Confident Lions roar boldly to flag fight

THE Brisbane Lions don’t care how they got there — they’re into their second AFLW grand final and they are not in fear of the Western Bulldogs.

The Lions were fifth on the ladder heading into the last round and as the last of five teams with a shot at making the grand final, they needed a fair bit to go right for them.

They did their part with a 10.4 (64) to 3.6 (24) win over Greater Western Sydney in Blacktown on Friday night, which gave them a vital percentage boost. Then they needed a hand from the Bulldogs, who duly knocked out Melbourne in a two-point thriller — 5.3 (33) to 4.7 (31) — at Whitten Oval on Saturday.

Adelaide could have claimed the grand final spot opposite the Dogs with a win over a largely underperforming Collingwood yesterday.

But the Pies stunned the reigning premier 8.5 (53) to 4.8 (32) at Olympic Park to send the Lions through.

“We’ve had a winning season, so I’m not sure that should get lost in the mix because it’s an incredibly tight competition,” Lions coach Craig Starcevich said.

“We obviously respect the Bulldogs greatly . . . they’ve had some great games this year and they’ve done it under adversity as well.

“[But] we’re in it so we’re 50-50 — we’ve had a very strong performance on Friday night and we’re very confident to play anyone. We pride ourselves in being a hard team to play against.

“In our short existence over 15 games our biggest losing margin has been 14 points ... we’re a team that fights and doesn’t like to concede.”

The grand final action kicks off at 1.05pm at Ikon Park in Melbourne on Saturday.

Fremantle hosted Carlton at Fremantle Oval on Saturday in the match that didn’t have a bearing on the grand final, the Dockers consigning the Blues to the wooden spoon with a 9.5 (59) to 6.12 (48) win.