The Brisbane Lions AFL Women’s team may have lost consecutive games for just the second time in their history over the past fortnight, but Coach Craig Starcevich is adamant the side, particularly the team’s younger players, can provide the spark and make a push toward a third-straight finals appearance.
Despite their two losses in as many weeks, the Lions remain in equal first place in Conference B and trail Carlton and Geelong merely by percentage, suggesting another finals berth still remains a genuine possibility.
A return to the finals would be a fantastic result for the Club in leu of the mammoth offseason movement which riddled the Lions with the departure of five players to new Clubs.
Although the Lions netted veteran Lauren Arnell in the Nicole Hilderbrand trade, the departures left a void of experience within the team and meant the Lions 2019 roster yielded the youngest average age of any team in the competition.
But despite boasting a young list – four teenagers featured in the game against Melbourne – Starcevich is confident the younger players have and will continue to impact games and help shape the Lions’ season
“The teenagers have stood up really well so far. They've held up particularly well,” Starcevich told lions.com.au.
“They are new to AFLW level and they are prone to making the odd mistake here and there but in the main their effort has been good.
“It's an expanding competition so you have to play a lot of new people and they have to experience the mistakes to learn from it and grow to become better players.”
Brisbane will unearth their fifth teenager of the season, Jacqui Yorston, this weekend when they face the Western Bulldogs in a Grand Final rematch; injecting even more youth into the side.
They will however be without incumbent number one ruck Lauren Bella, who has been rested after shining across the opening three rounds and providing the team with a genuine ruck option which hasn’t existed in seasons prior.
Bella played her best game in Lions colours against the Demons, tallying 17 hit-outs and four tackles in the loss – something Starcevich was keen to highlight.
“The two young talls have held up particularly well. Lauren Bella had a nice footy education on the weekend playing against Lauren Pearce who's near-on the best ruck in the competition and she did a super job,” he said.
“It's great experience for Lauren, years down the track she'll remember the day she played on Pearce and the challenge it presented.”
A win this weekend against the reigning premiers would help the Lions gain momentum ahead the finals, which are now just over a month away.
The Brisbane v Western Bulldogs match will commence tomorrow night, Saturday 23, at 6:10pm AEST.
AFLW Round 4
Who: Brisbane Lions v Western Bulldogs
When: Saturday, 23 February at 7.10pm AEDT / 6.10pm AEST
Where: Whitten Oval, Victoria University
Entry is FREE
The match will be broadcasted nation-wide on 7Mate and Fox Footy from 6.10pm AEST.
For the latest updates before, during and after the match, keep an eye on the Lions AFLW Twitter and Instagram accounts.
