Three-Peat Roos: North’s Minor Premiership Dynasty Is No Fluke
Three in a row. Not a flag, I know, but in a competition this tight, stringing together three straight AFLW minor premierships is legit one of the most underrated achievements in the comp’s short history. North Melbourne put the rest of the league on notice again with a 68-point demolition of Richmond, and Jasmine Garner once again looked like the best player going around.
I’ll be honest, as a Lions fan I’m supposed to be rolling my eyes at another club dominating the home and away season while my team scraps for finals spots. But credit where it’s due — what the Roos have built is genuinely special and deserves way more attention than it’s getting.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Three consecutive minor premierships is not a fluke. It’s not a soft draw or a weak era of competition. The AFLW has never been deeper, more clubs are investing real money and resources into their programs, and North have still found a way to finish on top of the ladder year after year. That’s coaching, list management and culture all clicking at once, and no notes needed on that front.
The 68-point win over Richmond wasn’t even that surprising if you’ve watched the Roos all season. They’ve had patches where they looked mortal, sure, but when it mattered against a genuine finals contender, they flicked a switch and put on a clinic. That’s the mark of a team that knows exactly who they are.
Garner Is Just Different
Can we talk about Jasmine Garner for a second because this is getting a bit ridiculous now. She’s the heartbeat of this team, the sort of player who can win the ball in traffic, hit a target by foot from fourty metres, and still find time to put a classy finish on the scoreboard. If you’re building a highlight reel for growing the game to new audiences, she’s exhibit A.
What I love about Garner’s footy is it’s not flashy for the sake of being flashy. She just does the right thing, over and over, and makes it look easy. That consistency is exactly why North keep landing on top of the ladder — they’ve got a genuine superstar setting the standard every single week.
What This Means For The Competition
Look, minor premierships aren’t premierships, and the Roos faithful would swap all three ladder-toppers for one flag in a heartbeat. But dynasties in any sport usually start with exactly this — sustained dominance in the regular season that eventually breaks through in September… or in AFLW’s case, whenever finals are scheduled that particular year (can we please sort out a consistent calendar, by the way).
For the rest of the competition, this should be setting off alarm bells. If North keep topping the ladder but keep falling short in finals, that’s its own story about pressure and finals football. But if they ever put it all together on both fronts, we’re talking about a genuine dynasty that will be talked about for years.
- Three straight minor premierships — a competition first
- Garner cementing herself as a genuine competition great
- A culture of consistency other clubs are clearly trying to replicate
The Queensland Angle
I always bring it back to growing the game up here because it genuinely matters, and watching a team like North operate at this level is exactly the kind of footy we need more of on Queensland screens. The more eyeballs on games like this blowout over Richmond, the more young girls up here start dreaming about playing AFLW instead of just watching the boys.
Brisbane and Gold Coast still have massive scope to grow their own AFLW programs into something that can compete with what North have built. It’s not about copying them exactly, but there’s definitely lessons in how they’ve prioritised list continuity and development pathways instead of chasing short-term fixes every off-season.
Finals Are The Real Test
None of this minor premiership talk matters if North don’t go all the way, and everyone connected to the club knows it. The pressure of being favourites every single year is its own beast, and we’ve seen plenty of dominant home and away teams in all sorts of sports crack when the games actually matter most.
That said, you’d be brave to bet against a list with this much experience of being in the big moments. They’ve been here before, they know what finals footy feels like, and that composure could be the difference when the margins get tighter in September… er, whenever finals actually land this year.
Final Word
As much as it pains a Lions supporter to admit it, what North Melbourne have built over the past three seasons is genuinely one of the best stories in AFLW. Three straight minor premierships, a bona fide superstar in Jasmine Garner, and a culture that other clubs are clearly trying to copy. Whether it turns into the flags to match remains the big question, but as a standalone achievement, this three-peat deserves way more credit than it’s getting in the mainstream footy conversation.
Here’s hoping the rest of the comp lifts to meet them, because a dominant North side pushing everyone else to get better is exactly what AFLW needs heading into its next phase of growth.
