Roxy Roux, Mim Strom to wait for shot at booking AFLW final as Fremantle vs Adelaide game delayed to April 2

Fremantle’s local stars Mim Strom and Roxy Roux will have to wait an extra week for their shot at booking a spot for the big dance. They will play their preliminary final against Adelaide on April 2 after the AFL announced on Tuesday the finals series had been pushed back by a week. The league said the qualifier between Brisbane and Collingwood would now be played on March 27 instead of March 19 after multiple Collingwood players were not able to participate due to health and safety protocols. The preliminary finals — Melbourne vs the winner of the qualifier and Fremantle vs the Crows — would now both be played on April 2 before an April 9 grand final, it said. The highest ranked AFLW team at the end of the 2022 NAB AFL women’s finals series will earn the hosting rights of the NAB AFLW grand final. Nicole Livingstone, the league’s general manager for women’s football, said they had worked through the process with the clubs. “We are pleased to be able to provide certainty to the W community and confirm the arrangements,” Livingstone said. “The health and safety of everyone in the competition remains the highest priority. “We couldn’t be prouder of the commitment from both clubs and everyone across the competition for the role they have played despite the many challenges we’ve faced.” Freo swept past North Melbourne on Sunday to book their date against Adelaide. They had appeared to stumble with two rounds of the regular season to go, going down to Melbourne in a record-setting 88-point loss with Roux an injury absence up forward. She returned for the final home-and-away game as the Dockers put the screws on the Gold Coast Suns, 7.4 (46) to 0.9 (9), just missing out on a home final on percentage. Roux then stepped up to boot a goal on Sunday as Freo cruised past the Kangaroos, 11.3 (69) to 4.7 (31), putting in a characteristic lively performance up forward. Throughout, Strom has stood tall in the ruck contest and the burden was once again back on her shoulders after the player the Dockers brought in to spell her in the contest, Sarah Wielstra, went off injured against the Kangaroos. Despite fighting a lone battle, Strom’s threat was such that the Roos disrupted their structure, moving Emma King back to stand up against her after starting ruck Kim Rennie was concussed in the second quarter. Dockers coach Trent Cooper said he felt the team was building nicely. “We had a tough run for a few weeks, but we felt we were really building,” he said. “Coming back to Victoria was great, we’re five from five this year. “We made sure we kept our structure today, and I’m really proud of how the forwards managed to do that.” The finals series will be broadcast live on the Seven Network.