PHOTO:  Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

For the second season in a row the bottom seeded two sides have made it through to the W-League Grand Final with Melbourne Victory taking on Brisbane Roar defeating.

For the second season in a row, Melbourne will host the finale after the top two seeds bowed out.

That Melbourne and Brisbane will face off in the decider is a surprise but by no means a shock or major upset.

Like last season, but possibly even more so, this season's Top 4 has been very even.

There was little separating Canberra United, Sydney FC, Melbourne and Brisbane, as was borne out by the end of season ladder.

The ladder reads that four points separated the four sides but in reality that gap was much closer.

While the semi final results were to some what unexpected, earlier clashes this season had provided indicators for Brisbane and Melbourne's wins.

This did not always appear the case early on.

In the opening round of the season Canberra United convincingly defeated a disjointed Brisbane Roar 3-0 on Roar's home turf while Sydney FC were also away from home when they thrashed Melbourne Victory 5-1.

However both Brisbane and Melbourne were to bounce back against their rivals on the next occasion they clashed.

Brisbane stifled Canberra superbly in Round 4 after an 8th minute Elise Kellond-Knight goal (wouldn't she come back to haunt them again) gave them the advantage.

In a harbinger of things to come, a strong defensive performance was the foundation for Brisbane's win.

In round 4, as in the semi-final, the back four of Laura Alleway, Kim Carroll, Brooke Spence and Vedrana Popovic stood strong in the face of explosive and quicker Canberra forwardline.

On that occasion, the Roar squeezed the midfield and didn't allow Canberra their usually balls over the top for Ashleigh Sykes, Michelle Heyman and Stephanie Ochs to burst onto.

On the weekend they had the same approach with Ochs in particular locked down well by Spence, who never allowed the dynamic forward any space and even less time.

Katrina Gorry and Kellond-Knight were tight in the centre in Round 4, and in the semi they repeated the constriction with Kellond-Knight the player of the match in both crucial matches.

Melbourne on the other hand faced Sydney FC in round 5 with some significant new additions.

The talismanic Jessica Fishlock arrived in the country as did Swedish international Jessica Samuelsson to give Melbourne better defensive shape and greater forward impetus.

Despite a 1-0 half time deficit, the Victory overran an admittedly leg weary Sydney FC who had just returned from the Mobcast Cup in Japan.

That second half saw Melbourne control the midfield through Fishlock, Gulcan Koca and Katie Hoyle.  On the weekend, they went one step further as they were even more dominant in that corridor.  

The Victory may also have taken a leaf out Canberra United's book as they employed similar methods of attack that United used to inflict Sydney's only two regular season defeats.

Victory used, with great effect, the wings to open up the corridor where Lisa De Vanna and Fishlock lurked.  The impressive Beattie Goad, Koca, Stephanie Catley and Samuelsson helped in that regard as they opened up the pitch and allowed Ella Mastrantonio and Lauren Barnes the space to dictate.

While they may have lost that Round 5 encounter, that second half fight back instilled a belief in the Melbourne Victory side that was evident in their semi final; they could match it with the Sky Blues and defeat them.

Which brings us to the grand final.

Melbourne and Brisbane have only met once this season and that was less than two weeks ago in Round 12 with the result having little to no bearing on the Top 4.

It was a 1-0 win to the Brisbane Roar thanks to a lovely Katrina Gorry free kick but that scoreline was in no way indicative of the match.

In a surprisingly open encounter, Brisbane and Melbourne attacked and counter attacked with both teams having their fair share of opportunities.

"We had a lot of chances, I think we dominated the game compared to Brisbane so I think we can take a lot of positives out of the game," said striker Caitlin Friend on VWL Radio.  

Although they have yet to defeat the Roar in six seasons of the W-League, again Melbourne will take plenty of heart from that match considering how often the were able to trouble the usually composed Brisbane defence.

And as they say, there is a first time for everything.