Believing at last, the North Melbourne fans stood up as one.
Their side had just stormed into the lead in the third quarter of the AFLW grand final against Brisbane. Under the sweeping roof of the Legends Stand at Ikon Park – the past-meets-future ground in Melbourne’s inner north – they popped up in bays, one after the other. Cheering, clapping, screaming. Bouncing like, well, Kangaroos.
They had just witnessed three holding-the-ball calls paid right in front of them. Two goals. A seven point margin. And all the momentum heading into the final term.
This was the club’s first grand final since 1999. After a procession of coaches had marched in and out of Arden Street in recent years. After Covid robbed them of a chance of an AFLW flag in 2020. Finally, the Shinboner spirit had been seemingly rediscovered. Had it been hiding in Carlton all this time?
Right then and there, everything about the AFLW made sense. The modest-sized venue was packed, producing a vibrant atmosphere. One got the impression this match meant something. As the marketers say: cut supply, make demand.
That sentiment was only enhanced in stark juxtaposition to the cavernous Adelaide Oval on Saturday night, where the WBBL cricket final took place. Both matches were superb, compelling, edge-of-your-seat-till-the-end contests. But the tens of thousands of empty chairs staring back at some of the world’s best women cricketers did them a disservice.
The AFL’s head of women’s football Nicole Livingstone had received criticism for not moving the AFLW decider to Marvel Stadium or a ground that could mean fewer fans would miss out on tickets. Ultimately, this sparkling occasion vindicated her decision.
But the experience on Sunday shows how women’s footy is finding it hard to fit into the AFL’s broader infrastructure strategy. Ikon Park’s use as the home of AFLW represents a conundrum for Livingstone’s successor.
On one hand, it is one of Melbourne’s better traditional suburban grounds. Relatively central, with transport not too far away. Rarely does an AFLW game push past its modest capacity. And it has seen recent investment. The Victorian government spent $20m, and the feds another $15m, on a refurb of the ground in the past four years.
However, the lack of amenity for footy fans was obvious on Sunday, the first AFLW grand final in Melbourne since 2018. Much of the money appears to have gone into Carlton’s headquarters, lights and player facilities. Watching an AFLW decider unfold in a goal square underneath a three-storey-high Carlton logo suggest this choice of venue is based on convenience rather than design.
The Gardiner Stand is adjacent, its corrugated roof rusting, and its ‘yes’ Optus paintwork fading (albeit slower than the company’s reputation). It’s a delight to look at, a nod to football’s past and now more than 110 years old. But it is closed to spectators.
Further along, the Heroes Stand is just four decades old but the attendees on Sunday had already forgotten it existed. It took a first quarter announcement on the PA to remind general admission ticket holders that there was plenty of space in the top tier – they just needed to walk up the four flights of stairs.
The concrete terrace in front of the stands is a maze. And the subterranean tunnels linking much of the ground a mix of dead-ends and bottlenecks.
Just as pop star G-Flip had finished her pre-match routine, the line at one food outlet was blocking a thoroughfare. It took a stern word from Livingtone herself, perusing the outer on her final match day in charge, for the bewildered vendor to implement some basic safety protocols.
After the siren, the premiership coach Craig Starcevich said large stadiums help create better quality of play because they kept the elements at bay. Ikon Park, he believed, wasn’t there yet, but was moving in the right direction. “Here, with maybe another five [thousand] in it, once they completely fix the place up, will be spot on I reckon.” It’s not clear when that might be.
The fans had arrived, not for the ground, but for the occasion. Like the two women from New Zealand in their 20s, Natasha and Michelle. The latter’s expectations? “Nothing. I’m a rugby league person.”
There was the principal at the school North Melbourne midfielder Ash Riddell used to work at (and her mum still does): “We’re here to support her, we go back a long way.”
There was teenager Eloise, and her group of five friends. “We thought it would be pretty cool to come to the footy, now that there’s no other footy on. And it would be pretty cool to watch a grand final.”
There were 12,616 in all. And not one had left this pulsating duel before what proved to be a riveting fourth quarter.
The Kangaroos might have had the lead, but the Brisbane Lions know a thing or two about grand finals. This was their fifth in eight AFLW seasons.
Into the final term and they held the ball on the left wing for the first three minutes. A bruising strong-arm from Isabel Dawes on the boundary line allowed her to find Dakota Davidson for a mark and goal. Then Davidson again with a contested mark. And all of a sudden Brisbane were clear, and before long, premiers for the second time.
For the long-suffering Kangaroos fans, only the consolation that they were part of a brilliant spectacle. Lions’ captain, proud Queenslander and best-on-ground, Bre Koenan left to summarise their plight: “I know how shit that feels.”
