AFLW 2023: North Melbourne ready to shrug off Melbourne domination in qualifying final

The Roos are playing down any animosity towards Melbourne ahead of Sunday’s qualifying final despite the stage being set for the AFLW’s first true Victorian rivalry to keep building.

Even the rash comments from former Melbourne skipper Daisy Pearce this time last year, that intimated that the Roos lure players to Arden Street with free cars, couldn’t get a bite out of the North Melbourne players.

That’s because the Roos know they are on the wrong side of this rivalry.

Melbourne has owned North Melbourne in the past four years, winning every encounter since February 2019, all the way back in a time before Covid lockdowns.

Melbourne has won the last six matches, including last year’s preliminary final.

So North Melbourne ball magnet Ash Riddell had little interest in firing any words into the rivalry.

“Actions I suppose speak louder than words and we need to actually bring it this time and really challenge Melbourne,” she said.

“I think it is a combination of things, like little moments that might break down or we don’t capitalise on certain things. I know last year in the prelim we had an overwhelming amount of inside-50s at one point but couldn’t capitalise and as recently as round 8 (this year) we probably let ourselves down when we played Melbourne and it wasn’t the real North Melbourne football.”

In the Melbourne camp, ruck Lauren Pearce isn’t sure what has been behind the Demon domination of their Victorian rival.

Sometimes things get a little chippy on the field but the two clubs don’t hold any major hatred for each other.

“There can be (talk) during the game, I think it just depends on what the game is like,” Pearce said.

“We don’t have anything against them and we don’t think they do against us.

“You never know what is said behind closed doors or what motivates them for game day.”

Melbourne hasn’t been the only top side to give the Roos trouble, with North Melbourne comfortably beating all other teams this year but losing to each of the fellow top-four clubs.

Riddell shrugged off any thought of being flat-track bullies and said she was certain her team could prove it can match it with the best this finals series.

The Demons hold the flag and the bragging rights but the Roos have it all to prove.

In games against Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane Lions, North Melbourne has averaged just 28.3 points per game and 37.7 against this year.

In all other games, the Roos have averaged 56.1 for and 14.3 against.

“We have got enormous faith that our brand will hold up and each year we are getting closer and closer to those top teams and learning a lot to combat them going forward,” Riddell said.

“I know there is a lot of talk about it but we actually have to bring it and make sure we can really challenge those top teams but I feel like we have got a strong cohesiveness in the group in terms of the connections between the lines.”

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Riddell said her side hasn’t looked any further back than last year’s 17-point loss in the preliminary final for answers to beating Melbourne.

But the losing streak is in the back of their minds and there is only one way to shut up talk of losing when it counts – through actions.

“We know we have some work to do to get on top of them this week,” Riddell said.