AFLW 2022 finals: All the news and updates ahead of the qualifying finals
Adelaide AFLW star Ebony Marinoff has a lounge room full of mementos to her remarkable success at Adelaide. But, after three flags and numerous accolades, she’s still hungry for more.
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The accolades serve as constant reminders of how far she has come in her AFLW journey – and motivators for what she is still driven to achieve.
“Mum’s been pretty good over the years that those things get framed up and on show in the house,” Marinoff tells News Corp.
“You do (pinch yourself when you look at them) and I feel forever grateful that I’ve been able to ride this wave.
“Probably more so that I got to ride it from the inaugural year.
“It’s been amazing.”
Marinoff was 19 when she made her AFLW debut in Adelaide’s first match on February 4, 2017.
Now she is 24, turning 25 this month, and preparing for her fifth major round as a Crow.
Friday night’s qualifying final against Melbourne at Ikon Park will be Marinoff’s 64th consecutive game, having not missed any since the start of the competition.
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“It’s something that I’m proud of,” she says.
“I’ve played a couple of games definitely injured.
“I just know my body so when it needs a rest, as much as I hate it, I’ve got to give it a rest.
“But I think I’ve been able to build my body to be pushed to its absolute limits and I can push through pain like you couldn’t imagine, which I’ve done a couple of times.”
Marinoff laughs when asked how close she has come to missing a match.
“Pretty close – a fitness test on the day,” she says.
When exactly, Marinoff is not willing to share.
As for why she has kept her streak going, rather than rested when she has been sore, there is a simple answer.
“Honestly, it’s just how much the game means to me,” she says.
“I think it’d be different if I’d missed before but I don’t know what that feels like.
“It means so much to be out on the park week in, week out.
“It’s my job, it’s my love, it’s what I live for.
“To have that taken away, I would hate it so getting through a little bit of pain is OK.”
The last minor round match Marinoff missed was when she was with Morphettville Park in 2014 and fractured her thumb.
Or so she thinks, as she struggles to recall the duration of her injury.
“Maybe I played?”
Marinoff’s fitness regimen outside of the team’s standard training includes regular pilates and swimming sessions.
Each summer, the former surf lifesaver joins a group of Crows men’s players in the club’s pool about twice a week.
“I go all right against the guys,” she says.
“Taylor Walker is actually a pretty bloody good swimmer, Matty Crouch is pretty good, Reilly O’Brien gets it done and Riley Thilthorpe came out for a few, so did Darcy Fogarty.”
As the men enjoy their off-season, Marinoff has been following Port Adelaide star Travis Boak’s training trip in the US on Instagram and she is keen to do something similar.
“In the first couple of years in AFLW, we were playing VFL just to make up for it, but I think now you’ll find we’ll have a significant off-season where we can look at different avenues to make ourselves the best athletes we can be,” she says.
Crows players barely had a break after their latest premiership win.
The grand final was in early April and by mid-June they were back on the training track.
A downside was not being able to freshen up but a positive was the squad was already fit so focused on skills, contested work and game plan.
The quick turnaround has not hurt Marinoff or Adelaide’s form.
Although the Crows opened with an 18-point loss to the Demons in a grand final rematch, they lost just one of their remaining nine games to finish third on the ladder.
Marinoff leads the competition this season for disposal (26.5) and metres gained averages (487.3m), as well being second for tackles per game (9.3).
Her possession average has climbed each campaign, starting at 15.9 in 2017.
After finishing third in season six, Marinoff will be among the favourites for the league’s best-and-fairest.
But she says Richmond’s Monique Conti has “got that in the bag”.
Marinoff describes her own form as pretty consistent.
“I like to work really hard on the track because it sets me up (for games),” she says. “And when you’re in an elite environment, you just continue to get better and your body is capable of being pushed even more.
“I’m only 24 and know I’ve got so much to work on.”
Marinoff says an injection of youth has helped spark the Crows this season.
The closeness of the squad has also been important.
In the off-season, the team returned to Darwin, where it stayed, trained and bonded at the Michael Long Centre.
Only losing three players – former co-captain Erin Phillips, as well as fellow premiership winners Ange Foley and Justine Mules – to rival Port Adelaide ahead of its AFLW entry spoke volumes of the Crows’ culture, according to Marinoff.
“We’re a very close team and we’re very lucky over the last few years we haven’t lost too many,” she says.
“It does make it easier because you’ve got girls who know each other back to front.
“So many girls turned down a fair whack of money (to stay), which is pretty big because money can sometimes honestly be life-changing and can set people up for life.
“Don’t get me wrong, sometimes people have to do what’s best for them … but the fact we had the girls stay, they’re here to win premierships.”
Marinoff concedes the side has had a rocky few weeks.
They lost to Brisbane by 22 points in round 8, then edged Geelong and St Kilda to close the minor round.
But she says the team’s confidence has not been dented.
It will be a special achievement if the Crow can win the first season of the 18-team competition and make it two premierships in one calendar year.
“It’d be crazy,” she says.
“We’ve got a massive game against an in-form team first.”
Marinoff is not thinking beyond the Demons but one thing is sure.
There is plenty of space in her lounge room to add to her premiership medals.
“I’ve got room for many more, hopefully,” she says.
“I just keep striving to be the best I can be, as do all my teammates.”
Crows eye double flag glory, miracle Randall return
—Lauren Wood
Adelaide is eyeing the rare opportunity to secure two premiership cups within one calendar year as skipper Chelsea Randall desperately fights to be fit for finals.
The Crows won the first 2022 AFL Women’s premiership in April, and with season seven having been brought forward to August, have another piece of silverware up for grabs within just a few months.
The season seven cup was revealed on Wednesday at the league’s AFLW finals launch, with the wording “AFLW 2022 Season 7 Premiership Cup” a defining feature to delineate between the two prizes on offer this year.
Crow Ailish Considine said the prospect of claiming the unique double has kept “the candle burning” for the dominant Adelaide outfit.
“The six month wait is a long time to have a break from season to season, so having the opportunity to win two in one (year) is obviously a great prize at the end of it,” she said.
“Continuity has helped the competition keep improving and for us, for sure, it has definitely kept the continuity for our squad. It was nice to just roll into the next season and try and get a second cup in one – any team would want to do that.”
Randall has been battling a significant ankle injury that she suffered in Round 8 that was labelled a three to five week prospect, with a Crows win over Melbourne this weekend to allow her another fortnight to continue her recovery.
“She’s working hard to get back,” Considine said.
“At the moment, we’re not sure. She has to get a solid session in. Hopefully she gets through a really good session (on Wednesday night) and we’ll just go from there. It’s an unsure, yet.”
Considine is hoping to be back playing within the next fortnight as she battles a grade two hamstring injury.
“As long as the girls can keep winning and keep progressing, it buys me a bit of time to try and get back in,” she said.
Brisbane’s Zimmorlei Farquharson will also be sidelined as her team takes on Richmond for the chance to progress immediately to a preliminary final, after fracturing her finger in round 7.
The Tigers are the only team to have defeated the dominant Lions this season, when the teams met in Round 5 at Punt Road, but Farquharson was adamant that seeking some revenge was not on the menu.
“Of course we want to win, but we also have to play our style of football,” she said.
“Richmond really brought it to us … they just gave it to us when we weren’t ready, especially after coming off the Melbourne game on such a high.”
The Lions will play at Metricon Stadium this weekend but where a home grand final could be staged remains unknown with the Gold Coast arena hosting a music festival on AFLW grand final weekend and questions surrounding whether the Gabba could be used.
“It definitely doesn’t bother the team – it’s not in our control as players. It’s really up to Bree (Brock, Lions head of women’s football), Craig (Starcevich, the coach) and the AFL.
“It’s anywhere, anytime, honestly. Wherever you put us, we’re there to play. We’re not really concerned about where we kick a football, we’re there to play.”
‘UNCONTROLLABLE’: CROWS’ LASER FOCUS ON BEING AFLW GOAT
– Russell Gould
The hard work it takes to be the “most successful AFLW team ever” will be enough for the Adelaide Crows not to get distracted by the potential for courageous skipper Chelsea Randall to make a miracle return in Friday’s qualifying final against Melbourne.
It’s more unlikely than likely that Randall will be back from a “significant” ankle injury in time for the rematch of last year’s grand final and as an “uncontrollable” it’s not something star teammate Ebony Marinoff is concerning herself with.
A victory would mean progression straight to a preliminary final, giving Randall an extra two weeks to recover and rejoin the reigning premiers in their pursuit of two flags inside six months.
But even with a loss, Randall would get one more week to try and work her way back.
“She’s done a mountain of work over the past fortnight. It’s disappointing she’s not playing, but that’s footy and she handles it like a champ,” Marinoff said on Monday of the skipper’s injury battle.
“But it’s kind of an uncontrollable. The club will give her every chance to get up and hopefully she does. If she doesn’t, we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks we’ve been able to get it done.
The @CrowsAFLW are hoping Chelsea Randall could be available for next week's first final. 7NEWS Adelaide at 6pm | https://t.co/gYFVWBqbT0#7NEWSpic.twitter.com/EETaQ5AAca
— 7NEWS Adelaide (@7NewsAdelaide) October 28, 2022
“There’s no hiding the fact she’s a pretty important player, not only a player but our courageous captain.
“Having her not play, it sucks, but it does provide an opportunity for girls to step up.”
The Crows have long been the AFLW benchmark, having taken down the Demons in April to capture a third premiership in six seasons of the competition.
But Melbourne won the Round 1 rematch, en route to a nine-win season and second spot on the ladder and a final round thrashing of West Coast.
The Crows were only one spot behind in third, with eight wins, but haven’t been the same powerhouse performers as in recent seasons as they introduced new players.
Marinoff, however, who is a triple-premiership player, as are some of her teammates, said coach Matthew Clarke believed they played their best in finals, and now was time to show it.
“We’ve had about five of us who have played in a handful over the past few years but we’ll also have an opportunity for some girls to play in their first finals,” Marinoff said.
“I think what we’ve done pretty well over the past few years is shared our experiences and we can help those girls embrace the finals for what they are and stick to what they know.
“Experience is pretty important and we are lucky to have a bit of that.”
Marinoff said the Crows had “grown incredibly” since that Round 1 loss to Melbourne, who have not yet been able to win the premiership despite being annual contenders.
That should ensure the Demons have the “fire in their belly” to progress to the preliminary final, but Marinoff said the Crows only existed to win premierships, and their own hunger had not dissipated.
“We have always come in to pre-season, no matter how short the turnaround, or how young our list is, we want to win premierships, we want to be the most successful AFLW team ever,” she said.
“We love hard work here, we are always driven to make sure we are the best.”
Originally published as AFLW 2022 finals: All the news and updates ahead of the qualifying finals
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