When this game occurs it will have been a full week since Essendon last won a final. I think that’s waaaaaay too long.
Thanks to the 6th-place Sainters 
beating the 3rd-place Port, this game is a double-chancer. Winner proceeds to the Grand Final, loser to the Preliminary.
EDIT: might be the boys 
FARK YOU COVID.
Hopefully they reward the girls who don’t have a freaking semi-final to play.
Probably the match day thread?
AFL reporting the game will be at Olympic Park Oval … I guess they’re assuming an Essendon-Collingwood semi-final will not draw a crowd.
2nd most exciting game on OP this year!
It only just occurred to me that Twomey is probably talking about the boys, not the girls. The outstanding Vic Metro girls’ game is versus Queensland, not the Allies.
I may have a narrow focus.
Good news/bad news, @Hoffy.
Note that the 2021 NAB AFLW Draft Combine is set to be held on Sunday July 18 – so I say we need to win this week, so we don’t have to field a team on prelim final weekend!
To be expected, good news for us.
12pm at Vic Park Sat 10th
Semi-Final is confirmed for 12pm Saturday at Victoria Park against the Pies.
WARFRadio.com will have the call from 11am.
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I have not seen either of the Cats-Pies matches, both of which had loooong periods where the Pies failed/struggled to score (e.g. one score in >70 minutes last week). Not sure whether to give most of the credit to the Cats (they kept us to two goals as well).
I think the Willy social media person must have joined us since the end of round 14. So much material!
By Lucy Watkin
A SPOT in the VFLW Grand Final is on the line for Collingwood and Essendon in the second semi final at Victoria Park.
Both sides played out thrilling games in the first week of finals with Collingwood defeating Geelong by six points and Essendon knocking Casey Demons out of the finals by just three points.
The last time these two sides met the Bombers led the Pies by two points at half-time before Collingwood was able to break away to take a 10-point win at The Hangar in round eight.
Last week the Magpies dominated the clearances against the Cats with Marla Neal and Mikala Cann the key winners at the coalface, collecting eight and six respectively.
Marla Neal tackles Elizabeth Hosking in the VFLW 2021 qualifying final. Picture: AFL Photos
Pressure around the ball will be key for the Bombers with their contested work immense against Casey. They lay the most tackles of any side in the first week of finals with 109 for the game, 32 more than the next best, Geelong.
Captain Georgia Nanscawen was a main driver of that pressure for the Bombers with 12 tackles. Nascawen had a best on ground display against Casey and she may find Magpie Ebony O’Dea, who has become one of the AFLW’s best taggers, playing on her this week.
For Collingwood a loss in the semi-final would not be unfamiliar territory after going down to the Western Bulldogs in the corresponding game in 2019, before going on to win the flag that year.
Essendon has been duly rewarded with a second chance for their stirring victory over the Demons. A win to go straight through to the Grand Final in its first ever VFLW Finals Series would be a great story for the underdogs.
