‘Battle hardened’ Tigers unfazed by rough patch

Port Adelaide’s form line is in stark contrast to how Richmond finished the home-and-away season, but Katie Brennan says the Tigers’ tough last month has been a blessing in disguise.

The Tigers captain said her side felt “battle hardened” after limping home in seventh spot with a 1-1-2 record over its previous four games.

Of those opponents, only two – Essendon (draw) and Hawthorn (loss) – were finalists, but Brennan said the Tigers believed Geelong and Melbourne were among the top six AFLW sides despite failing to qualify.

Richmond’s seven-point win over the Cats four weeks ago was its most recent victory, but there was no concern at Punt Road over form ahead of Sunday’s elimination final.

Port Adelaide enters the clash on the back of a six-game winning streak since they were beaten by Richmond at Ikon Park in September.

“We feel like we’re sitting in a really good place where we’ve played – in our eyes – probably four of the top six teams coming into (the finals),” Brennan said on Thursday.

“They were four really heated games where we were able to grow our game in different areas, and face some really high pressure situations.

“We feel like we’re battle hardened, and we’ve grown every week because of that (fixture).”

Brennan, who will play her 50th game for Richmond at Alberton Oval on Sunday, has been dealing with an ankle injury she aggravated in the loss to Melbourne but said it would be “perfect” for the final after careful management in the lead-up.

The star forward played closer to goal in the drawn Dreamtime clash against Essendon and kicked 2.3 as Caitlin Greiser was pushed higher up the ground, but Brennan said the shift was not made due to the ankle concern.

“It’s been just managed a little bit along the way. We’ve got an incredible medical team that help … with managing the load along the way, but it’s fine, it’ll be perfect for Sunday,” she said.

“There’s things that we do within our structure here and there. There’s different changes with every team, you throw different things and different looks (at the opposition).”

The Power, who was set to regain star ruck Matilda Scholz and midfielder Abbey Dowrick after they were rested in the one-point win over GWS, has won four on the trot in front of heavily partisan crowds at Alberton.

“There’s no better feeling than finals footy and passionate fans … it’s something that we’ll embrace,” Brennan said.

“We’ve played in front of some crowds before, and it will be no different. We’ll just play to our strengths, focus on us, and really go out there and have some fun.”