North Melbourne have completed a perfect season and become the first AFLW team to win back-to-back premierships with a 40-point win over the Brisbane Lions in the grand final.<\/p>\n
Ash Riddell starred in the Kangaroos\u2019 9.2 (56) to 2.4 (16) triumph at a sold-out Ikon Park on Saturday night, the league\u2019s best-and-fairest winner breaking yet another record with 39 disposals.<\/p>\n
It was the highest tally ever recorded in a season decider.<\/p>\n
Sign up to The Nightly’s newsletters.<\/p>\n
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n
By continuing you agree to our Terms<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fellow midfield star Jasmine Garner (28 touches, one goal) also shone and Jenna Bruton kicked three goals, including two in the final term as the margin blew out.<\/p>\n Eilish Sheerin (28 disposals, nine clearances, two goals) was influential early, while experienced pair Emma Kearney and Libby Birch led superbly in defence.<\/p>\n It was North\u2019s 27th consecutive win in a record-breaking streak, with Darren Crocker\u2019s side still unbeaten since losing the 2023 grand final to Brisbane.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n It included a gift to Kate Shierlaw at the start of the second term when experienced Lions defender Shannon Campbell gave away twin 50-metre penalties, advancing her opponent from half-back to the goal square.<\/p>\n The landslide continued in the second half, with Tahlia Randall kicking North\u2019s sixth consecutive major, before Ruby Svarc ended a 40-minute goal drought for Brisbane.<\/p>\n It was brief respite for the Lions, who were outclassed despite the efforts of Belle Dawes (31 disposals), Sophie Conway (22) and Mullins (20).<\/p>\n North\u2019s win made veteran Birch the first four-time AFLW premiership player, including triumphs with the Western Bulldogs (2018), Melbourne (2022) and the Kangaroos (2024-25).<\/p>\n Three Roos – Blaithin Bogue, Eliza Shannon and Sheerin – played in their first flag.<\/p>\n Tough midfielder Mia King was the hard-luck story, missing out on selection after her mooted recall from a knee injury was deemed to big a risk for the decider.<\/p>\n It was more end-of-season heartbreak for Craig Starcevich\u2019s Lions, who have lost in five of their seven grand final appearances.<\/p>\n The result also denied the city of Brisbane a cross-code grand slam, after the Lions\u2019 (AFL) and Broncos\u2019 (NRL, NRLW) premiership successes in September and October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Melbourne have completed a perfect season and become the first AFLW team to win back-to-back premierships with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,588,85],"class_list":["post-316333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}