After an exciting regular season, the AFLW will play its first-ever Preliminary Final weekend, starting on Saturday. Up first will be the 4-3 Blues against the 6-1 Dockers. While in Adelaide, the 6-1 Crows face the 3-4 Cats. Let the action begin!
AFLW Preliminary Finals Preview & Betting Tips
Carlton Blues vs Fremantle Dockers (Saturday 23 March, 2:45pm)
In the first AFLW Preliminary Final for 2019, the Carlton Blues will host the Fremantle Dockers at Ikon Park. Fremantle has opened as warm favourites despite this game being played in Victoria. Last week, they secured a finals spot with an impressive home victory over the Kangaroos, 52-25. They needed to win that matchup to reach this final so it was a good finals warmup for Freo. On the other hand, Carlton secured top spot in Conference B with a 4-3 record in the regular season. It was a great effort after finishing with the wooden spoon last year so there will be some desperation in Carlton this week to secure an unlikely Grand Final appearance it seemed in February. During the regular season, Fremantle ranked #2 for Inside 50s and goals scored so they do deserve favouritism. However, Carlton has peaked nicely before the finals with 3 straight wins and they have the talent to match Fremantle around the ground. Brianna Davey is a star in the midfield and the Dockers will need to lockdown Tayla Harris. In the end, Carlton should also enjoy a decent advantage in-front of their home faithful at Ikon Park and that should see them cover the 9.5 point line. They've won 2 straight at home and will hopefully be able to stop the Dockers forward line.
Adelaide Crows vs Geelong Cats (Sunday 24 March,1:10pm)
The second Preliminary Final will be played at the Adelaide Oval as the Crows host the Cats. This is really a huge mismatch based on the regular season and as a result, Adelaide is paying very short odds to reach their second AFLW Grand Final. It's fair enough because the Crows are simply the best team in the league at this stage and it would take a mammoth upset for them not to win this game. In terms of stats, they're easily the best scoring team with 396 points scored in 7 games at an average of 56 per game. They also rank #1 for Inside 50s and Marks Inside 50. But the other string to their bow is defensively. They allowed just 26 points per game in a dominant 6-1 season. In contrast, Geelong looks like their making up the numbers here due to the Conference system. They held the worst percentage in the AFLW league and hold a 3-4 win-loss record. Scoring points is a huge concern as they rank last in the league for goals scored/points scored. They also head into this finals with average form. Last week, they managed just 10 points in a 41-10 defeat against the Giants. Previously at home, the Cats were again poor in a 49-13 defeat at the hands of the Dockers. These two sides did meet in Round 3 and the Crows recorded a comfortable 29 point win. They had 16 scoring shots compared to 7 from the Cats on that occasion. This shapes as a similar type of game where the Crows just have too much talent around the ground. They should win this by over 4 goals and the line on offer is still good value at 21.5 points.
