NORTH MELBOURNE 1.2 (8)
DAREBIN 3.6 (24)
DAREBIN bettered last year’s win tally and moved to within percentage of the rebel VFLW top six after beating North Melbourne at Aegis Park for the second time in two seasons on Sunday.
The Falcons started well in difficult conditions, with Emma Mackay kicking truly in the eighth minute to give them a seven-point lead before the game turned into a tough slog, with the home team managing just a solitary behind in the first half.
In fact it was almost 37 minutes before the next major came when Jess Mourney put the Kangaroos on the board four minutes into the third term and the result was in the balance with the visitors in front 9-7 at the final change.
Challenged by coach Kate Tyndall, Darebin responded with Sabine Cowley du Parquet earning some breathing space after just 77 seconds and Rachel Hibbert adding another on eight minutes to seal the 16-point victory as the Falcons held the Kangaroos to their lowest VFLW score in their 18th match overall to leave them winless after four rounds.
Darebin won despite losing disposals 235-218, hitouts 31-30 and marks 57-47, squaring or winning the crucial inside-50s (30-30) and clearances (23-22) categories – and as with the comeback win over Williamstown in Round 1, it was experience that got the job done just a week after it was held to just two behinds by Hawthorn.
Angelica Gogos was in everything for the Falcons with 22 disposals, 10 tackles, seven clearances and five inside-50s, Nicole Callinan had 19, seven marks, seven tackles, five inside-50s and four rebound-50s and Alyssa Mifsud contributed 17, five clearances, three inside-50s, four rebounds and nine hitouts in support of ruck Sally Lynch (21 hitouts).
2018 Lambert-Pearce medallist Jess Duffin did everything in her power to keep North Melbourne in it in a rare appearance at VFLW level as she mopped up across half back, putting her hand up for a quick recall to the AFLW team with 27 disposals, 10 marks and eight rebounds, while Annabel Scott (24, eight marks, four clearances) and Sarah Skinner (20, four marks, six inside-50s) also had fine days and Elizabeth McGrath (28 hitouts), Perri King (nine tackles), Tess Craven (six inside-50s) and Mietta McDonald (five rebounds) also did their jobs.
GEELONG 3.1 (19)
SOUTHERN SAINTS 6.3 (39)
SOUTHERN Saints completed an impressive double and announced themselves as a premiership contender with a convincing 20-point triumph over Geelong in wet conditions at Deakin University on Saturday.
Having already ended Collingwood’s 18-match winning streak at Victoria Park in Round 1, the Saints looked the better team from start to finish and conceded just one behind in the second half to inflict the Cats’ first defeat of the season.
The Saints kicked clear early in the second quarter, leading by 12 points when Renee Saulitis beat two Geelong opponents with sheer pace and charged away to goal before the home team hit back through Melissa Bragg and Mia Skinner to square the scores at half time.
Saulitis kicked her second to regain the lead early in the third and Southern held Geelong scoreless for the term, and her third sealed the deal in the dying seconds to record her team’s first win over their rivals in six VFLW attempts and its highest score against the Cats while inflicting the biggest home loss in the 29 games they’ve played down the highway.
The Saints gained the upper hand out of the middle, winning clearances 37-17 despite losing the hitouts 33-16 as Renee Caris got the better of third-gamer Sarah Black 23-14 from the taps.
Hannah Stuart was the catalyst in that role for the visitors, winning a game-high eight clearances while also laying nine tackles and picking up 29 disposals in a best-on-ground display, while Alana Woodward wasn’t far behind with 24 possessions, seven tackles and four clearances and Saulitis’ crucial three goals were backed up by two to Amelia Peck.
Tamara Smith was wonderful for Geelong and should rival Stuart for the top coaches votes, picking up 33 disposals, five marks and four clearances while also working hard the other way with 11 tackles.
Coaches award leader Paige Sheppard was good again with 20 touches, nine tackles and seven clearances, Caris finished with 16 to go with her 23 hitouts and Skinner booted two goals from limited opportunities.
COLLINGWOOD 4.2 (26)
HAWTHORN 5.4 (34)
HAWTHORN is back in town for the first time since its 2018 premiership win, sending powerhouse Collingwood crashing to a second home loss of the year, winning by eight points at Victoria Park to move into the top three.
The Hawks did the damage early, stunning the normally frugal Magpies with three goals to none in the first term and led by as much as 21 in the third quarter when Jessie Williams kicked her second goal.
The home team hit back hard, with Monique DeMattio cutting the deficit to 15 at the last change before club debutant Nyakoat Dojiok struck twice to make it a three-point game with nine minutes to play.
But good teams answer those challenges and Emma Humphries did just that within a minute to regain some breathing space and Hawthorn held firm to record its first win at Victoria Park and its highest score against Collingwood while conceding its lowest score to the Magpies.
The Hawks won the inside-50 count 31-23 and the hitouts 53-27 on the back of a dominant ruck display from captain Tamara Luke, who had 39 taps and 15 disposals against the inexperienced Magpie rucks, providing silver service to Aimee Whelan (21 disposals, nine clearances, 11 tackles), Eliza Shannon (16) and Dom Carbone (16).
Collingwood actually won the clearance count 30-29 despite the ruck discrepancy, with Nicole Hales (22) and Elisabeth Jackson (19, four clearances) winning plenty of the ball and Marla Neal (five clearances) working hard.
CARLTON 3.5 (23)
PORT MELBOURNE 5.13 (43)
PORT Melbourne broke through for its first win of the season, holding off a late Carlton fightback to salute by 20 points at Ikon Park – meaning both teams to go goalless in Round 3 bounced back to sing the song in Round 4.
The Blues booted the first goal through Charlotte Hammans before the Borough dominated the rest of the first half and would have had the game won but for their poor conversion – they kicked 3.8 to 1.3.
It was a rare downside to what was a quality game, and the Blues gradually worked their way back into the contest with the only goal of the third term and drew within three points early in the last when Jessica Stramandinoli roved the back of a pack to kick her first major at the level in only her second game.
But Port took less than two minutes to answer through Beth Wilson, and when Sophie Locke added another the visitors had answered the challenge to keep their season from going onto life support well before the midway point.
Carlton had the upper hand in hitouts (36-27) and clearances (27-25), but the Borough’s half-back line repelled the Blues time and again to give their forwards a 35-29 advantage in entries that they should have taken more of.
Meg Macdonald responded to her omission from the Richmond AFLW team in style by gathering a game-high 25 disposals, eight marks and five clearances as she roamed far and wide, with good support coming from Kaitlyn O’Keefe (17, 11 tackles, four clearances, five inside-50s), Olivia Barton (19) and Akayla Peterson (15, seven tackles, five inside-50s), while captain Claire Dyett had a solid return from injury with 14 and four inside-50s.
Millie Klingbeil (20 disposals, nine tackles five clearances) and Ashlee Thorneycroft (19, six tackles, seven clearances, six inside-50s) were in everything for Carlton while the competition’s most prolific ruck, Jorja Borg, again dominated the hitouts with 30 (plus five tackles) and Annie Lee (six rebounds), Lily Goss (nine tackles, six inside-50s), Imogen Milford (eight tackles), Poppy Schaap (eight tackles) worked hard all day.
ESSENDON 10.5 (65)
WILLIAMSTOWN 2.1 (13)
NO GEORGIA Nanscawen, no worries, as the Essendon machine rolled on with a 52-point thrashing of Williamstown at The Hangar – its fifth win over the Seagulls in a row.
The Seagulls held off their in-form rivals for half the first quarter before the floodgates opened with two goals in 90 seconds from co-captain Mia-Rae Clifford and a third shortly after to youngster Olivia Manfre, and the Bombers raced to a 27-point lead midway through the second term.
Second-gamer Ellie Cleland put Williamstown on the board, but despite battling hard to hold the Bombers at bay, the visitors weren’t able to score themselves and Essendon kicked another five in a row as its key forwards capitalised on a dominant 278-174 possession win and 34-14 inside-50 count to bag its highest score, biggest win and lowest score conceded over its rivals at The Hangar.
Clifford and Federica Frew finished with three goals each and Cecilia McIntosh two as the Bombers had winners all over the ground, with Amelia Radford (26 disposals, six clearances, six tackles), Marianna Anthony (23, nine tackles, five inside-50s), first-year player Sarah Ford (21, five marks, four clearances, four inside-50s) and Jordan Zanchetta (21, six clearances) running amok, while Irish recruit Joanne Doonan deputised for Nanscawen (knee) perfectly with 20 touches and five tackles.
Remarkably, Williamstown won the clearance count 33-28, led by Jasmine Kawa, who had 10 of them among her 14 possessions, best-and-fairest winner Ruby Tripodi, who grabbed seven on her way to a team-high 18 disposals, nine tackles and a goal, and former Bomber Lori Stepnell (eight tackles, four clearances), while Tayla Dinnucio (eight) and Eliza Straford (seven) had 15 tackles between them.
CASEY DEMONS 15.7 (97)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 1.0 (6)
CASEY Demons ran roughshod over the battling Western Bulldogs, romping home by 91 points at Casey Fields.
In beating the Bulldogs for the first time in four attempts at VFLW level, the undefeated Demons piled on their highest VFLW score and their biggest win (easily beating 13.7 85 and 65 points v NT Thunder) and holding them to just 1.0 (6), their lowest score in head-to-head contests.
But there was little sign of what was to come early when the Bulldogs kicked the first goal through Annaleise Xanthos after eight minutes and still led 6-1 after 13 before Eloise O’Connor kicked the Casey engine into gear with her first VFLW goal.
The home team kicked another major in the shadows of quarter-time and then piled on four in the first seven minutes of the second term to blow the game wide open – and it continued to do the damage straight out of breaks, with three goals in seven minutes to open the third and four in seven to start the last.
Casey won disposals 274-191, clearances 35-23 and inside-50s by a stunning 55-10 as Brenna Tarrant produced a remarkable performance after being released into the midfield from her usual full-back role to finish with 32 disposals, 11 clearances, eight inside-50s and five tackles.
Lauren Magee had 21, five tackles, four clearances and six inside-50s, Melanie Hogg 20 and four clearances and Alison Brown 20 and five inside-50s, while Tahlia Fellows (19 disposals, six marks, three goals) and Alison Dowler (19, two goals) were unstoppable up forward and Tara Reiter also snagged a couple of majors.
The Bulldogs, who only fielded two AFLW-listed players, never gave up though and managed to stem the flow late in each of the last three quarters, with Lucy Schneider having 21 touches and five clearances, Jaimee-Lee Morrow (27 hitouts and 14 possessions) comfortably winning the ruck, Eliza Vale (15 disposals, eight marks, five rebounds) and Hannah Scott (13 disposals, six rebounds) battling hard in defence to turn back the tide and Brooke Hards (eight), Mara McSweeney (seven) and Jemma Webster (six) laying 21 tackles.
Twitter: @BRhodesVFL
LADDER
Essendon 16 (573.2%), Casey Demons 16 (336.2%), Hawthorn 12 (255.4%), Geelong 12 (255.1%), Southern Saints 12 (186.4%), Collingwood 8 (103.6%), Darebin 8 (46.4%), Williamstown 4 (83.0%), Port Melbourne 4 (45.0%), Carlton 4 (44.3%), North Melbourne 0 (41.2%), Western Bulldogs 0 (10.7%).
THIS WEEK – ROUND 5
Saturday, March 12: Collingwood v Port Melbourne (Victoria Park, 9.45am, YouTube); Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn (VU Whitten Oval, 10.05am, AFL.com.au); Geelong v Casey Demons (Deakin University, 12pm, YouTube); Darebin v Carlton (Ikon Park, 4pm, YouTube - day, time and venue change). Sunday, March 13: Essendon v Southern Saints (The Hangar, 11am, YouTube); North Melbourne v Williamstown (Arden St, 12.30pm, YouTube).
NEXT WEEK
March 19-20: General Bye.
THEN – ROUND 6
March 26-27: Casey Demons v Southern Saints, Geelong v Essendon, Western Bulldogs v Darebin, Hawthorn v North Melbourne, Williamstown v Port Melbourne, Carlton v Collingwood.
In a first for VFLW, all matches in 2022 will be live streamed free. One VFLW feature match per week can be watched live via afl.com.au and the AFL Live Official App. All remaining games will be streamed live and available on demand via the VFL/W YouTube channel (youtube.com/AFLVictoria).
To access live scores, results, ladder, stats and to link to live streams/replays, download the VFL/W Official App from the Apple or Google app stores.
