The Batemans Bay Seahawks' women's side will play for a spot in the grand final this weekend after a dominant 67-point win over the Queanbeyan Tigers on Saturday, August 9.
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Youngster Claudia Hannan starred with six goals in a best-on-ground display, and Claudia Ferguson chipped in with two goals in an 8.20 (68) to 0.1 (1) victory.
The Seahawks dominated the match from start to finish, rarely letting the Tigers get the ball past halfway, but inaccurate kicking meant to game stayed within reach in the first half.
However, a fourth quarter flurry of four goals put the game out of reach and sent the Seahawks through to a preliminary-final match-up against the ANU Griffins.
Coach Aaron Wickham said the side's inaccuracy was "frustrating", but put it down to nerves in a big game.
"We had some big outs thanks to COVID," he said. "We had our full-forward out, our forward flanker out, we seven out in total.
"I put it on the girls to step up their performance with those girls gone, and they all certainly did that."
All seven players who missed the elimination final through COVID are expected to be healthy for this weekend's game.
Wickham said he'd like to see the side carry the contested, attacking style of footy they played against Queanbeyan through the rest of the finals series as he trusts his backline to do a job.
"We've been pushing attack as our best form of defence," he said. "Whenever I've tried to change things around it just doesn't seem to go our way.
"I back my backline players to beat their opponent every time - we've probably got the best backline in the competition, and our midfield gets back there to help out when they need it.
"They were all pretty composed on the weekend when the pressure was on, and that's what we'll need to see again this week.
"I'm confident if we play our best footy we'll beat ANU, but we've got to bring it. It certainly won't be an easy task, but we're capable of getting it done and playing in a grand final."
Wickham had particularly high praise for his six-goal star Claudia Hannan, who won't turn 18 until next year.
"We got a dispensation for her last year because she was turning 16 during the season," he said.
"She's already one of our most skilful players, and I had a chat with her at the start of the year to say I was expecting big things from her.
"She's come a long way this year, and she's kicked 30 goals which was fourth in the league.
"We've had discussions about her playing AFLW in the future, and we're trying to get her on that path. We've already spoken to the GWS Giants about her, and I think she's a fair chance of being our first player in that competition."