Adelaide Crows to play Geelong in AFLW prelim final at Adelaide Oval

The Crows will play their AFLW preliminary final against Geelong at Adelaide Oval on Sunday. And while it may not be their preferred day, they are still thrilled to be playing at SA footy’s spiritual home.

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The Crows have won their bid to host the AFLW preliminary final against Geelong at Adelaide Oval — the first game of elite women’s football to be played on the ground.

The historic match will be played on Sunday afternoon at 12.40pm and the club is hoping for a crowd of more than 15,000.

And while Sunday may not have been the preferred day (the club was hoping to run a double header on Saturday following the men’s season opener), both players and club officials are excited by the first game of AFLW being played at the spiritual home of football in SA.

Crows head of football operations Phil Harper said the club had lobbied for Adelaide Oval, led by CEO Andrew Fagan.

“Andrew pushed really hard for it, he thought that our girls were deserving of playing at the home of football in South Australia, so we’re over the moon that it’s going to be played at Adelaide Oval,” Harper said.

“Logistically it was a bit too hard for the Saturday night, straight after (the men’s game) that we would have liked, but in the end to just be playing at Adelaide Oval will be a fantastic opportunity for our girls and hopefully we can get a heap of people along to support them.”

The Crows sing the team song after their big win against Melbourne at the weekend. Picture: AAP Image/Daniel Pockett) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

This will be the seventh oval the Crows have played on in eight weeks this season, but co-captain Chelsea Randall said the bigger dimensions wouldn’t fuss the team.

“We’ve had experiences in different oval sizes and matched our game plans towards that, but we love an open ground where we can run and we’re quite speedy, we’ve got some speedsters in the side and we’d love to open it up, go for a run and use that ball well,” she said.

“With round one for the boys this week, it’s going to be a footy weekend here in Adelaide, so South Australia, get excited.”

Harper said he hoped the team would have at least one training session on the oval before Sunday’s game.

“It would be good for the girls to familiarise themselves,” he said.

Ebony Marinoff against Geelong earlier this season. Picture SARAH REED

He also said that the AFL would pick up the bill for the cost of setting up Adelaide Oval.

“There would have been a few more costs involved if it was on the Saturday night because you’ve still got a stadium with 50,000 people there, but the AFL pay for it and they’re happy to pay for it and for us to be able to showcase women’s football on Adelaide Oval is just a great thing for our club and for women’s football in general,” Harper said.

This will be the side’s first home final in its three-year history and should the Crows win, they will also win the right to host the grand final on Sunday, March 31. Harper said the club would again push for Adelaide Oval if it was to get through.

But he said the club was not getting ahead of itself: it has to beat Geelong on Sunday before any talk of a grand final.

Adelaide is coming off a confidence-building 10-goal win against Melbourne on Saturday and have already defeated the Cats by 29 points earlier this season.

Meanwhile, Carlton will take on Fremantle in the other preliminary final at Ikon Park on Saturday afternoon.

AFL general manager of broadcasting Travis Auld said the preliminary final start times ensured the best outcome for both fans attending the game and watching the broadcast.

“With the teams that finished on top of each conference hosting preliminary finals, we considered many factors in determining the best schedule … including broadcast and attendance outcomes, venue availability and team travel,” Auld said.

The grand final will be staged on Sunday March 31, with hosting rights awarded to the team with the most premiership points.

Originally published as Adelaide Crows to play Geelong in AFLW prelim final at Adelaide Oval