Tegan Cunningham comes up clutch as Melbourne keeps season alive with win over Western Bulldogs

Tegan Cunningham showed ice cold nerves to keep Melbourne’s season alive with a huge mark and goal against the Western Bulldogs in what was arguably the game of the AFLW season.

Melbourne celebrate the win over Western Bulldogs.

Tegan Cunningham has kept Melbourne’s AFLW season alive with a pack mark and goal late in the final term delivering the Demons’ victory in arguably the game of the season at Marvel Stadium.

The Demons cruelly missed the Grand Final last year and were in danger of missing finals again when they were down with three minutes to go before Cunningham’s heroics.

Cunningham said she felt great relief to kick the winning goal.

“I just tried to relax and treat it like any other shot,” she said.

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“I had my eyes on the footy and I just launched (for the mark) and I just happened to get all of the ball in my hands so it felt pretty good.

“I did feel I got a good chunk of it so I was pretty happy with that, I just had to make sure I finished the job.”

The Dogs, playing for pride as their season was already over - sitting last on the Conference A ladder - posted their highest score of the season in a game worthy of a final.

The one-point win has turned Saturday’s clash with Adelaide at Casey Fields into a virtual qualifying final.

Tegan Cunningham takes a huge pack mark.

Tegan Cunningham celebrates her match-winning goal.

Catherine Phillips leaves Katie Brennan in her dust.

Adelaide is on four wins and if it wins against GWS on Sunday, as is expected, a victory over the Demons would guarantee a top-two Conference A finish.

Even a close loss could be enough to secure a finals berth for the Crows due to its superior percentage, 178.1 per cent.

The winner of the North Melbourne and Fremantle clash will be a certain finalist in Conference A.

Depending on results, Melbourne could leap-frog the loser of that game - and Adelaide - on percentage to finish second and qualify for a preliminary final.

MARK AND GOAL OF THE YEAR?

Ash Utri copped some friendly fire and hit the deck when teammate Isabel Huntington cannoned into her in the second term.

However, the hardnut off-season hockey player recovered and dropped deep into the goal square.

She was there awaiting a Huntington shot on goal when she rose above four players to take a beautiful grab, which she converted.

Melbourne’s Eden Zanker then slotted what is a goal of the year contender. From the boundary line, 30m out, she kicked a beautiful drop punt through a very narrow gap, a la Dom Sheed, to keep her Demons in the game.

Lily Mithen is tackled by Naomi Ferres.

Katie Brennan celebrates a goal.

PACK THEM IN

It would have looked a great crowd at Marvel Stadium on TV for game one of the double-header and also for the Dees and Dogs and we can reveal the secret of the AFL’s success.

Most of the stadium was closed to the public with the wing you see on TV and behind the goals the only seating available to the general public.

You couldn’t sit on the non-broadcast-side wing with aisles 5 to 20 on ground level closed to the public.

While Medallion Club members could sit on level two, the rest of the stadium was closed.

The combined attendance for the two games was 10,612.

BEST

DEMONS: Paxman, Gay, Cunningham, O’Dea, Hore,

BULLDOGS: Conti, Scott, Lamb, Utri, Birch

Originally published as Tegan Cunningham comes up clutch as Melbourne keeps season alive with win over Western Bulldogs