Cats Are Legit Flag Favourites, Crows Crash The Suns’ Party

Right, I need everyone to sit down for this one because the ladder just did a genuine double-take. Geelong didn’t just beat West Coast on the weekend, they dismantled them by 53 points, and over in Adelaide the Crows finally cracked the code on a Gold Coast side that had looked unbeatable for six straight weeks. Big round. Huge round, actually.

Geelong Are Not Mucking Around

Let’s start with the Cats because a 53-point win in this competition is not a normal thing. AFLW margins are usually tight, grindy, one-goal-either-way affairs, so when a team puts a result like that up it genuinely means something. Geelong are sitting on top of the ladder now and honestly, on that form, no notes. The midfield brigade is winning clearances at will, the forward line is taking its chances in a way that teams further down the ladder can only dream about, and defensively they’re barely letting sides inside 50 with any real speed.

What’s legit scary for the rest of the comp is that this wasn’t against a bottom-four team playing out the string either. West Coast have had their moments this year, so to get put away by that margin says more about Geelong’s ceiling than it does about the Eagles’ floor. You watch the way they’re moving the ball right now, quick hands, structure behind the ball, and it’s genuinely some of the best footy in the competition full stop, men’s or womens.

The Flag Conversation Is Officially Open

I’m not usually one to crown teams in whatever round we’re up to, but when you put a 53-point score line next to top spot on the ladder, you’ve got to at least open the conversation. Geelong’s premiership credentials look about as solid as anyone’s right now. The thing that stands out to me watching them is depth — when their first-choice mids get a breather the replacements aren’t dropping the standard, and that’s usually the stuff that wins you flags in September style finals footy, even if AFLW grannies come earlier in the calendar.

Obviously it’s a long way from game-day in round one to lifting a cup, and this league has burned plenty of favourites before. But as a neutral-ish observer (okay, Lions person, but I can be fair), I reckon Geelong have to be right up there in anyone’s top two or three right now. The hard part for the rest of the comp is working out how you actually stop them when they’re clicking like that.

Crows Crash The Suns’ Perfect Run

Meanwhile up in — well, technically Adelaide hosted it so down in — Adelaide, the Crows did something nobody else had managed all season: they beat Gold Coast. Six straight wins the Suns had strung together, genuinely one of the form sides of the competition, and the Crows went and snapped that run right when finals footy starts mattering for ladder position.

This is a massive result for Adelaide’s finals hopes. They’d been a bit in-and-out this year if we’re being honest, a side that looked dangerous one week and a bit flat the next, so to knock off the form team of the competition is exactly the kind of statement win you need heading into the business end. It drags them straight back into the finals frame and probably puts a bit of doubt into every other team around them on the ladder too.

What Actually Went Wrong For Gold Coast

I’ll be honest, I haven’t seen every minute of this one, but from what’s come through, Gold Coast just looked like a team feeling the pinch of a long unbeaten run for the first time this year. Six wins in a row is a lot of footy to sustain at a high level, and every winning streak eventually runs into a team that matches its pressure and wants it more on the day. That looks like what happened here.

It’s not a disaster for the Suns by any stretch — they’re still going to be a genuine finals team and probably a top-four one at that — but it does prove something that commentators have been saying all year: this AFLW ladder is genuinely competitive top to bottom-ish, and no run of form lasts forever. The Suns will want to flush this one quick smart and get back to the footy that got them to six-straight in the first place.

Finals Picture Getting Spicier By The Week

Put these two results together and you’ve got a finals race that’s properly heating up. Geelong look like the benchmark side right now, the team everyone else is being measured against. Adelaide have put their hand up as a genuine finals threat with a win that’ll carry a lot of weight on percentage and confidence alone. And Gold Coast, even in defeat, remain one of the form teams of the year — this is just the first real speed hump they’ve hit.

As someone who watches this league as closely as I watch the men’s comp (genuinely, don’t get me started on how underrated AFLW coverage still is in this country), rounds like this are exactly why the competition deserves way more eyeballs than it gets. You had a genuine statement thrashing and a genuine boilover in the same weekend. That’s not a quiet round, that’s a round with actual stakes.

Why This Matters For Queensland Footy

Can’t write an AFLW wrap without banging the Queensland drum a little bit, sorry not sorry. Results like Gold Coast’s win streak this year, even with the loss now attached, are exactly what the game needs up here to keep building crowds and junior numbers. The more these games matter, the more casual footy fans in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast start actually tuning in on a Friday night instead of just checking the score the next morning.

Adelaide snapping that streak doesn’t hurt the broader story either — it shows the comp isn’t just a two-horse race, which is exactly the kind of unpredictability that makes new fans stick around. Geelong looking like genuine flag favourites, the Suns copping their first proper test, the Crows surging back into finals calculations — this is a competition with real narrative depth right now, and if you’re still sleeping on AFLW in late 2024-whatever-year-we’re-in, genuinely, what are you doing.

Bottom line from the desk: Geelong are the team to beat, Adelaide just proved they belong in the conversation, and Gold Coast have had their aura dented but not destroyed. Buckle up, because this finals race just got a whole lot more interesting.