AFLW premiership favourites Brisbane have done it easy in their qualifying final, cruising to a 17-point victory over Richmond at Carrara Stadium.

The Tigers, who were making their AFLW finals debut after entering the competition in 2020, defended valiantly but were outclassed by the Lions on Saturday.

The minor premiers' only loss for the season came against Richmond at Punt Rd Oval back in September, and the Lions were determined to turn the tables.

Richmond captain Katie Brennan snapped a terrific goal to level the scores after five minutes but Brisbane controlled most of the contest from there to prevail 5.9 (39) to 3.4 (22).

The commanding victory allows the Lions to have a week off and progress to a home preliminary final as they seek to win their second AFLW premiership.

Brisbane had winners all across the ground and were able to curb the influence of star Tigers midfielder Mon Conti, who is favourite to claim her first league best-and-fairest award later this month.

Lions spearhead Jesse Wardlaw opened the scoring to become the first player to kick 20 goals in an AFLW season.

Goals to Cathy Svarc, Sophie Conway and Dakota Davidson blew the game open in the second term as the Lions took a 22-point lead into half-time.

Brisbane dominated inside-50s 36-22 and could have won by more if they had kicked straighter and the Tigers' defence was not so resilient.

"Really stoked to get the dub (win), not just to get to the prelim but also to get the win back over the Tigers," Conway told the Seven Network.

"We had a disappointing loss to them in round five so we wanted to come back out here and play our brand of footy and our style.

"I felt like we did that for parts of today but maybe not all four quarters."

Reigning league best-and-fairest winner Emily Bates and fellow Lions premiership player Ally Anderson were the leading possession winners on the ground with 21 each.

Richmond looked more threatening in the final quarter as Brennan added to her major in the first term with two more to finish with all three of the Tigers' goals.

Other Richmond players had gilt-edged opportunities to reduce the deficit even further but they were still able to win the final quarter.

North stay alive in thriller against Cats

North Melbourne have withstood a barrage of Geelong inside 50s to win their AFLW elimination final by two points.

A week after the Cats kicked the second-highest score in league history, they were kept to their second-lowest score of the season as the Kangaroos grimly held on 2.4 (16) to 1.8 (14) on Saturday night at Kardinia Park.

Having ended Geelong's season, North will now play Richmond next week in a semi-final.

"We were actually really lucky to hold onto that, Geelong were outstanding," heroic North captain Emma Kearney told the Seven Network.

Kearney returned from injury and with her right knee strapped heavily, she marshalled the North defence off half-back.

Trailing by four points at quarter-time, the Cats took control and had 40 inside 50s to 18 for the match.

But the Kangaroos laid 82 tackles, 17 of which from defender Amy Smith, to Geelong's 57 as their defence refused to yield.

No goals were kicked from the last minute of the first quarter, despite ideal conditions.

With less than two minutes left, Geelong's Shelley Scott marked in a pocket and was well within range, but she scored a behind.

Another shot from Scott a few seconds later was rushed through for a behind.

Kearney then earned a crucial 50m penalty after the kickout to clear the ball to the wing and secure a hard-fought win.

A week after Richmond's Meg Macdonald sat on her in a masterful lockdown role, North ball magnet Jasmine Garner returned to form with 23 possessions and eight tackles.