AFLW round 3: Lions maul Magpies, Bulldogs blow golden chance for breakthrough AFLW win
Stinging from a poor first home game, the Lions made the Magpies pay in Springfield, storming out of the blocks to claim a massive 52-point win.
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Still stinging from a poor first-round display on home soil, the Brisbane Lions have redeemed themselves in front of their loyal fans with a 52-point thrashing of a hapless Collingwood on Friday night.
Despite having returned to winning ways last weekend in Melbourne against the Demons, the Lions felt they owed their supporters an impressive home performance after being beaten by 44 points by North Melbourne two weeks ago in the grand final rematch.
And apart from some inaccurate goalkicking, particularly in the third quarter, the reigning premiers didn’t disappoint at Brighton Homes Arena, winning 10.12 (72) to 3.2 (20).
“Last time we were here it probably wasn’t our best performance so just to get back out here and put on a Lions brand of footy was really positive,” Lions star Sophie Conway said.
“There was a little bit of breeze and we definitely took advantage of it.”
After conceding the first goal of the game to the Magpies, the Lions booted the next seven majors on their way to opening up a 45-point lead by three-quarter time.
The Magpies finally kicked their second goal of the game early in the final quarter through Brittany Bonnici.
However, it was too little too late for the visitors, who slumped to a third successive defeat.
Lions coach Craig Starcevich said his side expected a “level of pressure” from the Magpies.
“They’ve had a bit of a slow start to their season … but we settled well and provided a bit of pressure ourselves,” Starcevich said.
Anderson can’t be stopped
Having set an AFLW record the previous week for the most disposals in a match with 43, Lions star Ally Anderson was the talk of the competition heading into the contest.
However, she sent a scare through the Lions camp when she went to ground in the first-quarter clutching at her stomach after the ball was booted into her midriff from close range.
Despite being taken from the field, the winded Anderson made a quick recovery, much to the relief of the Lions.
By half-time, the excellent Anderson had accrued 13 disposals, and added eight more in another impressive performance.
SCOREBOARD
Brisbane 2.1 6.6 7.11 10.12 (72)
Collingwood 1.2 1.2 1.2 3.2 (20)
Goals:
Lions: Smith 3, Conway 3, Dawes, C Svarc, O’Dwyer, R Svarc
Magpies: DaPorter, Bonnici, Davey
Best:
Lions: Conway, Smith, Dawes, Anderson, Grider
Magpies: Davey, Bonnici, Rowe, Fowler, Cann
Crowd: 2168 at Brighton Homes Arena
BULLDOGS BLOW GOLDEN CHANCE FOR BREAKTHROUGH AFLW WIN
West Coast have made their best start to an AFLW season as their Daisy Pearce revolution continued at Whitten Oval on Thursday night with an 11-point victory over the struggling Western Bulldogs.
Making matters even worse for the Dogs was the sight of champion Ellie Blackburn appearing to suffer a significant left ankle injury with just 26 seconds to go.
The five-time best-and-fairest had to be helped from the field by medical staff and given she seemed to be wiping tears from her face while limping off, it might indicate it’s a serious issue.
After being held goalless last week, the hosts made a barnstorming start with the first two goals inside nine minutes to jump out to a 13-point lead, but after being jumped, the visitors settled and kicked the next four majors to lead by 10 points early in the final quarter.
West Coast absolutely dominated the middle two quarters, and heading into the final term they had a huge lead in tackles (71-56), despite also dominating the disposals (167-125), while enjoying a massive buffer in contested possessions (96-71) as well.
BULLDOGS BLOW IT
The Bulldogs failed to kick a goal from the nine-minute mark of the first period until the four-minute mark of the final quarter, when Blackburn got one back for them against the run of play to make it a four-point ball game.
And with 6:44 remaining, they had a golden chance to grab the lead when Isabelle Pritchard could’ve chipped it to Sarah Hartwig in the goal square. But she couldn’t get it past the West Coast defender and the Eagles were able to clear the danger.
It proved to be a costly skill error because West Coast debutant Octavia Di Donato shut the door shortly after when she snapped truly from 30m out, sparking wild celebrations.
DOGS FINALS HOPES IN JEOPARDY
The 5.2 (32) to 3.3 (21) result saw West Coast win two of their first three games for the first time and while Pearce has made an impressive start to her coaching career, the same cannot be said for fellow rookie coach Tamara Hyatt who has overseen an 0-3 start to the Bulldogs’ campaign, which is the third time in four seasons they have done that.
The Dogs can probably only afford to lose two more games if they want to make the finals.
DRENNAN, ROBERTS STAR
Alison Drennan was brilliant for West Coast, racking up 25 touches (17 contested), 11 tackles, eight clearances and a goal while youngster Ella Roberts was equally influential with 25 disposals (16), six tackles and a goal.
Jaide Britton also had a big say with 23 possessions (nine) and Blackburn was the Dogs’ best with 21 disposals (14), six clearances and a goal.
ELECTRIC ELLA
With the match on a knife’s edge late in the third quarter, Roberts stamped her class on the contest as she burst clear of the stoppage, ran to 45m out and bounced it through for a superb goal to put the Eagles up by 10 points.
GRIGG, MCFARLANE COMBINE
In the first quarter, the Bulldogs’ precocious No. 6 draft pick Elaine Grigg set up one of the plays of the season so far when she attacked the contest ferociously in the middle of the ground, won the ball against one Eagle, danced around another opponent, booted it long into an open forward line and after winning the foot race, Brianna McFarlane spectacularly soccered it home from 35m out.
Originally published as AFLW round 3: Lions maul Magpies, Bulldogs blow golden chance for breakthrough AFLW win
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