After losing six grand finals since their inception in 2003, including five in the past eight seasons, the Lions finally tasted success in AFL Canberra’s division two women’s competition.

Following years of grand final heartache, coach Jed Lawton was thrilled to lead the side to 3.9 (27) to 3.4 (22) victory.

“It was terrific,” Lawton said.

“It is such a great thing for the club and everyone who has put in over the years – they finally have something to cheer about.”

Coming into the clash, both sides have only lost once for the season.

They had split their two home and away games and were the two standout teams in the competition.

Both sides were level at half-time and despite going into the final quarter down a goal, Lawton thought their defensive pressure in the third quarter was the difference.

“It was played in quarters and the third quarter belonged to them,” he said.

“We defended for probably 15 minutes out of the 20 and realistically that is where we won the game.

“They only managed one goal for the period and with the final score, where three goals wins the game, if we go in at three-quarter time two or three goals down instead of one goal down then the game is probably over.

“The amount of pressure the girls in the back line absorbed in the last quarter was just sensation.

“We then got a run out of the middle early in the last quarter, managed to turn it on and do the same thing to them – we kept it down our end for a fair amount of the last quarter and managed to get the score on the board.”

It was fitting one of the club’s stalwarts Kristin Ireland kicked the winning goal.

Ireland has played over 200 games for the club, but her moment proved decisive as the Lions dominated possession in the last quarter.

After being named best in the league, Eliza Oates was named best in the final.

However defenders Jack Powell, Nic Keir and Erin Tierney all put in strong performances as did Sarah Shaw in the middle and Georgina Bennett up forward.

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