2022 AFL Women's season 7 Grand Final
| 2022 AFL Women's season 7 Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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 Brighton Homes Arena, venue of the match during the national anthem | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 27 November 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Brighton Homes Arena | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 7,412 | |||||||||||||||
| Umpires | Thomas Chrystie, Joel Clamp, and Nick Jankovskis | |||||||||||||||
| Ceremonies | ||||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Cody Simpson | |||||||||||||||
| Broadcast in Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Network | Seven Network | |||||||||||||||
| Commentators | Jason Bennett (commentator) Jo Wotton (commentator) Melissa Hickey (expert commentator) Abbey Holmes (expert commentator) Nat Edwards (host and boundary rider) Samantha Lane (boundary rider) | |||||||||||||||
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The AFL Women's season seven Grand Final was a Australian football match held at the Brighton Homes Arena on 27 November to determine the premiers of the seventh season of the AFL Women's (AFLW) league. The match was contested between the Brisbane Lions and the Melbourne Football Club. Melbourne emerged as winners by four points.
Qualification
The match was contested between the Brisbane Lions and the Melbourne Football Club. Both team finished at the top of the ladder and were separated by just 0.3 percent, with Brisbane taking the minor premiership. This was the first time these two teams played each other in a AFLW Grand Final, this was Brisbane's fourth grand final and Melbourne's second. This was the first AFLW grand final to be played in November. In a close affair, Melbourne won the club's first AFLW flag with a 4 point win. Both teams won Qualifying and Preliminary Finals en route to the Grand Final. After finishing on top, Brisbane defeated Richmond and then Adelaide. Melbourne beat Adelaide before defeating North Melbourne.[1] .[2]
Venue
There was a controversy regarding the venue choice: being the higher ranked team, Brisbane had the choice of location, however due to the fact The Gabba and Metricon Stadium were not available, the brand new $80 million Brighton Homes Arena was chosen. Some concern was raised that the venue held just 600 grandstand seats available, and had a capacity of 8000 people, which led to many suggesting Marvel Stadium was a better choice of ground.[3]
An initial issue of 6,500 tickets was sold out within minutes, while a second issue of tickets sold out just as quickly.[1]
Broadcast and entertainment
The match was broadcast by the Seven Network and simulcast on Foxtel, Kayo, the afl.com.au and womens.afl websites, and on the AFL and AFLW apps. It was also available on radio nationally via ABC Radio and SEN.[4] Fox Footy covergae was led by and commentator Kelli Underwood, with expert commentary from Carlton AFLW coach Daniel Harford, Western Bulldogs premiership captain Ellie Blackburn and Collingwod player Chloe Molloy.[1]
Delta Goodrem performed before the match entertainment, which was sponsored by Telstra.[5] Goodrem had earlier performed at the 2022 AFL Grand Final with Robbie Williams.[6]
The match itself was sponsored by the National Australia Bank. Cody Simpson sang the national anthem.[7]
Teams
Final teams named on Saturday 26th November. Both sides announced unchanged line ups. Despite injury concerns, both Brisbane's Taylor Smith and Melbourne's Tayla Harris were named to play. They had played the previous week despite ankle and shoulder injuries. It was the 50th game, tenth final and fourth grand final for Brisbane's Kate Lutkins, who suffered an ACL injury on 9 January.[8]
Emergency: Lucinda Pullar, Zimmorlei Farquharson, Sharni Webb Source: [8] |
Emergency: Charlotte Wilson, Jordan Ivey, Maggie Caris Source: [8] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Umpires
Field umpires: Thomas Chrystie Joel Clamp Nick Jankovskis – Emergency: James Strybos
Boundary umpires: Trent Bowes Will Morris Blake Anderson Dominic Schiliro
Goal umpires: Adam Steger Tayla Manning – Emergency: Taylor Mattioli
Source: [1]
Match summary
The match commenced in 30 °C (86 °F) heat, which resulted in the AFLW enacting it heat policy, which lengthened the breaks between quarters and allowed for two extra water carriers.[9] An early shot at goal by Melbourne's Daisy Pearce missed, and resulted in a behind. Within minutes Brisbane's Nat Grider took an intercept mark and hit up a lead from forward Dakota Davidson, who scored the opening goal of the match. On the next centre bounce, the Lions took possession and boot the ball up into their forward fifty metre arc. In the desperate scramble that followed, Brisbane's Cathy Svarc was subjected to a high tackle, and was awarded a free kick, which she converted to score the second major of the match. Melbourne broke loose in the final minutes of the quarter, but what looked like a certain goal by Melbourne's Megan Fitzsimon, who was headed for an open goal square, or her team mate Alyssa Bannan, was averted at the last moment by a desperate tackle from Grider. The end of the quarter saw the Lions leading the goalless Demons by 11 points.[10][11]
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The second quarter saw Melbourne fight back, with the Demon's Blaithin Mackin scoring the teams' first major. The Lions' skipper Breanna Koenen limped off the ground with a knee injury, but the Lion's defence remained in the capable hands of defenders Kate Lutkins and Shannon Campbell, and the Demons managed only another three behinds for the quarter. Koenen was back on the oval again after the half time break with her knee heavily strapped. At the other end of the ground, Melbourne's Tahlia Gillard managed to keep the Lions' tall forward Jesse Wardlaw quiet. At half time, the Demons were just two points behind. Rain fell heavily during the break, which had been extended by 20 minutes due to the heat policy.[10][11]
Melbourne got off to a good start in the third quarter, which was mainly played in Melbourne's forward half. Reward for effort remained elusive: a free kick awarded to Eliza West that looked like another goal opportunity fell short. Then Tayla Harris took a mark in the goal square and converted. It was the fourth time she had played in an AFLW Grand Final, and second time she had scored a goal in one. The goal put her side in front for the first time since the opening minutes of the first quarter. (She also copped a blow under the eye that left her bleeding and had to be patched up.) Melbourne nearly scored another goal from a dribble kick from Casey Sherriff, but it hit the post. The umpires injected a note of farce into the game with different calls being made by two umpires, resulting in Alyssa Bannan tackling Dakota Davidson when she was about to take a free kick. Normally this would have resulted in a 50 metre penalty, but the umpires acknowledged that the mistake was theirs, and none was awarded; Davidson was simply instructed to take her kick. The Lions had a chance to regain the lead late in the quarter, but a kick from Davidson missed to the right.[10][11][12]
The final quarter was a desperate affair but neither side was able to score a goal, which would have given them the win. Melbourne had the most opportunities, but managed only a rushed behind. The final siren therefore saw the underdog Demons emerge as the winners.[10][11] AFL Commissioner Gabrielle Trainor presented the umpires’ medals and AFLW premiership player Abbey Holmes present the premiership cup to Pearce and Stinear.[1] As was customary, premiership medals were presented to members of the winning team by child players from the Auskick program. Melbourne captain Daisy Pearce, placed hers on the young girl presenting the medal, symbolising the past and future of the women's game. Pearce had won ten premierships with the Darebin Falcons, but this was her first AFLW premiership.[13]
Scoreboard
| Grand Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 27 November (1:40 pm) (AEST UTC+10) | Brisbane | def. by | Melbourne | Brighton Homes Arena (crowd: 7,412) | Bericht |
| 2.0 (12) 2.0 (12) 2.3 (15) 2.3 (15) |
Q1 Q2 Q3 Final |
0.1 (1) 1.4 (10) 2.5 (17) 2.7 (19) |
Umpires: Chrystie, Clamp, Jankovskis Best on ground: Shannon Campbell (Brisbane) Television broadcast: Seven Network, Fox Footy National anthem: Cody Simpson | ||
| 1: Davidson, C. Svarc | Goals | 1: Mackin, Harris | |||
| Campbell, Grider, C. Svarc, Anderson, Bates | Best | Hanks, West, Gay, Purcell, Gillard | |||
| Koenen (knee) | Injuries | Nil | |||
| Nil | Reports | Nil | |||
Best on Ground medal
Brisbane Lions defender Shannon Campbell was awarded the medal for the best player on the ground.[14] Campbell was the first player from a losing AFL Women's Grand Final team to win the award,[14] which was presented by AFL Commissioner Simone Wilkie.[1]
| Position | Player | Club | Total Votes | Vote Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (winner) | Shannon Campbell | Brisbane Lions | 12 | 3, 3, 2, 2, 2 |
| 2nd | Eliza West | Melbourne | 11 | 3, 3, 2, 2, 1 |
| 3rd – tied | Nat Grider | Brisbane Lions | 3 | 3 |
| 3rd – tied | Olivia Purcell | Melbourne | 3 | 1, 1, 1 |
| 5th | Cathy Svarc | Brisbane Lions | 1 | 1 |
| Voter | 3 Votes | 2 Votes | 1 Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Dillon (chair) | Eliza West | Shannon Campbell | Olivia Purcell |
| Melissa Hickey (Seven Network) | Shannon Campbell | Eliza West | Olivia Purcell |
| Debbie Lee (Australian Football Hall of Fame) | Eliza West | Shannon Campbell | Olivia Purcell |
| Marnie Vinall (Fairfax Media) | Shannon Campbell | Eliza West | Cathy Svarc |
| Megan Waters (Fox Footy) | Natalie Grider | Shannon Campbell | Eliza West |
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f "AFLW Grand Final 2022 ultimate guide: Start times, burning questions and expert tips". foxsports.com.au. 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Everything you need to know about the S7 AFLW Grand Final". womens.afl. 27 November 2022.
- ^ "'Glorified training ground': AFLW slammed for 'utterly astonishing' GF call". foxsports.com.au. 27 November 2022.
- ^ "Broadcast Guide". womens.afl. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Delta Goodrem to perform at the 2022 NAB AFLW Season Seven Grand Final". womens.afl. 24 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Robbie Williams And Delta Goodrem Kick Off 2022 AFL Grand Final Entertainment". www.triplem.com.au. 24 September 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Cody Simpson and Delta Goodrem dazzle in pre-match entertainment ahead of AFLW grand final". 7news.com.au. Seven West Media. 27 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ a b c "Grand Final Teams: Line-ups locked in for do-or die decider". womens.afl. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ Welsh, Sophie (27 November 2022). "Heat mitigation policy in play for AFLW Grand Final". womens.afl. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ a b c d Zita, David (27 November 2022). "Demons seal first-ever AFLW premiership in heart-stopping Lions thriller". foxsports.com.au. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ^ a b c d Croci, Danielle (27 November 2022). "Melbourne win maiden AFLW premiership, defeating Brisbane in grand final thriller". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ "Daisy Pearce revels in AFLW premiership with Melbourne, putting thoughts of retirement on the backburner". ABC News. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ^ Burt, Sarah. "AFLW grand final: Daisy Pearce's incredible act after helping Melbourne Demons win the premiership". 7news.com.au. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ^ a b c Bastiani, Gemma (27 November 2022). "Sensational Shannon: Lions defender earns BOG honours in losing GF". womens.afl. Retrieved 28 November 2022.