AFLW 2022 AFLW Grand Final: Adelaide vs Melbourne (9th April, 12pm ACST/12.30pm AEST)

[Teen Wolf]

ADELAIDE

B: C.Biddell 12 M.Rajcic 32
HB: C.Randall - C 26 S.Allan 39 N.Allen 8
C: S.Thompson 14 A.Hatchard 33 A.Considine 16
HF: D.Ponter 15 A.Woodland 24 E.Jones 2
F: E.Phillips 13 R.Martin 5
Foll: C.Gould 1 E.Marinoff 10 T.Charlton 25
I/C: H.Button 6 H.Munyard 20 J.Hewett 19 J.Mules 23 N.Gore 7

Emerg: L.Whiteley 22 M.Newman 17

In: N.Allen, E.Jones, J.Hewett
Out: B.Tonon (Omitted), M.Newman (Omitted), M.McKinnon (Suspension)

MELBOURNE

B: L.Birch 9 G.Colvin 32
HB: S.Goldrick 23 S.Lampard 8 S.Heath 30
C: K.Paxman 4 T.Hanks 5 L.Mithen 14
HF: A.Bannan 16 K.Hore 10 S.Scott 12
F: D.Pearce - C 6 T.Harris 7
Foll: L.Pearce 15 O.Purcell 2 M.Gay 3
I/C: C.Sherriff 18 E.West 11 E.Zanker 29 E.McNamara 22 M.Fitzsimon 24

Emerg: J.Parry 19 T.Gillard 17

In: None
Out: None

ROAD TO THE GRAND FINAL
Adelaide (10-1, 208.9%, 23.3pt avg winning margin)
R1: W v BL by 30
R2: W v NM by 13
R3: W v WCE by 33
R4: W v Melb by 14
R5: W v Carl by 39
R6: L v WB by 1
R7: W v GWS by 40
R8: W v Frem by 9
R9: W v Coll by 2
R10: W v StK by 39
PF: W v Frem by 14

Melbourne (10-1, 179.0%, 23.6pt avg winning margin)
R1: W v WB by 24
R2: W v Rich by 16
R3: W v StK by 41
R4: L v Adel by 14
R5: W v GC by 12
R6: W v GWS by 37
R7: W v BL by 3
R8: W v NM by 10
R9: W v Frem by 88
R10: W v Carl by 1
PF: W v BL by 4


PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS
2022, Round 4 at Norwood Oval: Adelaide 4.11.35 def. Melbourne 3.3.21
2021, P. Final at Adelaide Oval: Adelaide 5.3.33 def. Melbourne 1.9.15
2021, Round 7 at Casey Fields: Melbourne 6.7.43 def. Adelaide 2.3.15
2019, Round 7 at Casey Fields: Adelaide 10.8.68 def. Melbourne 1.2.8
2018, Round 2 at Casey Fields: Melbourne 8.8.56 def. Adelaide 4.0.24
2017, Round 6 at Marrara Stadium: Melbourne 5.4.34 def. Adelaide 5.2.32


2022 STAT LEADERS
Adelaide
Goals: Ashleigh Woodland (21, 1st in the league)
Score Involvements: Erin Phillips (5.6 per game, 1st in the league)
Disposals: Ebony Marinoff (24.5 per game, 2nd in the league)
Contested Possessions: Anne Hatchard (10.9 per game, 8th in the league)
Intercept Possessions: Chelsea Biddell (5.5 per game, 17th in the league)
Contested Marks: Montana McKinnon & Caitlin Gould (1.2 per game, 3rd in the league)
Tackles: Ebony Marinoff (7.3 per game, 5th in the league)

Melbourne
Goals: Tayla Harris (18, 2nd in the league)
Score Involvements: Kate Hore (4.0 per game, 5th in the league)
Disposals: Karen Paxman (19.3 disposals, 15th in the league)
Contested Possessions: Lauren Pearce (10.1 per game, 12th in the league)
Intercept Possessions: Libby Birch (5.6 per game, 13th in the league)
Contested Marks: Tayla Harris (2.2 per game, 1st in the league)
Tackles: Tyla Hanks (5.2 per game, 29th in the league)


JUST A NUMBER
Oldest players from each side: Erin Phillips (36) & Shelley Scott (34)
Youngest players from each side: Teah Charlton (19) & Megan Fitzsimon, Eliza McNamara and Alyssa Bannan (19)
Adelaide will likely field four 30+ players, Melbourne likely five. I’m expecting Brooke Tonon (18) to come out of the side for Eloise Jones, which would mean the Crows will have one teenager and the Demons will have three.


BEEN THERE, WON THAT
Adelaide will have seven players who played in their 2017 and 2019 Grand Final victories (Sarah Allan, Anne Hatchard, Ebony Marinoff, Justine Mules, Erin Phillips, Chelsea Randall and Stevie-Lee Thompson). They will have an additional five players who were part of just the '19 win (Hannah Button, Ailish Considine, Eloise Jones, Danielle Ponter and Marijana Rajcic).

The only premiership player in Melbourne's line-up is Libby Birch, who was part of the Bulldogs' win over Brisbane in 2018. Their only other player to have GF experience is Tayla Harris, having played on the losing side against Adelaide in 2017 and 2019 for Brisbane and Carlton respectively.


SCORING
2022 average points for & against: Adelaide 40.5 & 19.4; Melbourne 45.7 & 25.5
Adelaide Oval average points: 67.2 total (5 matches); 49.4 winning; 17.8 losing
AFLW average points in warm* weather: 70.5 (96 matches)
*matches played at an average temp between 25 and 30 degrees—current forecast is for the grand final to be played at an average temp of 27 degrees

 

[Teen Wolf]

Story so far:

With just a one-point loss against the Bulldogs at Norwood Oval, it's been a season like no other for the Crows. That may sound odd, given it's exactly what happened in 2019 as well, but that campaign was a Raiders of the Lost Ark-sized boulder which got rolling in Round 2 and flattened everything in its way. This time around, they've encountered some major obstacles and had to grind out tough wins, unlike 2021 in which similar adversity led to convincing defeats at the hands of the Dockers, Demons and Lions.

While it's true that Adelaide's narrow victories a month or so ago came against Fremantle and Collingwood line-ups that were also far from full strength, those are certainly the kind of games they've dropped in the past (prime example being the 5-point loss to an Eva-less GWS in 2020). Before yesterday, the Crows' last truly impressive performance occurred back in Round 4... against Melbourne, the first time they've beaten a Dees team led by Daisy Pearce.

I'm still not fully confident in the bodies of Phillips and Randall, nor the minds of Marinoff and Hatchard. In the case of the former pair, at this stage I doubt my doubts will ever be doused, that's just how it goes at a certain age. In the case of the latter pair, bit by bit there are signs of improving footy IQ and handling the responsibility of being go-to players, and Saturday will be their best chance yet to put that maturation to the test.

The standout to me from the MCG prelim was the desperation of Melbourne's long-time ride-or-dies. Paxman (who is in much better form now than earlier in the season), D Pearce, L Pearce, Shelley Scott. All had their brilliant game-shaping acts, as if they were consciously thinking "this could be my last shot at it" in the moment. As pressurised as Brisbane were on the day, the reigning premiers certainly lacked the inspiration that Lutkins, Wuetschner and Arnell (and a hamstrung Zielke) provided last year.

How much is that hunger factor going to count in the grand final? It may very well be matched by a bunch of soon-to-join-Port players who deep down know this is the closest they're going to get to another flag for a while. And despite a 10-1 record of their own, the Dees haven't delivered catch-free top notch footy since the comeback win against the Lions at Metricon: they controlled the game against North but only kicked 4 goals; they were great against Freo but come on; they beat Brisbane in the PF but it wasn't entirely convincing.

Harris, after keeping busy in the first 9 weeks, has gone goalless in the last 2 games. Zanker is under an injury cloud. And my personal favourite, Hanks, is yet to find a way of lifting when the opposition pays her special attention. I can't see Melbourne winning without correcting at least two of those issues.

 

[radiojake]

If Adelaide win, would Tayla Harris be in unique company (or in no company at all) having lost three grand finals with three separate teams against the same opponent?

 

[Teen Wolf]

If Adelaide win, would Tayla Harris be in unique company (or in no company at all) having lost three grand finals with three separate teams against the same opponent?

I'd guess even two would be rare as hen's teeth. Luke Ball the only recent name coming to mind.

To have simply played two, won or lost, is hard to think of. Kevin Morris and... well, I'm already reaching back to a time well before my own so that in itself is telling.

 

[cmndstab]

I'm going to self-advertise here and link to my own thread:

Women's Footy - AFLW Crows player profiles

Back in 2019 I started the thread to write profiles about all 21 Crows who played in that grand final, and I updated it in 2021 with the six new players in that squad. There will be another five or six new faces in the Crows grand final team this time around, so I've started updating it again, having just added entries for Nikki Gore and Chelsea Biddell over the past day. I'll add another one each day leading up to the GF.

The profiles are less about their AFLW career, and more about their pathway to being recruited in the first place, how they started playing football, and so on. If you're looking for an interesting read, these women have such fascinating stories. A few of them are young and fortunate enough to have grown up at a time when there were women's football comps for them to play in, but most of them had to forge their own path, either giving away the game for years at a time, playing against the boys, or making significant sacrifices to continue with the game they love, in most cases for years before AFLW was even a concept. Consider someone like Chelsea Randall who, at one point in 2014, was driving a 26-hour round trip between Newman and Perth each weekend just to play footy at local level because that was the highest level there was. Or Sarah Allan, whose father Keith would drive an 800km round trip every weekend just to take her to training, not even to play a match.

The new 2022 profiles start midway through page 3.

 

[Teen Wolf]

If Adelaide win, would Tayla Harris be in unique company (or in no company at all) having lost three grand finals with three separate teams against the same opponent?

I'd guess even two would be rare as hen's teeth. Luke Ball the only recent name coming to mind.

To have simply played two, won or lost, is hard to think of. Kevin Morris and... well, I'm already reaching back to a time well before my own so that in itself is telling.

Forgetting about opponent and result, I would have thought somebody has played in Grand Finals for 3 different clubs before, but no:

 

[cmndstab]

Montana McKinnon offered a one match suspension for the bump on Bowers in the second quarter (at around 2:30 left on the clock for people who want to check it out on replay).

It's worth noting that Bowers immediately jumped straight back up and played on with no ill effects whatsoever. Surely the Crows have to contest that.

 

[Teen Wolf]

McKinnon's grading was the same as Ruby Svarc's before it was overturned at the tribunal last week, which surprised me but the camera angle did leave some doubt about how much contact was made (plus Lambert is prone to exaggerate in those circumstances).

In this case it's pretty clear that a whole lot of shoulder ends up in Bowers' moosh, so I don't think an appeal will be successful.

 

[cmndstab]

I don't think the Crows will be trying to argue that it's not high contact. It will be about the impact rating. The way the rules are written, any high contact whatsoever is a suspension unless the impact is graded as low.

To which I would ask the question, what does low impact look like if that is medium? If McKinnon had successfully hit the side of the body like she was intending it would have been a completely fair bump, not even a free. She slightly misjudged it and went high. Didn't jump off the ground, didn't extend the arm. Just went high, which obviously warranted a free kick. Bowers bounced back up literally seconds later and jogged to the next contest with no ill effects at all. So if that's medium impact, what does a low impact bump look like, then? What is the example of a high contact bump that could feasibly happen in play with less impact than that?

If that's worth a suspension then pretty much any bump that happens to go high is as well.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Hard to tip against the Crows still.

 

[Teen Wolf]

AFLW Latest News - AFL.com.au/aflw

Latest breaking AFLW news from the official website of the Australian Football League.

www.womens.afl

YES!

 

[Biggie]

COLGATE AFLW GRAND FINAL SPRINT

The Colgate Grand Final Sprint will take place at the 2022 NAB AFLW Grand Final on April 9. Colgate, the Official Smile of the AFL and AFLW, will present the race in which participants from each AFLW club will compete against each other to determine the fastest player of the season.

The 100m sprint will be run along the 50m arc, the same shape as the iconic Colgate Smile.

2022 Colgate AFL Grand Final Sprinters:

Adelaide Crows	TBC
Carlton	Breann Moody
Collingwood	Alana Porter
Fremantle	Hayley Miller
Geelong	Nina Morrison
Gold Coast SUNS	Lucy Single
GWS GIANTS	Brodee Mowbray
Melbourne	TBC
North Melbourne	Daisy Bateman
Richmond	Poppy Kelly
St Kilda	Kate McCarthy
West Coast Eagles	Belinda Smith
Western Bulldogs	Bonnie Toogood

 

[Teen Wolf]

Reports that "tickets are selling well" but with plenty still left. Ahead of last year's 23k crowd, there were 10k tickets sold in 15 minutes. I think we'd have heard about that this year if it was the case again.

So the talk of 40k seems highly fanciful, and even matching 2021 probably a stretch, though I'd happily be wrong. Forecast remains at a beautiful sunny mid-20s day, whereas last year was 18 degrees, maybe that'll entice more people at the eleventh hour idk.

 

[cmndstab]

I would be very surprised if it beats the 23k from last year. People just aren't going out to things like footy as much at the moment. I'm expecting around 15K.

I'll be there at least

 

[Munga]

COVID hit an all-time high in Adelaide today. Will probably keep going up in the near future. Couldn't happen at a worse time for the GF hosts.

 

[Dirty Bird]

Wouldn't be surprised if we see 300 level seating open up today

Outer 100 opened up Monday
Members 100 opened up Wednesday
Members 200 opened up Thursday

So I expect the East 300 level to open up today, maybe the West 300 level too.

I got my tickets (Got into 2019, but was umpiring during 2021 - took the weekend off this week to attend)

 

[Teen Wolf]

15,000 currently expected according to:

 

[Teen Wolf]

AFLW Latest News - AFL.com.au/aflw

Latest breaking AFLW news from the official website of the Australian Football League.

www.womens.afl

Saturday, April 9​

Adelaide v Melbourne at Adelaide Oval, 12pm ACST

ADELAIDE

B: C.Biddell 12 M.Rajcic 32
HB: C.Randall - C 26 S.Allan 39 N.Allen 8
C: S.Thompson 14 A.Hatchard 33 A.Considine 16
HF: D.Ponter 15 A.Woodland 24 E.Jones 2
F: E.Phillips 13 R.Martin 5
Foll: C.Gould 1 E.Marinoff 10 T.Charlton 25
I/C: H.Button 6 H.Munyard 20 J.Hewett 19 J.Mules 23 N.Gore 7

Emerg: L.Whiteley 22 M.Newman 17

In: N.Allen, E.Jones, J.Hewett
Out: B.Tonon (Omitted), M.Newman (Omitted), M.McKinnon (Suspension)

MELBOURNE

B: L.Birch 9 G.Colvin 32
HB: S.Goldrick 23 S.Lampard 8 S.Heath 30
C: K.Paxman 4 T.Hanks 5 L.Mithen 14
HF: A.Bannan 16 K.Hore 10 S.Scott 12
F: D.Pearce - C 6 T.Harris 7
Foll: L.Pearce 15 O.Purcell 2 M.Gay 3
I/C: C.Sherriff 18 E.West 11 E.Zanker 29 E.McNamara 22 M.Fitzsimon 24

Emerg: J.Parry 19 T.Gillard 17

In: None
Out: None

AFLW Latest News - AFL.com.au/aflw

Latest breaking AFLW news from the official website of the Australian Football League.

www.womens.afl

Field Umpires:
Andrew Adair
Nicholas McGinness
Jordyn Pearson

Emergency Field Umpire:
Tom Bryce

Boundary Umpires:
Ty Duncan
Simon Blight
Patrick Jackson
Luke Graves

Goal Umpires
Matthew Edwards
James Rizio

Emergency Goal Umpire:
Luke Monea

 

[Rioli2Gunstall]

All ive heard all week is Daisy vs Erin, Daisy vs Erin who are you picking? 'oh im picking diasy" it is the most disrecspectful coverage i have heard. The other 42 players might as well not exist and clearly had nothing to do with their teams amking the GF according to the media. Im sure theyve been given the narrative and to talk up Daisy v Erin but they have gone way overboard with it.

 

[LeakyValve]

Think Adelaide will too be hard-nosed for the Dees. Get the feeling the Crow girls were a bit affronted by last year's ending.
And speaking of that, I recognise 12 months ago is an age in football, but Chelsea Randall is a big in when looking back to last years GF.
Kate Hore and Eden Zanker need big games.
They have that x-factor but can go missing when some grunt is needed.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Well I can't really imagine Adelaide losing two home grand finals in a row. At the same time, Melbourne have been so bad in their last two visits (like goalless for the first 3 quarters bad), it has to be expected a team of their calibre will give a better account of themselves on the third trip.

So I think it's going to be close like the stats suggest unless injuries on the day play a part which is always possible, even though the teams are about as fresh as grand finalists are ever going to get (but you're fresh in R1 too which mattered not when Brisbane travelled to SA).

 

[Go the Guts]

Think Adelaide will too be hard-nosed for the Dees. Get the feeling the Crow girls were a bit affronted by last year's ending.
And speaking of that, I recognise 12 months ago is an age in football, but Chelsea Randall is a big in when looking back to last years GF.
Kate Hore and Eden Zanker need big games.
They have that x-factor but can go missing when some grunt is needed.

Yep, agree. We just keep recruiting so well across the board. No weaknesses in any area.

 

[JoeGab]

Crows looking a bit too strong for dees today, crows by 18, erin phillips bog (basic ik) first goal scorer woodland.

 

[dogs105]

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[samFFC]

Crows all over them at present