The AFLW'S biggest score, kicked by a rampaging Brisbane outfit against West Coast on Sunday, was generated from the game's smallest moments.
The reigning premiers broke or equalled several AFLW records in thrashing the Eagles in round eight, including the highest score kicked, biggest winning margin, most inside 50s and most individual goal kickers.
This momentous performance came just two games after the Lions went within two points of the previous highest AFLW score, when they also registering the club's record number of scoring shots. This wasn't a one-off.
But rather than being defined by the dominance of a superstar (or several), this powerful Brisbane outfit of the past two seasons bases its success on doing the little things better than any other team.
Since the competition's expansion forced the Lions to restructure their list over 2019 and 2020, they have worked steadily on a team-first attitude that has already netted a first premiership, and has the club well-placed to contend for another. That on-field philosophy is evident in the numbers, with the Lions making one-percenters their signature in the past two seasons.
In Australian Football, one-percenters are a combination of knock-ons, shepherds, smothers and spoils – all actions that don’t require a player to take possession. Instead, they are either defensive efforts, or they work to put the ball to a teammate’s advantage.
In their successful 2021 season, the Lions averaged 30.3 one percenters – the second-most in the competition – and broke the record for most one-percenters in a match with 46, during the Grand Final win against Adelaide, no less. Of those 30.3 one percenters per game, 18.5 were spoils and 6.9 were smothers.
The Lions won the ball fairly evenly across the field, averaging just 2.5 more inside 50s per game than their opponents and relying more on the efforts of a very experienced backline to intercept and propel the ball into attack.
Meanwhile, Sophie Conway and Orla O’Dwyer’s ability to run incredibly hard all game means the pair's defensive efforts are simply unrelenting, but they can also be particularly damaging transitioning into attack after that defensive effort or one-percenter has seen them win the ball.
Brisbane's forward-half squeeze also includes 16.1 tackles inside 50 each game. It’s no secret that Courtney Hodder’s front-half pressure has added to this aspect of Brisbane’s game since joining the club last year. Hodder averages more tackles inside 50 of any Lion to have played 15 or more games since round one last year, with two per match. Fellow forward Zimmorlei Farquharson has added another layer, averaging 1.3 per game since debuting in round three.
That transition to a front-half game, from basing their game in the back half and launching attack from there, has also been necessary when considering that Kate Lutkins has been unavailable this year. While Shannon Campbell, Breanna Koenen and Natalie Grider are reliable, skilful defenders, Lutkins is a tough player to replace in terms of her height, ball reading and one-on-one ability, so Brisbane’s solution has been to prevent the ball from coming into its defensive 50 often enough for her absence to hurt too much.
It is from these small acts that Brisbane has been generating scoreboard pressure, with 66.5 per cent of its score since round one, 2021 coming from turnovers, including 63 of its 98 points scored on Sunday. By contrast, the Lions have scored just one point from kick-ins this year, further demonstrating their control in the attacking half.
As the Lions head into the last fortnight of the home and away season it is easy to view their competition-leading 47.5 points per game as a testament to a forward line that needs to be shut down, but the reality is that scoring actually happens in the small moments right across the ground.
It’s the knock ons, the spoils, the smothers, the tackles. It’s all the things that keep the game unpredictable and opponents feeling the pressure. It’s the things that won them the 2021 premiership, and could see them double up in 2022.
