Zippy Fish has played a starring role as Sydney fought off a spirited challenge from Fremantle to win by 25 points and stay undefeated in the AFLW season.
Flashy half-back Fish kicked her career-first goal as the Swans made it four wins on the trot with a 9.8 (62) to 6.7 (37) result at Henson Park on Sunday.
Emerging as early flag fancies, the Swans kicked four goals to none in the third quarter after an evenly-matched opening half to set up their longest winning streak in the AFLW.
Fish combined well with Swans captain Chloe Molloy (two goals) in attack, while ball magnet Laura Gardiner led the way with 35 touches.
Mim Strom was massive for the Dockers with 15 hitouts, 24 touches and 11 clearances against Swans counterpart Ally Morphett (13 hitouts).
The 23-year-old Dockers ruck was well-supported by Kiara Bowers, who had 22 disposals.
Exciting first-year player Fish had gifted Sydney a one-point lead at quarter-time with her first goal.
It was a fitting start for Western Australia product Fish — a Larrakia, Noongar, Wongi and Wirangu woman — to mark Indigenous round.
The Swans could only build their advantage to three points despite more magic from captain Molloy.
Molloy fought off two Fremantle defenders at the boundary line and got the ball home with a soccer kick from the tightest of angles.
The Dockers had opportunities to take the lead after a Tunisha Kikoak goal but the visitors could only add five behinds.
Sydney came out firing after halftime and finally broke away by 31 points after slamming through four unanswered goals.
Fish had flaunted her pace to burn competition heavyweight Hayley Miller down the corridor and set up Molloy’s second goal.
Gabrielle Biedenweg-Webster hit the scoreboard for Fremantle in the final quarter but it was too late.
Lions break Adelaide hearts after downfield free kick
Taylor Smith’s late goal from a downfield free kick has given the Brisbane Lions a stunning three-point AFLW comeback win over Adelaide.
The Lions trailed by 17 points at the final change but kicked three unanswered goals in the last quarter of their 6.5 (41) to 6.2 (38) victory at Norwood Oval on Sunday.
Crows midfielder Teah Charlton gifted Smith a simple shot at the top of the goal square when she was penalised for a late push on Shannon Campbell.
Smith converted the chance with little more than a minute left and Brisbane hung on in the desperate final stages.
Charlton was in tears after the siren and had to be consoled by teammates.
“It was the hard work of the girls up the field and I was just the lucky one to get it down the field,” Smith said of her match-winning goal.
“We love playing Adelaide. They’re great competitors and really classy opposition.
“We’ve all got to know them pretty well now, so we just enjoy the competition and enjoy the fight.”
The result extended Brisbane’s dominance of their fellow AFLW heavyweights to 11 wins from 14 meetings.
Six of those clashes have been decided by margins of one goal or less.
The Crows players walk off the field dejected after the heartbreaking loss. (Getty Images: Mark Brake)
The latest battle was played with a finals-like intensity from the outset, with the hosts on top early.
Adelaide kicked the first two goals, including a brilliant Eloise Jones strike from the boundary line after she beat Sophie Conway to a loose ball.
The lead changed four times in an entertaining second term and the Crows looked to have built a match-winning margin in the third when they kicked 2.1 to 0.1.
Goals to Courtney Hodder and Charlotte Mullins dragged Brisbane back into the contest in the last quarter and tempers flared with the game on the line.
Adelaide star Chelsea Randall caught Hodder holding the ball and the Lions goalsneak was furious, shoving several opponents and giving away a 50m penalty.
The game went down to the wire and Smith stood up in the decisive moment, with Brisbane holding their opponents scoreless in the final term.
Smith, Hodder and Mullins finished with two goals each for Brisbane, while Ally Anderson (22 disposals), Jade Ellenger (22) and defensive rock Bre Koenen (18) were influential.
Randall kicked two majors for Adelaide, who were well served by gun midfielder Ebony Marinoff (23 disposals, five clearances).
The result left Brisbane and Adelaide with 2-2 records after four rounds.
Cats end losing streak as Prespakis stars
Geelong has snapped Essendon’s three-game winning streak and ended their own agonising wait for their first AFLW victory of the season with a 31-point win.
Winless across the opening three rounds, the Cats dominated from the outset at Windy Hill and never gave up the lead on the way to an 8.10 (58) to 4.3 (27) victory on Sunday amid blustery conditions.
Georgie Prespakis stole the show with two goals, 33 disposals and seven clearances to also claim family bragging rights over older sister and Essendon star Maddy.
The younger Prespakis put an exclamation mark on the win with an after-the-siren goal.
Star defender Claudia Gunjaca was a late out with a toe injury, but her absence mattered little as Mikayla Bowen combined well with Prespakis with 24 touches.
Aishling Moloney (two goals) and Jackie Parry (three) formed a formidable pairing in attack, combining for 14 marks.
So dominant were the Cats that they finished with 44 to 21 forward entries.
Georgia Gee kicked two goals to lead an understrength Bombers attack — without co-captain Bonnie Toogood and Daria Bannister — while Georgia Nanscawen (31 disposals, six clearances) worked desperately to keep the hosts alive.
While Essendon will regain Toogood after the co-captain served a two-match dangerous tackle suspension, Bannister is expected to miss at least three weeks with a fractured hand.
But the Bombers will also sweat the fitness of midfielder Brooke Walker and co-captain Steph Cain, who suffered knee injuries in the final quarter.
Two quick goals from Parry and Nina Morrison put Geelong on the front foot but the visitors should have taken more than an 11-point lead at quarter-time.
Challenged against the wind, the Cats kicked 2.5 to Gee’s one goal in the first quarter.
Geelong could only extend their advantage by six points at halftime as the Bombers struggled to move the ball forward.
The Cats then broke out to a 23-point lead when Parry kicked her third.
Moloney continued proceedings for Geelong with the first major of the fourth quarter before Maddy Prespakis slotted a consolation goal for the Bombers.
Riddell dominates as North remains the team to beat
Ash Riddell has put on another midfield masterclass as North Melbourne continued their winning ways with a 45-point AFLW triumph over Collingwood at Arden Street.
In the absence of fellow star Jasmine Garner, Riddell stood tall with 36 disposals, eight clearances, seven tackles and 401m gained on Sunday to power her side to the 8.10 (58) to 2.1 (13) win.
The result extended North Melbourne’s winning run to 16 matches, their unbeaten run to 18 matches, and improved their 2025 record to 4-0 with a percentage of 492.1.
Collingwood are now 1-3 and face a battle to make the finals.
North Melbourne won the inside 50m count a whopping 48-25, with the Magpies not registering their first score until early in the third quarter.
Riddell had plenty of help from Ruby Tripodi (29 disposals) and Mia King (26 disposals, seven clearances, one goal) in a dominant effort by the Kangaroos.
Tarni White led the way for Collingwood with 26 disposals, 10 marks and 535m gained.
North Melbourne thumped Fremantle by a record 100 points last week.
But with the wind so strong on Sunday that goalposts were swaying and kicks continually missed their targets, a repeat scoreline to that extent was never on the cards.
North Melbourne scored the only goal of the first quarter via King, and the Riddell-inspired Kangaroos continued to flex their muscles in the second term.
Forward Tahlia Randall, who dislocated a finger in the first quarter, produced a nice lead to kick North’s second goal of the match.
But it was a run-and-stun effort from Gaelic star Vikki Wall that was the highlight of the match.
Wall collected the bouncing ball at full pace in the centre of the ground before setting off for a run.
After taking an awkward-looking bounce, Wall combined with fellow Irish teammate Blaithin Bogue for a running one-two before giving the ball to Bogue again for an easy goal.
The 22-0 half-time scoreline didn’t make for pretty reading for Collingwood, but the door slightly opened for a comeback when Kalinda Howarth scored the Magpies’ first goal at the seven-minute mark of the third quarter.
That door was swiftly slammed shut as the Kangaroos scored three goals in the space of three minutes to extend the margin to 38 points by the final change.
In the final match of the round, West Coast came back from 17 points down early in the third quarter to defeat the Power 10.4 (64) to 7.3 (45).
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