Celebrating the success of the AFLW competition

THE women who blazed a trail in the AFL Women’s competition have turned a pipedream into a superb reality with an inaugural season to remember, writes ELIZA SEWELL.

Darcy Vescio of Carlton was among a huge list of star performers who made the inaugural AFLW season great. Picture: AAP

AFL Women’s was a celebration of the possible.

The AFL started the ball rolling by bringing forward the competition three years, and then the players came to the party.

It was their game, and they made it.

Erin Phillips was head and shoulders above all others in the AFLW competition this season. Picture: AFL Media/Getty Images

There was the woman who was born to play the game, Adelaide’s Erin Phillips.

A two-time WNBA champion, world champion and Olympic silver medallist, she put her basketball career on the line to experience AFL, the game her dad, Greg, had played and loved.

A sage football judge was given to remark during Phillips’ dominant grand final performance that she was “a real footballer”. Sexist? Maybe, but also absolutely true. She’s a natural.

Her skills run the gamut from spectacular contested marks to 50m drop punt bombs, shimmies, shakes and whatever else you can think of.

And she quietly opened a few eyes to what a modern family can be with her infant twins Blake and Brooklyn and wife, Tracy, at her side through a wonderful eight weeks.

Melbourne captain Daisy Pearce enhanced her reputation, if that was possible. She led a team of youngsters to the cusp of the grand final and was as dangerous up forward as in the midfield.

Carlton’s Darcy Vescio won the goalkicking but it wasn’t so much the 14 majors that endeared her most, it was the way she kicked them.

Mercurial ground play, elastic-limbed marks and that sense of what next?

Darcy Vescio of Carlton was among a huge list of star performers who made the inaugural AFLW season great. Picture: AAP

Her teammate, halfback Brianna Davey, the nation’s former No. 1 female goalkeeper, was stunning in the indigenous game from the get go and never let up.

Western Bulldogs midfield duo Emma Kearney and Ellie Blackburn were formidable and daring while Demon Karen Paxman often had the ball on a string, shining on the big stage.

Brisbane twin-towers Tayla Harris and Sabrina Frederick-Traub were a force of nature, Harris’s pack mark where she competed with four Dockers, an A-list AFLW01 highlight.

The Lions provided plenty more for the show-reel including speedster Kate McCarthy’s sprinting goal, where she took five bounces running seemingly at the speed of Usain Bolt from the centre square to score and Kaitlyn Ashmore’s dinky soccer snap from the pocket.

A World Cup cricketer even made a seamless transition to the game with Collingwood forward Jess Cameron getting better as the rounds progressed.

The Pies sang their song with pride and gusto, but this season was about so much more than wins and losses. Picture: David Crosling

And of course there was Adelaide forward Sarah Perkins. Her story of persistence and transformation captivated the footy community and she now has a premiership medal.

The beauty of this competition was its unpredictability.

The lockout at Ikon Park for the opening game between Carlton and Collingwood, where almost 25,000 fans packed the weathered bench seats and hundreds were left clambering up fences to get a look, was just the start.

It took a lot of people some time to realise the pre-season premiership fancies Fremantle and Western Bulldogs were false favourites, but after two rounds, Adelaide, Carlton and the unheralded Brisbane were undefeated.

Adelaide saw off Carlton at home in Round 3 — just — and by Round 5, it was Adelaide v Brisbane, the battle of the undefeated facing off at Norwood. The visitors would win by three points, but another meeting was destined.

Beneath the top two there were plenty of positive signs.

The Demons, Blues and Magpies were all still varying chances for a grand final berth ahead of the last round of the home and away season.

The Adelaide Crows were worthy winners of the first ever AFLW premiership. Picture: AAP Image

Melbourne’s youth turned out to be its strength not its weakness.

Carlton was ultra — competitive and a bit stiff, losing two games by a kick and drawing another.

Collingwood found form after a very slow start, winning three of its last four games.

And so to a grand final that absolutely no one would have foreseen just eight weeks earlier.

Led by Phillips and her equally inspirational co-captain Chelsea Randall, the Crows created history at Metricon Stadium. It was brilliant.

The season ended too soon. Next year, another round of finals is likely to be played and the top four will battle it out.

It will only enhance the competition and further showcase its most valuable asset, its players.