The Brisbane Lions have booked their place in a home preliminary final after a comfortable 5.9 (39) to 3.4 (22) win over Richmond.
The minor premiers claimed a 17-point win over the Tigers at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.
Richmond hadn’t lost since the first week of September and came out firing in the opening term before Brisbane pulled away in the second quarter.
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Brisbane’s Cathy Svarc was rewarded for an impressive follow-up tackle when one of her teammates pulled the wool over the umpire’s eyes.
After the free kick was called, Richmond’s Eilish Sheerin put the ball right into the hands of Brisbane’s Sophie Conway, who immediately dropped the ball and appealed to the umpire with her arms outstretched for a 50m penalty for not giving the ball back.
Sure enough, the umpire was fooled and Svarc advanced 50m and easily slotted through Brisbane’s first goal of the second quarter.
Conway bobbed up later in the quarter when a fellow Lions forward was awarded a free kick but Conway quickly swooped on the loose ball, the umpire called advantage and she waltzed into an open goal.
The Lions dominated the second and third quarters, taking a 29-point lead into the final term that was always going to be tough to reel in.
Richmond’s Katie Brennan kicked three goals on a tough day for the Tigers, who will next face the winner of the game between Geelong and North Melbourne.
Brisbane will have a week off before taking on the winner of Adelaide’s match against either Collingwood or the Western Bulldogs in a preliminary final.
On Friday, Melbourne booked its place in the other preliminary final with a 21-point win over reigning premiers Adelaide.
