IT IS the match-up fans have been waiting for all year.

North Melbourne v Melbourne. Jasmine Garner v Kate Hore. The winner moves on with the hope of landing their club's second ever AFLW flag, and it's all over for the loser.

Where and when: Ikon Park, Saturday November 22, 3.05pm AEDT

Head-to-head: North Melbourne – three wins, Melbourne – six wins

Last time they met: North Melbourne 11.5 (71) def. Melbourne 3.3 (21), week three 2024

It was the first game in North Melbourne's record-breaking 25-game winning streak, as the Roos beat the Demons by 50 points at Casey Fields. Melbourne struggled to adapt to the in-close pressure from North Melbourne, collapsing in, which allowed the Roos to break away from the contest with ease. It was emblematic of the control game that the Roos have made their brand – winning the footy and maintaining forward territory. Ash Riddell earned the three AFLW best and fairest votes for her 32 disposals, 10 tackles and two goals, while Kate Shierlaw was awarded the maximum 10 coaches votes for her career-best five goals. 

KEY MATCH-UP

Jasmine Garner v Kate Hore

While it is unlikely there will be any direct assignments, given both teams' focus on system, but people will no doubt be tuning into this one expecting to see the captains face off for parts of the game. Garner and Hore are similar players – tall midfielders who hit the scoreboard and can reliably take a contested mark.

Melbourne arguably relies more on Hore to shift or gain momentum in game than the Roos do with Garner, given there is more of an even spread at North Melbourne. The latter tends to gain more ground with her disposals (averaging 416.6 metres gained from 27 disposals per game), and sends the ball forward five times a game, while Hore is required to provide coverage across more lines. Often, she will head behind the play when things are getting out of hand, leading to her intercept marking becoming important, and there has been more expectation of her at the contest this year given Liv Purcell's ACL injury thinning out the line.

WHERE IT WILL BE WON

North Melbourne has been excellent at starving the opposition of the footy, averaging 82.2 more disposals than its opponent (an AFLW record), and much of this is uncontested ball. This largely starts at the source – stoppage – and then the control rolls from there, so it is imperative that Melbourne maximises it contested ball strengths. Where the Roos are the best uncontested ball team in the AFLW this year, the Demons are winning more contested possession than any team before. Fighting it out inside the contest is one layer of disrupting North Melbourne's control game.

Another thing Melbourne does especially well is force turnover from the opposition, which is another layer of disrupting the Roos. North Melbourne uses its record disposals numbers at an AFLW-first 67.6 per cent disposal efficiency, so if the Demons can keep that pressure game that forces turnover up, they are well placed to compete.

Notably, North Melbourne is only averaging 1.7 more shots on goal when compared to Melbourne, but the difference is just how efficiently it converts those shots.

Melbourne has gained a lot of confidence from how it managed to battle out last week's semi-final against Adelaide – challenged significantly, and able to turn the tide – and it must carry that into Saturday's match. While there will be a general consensus that this is simply another team the Roos will brush aside on their way to another flag, the Demons need to go in with the belief that they can be the team to end the Roos' streak.

PREDICTION

Unfortunately for the Demons, the road ends here. North Melbourne by 12 points.

NORTH Melbourne has seen off its fiercest rival yet in its 26-game winning streak, fighting tooth and nail to overrun Melbourne by 10 points and qualify for a third consecutive Grand Final.

The Roos trailed by six points coming into the final break, with the Demons – driven by their sterling backline – having played out of their skin in the first three terms.

KANGAROOS v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats

North Melbourne threw everything and the kitchen sink at Melbourne in the last quarter, and it was the sink which finally got them over the line to secure the tough 6.10 (46) to 5.6 (36) victory.

Superstars Ash Riddell and Jas Garner missed snaps in the fourth term, and it seemed like North Melbourne's 26th ship had sailed, but some lightning-fast hands from Alice O'Loughlin set up Blaithin Bogue for her third, Garner found inexplicable space at a forward stoppage, and Melbourne's hearts shattered after its best-ever AFLW performance.

For all the talk of Melbourne's star duo of Kate Hore and Tyla Hanks, it was the wily veteran winger Paxy Paxman who stood tall early, kicking the opener and setting up Ryleigh Wotherspoon for the second, as the Roos were caught back on their heels after a week off.

Melbourne, meanwhile, had the ideal preparation for a tightly fought preliminary final, with match-ups against Brisbane and Adelaide, and Hore's snap got her side to an unlikely 19-point lead 12 minutes into the game, shocking the majority-Roos crowd into an anxious silence.

While Bogue helped reel some of the lead back in with a brace, the Dees still took a surprise seven-point margin into the first break, Tayla Harris putting an exclamation mark on the term with a classic speccy into the back of Ash Riddell, while Eden Zanker mocked crying to Libby Birch, shoving the Roo in the chest after a clash.

Riddell had just four touches in the first term – well down on her usual output – and the Harris mark added salt into the wound, but she converted a crucial set-shot to open the second, the Roos taking the lead for the first time.

Melbourne's backline was absolutely phenomenal, with Tahlia Gillard, Maeve Chaplin, Saraid Taylor and Sinead Goldrick showing nerves of steel overhead and nullifying an out-of-sorts Randall, Emma King and Kate Shierlaw.

But the Dees couldn't quite put the Roos away on the scoreboard, despite more than a few crucial one-on-one wins through the middle of the ground, kicking four behinds to nothing in the tensest of third terms.

Garner’s fourth term was vital, recording 12 disposals, four clearances and three inside 50s (along with the goal) to take her tally to 32 touches for the game, while Riddell had nine touches in the last stanza.

Third-term blues ultimately sink Melbourne
But for a few stray bounces of the footy, there was every chance the Demons would have sent the Roos packing. Wotherspoon's snap drifted just across the face, while Hanks' running shot bounced the wrong side of the post. Melbourne added four points to zero in the third term, but if a few of those efforts had gone true, the Roos' comeback may have been too far an ask.

Cream rises to the top
The spidey senses were tingling when Riddell and Garner missed fourth-term shots, and it seemed like it may not be North Melbourne's day, but Garner rose to the occasion when the game was on the line, her goal proving a bridge too far for Melbourne. Ruby Tripodi provided a handy block on Shelley Heath at the forward stoppage, allowing Garner a step's head start, and she roved Randall's tap to perfection.

Up next
North Melbourne will play in the Grand Final on Saturday evening at Ikon Park, against the winner of Brisbane v Carlton, while it's season over for Melbourne. 

NORTH MELBOURNE     3.1     4.6     4.6     6.10     (46)
MELBOURNE                      4.2     5.2     5.6     5.6     (36)

GOALS
North Melbourne: Bogue 3, Sheerin, Riddell, Garner
Melbourne: Hore 2, Paxman, Wotherspoon, Harris

BEST
North Melbourne: Garner, Kearney, O'Shea, Riddell, Smith
Melbourne: Gillard, Chaplin, Hore, Hanks, Goldrick

INJURIES
North Melbourne: Nil
Melbourne: Nil

Crowd: 7,057 at Ikon Park