History repeats with Bluebirds to face Yeronga
THE Coolangatta Bluebirds have secured a return to the QAFLW’s biggest stage after defeating Maroochydore 11.4 (70) to 7.7 (48) on Saturday at Eximm Oval.
In a repeat of the 2016 QAFLW grand final, Coolangatta will play Yeronga South Brisbane in the grand final on Sunday at Bond University.
In 2016, Coolangatta prevailed by two points, thanks to a late Kalinda Howarth goal, and now premiership coach Aaron Russell will come up against his old side, this time as Yeronga head coach.
Current Bluebirds mentor Nicole Graves said her troops fought hard to grind out the 22-point win, with the clock playing a big factor.
Teams play 17 minute flat quarters during the regular season, but the quarters instead went to 15 minutes with time on for finals, leaving the sides to battle out a 24-minute long first quarter.
“We never really put them away and I think they got within nine points at one stage,” Graves said.
“With the time on, we probably ended up playing another half an hour of football than we’re used to and by the last quarter, everyone was stuffed and standing around and I don’t think either team wanted to give the ball back to the umpire.” After coaching back to back WAFLW premierships for Swan Districts, Graves took comfort in her previous grand final experience. “I’m blessed by the talent I have and all of our players have bought into our structures and the way we want to play,” Graves said.
In the other semi-final, Bond University suffered a shattering 11.6 (72) to 5.7 (37) defeat at the hands of Yeronga South Brisbane.