No Gabba, no worries for Lion
THE Brisbane Lions don’t care whether they play at the Gabba or Metricon Stadium when they take on the Adelaide Crows in today’s inaugural women’s AFL grand final.
The women were booted off the Gabba this week with the surface deemed unfit to be played on following an Adele concert.
It caused some controversy but Lions marquee player Sabrina Frederick-Traub said the players were unconcerned, as long as they were playing in their home state.
“We’re just happy (the game) is in Queensland because we worked really hard to earn the right to have a home grand final,” Frederick-Traub said.
“For us, home is the Gabba. But home is also Queensland, so we’re happy it’s still here.”
The Lions finished their home and away campaign with a draw against Carlton last week to spoil their perfect season.
They ended up with seven wins and a draw and coach Craig Starcevich said the plan for the team in the grand final would be to get back to doing the basics well.
“(The focus is) getting in hard to win the contested ball and being really diligent about where your opponent is at all times,” he said.
Adelaide coach Bec Goddard said the Crows had taken a lot out of the loss to Brisbane three weeks ago and would try some different match-ups this weekend.
“Nelson Mandela said ‘I don’t lose, I win or learn’,” she said.
“Did we have the match-ups right against Brisbane the first time, one on one? Probably not.
“Brisbane likes to roll back into our attacking half and drop all of their numbers as quickly as possible and they’re very well drilled at it.
“So, we want to go with the fastest team possible available to play.”