AFLW Round 4 Power Rankings

With three rounds to go of the regular season we start to see a few teams kick away from the field, and the field kick away from a few teams who just haven’t been able to cut it in 2019.

North Melbourne

The Kangaroos got the win against the Demons but it wasn't very convincing. In fact this writer would go as far as to say that a 3-4min period of extremely fortunate umpiring decisions falling their way was the only thing that saved them from a loss to Melbourne. This was the first time they have come up against a couple of really solid, classy defenders and it clearly shook them a little. Had Emma King not drifted down to be gifted that final goal, the North Melbourne forward line would have had questions asked of them.

Likewise, North’s defence was found slightly wanting by the speed of the Demons' smalls. Both these weapons are possessed by the Adelaide Crows, and, I suspect, should weather not impact the match, that the Crows might overtake the Kangaroos this weekend as the team to beat in 2019.

Adelaide Crows

They could not have been more impressive. The Crows are using Erin Phillips to perfection. Win the clearance, get it forward, push and impact the scoreboard. When Phillips is not in the midfield, Anne Hatchard and Ebony Marinoff get it done. Ruck Jess Foley completes the competition’s best midfield and one that will really trouble the much smaller North Melbourne midfield this week.

No Courtney Cramey is a blow this week though, her pressure and drive is a big part of the Crows overall defensive plans, but they will get Chloe Scheer back who is more than capable of moving into that A-grader category if they let her spend time on-ball ato supplement her time forward. Jess Allen and Chelsea Randall are stars down back, the Crows have all the pieces for a second AFLW Premiership tilt.

Melbourne FC

The Demons have moved up the rankings despite a loss to the Kangaroos at the weekend, which shows not only how tight the AFLW ladder is, but also how accurate the Stats Insider Power Rankings are: Melbourne should have won that game. Paxman, Mithen and O’Dea are proving an excellent midfield trio, and with Lauren Pearce solo rucking, the dominance starts in the center. Like Fremantle, once Melbourne win the clearance, their outside speed is really troubling teams.

Don’t write the Dees off: they are still in with a chance (albeit a slim one) of playing AFLW Finals right up until the Round 7 ‘mini final’ round, where all the power teams from Conference A play off.

Brisbane Lions

Most had written the Lions off on Saturday, due to a critical mass of backline injuries, but the perennial AFLW runners-up lifted big time to showed the competition what they can produce with a full four quarters of pressure. Nat Exon, Bates, Anderson, Arnell, Yorston – the Lions’ tackle pressure in the midfield was excellent. The Bulldogs had no answer for gun young forward Jesse Wardlaw, whose unique combination of skill, endurance, vision and height caused the Bulldogs midfield and defenders nightmares all game.

If they bring that kind of team pressure to the final three games they will finish on 20pts in first place in Conference B with no problems whatsoever.

Fremantle Dockers

The conditions did not suit in Darwin but they did get smacked in the clearances which is an area I thought they would at least break even in. Gemma Houghton was well held, as was the entire Fremantle forward line. A 40pt loss is a big deal in AFLW, especially considering the Dockers kicked the first goal.

Despite the shellacking, I think the loss says more about the Crows than the Dockers and I’m prepared to forget last start with Freo and assess more on their first three rounds where they were fierce at the contest THEN beat their opponents on the spread. Slipped to 5^th in the rankings after a monster loss but they are better than that, expect they bounce back up the rankings this week.

Western Bulldogs

The Bulldogs were just poor on Saturday. They got smashed out of the middle and then they were just simply out-pressured. They had no answer for the Lions anywhere. Once Ellie Blackburn went down, the dam walls started cracking and the Lions kicked away with a pretty dominant win once the floodgates opened.

Given their draw, the Western Bulldogs season is over (which made their loss last Saturday even more surprising), but they do get some star troops back this week in Izzy Huntington and Brooke Lochland so it will be very interesting to see how they perform on the wide expanses of Fremantle Oval against a really fast, really determined Dockers side.

Geelong FC

Solid win against the Blues on the back of huge games from Rochelle Cranston and Madi Keryk but when you are just holding on against the Blues, you know you aren’t really challenging for an AFLW Premiership.

The Cats are one superstar short of being a real contender, which makes the injury to Nina Morrison all the more heartbreaking for Cats fans. The ripple effect of her being in the starting midfield would be enormous.

Carlton FC

If Madi Prespakis is tagged in the midfield (which she surely will be for the rest of the season) and the Blues forwards fail to kick straight, this writer can't see how they win another game in AFLW 2019. They have the star power to trouble the better sides for periods of games, but their forwards need to be accurate because if they don’t get reward for their forward forays, they get blown away by teams who go through their relatively weak defence on the counterattack.

They are exactly where they should be in these rankings. There is still a small window where they can play AFLW Finals (which in itself is laughable), but the Blues look 3-4 guns short of a proper AFLW Premiership assault.

GWS Giants

The woefully disappointing Giants have slumped to second last on the Stats Insider Power Rankings, after just holding on against the AFLW cellar dwellars, Collingwood. The wind helped the Magpies keep it close, but the win for the Giants was thoroughly unconvincing. Can’t see them playing AFLW Finals with games against the Demons and the Crows still to come.

Collingwood Magpies

Collingwood anchor the 2019 AFLW Power Rankings for the fourth week in a row, and I don’t see them pulling themselves up anytime soon. Short of a 30 disposal, 10 mark masterclass by Ash Brazill (which, let's be honest is possible) against the Blues, Collingwood are likely to remain winless for season 2019.

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