Western Bulldogs 1.0 4.0 5.0 5.4.34 Geelong 1.2 1.2 2.4 2.4.16
Goals
Western Bulldogs: Utri, Berry, Toogood, Blackburn, McCarthy Geelong: McWilliams, Clarke
Alex Docherty's Best Western Bulldogs: Blackburn, Lamb, Berry, Conti, Utri, Brennan Geelong: Purcell, Keryk, Garing, McWilliams, McDonald, Crockett-Grills
The Western Bulldogs will go into round three with two wins in as many games, downing Geelong by 18 points at the Whitten Oval to hand the Cats their first-ever loss in the AFLW. Whilst this will go down as a historic weekend for the Bulldogs – having unfurled their 2018 premiership flag earlier in the evening – this weekend will go down as one to forget for the Cats' fans.
It started off in the worse way possible on Thursday when last year's number one draft pick Nina Morrison went down with a knee injury at training. Scans revealed the following day that it was a season-ending knee injury, having ruptured her ACL. Despite a strong start to the game, kicking with the wind in the opening term, the Western Bulldogs found methods to quell the likes of Phoebe McWilliams from causing more damage in the opening term.
The Dogs looked much better this week as opposed to the weekend before in Adelaide - they needed to. They controlled the tempo a fair bit when they were kicking against the wind. After McWilliams goaled in the opening minutes of the game, the Dogs were handed a fortuitous 50-metre penalty, which ensured Aisling Utri a shot on goal to which she converted truly to tie the scores up after nine and a half minutes.
Kicking with the wind in the second term, the Daughters of the West set the win up in the first half of this particular quarter – kicking three goals in moderately quick succession. Deanna Berry put them in front with a nice running goal. Bonnie Toogood followed up a marking attempt with a beautiful snap on goal and then Ellie Blackburn's pearler of a kick from just on the 50 metre arc was the cream on top.
Former premiership Bulldog Aasta O'Connor provided another highlight of the evening, but for her, she'd probably want to forget it sooner rather than later. Having a set shot on goal from about 40 metres out, the ball slipped from her hands as she was about to kick it and messed it up completely, prompting several of her ex-teammates to get around her, which I thought was good to see, but for Cats' fans – probably not so much. They were trailing by 16 points at this stage of the second quarter and they would've liked a goal against the breeze. Alas, they went the second term scoreless.
Geelong needed a quick start in the third term if they were to get back into this, and they found a way through Georgia Clarke in the opening couple of minutes. However, it was cancelled out by debutant Aisling McCarthy who took advantage of a free kick inside 50 and nonchalantly placed it on her boot and through the big sticks for her first (And hopefully many) goals in her AFLW career.
With the wind in the third quarter, the Cats needed to put goals on the board if they were any chance to snatch an unlikely win, and despite having 12 inside 50s in the third term, they could only register just a further two behinds. McWilliams had two opportunities on goal, but both of them went wayward and with that, it was just about lights out for Geelong's chances.
Kicking against the breeze in the final term, the Cats failed to go inside 50 once. But they certainly fought to the very end and did reasonably well to put up with the Bulldogs' controlling the play (They had 11 inside 50s in the final quarter). The Dogs really should've put them to the sword in the final quarter and grow some percentage, which will no doubt be valuable come the end of the season.
But at the end of the day, I believe the Bulldogs responded to what was a fortunate win last Saturday. They were smashed in the clearances last week – rectified on Saturday night, winning 30-19. They were +12 in contested possessions, +10 in marks and +6 in tackles and I thought they dictated the play better when they had the ball this weekend.
Leading The Way
Ellie Blackburn continued her great start to the year, recording 18 disposals, eight tackles and of course that awesome goal in the second quarter. She had plenty of help in the middle in the form of Kirsty Lamb (18 disposals and five tackles) and Monique Conti (19 disposals and five tackles).
Katie Brennan looked as if she was playing further up the ground at times and there were moments that she looked very good in the air, taking five marks to go along with 10 disposals. But most importantly, the Dogs found other avenues to goal – having five individuals pop up on the scoresheet.
Deanna Berry (10 disposals, one goal and four tackles) was by far the most threatening Bulldog up forward, Aisling Utri (14 disposals, one goal, six marks and four tackles) was very good, whilst I thought Irish recruit McCarthy looked very comfortable in her AFLW debut and showed that she can be another option up forward in the future – she finished the game with eight disposals, four tackles and a mark.
The Opposition
In the absence of Morrison, there were a few Geelong midfielders that I thought battled away and impressed at the end of it all. I thought Liv Purcell in just her second game of AFLW footy showed that she will be a bloody good player in years to come – recording 17 disposals, four tackles and three marks. Renee Garing (12 tackles), Maddy Keryk (12 disposals and eight tackles) and Julia Crockett-Grills (13 disposals and eight tackles) also tried hard on a tough evening.
Phoebe McWilliams marked her first official game in Geelong colours with a strong performance up forward – kicking 1.2 from four touches, five tackles and three marks. It may not sound much, but I thought she was a dangerous presence whenever the Cats went forward and if she had kicked goals instead of points in the third term, I have no doubt it would've been a much different result. At the other end of the ground, Meg McDonald looked very strong in defence, recording a game-high 21 disposals and four marks.
The Opposition
From one newcomer to the other – This win sets up a huge match next Friday night against North Melbourne in Launceston. Like the Bulldogs, the Kangaroos will come into this match having won their first two games – their recent win against GWS has put plenty of people on notice if they hadn't already.
It's going to be a big test for both sides with huge ramifications in Conference A – win and go top of the table and looking really good for a Finals berth. Lose and potentially fall back into a potential logjam of teams battling out for second place. I can't speak for everyone, but I personally cannot wait for this contest Friday night. It's already shaping up to be a beauty.