Power and Crows suffer defeats in round 4 of the AFLW
A downfield free kick in the final two minutes proved costly for Adelaide, while the Power couldn’t maintain their level for the full four quarters against the Eagles. Catch up with the AFLW here.
For all the positives Yartapuulti will take from Sunday’s gritty performance against Waalitj Marawar in Perth, there is no escaping a less than ideal 1-3 start to the season after a 19-point loss to the Eagles.
The Power led by four points at three-quarter time but were unable to finish the job as the home side booted five goals to one in the last term.
Most of the damage was done in the midfield where the Eagles had the four leading ball-winners in the game, spearheaded by Courtney Rowley (26), Ella Roberts and Alison Drennan (both 24). Drennan was particularly impressive, laying nine tackles while Sarah Lakay did a good job attempting to quell Matilda Scholz’s influence on the game.
Scholz sent a scare through the Power camp in the opening minutes when she left the ground with a dislocated finger but returned to play out the game, and while still productive, wasn’t at her game-breaking best.
Bushby makes sure of the Eagles win 🔥#AFLWEaglesPowerpic.twitter.com/Oy1lixZQEE
— AFL Women's (@aflwomens) September 7, 2025
SYME TIME
Yartapuulti made a strong start to the game and it was running defender Sachi Syme who set the tone early.
On a day for strong contested footy in tough conditions, Syme brought the pressure and set her team up with run and carry from defence while also bravely going back with the flight of the ball.
Syme finished with 18 disposals, the second most from her team, behind Ashleigh Woodland’s 20 as she continued to shine in a midfield role.
RIGGS ON THE RISE
South Australian footy fans will already know the name and now the rest of the competition soon will as well.
Charlotte Riggs is a Central District premiership player who was drafted to the Eagles last year and showed her exciting potential on Sunday.
Riggs kicked the first goal of her AFLW career with a hard-running solo effort through the middle of the ground, and her next involvement in the game was turning her opponent inside out to set up a dangerous forward entry.
She added a strong contested mark to her highlights reel just before half-time, then to open the final quarter Riggs took a mark at half-forward then off two-steps unloaded a bomb from 60m as it bounced through to put the Eagles in front.
SHARING THE LOAD
Yatapuulti had its chances and it spread the load when going inside 50m.
Ella Heads kicked the first goal of the game, capitalising on repeat intercept marks, while Woodland also hit the scoreboard for the first time this season.
Indy Tahau’s move forward looks set to stay for a while as she finished as the Power’s only multiple goal-kicker. After kicking three goals against Gold Coast last week she added another two in Perth to go with majors from draftee Jasmine Sowden and Gemma Houghton.
Unfortunately for the Power however, it was all West Coast in the final term as they closed out the game.
SCOREBOARD
WAALITJ MARAWAR 1.0 3.3 5.4 10.4 (64)
YARTAPUULTI 3.1 5.2 6.2 7.3 (45)
GOALS - Waalitj Marawar: Riggs, Lewis 2, Rowley, Painter, Gibson, L. Wakfer, Britton, Bushby. Yartapuulti: Tahau 2, Heads, Woodland, Sowden, Houghton, Goody.
BEST - Waalitj Marawar: Drennan, Roberts, Rowley, Painter, Cleaver, Lewis. Yartapuulti: Syme, Woodland, Tahau, Scholz, Germech.
VOTES: 3: Drennan (Eagles); 2: Roberts (Eagles); 1: Syme (Power).
COSTLY FREE KICK COSTS CROWS
Brisbane’s three-year stranglehold on Kuwarna lives on after winning a three-point thriller at The Parade on Sunday.
Kuwarna looked set to end a six-game losing streak to the Lions - dating back to January 2022 - when they led by three points with less than a minute remaining.
But a downfield free kick against Teah Charlton gave Taylor Smith a set shot at the top of the square and she put it through to give Brisbane a stirring victory.
A DOWN FIELD FREE KICK ALLOWS TAYLOR SMITH TO WIN IT FOR THE LIONS 😮#AFLWCrowsLionspic.twitter.com/NKZ4CR3VYt
— AFL Women's (@aflwomens) September 7, 2025
Kuwarna did so much right and after a tight first half, broke the deadlock with the only two goals of the third term to lead by 17 points.
But they were unable to hold on against the breeze and were scoreless in the final term as the Lions, led by Jade Ellenger and Ally Anderson who both had 22 disposals for the game, recorded a seventh consecutive win over the Crows.
“If you weren’t right in the middle of it, it would be comical the way we find ways to get rolled by small margins, but you get back to work and try to get better,” Kuwarna coach Matthew Clarke said of the rivalry with Brisbane.
“We’re 2-2 and there’s eight games to go so we have to find our best footy and try to win enough to qualify.
“We haven’t played a truly complete game across the season yet ... but I’ve got a great amount of faith and belief in the group and the capacity we have, our ability to get better each week and if we do that we’re not far away.”
KUWARNA’S SWISS ARMY KNIFE
Former skipper Chelsea Randall has become Kuwarna’s genuine swiss army knife, able to be deployed wherever her team needs her and the only spot she didn’t play against Brisbane on Sunday was in the ruck.
Having made a name for herself across half-back in the formative years of the AFLW competition, Randall is now most dangerous as a forward where she caught Lions ruck Tahlia Hickie holding the ball with a crunching tackle to set up a first-quarter goal.
Moments later she laid another big tackle this time on Shannon Campbell to win another free kick in defence, and in the second term when the home side was under pressure she was sent in to the centre bounce.
Randall continued to present a threat whenever she was inside 50 and her second goal was a classy set shot on a tight angle into the breeze.
Just as good was her clever switch kick to hit Brooke Boileau for her first ever AFLW goal which gave the Crows some breathing space in the third term.
STARS SQUARE OFF
Two of the best and most experienced midfielders in the competition, Ebony Marinoff and Ally Anderson, went head to head in an enthralling battle over four quarters.
Both playing their 96th AFLW game of their careers on Sunday, they traded blows all afternoon and it was difficult to declare a winner.
Marinoff had a game-high 23 disposals and laid a staggering 14 tackles to go with it which gave her a slight edge, although Anderson did plenty of grunt work at the bottom of stoppages for the visitors to give them momentum.
WELCOME BACK
After missing the last two games with a quad injury, Kuwarna co-captain Sarah Allan made her presence felt in her return on Sunday.
Allan was at her defensive best, spoiling the Lions’ forwards, using the ball well by foot and cleverly tapping it to advantage to give her team some drive off half-back.
Combined with other key pillars Zoe Prowse and Chelsea Biddell, they form such a strong defensive unit often repelling repeat inside 50s and managed to keep the Lions to just three goals for the first three quarters before the visitors’ final quarter flurry led by Courtney Hodder, Charlotte Mullins and Smith who all finished with two goals in Brisbane’s win.
SCOREBOARD
BRISBANE 1.0 3.2 3.3 6.5 (41)
KUWARNA 2.0 4.1 6.2 6.2 (38)
GOALS - Brisbane: Hodder, Mullins, Smith 2. Kuwarna: Randall 2, Jones, Thompson, Boileau, Gould.
BEST - Brisbane: Ellenger, Koenen, Anderson, Conway, Hodder, O’Dwyer. Kuwarna: Randall, Marinoff, Prowse, Goodwin, Gould, Newman.
VOTES - 3: Chelsea Randall (Crows); 2: Jade Ellenger (Lions); 1: Ebony Marinoff (Crows).
At Norwood Oval.
Originally published as Power and Crows suffer defeats in round 4 of the AFLW
AFLW GF teams, tips: One expert backs Lions to end Roos’ streak
