A poster from No.1 draft pick Nina Morrison has delivered a win for the Geelong Cats in their first ever AFLW match, defeating the Collingwood Magpies in front of 18429 people at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night.
Morrison was tackled without the ball when scores were level late in the match and had a set shot from a kickable position, but perhaps feeling some nerves was only able to drive it into the post.
Collingwood pushed hard in the final minutes and had several entries into their forward 50, but were unable to get clean possession for a shot at goal.
Earlier in the match, it was Collingwood’s Sophie Alexander who kicked the first goal not only of the match but also the 2019 AFLW season.
The Magpies dominated the first term with 11 inside 50s to just three by the Cats, but Geelong seemed to find their mojo in the final minutes of the quarter.
A 50-metre penalty for Maddy Boyd pushed her into range of the goals and she made no mistake to kick Geelong’s historic first ever AFLW goal before the siren blew.
The Cats took that momentum beyond the break, dominating the second quarter early in the same way that Collingwood had the first.
Mia-Rae Clifford put through Geelong’s second goal to put the Cats ahead for the first time in the match, and then Boyd popped up again to kick her second and give them a handy lead.
Collingwood looked like they were in serious trouble at the start of the third quarter when Sophie Alexander went off the ground not to be seen again with a possible concussion.
But just when we were questioning where they’d find goals from, Sarah D’Arcy jumped up and put through their second.
D’Arcy then just a few minutes later passed one off to Jaimee Lambert, who scrubbed through a miracle goal along the ground which was the highlight of the match.
That was particularly remarkable as Lambert herself had been off the ground with concerns over her ankle just minutes prior.
The Magpies lead the match by a single point at the final change, and a disappointing miss by Geelong’s Jordan Ivy early in the final term left scores level.
While there wasn’t a goal in the final term, it was a tight and thrilling tussell that went down to the final seconds as Morrison’s poster and Geelong’s determined defence ultimately thwarted Collingwood’s attempts to snatch the win.
Geelong will revel in the joy of having won their first ever AFLW match, and have the likes of skipper Mel Hickey and proven goalkickers Richelle Cranston and Phoebe McWilliams to come back in the next few weeks.
Collingwood, on the other hand, have again missed the chance to get a Round 1 AFLW win and will turn their attention to a Round 2 clash with the Melbourne Demons next week.
Geelong 3.6.24
Collingwood 3.5.23
Macca
Roar Rookie
OK Shane, whoever finds that the skills are poor has a "problem" and is "precious". Much better for you to think everything is as good as it could be than face reality.
Shane
Guest
Hear hear!
Shane
Guest
It is clear from your response here anon that you have no personal insight to the hypocrisy of your arguments.
Shane
Guest
Probably annoying. Dalgety is right in their assessment of your argument, though.
Shane
Guest
How precious, you poor snowflake Macca. Simple solution is to not watch or read about it. It's your problem, not ours.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
That was an odd game. I wouldn't read too much into it. Rosco has been working on his offensive structures, which sometimes result in avalanche scores against due to defensive failings. You guys have still been competitive under his tenure for the past 2 years, which is more than I can say about some teams. What I don't want to see is Rosco turning away from his inner beast. He's a defensive coach and there's nothing wrong with that. I love the contrast of different styles, and if he tries to be something he's not, then failure is imminent. I don't expect this to occur but there are some damn good teams this year lining up to be part of the eight.
Liam Salter
Roar Guru
Can’t wait for Round 20, where you guys come and visit us over in Perth! Hopefully my boys will prove that we don’t capitulate every time Geelong plays us ... (I hope)
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
I have a bad feeling my boys won't be beating the Pies this year or next. I'll take this win. :)
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
The Doc completed a PHD on the history of the Geelong Football Club I believe.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Can't wait for round one mens Doc.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Unfortunately your holiness, Dom Sheed disagrees with you.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
I agree. JLT is rubbish and results mean little.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
I love the smell of your posts on an AFLW thread in the morning...it's the smell of...futility. - How many years have we known that resentment-driven negativity does us no one no good and yet here you are, week after week, day after day.
anon
Roar Pro
The women have 150 years worth of information to work with. 150 years of tactics, strategy, innovation, mistakes made. I don't see any women doing flick passes, drop kicks or kicking off a tee. Quite a bit different to cricketers running around a paddock trying to keep fit in the off season.
Macca
Roar Rookie
Even the blues kick more than 9 goals in 160 minutes. You can try to justify it all you want but you are just deluding yourself, when only 3 teams can kick more than a goal a quart for the weekend there is a real issue.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
back in the 1860s, they played in public parks, so I'm guessing for about the first 12 to 15 years of the mens game, entry was for free
anon
Roar Pro
It was a rank amateur game played by blokes that lived in the suburb they played for. What a ridiculous comparison.
Cat
Roar Guru
How much did they charge to attend the first 10 years of the men's game?
Cat
Roar Guru
9 goals in 160 mins ... so the equal of any Carlton side of the last 5 years or so? On a more serious note, 160 minutes broken into 20 minute chunks is still different to the mens played in larger chunks.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Great for the Cats to get off to a start with a win. Some disgraceful commentary above. If the Roar wants to be taken seriously as a source of coverage of AFLW I'd recommend paying more attention to what you're letting be published, there is some seriously deplorable sexism and misogyny being trotted out and it has gone on for years, from the same people.