SATURDAY'S premiership triumph may have been third time lucky for Brisbane, but it was '10th time's the charm' for midfielder Ally Anderson.
The 27-year-old had previously played in nine Grand Final deciders going through the ranks in her football career, and had been jokingly banned by coach Craig Starcevich from mentioning any possible hint of bad luck.
2021 AFLW GRAND FINAL Full match coverage and stats
"If I knew it felt like this, I would have tried a bit harder," Anderson told womens.afl in the aftermath of the 18-point victory over Adelaide.
"It's so surreal, it doesn't feel like it's sunk in. Straight after the game, it feels like it's gone so fast, and everyone's up and about in the changerooms now, they haven't stopped for the past hour.
"I've definitely felt what the Adelaide Crows now feel, it's really hard to sit on the ground and watch the winning team get their medals, I'm just glad today it was our turn."
Anderson was one of Brisbane's best on the day, finishing second in the best-on-ground count behind Kate Lutkins and recording 23 disposals and four marks.
"This is my fifth year now. My first two years, as a player and a person, I was extremely quiet and not at my full potential," she said.
"I feel like today I gave everything I had for this team and I'm just so much more invested in it, I'm so happy we've finally got the W(in) and I hope it's the first of many more to come."
The Lion was going up against the likes of Ebony Marinoff, Anne Hatchard and Erin Phillips in an intriguing midfield battle.
'THE DECISION WAS MADE FOR ME' Retiring premiership skipper gets fairytale finish
"We put the direct match-up (Cathy Svarc) on Ebony Marinoff, she had such an incredible game last week and she's too damaging when she gets up and about. Not only that, but she feeds out to Hatchard, and she's right at the coalface. That was such a key match-up going into it," Anderson said.
"Emily Bates was to keep an eye on Erin Phillips in the stoppages, not a direct tag, but if you're told to match up on Erin Phillips, you're always going to be a bit nervous. But Emily went into it fully confident and said she was going to play off her, and she was incredible.
FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED Hodder is made for the big stage, captains curse strikes again
"As a midfield, we wanted it so bad. All these incredible midfields that we've versed all year – and we're not often talked about, we just go and do our own thing.
"We're not the highest clearance team or the most polished team, but we have been underrated as a midfield this year.
"It just shows you don't need a few stars in the midfield, you just need to do your job and play as a team. We love each other, pump each other up and I absolutely love it."
