Final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div>\n<div class=\"t7_match_result match-result-comparison rmc-block is-match-preview\">\n<div class='match-result_legend'><ul><li>Team<\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class='match-result_team'><ul><li class='column-head'><h5 class='heading title h5'>North Melbourne<\/h5><img src='https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/north-150x150.png' \/><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class='match-result_team'><ul><li class='column-head'><h5 class='heading title h5'>Port Adelaide<\/h5><img src='https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/port-adelaide-logo_0-150x150.jpg' \/><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>3:05pm AEDT<br>Ikon Park<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-they-got-here\"><strong>How they got here<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>North Melbourne won through to this stage with a week one victory over Adelaide, and are coming off a week\u2019s rest. Port Adelaide meanwhile has had to do it the hard way, and finds itself in its first ever AFLW Preliminary Final after a spirited win over Hawthorn last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-last-time-they-met\"><strong>Last time they met<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Last time these two sides met was actually earlier this season, back in Week 4. In awful conditions of a very different variety to what they will face today, North Melbourne emerged with a six-goal win after keeping the Power goalless in the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-stat-areas\"><strong>Key stat areas<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It really is a daunting task in front of the Power today. Many of the stats are rather lopsided in North\u2019s favour, including in areas such as disposals, disposal efficiency and inside 50 efficiency, so Port need to find a way to defy the stats and get the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of Port\u2019s big weaknesses is in the uncontested possession game, which is something it will have to keep an eye on as North are really good at exploiting that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly though, the stats around hitouts and clearances are pretty even between the pair. Port has the advantage in centre clearances, while the Roos are better when it comes to stoppage clearances, and with Port\u2019s hitout advantage, it could be an avenue to exploit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-key-match-up-s\"><strong>Key match up\/s<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"29895\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/afl\/player\/emma-kearney\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Emma Kearney<\/a> is a very welcome return for North Melbourne today, after missing a number of weeks via injury. Her return is very well timed too, as she will need to combine with the likes of <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"29884\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/afl\/player\/libby-birch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Libby Birch<\/a> to take down an imposing Port Adelaide forwardline, with the likes of <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"43041\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/afl\/player\/ashleigh-saint\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ashleigh Saint<\/a> and <a data-type=\"player\" data-id=\"29817\" class=\"_dc_spo\" href=\"\/afl\/player\/gemma-houghton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gemma Houghton<\/a> potentially very dangerous if given the freedom to do so.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-dc-block-dc-mention _dc_mention\"><div class=\"section-heading_wrap\"><span class=\"section-heading is-small\">Mentions<\/span><span class=\"hor-border\"><\/span><\/div><ul class=\"js-overflow-list overflow-list\"><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/emma-kearney\/\">Emma Kearney<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/libby-birch\/\">Libby Birch<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/ashleigh-woodland\/\">Ashleigh Woodland<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_p\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/player\/gemma-houghton\/\">Gemma Houghton<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"object-mention_single\"><div class=\"tag tag--is-clickable\"><a class=\"tag-text _dc_mention_e\" href=\"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/event\/kangaroos-vs-port-adelaide-2\/\">Kangaroos vs Port Adelaide<\/a><\/div><\/li><li class=\"js-dropdown dropdown overflowed\"><button class=\"btn btn-icon-only\"><span class=\"icon btn-icon\">\n                    <!-- icon - plus circle - 20px-->\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 20 20\">\n                        <path d=\"M15,9.28h-4.3V5h0A.72.72,0,1,0,9.28,5h0V9.28H5a.72.72,0,0,0,0,1.43H9.28V15a.72.72,0,0,0,1.43,0h0V10.71H15a.72.72,0,0,0,0-1.43Z\"\/>\n                        <path d=\"M10,0A10,10,0,1,0,20,10,10,10,0,0,0,10,0Zm0,18.57A8.57,8.57,0,0,1,10,1.43h0a8.57,8.57,0,0,1,0,17.14Z\"\/>\n                    <\/svg>\n                <\/span><\/button><div class=\"popover\"><div class=\"popover-content\"><ul class=\"popover-menu\"><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE FIRST of today\u2019s AFL Women\u2019s Preliminary Finals is going to be a scorcher, as North Melbourne and Port Adelaide battle it out in the blistering mid-afternoon heat for the opportunity to progress to next weekend\u2019s AFLW Grand Final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10000,"featured_media":176734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3115,20871,8,19767,19770],"tags":[21115,3022,6510,22007,3095],"class_list":["post-176731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aflw","category-finals-preview","category-news","category-north-melbourne","category-port-adelaide","tag-ashleigh-saint","tag-emma-kearney","tag-gemma-houghton","tag-kangaroos-vs-port-adelaide","tag-libby-birch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10000"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176731"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176743,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176731\/revisions\/176743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}