{"id":300436,"date":"2023-11-25T11:39:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T11:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=300436"},"modified":"2023-11-25T11:39:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-25T11:39:02","slug":"cats-heartbroken-as-lions-advance-to-fifth-aflw-grand-final-in-a-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/rugby-league\/cats-heartbroken-as-lions-advance-to-fifth-aflw-grand-final-in-a-thriller\/","title":{"rendered":"Cats heartbroken as Lions advance to fifth AFLW grand final in a thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Save articles for later<\/h3>\n<p>Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n<p>The Brisbane Lions are through to their fifth AFLW grand final after surviving a giant scare from Geelong to pip the Cats in a four-point thriller.<\/p>\n<p>Heavy favourites to advance, the Lions had everything thrown at them in Saturday night\u2019s preliminary final by the plucky Cats at their Springfield headquarters.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.234%2C$multiply_0.7725%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_2%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/6eb51a0baf72802055e9824698b1cf3b9f24ef87\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Jade Ellenger, Shannon Campbell and Poppy Boltz of the Lions celebrate during the win over the Cats.<\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>AFL Photos<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>But after losing the lead five minutes into the final term, the Lions reclaimed their advantage when star defender Shannon Campbell moved forward and kicked what would be the winning goal with six minutes remaining.<\/p>\n<p>The Lions held on grimly in the dying stages to prevail 6.2 (38) to win 5.4 (34), setting up a meeting with the winner of Sunday\u2019s clash between North Melbourne and Adelaide in the grand final.<\/p>\n<p>They will get an opportunity to redeem themselves after losing last year\u2019s decider to Melbourne during the Lions\u2019 opening of their new Michael Voss Oval base.<\/p>\n<p>The win looks to have come at a cost for the Lions, however, with the key forward Dakota Davidson appearing to suffer a suspected serious left knee injury in the dying stages of the third term.<\/p>\n<p>Davidson, who booted two of the Lions\u2019 goals, was inconsolable on the bench and will undergo scans to determine the damage.<\/p>\n<p>The Lions will be forced to find alternate avenues to goal without Davidson if they are to win their second AFLW premiership, and first since 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Courtney Hodder and Charlotte Mullins kicked early goals, while Orla O\u2019Dwyer also slotted an important major for the Lions.<\/p>\n<p>Lions hard nut Isabel Dawes put in a super third quarter to finish as the leading possession winner on the ground with 22 touches.<\/p>\n<p>The result ends a brave run for Geelong, who fell agonisingly short of reaching the club\u2019s first AFLW decider after upsetting reigning premiers Melbourne in last week\u2019s semi-final.<\/p>\n<p>The Cats have never won an AFLW post-season match until beating Essendon in an elimination final a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n<p>Young midfield star Georgie Prespakis was typically important, as was Nina Morrison, to give the Cats an enormous chance of causing a boilover.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. <\/i><\/b><b><i>Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/i><\/b><b><i>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<h2>Most Viewed in Sport<\/h2>\n<h3>From our partners<\/h3>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/sport\/afl\/cats-heartbroken-as-lions-advance-to-fifth-aflw-grand-final-in-a-thriller-20231125-p5emsp.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. The Brisbane Lions <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cats heartbroken as Lions advance to fifth AFLW grand final in a thriller - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/rugby-league\/cats-heartbroken-as-lions-advance-to-fifth-aflw-grand-final-in-a-thriller\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cats heartbroken as Lions advance to fifth AFLW grand final in a thriller - Sportstons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. 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