THE Brisbane Lions may have fallen short in Saturday night’s AFLW Grand Final, but there was still plenty to applaud this season.
The Lions have now featured in seven of the nine Grand Finals to date, including the past four, claiming two Premierships along the way – a golden era that keeps them among the AFLW elite.
Facing North Melbourne in the season decider, the Lions were unable to break the Kangaroos’ record-breaking streak, going down 9.2 (56) to 2.4 (16).
It was North’s 27th consecutive win in a record-breaking streak, with Darren Crocker’s side still unbeaten since losing the 2023 Grand Final to Brisbane.
The two heavyweight teams met in the decider for a third consecutive season, and it was one-way traffic after a tight start, as the Kangaroos flexed their considerable muscle.
Charlotte Mullins gave Brisbane the perfect start with the first goal of the game, but North kicked the next five before halftime to build a commanding 22-point lead by the main break.
It included a gift to Kate Shierlaw at the start of the second term when experienced Lions defender Shannon Campbell gave away twin 50m penalties, advancing her opponent from half-back to the goal square.
The landslide continued in the second half, with Tahlia Randall kicking North’s sixth consecutive major, before Ruby Svarc ended a 40-minute goal drought for Brisbane.
It was more end-of-season heartbreak for Craig Starcevich’s Lions, who have lost in five of their seven grand final appearances.
“We’re immensely proud of them,” Starcevich said.
“The last 10 weeks that we’ve put together have been enormous to get ourselves into this position, but we can still see where the gap is and we haven’t bridged it yet unfortunately.
“We thought we had. We thought we had the game to really challenge them but unfortunately not.
“North are really, really good at absorbing pressure and then going forward and hurting you themselves.”
The result also denied the city of Brisbane a cross-code grand slam, after the Lions’ (AFL) and Broncos’ (NRL, NRLW) premiership successes in September and October.
Starcevich praised his players’ character.
“Watching the game back will be painful for some, but that’s part of the journey.”
