Lowly Collingwood have extinguished the Brisbane Lions' AFLW finals hopes in thrilling fashion on Sunday as they beat their more-fancied opponents by six points at Victoria Park.
After the Magpies opened up a 17-point lead in the second quarter the Lions then hit eight of the last 10 scoring shots.
But they could only manage one goal during that run, their wastefulness ultimately cost them a preliminary final appearance.
The Lions needed to beat the previously winless Magpies to replace Geelong in the top two of Conference B but Collingwood hung on for a 3.7 (25) to 2.7 (19) result, their first victory in 364 days.
"It's a bitter pill to swallow when you have so much play in the second half and you can't capitalise - they're the worst games of footy to put to one side, so that'll linger for a bit ... we blew it, that's the end result," Lions coach Craig Starcevich said
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Geelong will now join Carlton in the finals next week from the inferior Conference B.
While the Magpies managed to avoid the ignominy of becoming the first team in AFLW history to go through a season without a win, they still finished 2019 with the worst win-loss record achieved by any team (1-6).
But that didn't stop the Collingwood players from celebrating their drought-breaking victory post-match.
"Our first half today was exceptional and some of the best footy we've played all season and in the second half we knew Brisbane who were playing for a finals spot ... we withstood their pressure and held on late in the game, " coach Wayne Siekman said.
"It was just great to see these players put in so much effort and work to get reward."
Making the result even more meritorious for Collingwood was that their star player Jaimee Lambert (16 disposals and one goal) suffered a head knock in the opening moments of the final quarter and took no further part in the game due to concussion.
Sarah D'Arcy was also instrumental for the Magpies with 20 touches, 11 marks and two goals while teammate Ash Brazill played arguably her best match of the season in defence and ended up with 23 disposals.
Jacqui Yorston was Brisbane's best with 22 touches and eight tackles and she was ably supported by Lauren Arnell (21 and five tackles) and Alexandra Anderson (18 and six).
