Kangaroos veteran Emma Kearney has thrown down the gauntlet to rival AFLW teams to lift their standard as the reigning premiers prepare to face Brisbane in the grand final for the third year running.
The Roos come into the decider riding a 26-game winning streak and have been dominant in their wins throughout the season, leading to questions about the competitive imbalance across the competition.
This weekend’s grand final will be Brisbane’s fourth in a row, with the club having made the decider in seven of the AFLW’s nine seasons.
How Riddell’s rise to become AFLW’s best mirrors Kangaroos’ dominance
When asked about the reason why North Melbourne and Brisbane have been able to find sustained success in the women’s competition while other clubs have struggled, Kearney — dual premiership winner and North’s inaugural captain — pointed directly to resourcing.
“I think it’s the way that both clubs embrace their women’s programs, the way they resource them, the coaching — Craig Starcevich is a terrific coach, he’s got great assistants around him,” she said.
Kearney said Brisbane had initially set the bar in terms of developing a high performance culture amongst its women’s program, something that North has since emulated.
“Brisbane have always been fit and they would always overrun us,” she said.
Kangaroos coach Darren Crocker (left) and Kearney are aiming to win their second straight AFLW premiership. (Getty: Michael Willson/AFL Photos)
“We looked at Brisbane as probably the yardstick of the competition in terms of fitness and we got to work with our high performance team and now we feel like we’re up there as one of the fittest too.”
While fans watching on may be sympathetic towards the competitions perennial strugglers, Kearney said the reigning premiers did not have any plans to let up, putting the pressure on rival clubs to improve.
“I think the finals series that we’ve seen has shown [the standard],” she said.
ABC Sport will be live blogging the AFLW grand final on Saturday night.
“There’s been some exciting footy. Our prelim final was a testament to the growth of the game and where it needs to be.
“Do we want the same teams being up the top? Don’t care. I don’t know.
“What we’re doing at North Melbourne and Brisbane is setting the standard and we need the other teams to come up to that standard.
“I’m happy being up the top for now. We’ll keep trying to get better [and] it’s now up to the other teams to work out how to get to our level.”