By Nick Creely
AFL WOMEN’S LEAGUE
REVIEW – ROUND 1
MELBOURNE v BRISBANE
Wild weather could not stop the electric atmosphere at Casey Fields on Sunday, where the Dees fell short by 15 points against the Lions in an entertaining and quite bizarre clash.
About ten minutes after the opening bounce, where over 6000 spectators braved the ominous storm clouds, rain poured, and then thunder came.
The storm was so intense that it forced the players from the ground just three minutes from half-time, with safety concerns an issue.
But amidst the weather, the Lions came out on top, and defied the odds, beating a Melbourne side coming into the season as one of the hot favourites.
With a strong northerly wind aiding the Dees in the first term, the home side were unable to capitalise, managing just three points, while the Lions failed to trouble the scoreboard.
The Demons eventually got on the board through Jasmine Grierson, in a brief moment of exciting flair.
But ever since the break in play, the Dees momentum seemed halted, with only moments after resumption of play, Sabrina Frederick-Traub used her athleticism to snap a freakish goal from the pocket to put the Lions in front.
And the Lions never looked back, keeping the Demons scoreless for the entirety of the second-half, with the Lions scoring a further two goals via Brittany Gibson and Shannon Campbell.
Lions on-baller Emily Bates (13 disposals and eight tackles) turned heads with her performance, showing great class in the stoppages, while Frederick-Traub was a constant threat down forward.
For the Dees, Karen Paxman was excellent with 24 disposals, while Daisy Pearce was clearly a class above in the extremely wet conditions, racking up 19 disposals and 10 tackles.
Melbourne coach Mick Stinear said that the conditions weren’t to be blamed, and said that his side just struggled to adjust like the opposition.
“It was a disappointing outcome – it was an energetic and special weekend for footy, and I know the girls wanted to put their best foot forward and get a win, but unfortunately we weren’t on the receiving end this week,” he said.
“I felt like we were ready to go – we didn’t anticipate the unique conditions we faced, but full credit to Brisbane for putting in a four-quarter performance.
“We took a little longer to adjust and we over possessed the ball – we probably cost ourselves some more quick clearances in that regard – credit to the crowd for sticking it out.”
Stinear also said that moments of ill-discipline cost his team, and conceded they couldn’t find any momentum.
“We gave away a lot of free kicks early, we were just second to the ball – in a low-scoring game it does prove costly and we’ll talk to the group about awareness and their discipline – you can’t give an inch,” he said.
“Momentum is critical, once you do get one or two goals, you can get on a roll, and that did hurt us – we will work on that.”
Across the four games scattered around the country over the weekend, the inaugural round of the AFLW was a booming success, with over 50,000 spectators coming out to watch the country’s best female footballers finally come against one another.
It all began with a huge clash between Carlton and Collingwood on Friday, before Adelaide and GWS clashed on Saturday afternoon and Western Bulldogs took on Fremantle on Saturday night.
MELBOURNE 0.3 1.4 1.4 1.4(10)
BRISBANE LIONS 0.0 2.0 2.1 4.1(25)
GOALS
Melbourne: Grierson.
Brisbane Lions: McCarthy, Frederick-Traub, Campbell, Gibson.
BEST
Melbourne: Paxman, O’Dea, D Pearce, Duryea, Scott.
Brisbane Lions: Virgo, Bates, Randall, Ashmore, Gibson.
INJURIES
Melbourne: Nil.
Brisbane Lions: Stanton (shoulder).
