Brisbane Lions 4.7 (31) d Adelaide Crows 3.1 (19)

Saturday night at Norwood Oval 

The Lions started 2018 with a win in their grand final rematch against Adelaide in a tough contest.

The Crows, missing Erin Phillips, only managed to score in the second quarter of the game, otherwise, it was all Brisbane.

Sabrina Frederick-Traub was excellent while Jamie Stanton and captain Emma Zielke had plenty of the ball.

Jess Wuetschner led the way with two goals. Kaitlyn Ashmore and teenager Sophie Conway also kicked majors.

Adelaide’s co-captain Chelsea Randall and 2017 Rising Star Ebony Marinoff played their roles with 18 and 17 possessions respectively but the Crows simply couldn’t find the goals.

 

Western Bulldogs 7.7 (49) d Fremantle Dockers 3.5 (23) 

Sunday at VU Whitten Oval

A fit and firing Katie Brennan helped steer the Dogs to a win over the Dockers to round out round one.

Isabel Huntington showed why she was taken number one in the draft but the day belonged to Brennan.

Ellie Blackburn and Emma Kearney continued their great work from last season as the top two ball getters.

The Dockers were scoreless in the first half but found some fight in the third, kicking three – through Amy Lavell and Ashley Sharp – and keeping the Dogs scoreless.

But any resurgence was quashed with goals to Bonnie Toogood and Aasta O’Connor in the last.