- Feb 14, 2018
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The Cats would have been hurting massively after last season almost going winless and they showed up yesterday after we embarrassed them last time as you would expect they would do. They had a strong team and always going to give that extra effort. Geelong’s pressure was manic and not too many times we handled that well, e.g Jaques kick being smothered by player on the mark when she just had to fake to kick and step her. D’arcy showed a step to get past them a couple of times but more too often than not our players panicked. The cats were cleaner than us hitting up players on the move which helped consistently propel them forward. Our handball was putrid. The blustery conditions can forgive some of the kicking from both sides but not the handballs. We need to prioritise this at training. This and our kick out options from defence. Who is our AFLW defensive coach?
We can’t start that poorly again and end up chasing score into a breeze, the fact we levelled scores after half time was promising but the game was on their terms and we couldn’t take advantage after this and mid way through the 3rd quarter I thought we would struggle to win as their midfield was well on top and it always looked like they had an extra player or two running around in defence, and they had the wind in the last.
We do have a decent team when we have no injuries or omissions. Having Ellie in, and Tessa would have given us more class and grunt. Sarah and Harriet also, it's a shame that Jess got injured. Players like Burchell, Jaques, Dargan and Bernadi look like spending a good amount of time in Port Melbourne’s colours this year.
Based on what Megan Kiely and Poppy Kelly showed yesterday along with a couple of the younger players cameos in Mllsy and Stella, and the fact we are still yet to see Maddie Shevlin, I think our recruiting / list management gets a tick, these players should play a fair bit in the team this year. I though Houtsma was OK also but will need more time which will be fine as the youngest on our list.
After Brancatisano got us going forward out of the middle with some good work to finally get us some clearance, she faded out of the game. Her best position for us would be in the guts but she needs to show more than the odd glimpse. It’s evident the physical attention that Mon is now getting at stoppages and she needs help. We have found a beauty with Kiely, but we need more from our mids.
Best for me: Courtney, Megan, Mon, Poppy, Gabby, Sarah D,
Worst: Our forward entries. Please kick the ball to the leading lane, i.e fat side and not snap kick away from them, or even worse blind bomb it forward, and Umpires that don’t pay push in the back free kicks, what a joke, Cats blatantly got away with it all day.
What I leant: Milsy is a fan favourite, the amount of cheers she got every time she hit a tackle! Brennan will have to get Meg McDonald surgically removed from her after she was all over her at every marking contest, sometimes legally, often not, not that you’d know.
another insightful post toenail63, right on the money in all your points
yeah i'm liking Yassir, she's a ripper, Kiely is tough as nails, love the aggression from both
Reid is a smooth mover, like her to play wing, Lavey on the other wing, where their pace and ball use can exploit, most of the kicks to Reid in fwd line, gave her no chance
got to start Kelly in the ruck, persist with Seymour up fwd (pinch hit in the ruck around the ground)
backline will be better when Cordner & Shevlin come back in