‘Enjoy the journey’: philosophy key to Kangas’ success
Shayne Hope |
North Melbourne star Ash Riddell has credited coach Darren Crocker with keeping the all-conquering team focused and humble throughout a remarkable winning streak that has yielded back-to-back AFLW premierships.
The Kangaroos broke new ground as the first side to win consecutive flags in the women’s competition with a 40-point thrashing of fellow heavyweights the Brisbane Lions at Ikon Park on Saturday night.
In doing so, they extended their record-breaking winning streak to 27 matches and unbeaten run to 29, following their most recent loss in the 2023 grand final.
Pressure built throughout the 2025 campaign and multiple players admitted nerves got the better of them early in their preliminary final against Melbourne.
But the Kangaroos never got ahead of themselves in pursuit of unprecedented glory, even banning the phrase “back-to-back” until they had lifted the premiership cup.
“It comes down to Crock. His philosophy is ‘enjoy the journey’ and that was week by week,” Riddell said.
“We don’t really care about the streaks because they mean nothing if you don’t win the premiership.
“It was really important we stuck to our identity and our trademark footy and Crock’s the real driver of that.”
An expansion team in 2019, North initially struggled to overcome the AFLW’s ‘big three’ clubs Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne.
They fell to the Lions in the 2023 grand final before embarking on their unbeaten run, which now includes two wins over the same opponents in premiership deciders.
“We probably just didn’t hold ourselves accountable enough,” Riddell said.
“Now we’ve developed a really good leadership program … and developed this confidence that’s evidence-based.
“We’re confident but it’s not just through making up numbers or trying to force things.
“We’ve actually got the evidence behind it and the stats to back it up.”
The result was a “perfect” 2025 season, when the Kangaroos went 12-0 through the home-and-away campaign and won three straight finals to claim the flag.
They also dominated the individual awards, with Riddell winning the league’s best-and-fairest and AFL Coaches Association player of the year.
Jasmine Garner was named All-Australian captain and AFL Players Association MVP, while Crocker was the AFLCA senior coach of the year.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing, which made their ultimate victory all the more sweet.
“We had a lot of struggles this year with injuries and it was probably harder to win it this year than last year,” Riddell said.
“Aside from (Emma) Kearney’s injury last year we sort of went unchanged most of the season.
“This year we had late changes and there were some real quality players that missed the grand final.
“We had to dig deep within our squad, which tested us at times, and this one’s pretty special.”
Riddell set new records for most disposals in a match three times during the home-and-away season and broke the grand final record with 39 touches against the Lions.
But the 29-year-old insisted she didn’t know she had set another new mark.
“I wouldn’t have a clue. I just cared about getting the win and capping off a good week,” Riddell said.
AAP
