How do you stop Tayla Harris and Sarah Perkins?

MARQUEE defender Melissa Hickey has seen goalkicking stars Tayla Harris and Sarah Perkins at close quarters, and she reveals how to stop the two keys to the AFLW grand final. FULL TEAMS

Sarah Perkins shoots for goal.

MELBOURNE marquee defender and vice-captain Melissa Hickey has seen goalkicking stars Tayla Harris and Sarah Perkins at close quarters.

She provides a scouting report on the AFLW grand final big guns.

TAYLA HARRIS

Brisbane Lions, 19, 179cm

WITH Harris you want to do your work early. We saw Chelsea Randall do that for the Crows in Round 5, and I think she’ll go to her again.

She’s got such a great leap, you want to block her run and jump, body her out before she even gets a chance to go at the ball because once she’s up in the air, she’s so strong.

Play her to the side or out in front and then you’re a chance to intercept mark. Randall did that a couple of times. They ended up moving Harris into the ruck in that game, which was a win for Adelaide.

Tayla can come in and out of games, but that’s maybe a little bit to do with the way Brisbane plays. They don’t really play that hit-up forward set-up. If the ball quickly transitions, she can sometimes be out of position.

But she’s so strong overhead and you can have a good day on her and she’ll still pop up in the last quarter. She doesn’t drop her head, she stays involved.

Our game against Brisbane she was lunging and tackling and trying to smother. She’s similar to Perkins in that she gives you those second efforts. If she doesn’t mark it, she’ll try to bring the ball to ground and then she’ll be there as well.

She’s such a thumping kick, she can mark it 40m out and be a chance to kick the goal. Most other girls would need to be within 30m.

This is a crucial match-up for Adelaide. And Brisbane — I think Harris needs to have a good game for the Lions to win.

Tayla Harris is never out of the contest.

SARAH PERKINS

Adelaide, 23, 173cm

PERKINS is a very different player to Harris.

The Crows play Perkins (173cm) ideally out of the square, Harris (179cm) plays higher.

She’s almost unstoppable if she’s given space to lead into. She’s so strong on the burst and she’s got a really good kick as well.

Against us she wasn’t given any of that space. “Irish” (Laura Duryea) played in front of her and if she wasn’t in front, we had girls dropping in to spoil so she’d have three people coming up with her.

Irish could read the ball and she’s that little bit taller than Perkins so she was able to mark in front of her and spoil.

She does rely on that open, quick movement into her, one-out.

But even then she bobbed up in the last quarter and kicked a goal. She still tried all day, but we pressured the midfield and it was coming in high so we could get numbers to the ball and that limited her impact.

Perkins never gives up. She’s phenomenal with her effort. Like Harris, we’ve seen with her second and third efforts she’ll bring the ball to ground, she’ll tackle, she’ll rove her own ball.

I reckon she’s given Erin Phillips a couple of goals just from roving her own contest and handballing off.

In a tight contest around goal, she doesn’t need a lot of time and space to be dangerous.

An underrated strength is her ruckwork in the forward 50. She’s so strong she taps it into the corridor or to the advantage of her forwards.

I think Leah Kaslar will play on her. You need a strong opponent because she’ll body you out if you’re not strong enough.

Adelaide goalkicker and cult hero Sarah Perkins.

MELISSA HICKEY’S TIP

Adelaide by 4 points

THE TEAMS

Brisbane Lions

Backs: Virgo, Kaslar, Campbell

Half-backs: Randall, Lutkins, Koenen

Centres: Hunt

Half-forwards: McCarthy, Ashmore, Frederick-Traub

Forwards: Wuetschner, Membrey, Harris

Followers: Zielke, Webb, Bates

Inter: Wallace, Stanton, Hildebrand, Goodman, Gibson, Anderson

Emergencies: Kimmince, Deegan

Adelaide Crows

Backs: Anderson, Bevan, Radan

Half-backs: Hatchard, Varnhagen, Foley

Centres: Cox

Half-forwards: Thompson, Marinoff, Phillips

Forwards: Gibson, Cramey, Perkins

Followers: Riley, Allan, Mules

Inter: Randall, Killian, Holmes, Metcalfe, McCormick, Sedunary

Emergencies: Thorn, O’Shea

Originally published as How do you stop Tayla Harris and Sarah Perkins?