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A poster from No.1 draft pick Nina Morrison has delivered a win for the Geelong Cats in their first every AFLW match, defeating the Collingwood Magpies in front of 18429 people at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night.
» Click here for the full match report
Final score
Geelong 3.6.24
Collingwood 3.5.23
Expansion side the Geelong Cats will open the 2019 AFLW season by hosting the Collingwood Magpies at the club’s traditional homeground in GMHBA stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 6:45pm AEDT.
After two years as an eight-team competition, the AFLW has this year expanded to include the Geelong Cats as the competition’s first country-based team, as well as North Melbourne giving the competition some presence in Tasmania.
While most acknowledge that the Cats were less active in pursuing established AFLW players, they did pick some great ones in Mel Hickey, Richelle Cranston, Erin Hoare, Anna Teague, Aasta O’Connor, Madeleine Boyd and Phoebe McWilliams.
Hickey was named the club’s inaugural skipper but unfortunately she along with Cranston and Hoare will be unavailable for today’s match.
Rebecca Goring will captain the side while she makes her AFLW debut.
Two players to keep an eye out for in Geelong’s side will be Nina Morrison and Sophie Van De Huevel, the top two selections in the 2018 AFLW draft and they will both make their debuts today.
As for Collingwood, they lost a lot of talent during the expansion phase, with key players Emma King, Moana Hope, Jasmine Garner and Jess Duffin all leaving the club for North Melbourne.
They also traded out Maddison Gay and Christina Bernadi, but brought in Nicole Hildebrand from the Brisbane Lions, though she won’t play today.
They were struck another blow in the preseason when news arrived that Chloe Molloy will miss the entire season due to a foot injury.
As a result the Pies don’t have a lot of big names in their squad with captain Steph Chiocci being their most recognisable player, though retired netballer Sharni Layton will make her debut as a cross-code convert.
Collingwood’s first pick at the 2018 draft Jordyn Allen will make her debut, named in the back pocket.
Prediction
I don’t expect either of these teams to accomplish a whole lot this season, but with home ground advantage on their side and the desire to prove themselves early, I reckon Geelong can scrape through for close-fought win in their inaugural match.
Geelong by 6 points.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 6:45pm AEDT.
When: 6:45pm AEDT
Where: GMHBA Stadium
TV: Seven
Geelong Cats
B: A.Teague 40, R.Garing (C) 44, C.Blakeway 4
HB: D.Taylor 28, M.McDonald 11, R.Webster 21
C: R.Garing 12
HF: S.Van De Heuvel 27, M.Boyd 26, N.Morrison 9
F: K.Darby 8, P.McWilliams 23, J.Ivey 5
Foll: A.O’Connor 14, J.Crockett-Grills 6, O.Purcell 16
I/C: D.Orr 2, M.Keryk 45, M.McMahon 24, M.Fogas 13, M.Clifford 7
Collingwood Magpies
B: J.Allen 6, A.Brazill 10, I.Ross 21
HB: S.Livingstone 12, S.Casey 22, E.Grant 5
C: B.Bonnici 8
HF: L.Butler 23 , S.D’Arcy 4, M.Cann 25
F: S.Rowe 7, S.Alexander 24, C.McIntosh 20
Foll: S.Layton 1, S.Chiocci (C) 17, J.Lambert 13
I/C: R.Schleicher 18, G.Gourlay 32, S.Dargan 46, K.Stratton 41, E.Fowler 15
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