Brisbane Lions unbeaten in inaugural AFLW season after upset 13-point win over Fremantle

BRISBANE Lions remain unbeaten in the AFLW after holding on to beat a fast-finishing Fremantle Dockers by 13 points at Fremantle Oval.

BRISBANE Lions remain unbeaten in the AFLW after holding on to beat a fast-finishing Fremantle Dockers by 13 points at Fremantle Oval.

Tayla Harris capped off an outstanding game for the Lions, kicking the only goal of the final term after taking her seventh contested mark to seal the 5.6 (36) to 3.5 (23) result.

Fremantle went in to the final term just nine points behind and had good possession, but kicked just 0.3 for the quarter.

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The Dockers had led by 10 points in the second term, but they were unable to score and trailed by two-points at halftime before the Lions had the better of the second half and were able to hold off the Dockers in the final term.

Further souring the result was the fact that dual Olympian Kim Mickle could only get through a half of football before she limped off with a suspected knee injury for Fremantle.

Mickle was playing her first game after missing round one with a minor hip complaint.

Brisbane is unbeaten in the AFLW after defeating Fremantle at Fremantle Oval. Picture: Getty

Brianna Green (shoulder) was having scans last night in another blow, though Fremantle will welcome back Ebony Antonio for Saturday’s clash with Greater Western Sydney in Blacktown.

The Dockers had no answers for young Lions marquee players Tayla Harris (two goals) and Sabrina Frederick-Traub (nine disposals, 1.1), who is a Fremantle product.

Fremantle were a goal down with two minutes to go and pressing hard when Harris came up with a monster pack mark and composed conversion to punish the home team for failing to make the most of their dominance early in the term.

Fremantle captain Kara Donnellan battled hard again to rack up 14 disposals, while Kirby Bentley (six marks) and Akec Makur Chuot (16 possessions) were solid with their run and use from defence.

But goals were again hard to come by, a week after they scored just one major in their heavy loss to the Western Bulldogs.

The Lions pressured the Dockers all game and proved too good in the end. Picture: Getty

Two of the Dockers’ goals came from 50m penalties.

Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich said his side’s composure was a lot better this week.

“We’re looking for improvement every week and one of those areas was composure,” he said.

“Last week we weren’t so good. We were trying to play high tempo football to the end. Fortunately, we got away with it.

“Today we were smart and disciplined with the way that we stuck at it down in the defensive 50. We worked it out down the line and got ourselves to a point where we gave ourselves a chance to score.”

Fremantle coach Michelle Cowan insisted they would keep fighting with five games remaining in their season.

Brianna Green hurt her shoulder and played no further part in the game. Picture: Getty

“Certainly not the result that we wanted,” she said. “I thought our effort was a little bit better.

“I felt we needed to move the ball quicker when we had our chances. Our kicking and disposal efficiency let us down today.

“They (the players) are all right. We’ll review it and we’ll get on a plane on Friday and we’ll go again. It’s not where we want to be but they’ve got to recover and get ready to go again.

“We’ll compete, we’ll prepare to compete every single game moving forward.”

Brisbane are now undefeated after two games on the road and look a strong premiership hope alongside Carlton and Adelaide.

Coach Craig Starcevich said he rated Fremantle highly, despite their underwhelming start.

“They are quality,” he said.

Originally published as Brisbane Lions unbeaten in inaugural AFLW season after upset 13-point win over Fremantle