QAFLW: Coaches reveal finals expectations, key players, major threats
The battle for a place in the QAFLW grand final is heating up as head coaches reveal the secrets behind their squad’s premiership charge. See which players have been key, their key aims and match-ups.
The 2025 QAFLW finals are underway with just four teams remaining for their shot at premiership silverware on Sunday, September 7.
Minor premiers and defending champions Southport will welcome Morningside in the qualifying finals while Bond University host Coorparoo in their semi final matchup.
With the pointy end of the season quickly approaching, we caught up with each side’s head coach to find out how their squads were feeling, match expectations and key players to watch.
SOUTHPORT
After securing their first ever QAFLW title in 2024 the Sharks have shown no sign of slowing down.
New coach Matt Lappin made it clear at the beginning of the season he wanted his side to play an attacking brand of football and that’s exactly what they’ve done with 15 wins, one loss and a 796.26 percentage.
“We’ve had a great season to date, we set ourselves up really well to get the home final and if we win we get through to the grand final,” he said.
“That was the goal at the start of the year to put ourselves in this position.
“Everyone’s excited, the group won the premiership last year in the seniors and reserves, so they’re experienced and comfortable this time of year.
“That past experience is going to be invaluable for us as we prepare for our finals series, the group’s excited, they’re fit, they’re available, pushing for selection, pushing to play the best brand of footy we can.”
Expectations against Morningside: “It was a strange draw, we didn’t play them until the last round then we play them again in the first final so it was good to get a look at them, they competed really well and pushed us on their home ground so we’re really excited to get them on our home ground in big open spaces. Hopefully we get a nice dry day and we can test their brand of footy against ours and the best team will go through to the grand final. We feel like we score a lot, we defend well and we’re exciting to watch so hopefully we get a good crowd.”
Players to watch: “Our midfielders Steph O’Brien, Maddy Watt, Kierra Zerafa, Maighan Fogas, we’ve had the best midfield all year with the most inside 50s. We’ve had the best defence led by Megan Hunt down back then, we’ve got really dangerous forwards both small and tall like Olivia Meagher and Tyla Crabtree. We’ve been pretty consistent with the players and their performances all year and we expect that to continue on into the finals.”
MORNINGSIDE
The Panthers have cemented a serious premiership charge in their inaugural QAFLW campaign with 14 wins and two losses.
After stringing together a nine-game win streak to start the season, Morningside suffered their first 5.6.36-2.7-19 loss against Aspley before meeting Southport in the final round where the went down 10.7.67-2.2.14.
Head coach Damien Richards said it had been a season of firsts for his squad.
“I am really proud of the group, I think we’ve put together a really solid first year in the competition, put together some really strong performances and I’m just keen to see how deep we can go into finals,” he said.
“We’re pretty excited, obviously we haven’t been there before and also a lot of our players haven’t been there before particularly coming up from lower divisions and things like that so everyone is pretty excited.”
Expectations against Southport: “Just trying to play to our strengths as well as we know we can. We’ve had some up and down patches throughout the year and even against Southport. Just trying to play some consistent footy for four quarters, and we’re just seeing where that takes us. Southport are a well established team that have been at the top end of the ladder for the last three seasons and will obviously up a gear in terms of intensity and want to win. They’ve got a lot of established players that are quite good, I don’t think there will be anything too drastic change from their end but they’ll just want to ramp it up.”
Players to watch: “Definitely Laura Roy and Gracie Roy, they’re two of our main players and then Issy Levine has been great in her first year of women’s footy. Probably looking to some of our backs in Lucy McCormick, Maddy Hennessy and Kylie Lawrence really steadying the ship down there to get us going forward. We’ve got a couple of small forwards in Georgia Hewett and Mackenzie Sleep and Zoe Petrides, hopefully we can get the ball to them and they can hit the scoreboard. They’ve all stood up and applied the pressure and hit the scoreboard.”
BOND UNIVERSITY
A further three wins separate the Bull Sharks and the Panthers on the table but you’d be silly to write of the women in yellow and blue just yet.
After falling short in the 2024 grand final, head coach Andy Lovell has his side sneaking under the radar.
“We’re feeling really strong and positive,” he said.
“We’ve had a topsy turvy season with a lot of girls in and out of the team and have been unsettled until a month ago but we’ve calmed down and got some synergy.
“The last few games have been pleasing and the win against Aspley was the best style of footy we’ve played all year.
“There is a real excitement and buzz around the club because we’ve worked really hard, we’ve talked about not putting a ceiling on where we can end up.”
Expectations against Coorparoo: “We are playing a good finals brand of footy, we’ve changed how we play a bit and they’ve embraced the challenge. Coorparoo are a really strong contested ball side and play a really contested style of footy. They will take a lot of confidence out of their win against wilston grange on the weekend, they beat a tough formidable opponent and are a strong capable outfit.”
Players to watch: “Our rucks have really improved, Maisy Evans, Millar Brosnan-Ball and Halle Geyer, those girls have really stepped and given our mids first use of the ball. Kendra Blattman at full forward, she was the league’s leading goalkicker and she kicked another five on the weekend. She’s really important. Down back our defence has been the key to our success thus far and has been really hard to score against for some time now led by Grace Moodie and Jemma Blair.”
COORPAROO
The focus at the beginning of the season for Coorparoo was to minimise the gap between themselves and the top heavyweight teams.
After 10 wins and six losses through the regular season, including the only team to knock off Southport (2.5.17-1.3.9), Coorparoo overcame Wilston Grange 6.3.39-3.1.19 in their elimination final.
“The girls earnt top four through what they were able to achieve in the regular season and to get that home final win was a great feeling with plenty of club and community support,” head coach Ben Mackenzie said.
Expectations against Bond University: “Bond have had the upper hand on us this year, they beat us in a close one at home and then it was a blow out in our final regular season match when we were missing some players so we know we need to bridge that gap. I’ve been really impressed with what Bond have been able to achieve and bounce back from last year. They had a handful of players drafted and a few senior players left so in my view they’ve been the most impressive with their list.”
Players to watch: “Our captain Ayla Fetahagic who has been playing centre half back or through the midfield is always hard to go past, Alyssa Whiley is another that’s been huge for us after returning from injury. Chelsea Chesterfield is someone that gets overlooked for Queensland duties but she’s second in the goal kicking tally, she’s about four foot two and is incredible with what she’s able to do. She’s great at ground level but her contested marking is also through the roof as well.”
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