Fairy tales can save a final

If I had told you late in pre-season that Lily Mithen and Sarah Perkins would kick goals to help Melbourne swoop like thieves in the night to win a semi-final, you would be rightfully skeptical.

Mithen? The injured terrier midfielder who across three seasons and 21 games in the red and blue has kicked – checks notes ­– zero goals? And Sarah Perkins? After a year in the AFLW wilderness? Will she even play?

Perkins’ semi-final impact was limited but any team watching the key forward’s output this season since joining Melbourne as a train-on player will notice a crucial pattern: she is clutch.

Her goal from 40 metres out in the pocket with just over three minutes remaining was just never going to miss and gives her an even average of a major a game across her three matches (number of players who can make the same claim this season? 11).

Mithen’s mark in the final minute was almost impossible. The pixie-sized rover looked to have gotten under the incoming ball but stuck the contested grab one-out and then, with her shoulder devil surely muttering in her ear that this was probably her side’s last chance, sunk the set shot from 35 to seal the finals victory she and her team have been striving for since 2017.

Finals are where the greatest fairy tales are made.

And as Mithen and Perkins – the foundation Demon and the second-chance hero – celebrated Melbourne’s first ever finals victory with their teammates, we were reminded of just how sweet triumph can be.

GWS’ backline will need support in 2021

GWS’ defense has been as good a backline unit as any in 2020 and the added pressure of the semi-final brought out perhaps its very best performance.

Tanya Hetherington and Elle Bennetts countered Tegan Cunningham (two disposals) and then waxed and waned as the loose player to gather groundball and repel again and again.

Pepa Randall was her usual merciless self and the move of Jess Dal Pos to the backline has been vindicated across this season. Throw in the fleet-footed Taylah Davies and the canny Bec Beeson and you have a backline with all the pieces in place.

Across the second half in the semi-final at GIANTS Stadium, Melbourne pumped the ball Inside 50 only to crash time and time again on a well-structured, well-composed and seemingly tireless orange and charcoal wall (GWS won rebound 50s 24-17).

Where am I going with this? Well, it is strange to think that the Giants got overrun in this game when their backline played what was close to a perfect finals match.

GWS led by nine points with four minutes to play in a low-scoring contest and lost the match after a final term in which Melbourne dominated out of the centre.

Yes, countering a midfield stacked with Lauren Pearce, Lily Mithen, Elise O’Dea and Karen Paxman is a tough ask. However, after GWS has reflected on a history-making first finals appearance, Alan McConnell’s women will have to find how they are going to address the deficiencies that cost them this match.

Discipline and commitment to a game plan can only take a team so far. GWS’ lack of matchwinners held them back in the semi-final.

Outside of Alyce Parker and Alicia Eva, GWS do not have offensive players who can turn a game. Up forward, Cora Staunton and Bec Privitelli (13 goals combined this year) were a handy duo but the former will be 39 this time next year. Can the likes of Haneen Zreika, Aimee Schmidt and Jacinda Barclay become dangerous forward options?

Melbourne will need to back themselves to win the preliminary final

The league’s dizzying deliberation over the finals structure in response to the coronavirus pandemic initially ruled Melbourne out of contention.

Had the initial incorrect press release stood, the Demons’ curse of finding unlikely ways to miss finals in their first three seasons would have played its cruelest trick yet.

Did that initial devastation shake the Dees? Perhaps. Even the most ardent Melbourne fan would have to admit that the Demons were a long way off their best against GWS.

The overlap run and carry that are the hallmarks of Mick Stinear’s team were rarely sighted as Melbourne was outworked around the ground and its backline made uncharacteristically poor decisions (the second quarter failure of two defenders to provide a shepherd for Harriet Cordner on Bec Privitelli that led to Aimee Schmidt’s goal was the best – or worst – example).

The top heavy midfield controlled much of the contest, winning hit-outs by 11, clearances by 11 and Inside 50s by 10, but their forwards failed to adapt to the Giants’ set-up and it took a hell of an effort to snatch the win as the tremendous experience and grit of Karen Paxman and Daisy Pearce came to the fore.

If the Dockers can find the sort of rhythm that Melbourne allowed GWS to establish, they will not let the Demons back into the contest.