Dogs down Lions to clinch AFLW flag
THE Bulldogs looked flat. They looked flustered. As the rain drenched Princes Park it looked as if a taxing week — a taxing season in fact — had taken its toll.
It wasn’t just the Katie Brennan tribunal decision and failed appeals — in Round 1 they’d lost debutante Daria Bannister to a knee injury, by Round 2 it was No. 1 draft pick Isabel Huntington and in Round 3 Brennan went down, too, with an ankle.
But just like the club found a way to win throughout the season, it somehow did it again to win the one that mattered.
“I would have loved to have been out there obviously, but for the girls to get the job done for us … I can’t even tell you how excited I am now,” Huntington said.
“We’ve obviously had a really tough year, three injuries to forwards and this week with Katie has obviously been very tough. To get the win given those circumstances is just phenomenal.”
The Brisbane Lions were cleaner early, their quick ball movement creating more opportunities than the scoreboard showed.
But the Lions led by just a goal at the long break, giving the Bulldogs hope — and that’s all they needed.
It was player of the match Monique Conti who turned the game in the third quarter.
With just four touches to half time, she bolstered that to 12 by the last break and was crucial to her side’s 13-point three-quarter time lead.
The text-book play was when Emma Kearney twisted out of a tackle on the wing and delivered it to a sensational Ellie Blackburn, who kicked it to a contest inside 50.
As Kate Lutkins, who was huge, tried to clear it, a cheeky Conti intercepted the handball and goaled to put her team 14 points ahead.
“Even in her basketball, she’s a big-game player,” Dogs coach Paul Groves said. “I wasn’t even speaking to her at halftime, but her third quarter was phenomenal.”
Conti said she took time to adjust to the weather, adding “I just wanted to win”.
Brennan’s replacement Kristen McLeod also got involved, her snap swinging the game back to the Dogs.
“It was the weirdest week of my life being named emergency and knowing KB had the suspension and then the appeal and then to sit and wait,” McLeod said
“I was gutted for KB, but then I had to put that emotion aside to focus on today.”
Nat Exon, with her fresh buzz cut, went to Bulldogs ball winner Kearney from the start, quelling her influence early.
Kearney had just five touches to halftime, but she too found a way to influence the game when it mattered.
She tackled Lion Kaitlyn Ashmore inside the Bulldogs’ forward 50m with just five minutes to go, the Dogs up by just a goal, won a free-kick and converted the goal.
“In the third quarter I just tried to will myself and will the team by winning the contest and getting the ball forward for us,” Kearney said.
It’s what they all did, all 21, but more like 30.