AFLW R8: Richmond vs Geelong @ Punt Rd

[one-eyed]

Cats ride awesome first half to strong win over Tigers

AAP
26 Feb 2022

RICHMOND        0.2     1.2     1.3     1.4 (10)
GEELONG           1.0      5.0     5.2     5.3 (33)

GOALS
Richmond: Brennan
Geelong: McWilliams 2, Darby, Webster, Maguire

BEST
Richmond: Conti, S.Hosking, J.Hosking, Miller, Brennan
Geelong: McDonald, Webster, McMahon, McWilliams, Barber

INJURIES
Richmond: Jacques (lower leg), Stahl (right knee)
Geelong: Barber (head knock)

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GEELONG has capitalised on a dominant first half to beat Richmond by 23 points and snare its second win of the NAB AFLW season.

The Cats set up the 5.3 (33) to 1.4 (10) win at Punt Road Oval with a rampant second quarter, where they booted four unanswered goals, to leapfrog the Tigers into 10th on the ladder.

Amy McDonald (26 disposals, 10 clearances) and Rebecca Webster (20 touches and a goal) set the tone in midfield for the Cats, with Phoebe McWilliams booting two goals and providing a strong presence up forward.

Richmond star Monique Conti overcame a slow start to collect 23 touches and was well-supported by Sarah Hosking (14 touches, five tackles) and Meagan Kiely (13 tackles).

The Cats drew first blood early when McWilliams took a big pack mark and coolly converted.

They continued to dominate the first half with their relentless pressure and hard running on the outside, while the Tigers let themselves down with their execution and decision making going forward.

The Cats broke the game open early in the second quarter when Kate Darby, Webster, Madisen Maguire and McWilliams hit the scoreboard in quick succession.

The Tigers finally broke through late in the term, when Conti found Katie Brennan and the Richmond skipper coolly converted, booting a goal for a 14th consecutive game.

The Brennan major stemmed Richmond's bleeding and ensured the half-time deficit was just 22 points.

The Tigers came out of the main break with renewed intensity but both teams went goalless in a third quarter that had plenty of hustle but little end product.

Richmond's Kodi Jacques limped off with a lower leg injury in the third term, while teammate Tayla Stahl also cut a dejected figure late after having treatment on her knee.

The Tigers and Cats traded a sole behind each in the final term, while Geelong's Olivia Barber had to come off after hitting her head on the turf after a mark.

https://www.womens.afl/match-centre/2022/3786/rich-v-geel?_ga=2.65361390.1932247670.1644991614-224749430.1603381344#matchreport

[Chuck17]

A game with no goals in the second half

What a peetake, absolutely stuffing woeful and made my eyes bleed

[Damo]

It’s horrible
Glad I didn’t watch it today

[WilliamPowell]

I'm at the game.

And SHOCKING is sitting just in front of me.

Can my day get any worse?

Well it did

Outside of the result

Had Mike Sheahan sitting behind me

[WilliamPowell]

Sam Lane thinks we're flat after playing in 34 degree heat in Perth last week.

Sam Lane was right we were flat. Too much left to, too few

I've seen alot of losses over the 3 seasons. But today is close to the worst

No excuses for losing that game. Didn't turn up, didn’t play as a team. And as I said too much left to, too few

That's the 3rd game this season that we should have won 

[one-eyed]

Ryan Ferguson post-match:

https://www.richmondfc.com.au/video/1068261/aflw-r8-ferguson-post-match?videoId=1068261&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1645865329001

----------------------------------------------------

Summary:

* Mentally not switched on. Geelong came to play and jumped us at the start. Thought we hung in there to quarter time and that we could change things at quarter time. However, we weren't able to readjust until after half-time which was disappointing. Sure, the last half wasn't pretty but we showed we were able to be competitive. If we had played that way for the entire game then we would've been happy. We would've been happy with getting away with a tired win or a tired loss.

* Got to fight through feeling tired and fatigued. Yes we were coming back from playing in Perth's heat and were tired and banged up a bit but we need to be more proactive and we are much more capable of delivering more than what we showed today.

* Just 22 players to select from and one of those was a fitness test. Some of our key players are banged up a bit.

* McKenzie was banged up a little bit today. She fought her way through to get up for this week and get through the game. Hopefully we can freshen her up by next week.

* Stahl (knee). Need to check the stability of her knee to see if she is right to play next week. Worried a bit she won't be.

* Jacques is an ankle. Hasn't checked her status.

* Concerned about losing any more players to injury as we only had 22 to select from today.

* It's a lesson in handling situations. A lesson in improving our game and improving our mental resilience. We want to charge home in the last two weeks.

[Damo]

“Would have been happy getting away with a tired win or a tired loss”

So a tired loss is ok is it .. sums up the AFLW program perfectly

Invest in the wheelchair tigers , at least they have a dip

[one-eyed]

Down to 3rd last.


https://twitter.com/aflwomens/status/1498087137043836929

[Knighter]

I hope the club is embarrassed with that ladder.  We will finish in the bottom 3 again.

[WilliamPowell]

We had a very favourable draw this year

I had us winning at least 5-6 games.

Looking at the draw outside of the obvious (Saints & Eagles) I had us beating Geelong, Giants and Gold Coast with the Bulldogs a 50/50

We now sit 12th having only beaten the 2 teams below us. Yes there's been improvement but it still a very disappointing season. We won 3 games last year and it is frustrating that we are not going to better that

[Chuck17]

Im struggling to see the improvement WP, Brennan and Conti are carrying 95% of the burden of being competitive

[WilliamPowell]

Im struggling to see the improvement WP, Brennan and Conti are carrying 95% of the burden of being competitive

Chucky, when things click I can see improvement in the execution of the game style

But as soon as Cordner and Wakefiled went down the structure to enable the execution of the game plan went down.

Our depth is the biggest issue and like you said and I posted the other day too much being left to; too few

You take out Lavey for a couple of games, McKenzie for nearly half the season and we are horribly exposed

We've seen without our absolute best 22 we struggle. Which to a degree I still expect to see against the top sides (eg Melb, Freo) but against the sides similar to us I've expected more. Saturday was the perfect example

I actually think it will be worse next season with the other 4 sides coming in. talent pool is shallow enough and we are likely going to lose some players as well

[Tigeritis™©®]

If have to agree with WP. We have improved but injuries we just can’t cover with our list. Let’s face it when all we have at reserves level is Molan and Chuot and an inexperienced Reid there isn’t much that we can do.

That said I think we have stuffed up royally in recruiting except for a couple of wins ie Conti, Brennan and McKenzie etc. we have been woeful. It will be very interesting  to see how competitive Essendon and Hawthorn are when they enter the Comp.

We need to be thinking about moving on past Wakefield even though she’s a gun unfortunately she’s fast approaching 40.

I know we needed a better talk ruck option than Frederick and I applaud the club for moving her on but we needed to do a lot better than a maladroit Kelly if we are going to be serious players.

Other than recruiting I think our style of play is good but we need players to be able to execute the game style and unfortunately I don’t think Brennan will be around when we finally get the players to be able to be consistently competitive.

Not taking the vflw seriously was a massive mistake by the professional club that I feel sometimes thinks we are still in 1992 and haven’t realised we are in 2022 and we are the biggest club in the competition.
We need to bolster our recruiting abilities and obviously have better development department that can get the girls to the next level, Port Melbourne is NOT that.

[one-eyed]

Coaches votes:

Richmond v Geelong
10 Amy McDonald (GEEL)
8 Rebecca Webster (GEEL)
5 Maddy McMahon (GEEL)
4 Phoebe McWilliams (GEEL)
3 Monique Conti (RICH)


Leaderboard
59    Emily Bates    BL
58    Ashleigh Riddell    NMFC
52    Anne Hatchard    ADEL
49    Hayley Miller    FRE
47    Kirsty Lamb    WB
44    Ebony Marinoff    ADEL
43    Monique Conti    RICH

https://www.womens.afl/news/87230?_ga=2.99045982.1932247670.1644991614-224749430.1603381344