The mid-season ladder leaders have fallen away at the end of the AFLW season, with the Crows, Dockers, Blues and Cats set to contest the finals series. Conference A maintained their hold on results, with 4 out of their 5 teams finishing on more points than the best conference B side, however the system means that Carlton and Geelong snuck in despite finishing as the 5th and 6th best teams.
In the final round of the season GWS defeated finalists Geelong 41-10, the Crows wrapped up top spot with a 68-8 demolition job on Melbourne, Fremantle secured a finals spot by beating the Kangaroos 52-25, Collingwood narrowly beat the Lions 25-19 and Carlton – the best conference B team – edged out the Bulldogs – the worst conference A team – 41-38.
The scores were significantly higher than the results at the start of the season, which can be put down to the women playing actually having a chance to practice and improve their skills. With the AFLW going for 9 weeks at best (for the grand finalists) it’s tough to get a roll on, but the women have been doing well.
The finals will be played this weekend, with Carlton hosting Fremantle and Adelaide welcoming Geelong on Saturday. Given the disparity between the conferences Freo and the Crows are expected to be walkover winners, which would see the final played in Adelaide the following week.
The Dockers and Crows are in terrifying form at the moment, demolishing their closest contenders Melbourne and North Melbourne over the weekend to each finish with 6 wins. Adelaide, who demolished fellow finalists Fremantle in week 4, Geelong in round 3 and Carlton in week 2, are at nearly Winx like odds to claim the AFLW title after having not been beaten since a single point loss in round 1. Since then the closest they have come to a loss was the 13 point (3 scores) win over Carlton.