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Carlton coach Damien Keeping hailed the character of his players after the Blues survived a huge scare from unfancied Greater Western Sydney to stay unbeaten in the AFL Women’s competition.
With scores tied up at three-quarter time, Carlton kicked the first three goals of the last term to seal the 7.5 (47) to 5.4 (34) win at Princes Park on Saturday.
Brianna Davey was everywhere for Carlton once again, with a game-high 18 possessions, while Darcy Vescio was the leading goal kicker with two.
There was no repeat of the chaotic scenes of last week’s season-opener when hundreds of fans were locked out of the packed ground, but league officials were still pleased with the healthy turn out of 7884 fans.
The Blues’ hard-fought win follows their first-up victory over Collingwood and consigned the Giants to two losses from two starts.
“I think we’ve proven to ourselves that if we have the momentum we can get something out of the game, like last week, and if we’re challenged we can still get there as well,” Keeping said.
“It goes back to the character of the group and their preparedness and readiness to meet any challenge that’s put in front of them.
“The playing group is committed to the program and we’ve been getting the benefits of that commitment right from the word go.”
That character and commitment was called upon often by the upstart Giants, who were missing injured marquee players Renee Forth and Emma Swanson.
Jess Dal Pos stepped up with 11 touches, nine tackles and a goal, while Ashleigh Guest was also important with 14 disposals and eight tackles.
GWS looked poised for a shock victory when Dal Pos scored to to put her side 13 points up midway through the third quarter.
But the Blues did well to wrest back the momentum then storm home in the final term.
“I can’t question their effort at all,” Giants coach Tim Schmidt said.
“Just like last week, I thought it was fantastic … for three quarters of the game I thought we were pretty much on top.
“But I think for about five minutes in each quarter Carlton were able to capitalise and really hurt us.”
The result sets up a mouth-watering clash between unbeaten sides Adelaide and Carlton at Thebarton Oval next Sunday, while the Giants will play their first home game against Fremantle.
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