AFLW Rd3. Geelong vs Adelaide Sunday 17 February, 2:05pm, Norwood Oval

[goyoucatters]

For the record I'm not sure being potentially given a GF berth against the North Tassie Frankenroos is much of a gift. Seems like a poisoned chalice if you ask me.

Absolutely. But, given the paucity of real talent in our conference, it might as well be us as anyone else who fronts up to be belted.

Playing a PF in our own conference would be a good experience in any case.

For differing reasons, the PF's will both probably be close to the best games of the season.

 

[Landgraft]

Absolutely. But, given the paucity of real talent in our conference, it might as well be us as anyone else who fronts up to be belted.

Playing a PF in our own conference would be a good experience in any case.

For differing reasons, the PF's will both probably be close to the best games of the season.

And if they scrap the conference's then we can have the crown of Conference B champions until the end of time. Good point.

 

[Turbocat]

I don't have a breakdown but offhand it was four Collingwood players that went to the Roos?

It will be interesting.. lets see at years end.

 

[cats_09]

Dogs lost last year's MVP in Emma Kearney, but also Jenna Bruton, who is a real midfield up n comer. Aasta O'Connor to us, too ...

here's a list of where the Roos recruits came from:

http://www.nmfc.com.au/news/2018-10-25/aflw-full-list-of-signings

Another of North's signings was Jess Duffin who won the VFLW best & fairest (a big loss for Collingwood, who are also without the services of Chloe Molloy this season due to a foot injury suffered in the VFLW prelim against us).

So going into AFLW season 3, North had the reigning AFLW & VFLW b&f winners - good on them for making the most of the rules available, but it seemed that it was easier for North & Cats to build deeper lists (gone about things differently) than it was for the original teams who could select 2 marquee players with the rest coming via the drafting.

 

[Johnny Cattery]

Feel like that was actually our best game, given we got hammered in possession. Fitness seemed to be a problem but it's hard to judge when the Cats were chasing so much. But they were impressive in being able to hang in and fight back in the second half, when it seemed at half time like they could get smashed.

Don't really agree the umpiring was a problem: the frees went our way 15-11, and while I saw (on tele) some dodgy ones for the Crows, I also saw a couple of head scratchers for us, as well as stuff missed, again both ways.

Was it Crows pressure, or our structures, or poor skills, that led to us turning over so many balls when we had the chance to go forward? They disposed at 67.2, we went at 59.4 (from https://www.afl.com.au/womens/matches/stats). Crows out tackled us 62-46 - terrible, given how much more they had the ball (253 disposals to 170).

One big improvement from our previous games was that, instead of hanging back to tackle rather than trying to take first possession if the ball was loose, we were more aggressive. It paid off a few times, although it also looked like we were sometimes struggling to adjust, with players not sure where to stand, or too slow to react, when packs formed. When the ball was in dispute we often seemed to be outnumbered, to have people in the wrong place. Perhaps it's just that we like to keep a player behind the stoppage to receive or to lay a tackle, but it constantly leaves those inside outnumbered, and if there's a quick kick then we're in trouble.

We had 29 rebound 50s to their 10. Is that a midfield problem, or a backline-midfield linkage problem - structure (where receivers are standing or running to), execution (the kick), or tactic (going too slow, too fast, or too often back inside in front of goal)?

We won the hitouts 34 to 25, but lost the centre clearances to 12-3 (other stoppages were our way 21-19). I know our ruck was out, but even so, something is wrong if the Crows know where it's going and we don't.

No real conclusions here, just musing. Over to the experts ...

I reckon Cranston and Hickey will be a lot better next week. Looking forward to seeing them live in a fortnight ...

 

[Willo_]

Also had to laugh at the talking-up of Sarah Perkins' game. She was soundly beaten, and yet was somehow the danger forward all game long.

I must have been watching a different game.. She got the ball about 3 times and by the second half our defenders were leaving her with complete confidence to go 3rd person in to any contest that Phillips was in

 

[Max Milburn]

I must have been watching a different game.. She got the ball about 3 times and by the second half our defenders were leaving her with complete confidence to go 3rd person in to any contest that Phillips was in

That's exactly what I meant. It was the commentators talking her up.

 

[Max Milburn]

 

[cats_09]

Congrats Meg

 

[Hello Kitty]

Enjoyed reading this by Phoebe McWilliams

https://www.geelongcats.com.au/news...deY8uk06EjCzI0-_smmB1-j3H4xAGNgq7P69joiySMqKk

 

[cats_09]

Also had to laugh at the talking-up of Sarah Perkins' game. She was soundly beaten, and yet was somehow the danger forward all game long.

I have not long finished watching last weeks game (managed to get it in before our round 4 clash, and unlike with the guys I'm actually watching replays of the AFLW games even when we lose)

I actually had to laugh because I was also flipping through today's Geelong Addy, they have a whole page dedicated to the AFLW (I'm actually pretty impressed with that) and one of the articles was on Georgia Clarke & it mentioned the heavy tackle she received from Perkins - the reason I laughed is because just as I turned to that page & saw the article is when the tackle happened on my replay; great timing.

But as you said I barely rememebr Perkin's name being mentioned during the telecast or her doing a lot to trouble Geelong - she should have had a free paid against her for dropping the ball but instead Phillips kicked her 2nd goal; after her missed shot in the first quarter they said that was her second shot on goal but the only previous touch I recall was a dropped ball when tackled; her kick that went through the goals should have actually been 50m to Geelong for her playing on late after we won a free kick; but I will give her credit for that tackle which I would say was her match highlight

What really surprised me was when they put her key info up on the screen is that I'm actually taller than her (by about 1cm) - makes her seem even less intimadating knowing that I'm taller than her

 

[winty]

Funny you mention Perkins cats_09. She was actually dropped this week. Seems the Adelaide hierarchy agree with you that she didn't do a lot to trouble us last week.

 

[cats_09]

During the match (2nd or 3rd quarter) there was a comment that stuck with me and one that seems so easy to forgot but is very important to not just the match against the Crows but our season - we had 4 18 year olds playing last week; if Nina didn't do her knee that number could very well be 5 18yr olds taking to the field each week for us. When we consider that it's 21 players in the team each week, nearly 20% of our team are made up of genuine youngsters - but those youngsters are going to get better each week, and if we can get them to re-sign they will get better each season and be a driving force of this team in coming seasons.

As in the match against the Dogs, the Crows showed us up in regards to experience, physicality and continued repeat efforts. When they had the ability to make us pay for mistakes they made sure to do so, and when they got a roll on they managed to keep putting on the pressure - having 2 years of AFLW experience really showed. The Crows are going to be a tough team again in 2019, especially if Phillips stays fit because she is tough - she may not have the AFL background of other players, but you can see what 14/15 years of playing professional basketball has done for her fitness levels, her skills etc.

It was frustrating to see simple mistakes let us down at times - we would do the hard work to win the ball but give it away too easily. I lost track of the number of times we handballed to a teammate where the delivery wasn't great and rather than creating a flow of movement it generally resulted in a turnover or if we were lucky a stoppage.

Our other big issue is one that has been seen through all 3 weeks so far - we are falling short across the half forward area, we haven't really found someone who is that kick from goal that has a genuine presence when we are bringing the ball forward, so what's happening is that we are ending up with a lot of shallow entries into the 50 and not giving ourselves the best chance to score & kick goals. When we are able to get a deeper kick into the forward line, or create a passage of play where we can run the ball in then I'd say we are actually doing pretty well & really taking a chances but unfortunately we aren't giving ourselves enough of those opportunities.

I know the Crows kicked 10 goals against us, but I wasn't completely unhappy with our defence & thought they stood up quite well until the continued pressure, they didn't drop their heads & they didn't stop working for each other. What we need to see going forward through is the players further up the ground lifting their games to take the pressure off our defence; we need to see some marks being taken through the midfield & forward line areas so that we actually can control the game & play it on our terms rather than just haphazzard kicks forward which too often have come back over our heads & aren't giving our defenders a break.

If we see improvements each week from players, in our style of play and over longer periods of time, then that's going to be a positive for this season - I don't want to keep losing by any means, but also not going to judge our games & season just on wins & losses.