Round 4 – Fremantle v Melbourne

Liam Chambers

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Melbourne have the best of the opening quarter

It’s never fun heading West to play footy and Freo have handed the Dees two particularly bad defeats in 2024. Time for some payback.

The Dees got off to good start when Kate Hore was awarded a free kick for a high tackle, after some impressive forward pressure. The Captain slotted the goal and Melbourne was on the board.

Hayley Miller redressed the balance when she collected the tapped down ball from a stoppage, then quickly turned and snapped it across the goal line.

The good news for Demon fans was our accuracy in front of goal. Alyssa Bannan took an uncontested mark inside 50, then proceeded to make good on her set shot.

Melbourne was dominating inside 50s and marking cleaner than they have in previous weeks.

It was all going according to plan when Tyla Hanks gathered up the spilled ball after a stoppage, then dribble it goalwards and across the line.

Then with less than a minute left on the clock, Eden Zanker marked the ball from a Lily Mithen kick and went back to slot the 40m set shot.

Fremantle takes the pressure up a couple of notches

The Dees continued on in the same vein after the break, again putting pressure on Freo’s defence.

Georgia Gall had luck on her side when she was awarded a contested mark in the pocket. Her 20m set shot was on target, continuing Melbourne’s accuracy in front of goal.

With a twenty two point advantage, the Dees were in the driver’s seat.

Having put themselves in a dominant position, Melbourne was in danger of letting the Dockers back into the game with some sloppy defending.

As the term proceeded, Fremantle started to take control but were unable to make it count on the scoreboard. Then in the dying seconds, Gabby O’Sullivan was awarded a free kick and went back to take the shot after the siren. Her kick was successful and the hosts were only fourteen points behind at the main break.

Melbourne play themselves into a winning position

The Dees appeared to have started the second half with a goal but the Umpire deemed the ball to have hit the upright. I watched the replay a couple of times but couldn’t see where it touched the post. Isn’t there supposed to be a review?

Melbourne had a couple of other chances but were unable to put them away.

Up the other end, Gabby O’Sullivan kicked her second after being awarded a lucky free kick.

Melbourne was playing well and seeing a lot of the ball but lacked the finishing that typified their opening quarter.

Having said that, when Sinead Goldrick was awarded a free kick and then a 50m penalty, she made sure she found the space between the uprights and the margin was back out to a three goal advantage.

The Dockers storm home

The Dees had played very well for long stretches and were in a very favourable position at the start of the final term.

Although Freo was piling on the pressure, Melbourne was comfortably dealing with the onslaught.

Then with eight minutes to play, Gabby Biedenweg-Webster was awarded a free kick and went back to slot the set shot.

The other Gabby (O’Sullivan) then scored a 40m running kick goal and suddenly it was a six point game.

Another free kick and another successful set shot; this time from Ebony Antonio and the scores were level.

It looked like Melbourne would escape with a draw when Gabby Colvin’s last second tackle on Hayley Miller stopped what was an almost certain goal.

Then disaster struck, with only ten seconds to go. Aisling McCarthy was awarded a free kick. She kicked after the siren and the ball when through for a goal.

It was a disappointment for all involved that we gave up such a promising lead, especially when the game was so important to resetting our season. Still if lessons are learned, then we can continue to build and move on.

Essendon find themselves in a similar position, but they have home advantage and won’t be a walkover.

Go the Mighty Dees!!!

Round 3 – North Given Free Reign At Casey

Liam Chambers

Roos have the early advantage, but Dees’ late surge balances the scoresheet

The last time these two sides met was in the first qualifying round of the 2023 finals series. We were soundly beaten on that occasion. Players and fans alike would be hoping for a different outcome this time.

North was on the board early with Kate Shierlaw kicking the opener after receiving a hand pass and running into the open goal. It was back to back for Shierlaw a minute later when she launched from 40m, landing the ball in the square where it bounced fortuitously across the line.

With nine minutes played, the Roos were still dictating terms, then Eliza McNamara saw a half chance and snapped from 15m in front to put the Dees on the board.

Alyssia Pisano had a chance to kick Melbourne’s second but choose to kick from just inside the 50m arc. The ball was shepherded by Eden Zanker as it bounced towards the goal line, then an unfortunately high flip meant the key forward had to grab the ball to prevent her pursuer from knocking it away. Zanker was unable to get boot to ball before she crossed the line. Despite the failure to score, Pisano showed again that she’s becoming a great asset to Melbourne.

The latter half of the game was definitely favouring the Dees, and it seemed only a matter of time before another scoring opportunity presented itself. Blaithin Mackin’s kick after a stoppage was mark by Megan Fitzsimon who went back to score the 30m set shot.

North take control

Though there was a couple of missed opportunities late on, Melbourne would have been please with their first term effort.

North again opened the scoring when Jenna Bruton took advantage of a favorable bounce to chip it in from 20m. They had another when Alice O’Loughlin was awarded a free kick 30m out.

By now, the Roos were dominating territory and putting a lot of pressure on Melbourne’s defence. They got their reward when Ash Riddell took an uncontested mark 25m in front and slotted the set shot. It was all North Melbourne with the Dees struggling to get the ball out of their half.

Then it was four for the quarter when Ash Riddell collected the ground ball and tapped through her second.

No let up from the Roos

Having been soundly beaten in term two, Melbourne desperately needed to score early in the second half and win back some momentum. Unfortunately North continued to dictate the terms, preventing the Dees from creating any scoring opportunities.

Then an error in defence allowed Kate Shierlaw a relatively easy 15m set shot to claim her hat trick and push the margin out to twenty nine points.

It had been another dominant quarter for the Roos, with Melbourne only able to add one point to their score. Then when Demon fans thought it couldn’t get any worse, Kate Shierlaw took another inside 50 mark. The set shot was from a similar position to her previous effort and the key forward kicked her fourth.

No quarter given by North

Trailing by thirty six points at the start of the final term, Melbourne would have to dig deep and produce something special if they were to pull this game out of the fire. As the quarter wore on though, it became apparent that a comeback of any significance was rapidly fading away, with few scoring opportunities presenting themselves.

When Jenna Bruton received the ball via a hand pass just outside the square, she snapped it home, giving her side a forty three point advantage. Two minutes later Kate Shierlaw ran out to meet the kick and marked in the pocket. She made sure of the set shot to notch up her fifth goal of the afternoon.

It looked like Melbourne was going to held goalless again in the fourth quarter, but then Grace Beasley got hold of the ball 30m from home and snapped an around the corner shot to score her first AFLW goal.

North still remained focused on the game though, still piling on the pressure and eventually they reaped the reward when Alice O’Loughlin took the advantage, after a free kick, to collect the ground ball and launch from 30m to claim her second of the game.

The Dees had some slip ups, but overall they didn’t play badly. It was just that North Melbourne played extremely well as a team and made the most of their opportunities, especially after the first quarter.

Our next three games are against teams sitting just outside the top eight, which we will need to win if we have any chance of making the finals this year. After that we face three sides that are current occupying the top three spots on the ladder; so no rocket science degree required.

Travelling to Perth is never easy but we have to win against Fremantle and we definitely have the talent to do it.

Go the Mighty Dees!!!

Round 2 – Melbourne V Brisbane

Depleted Dees Unable To Tame Lions

Liam Chambers

Lion’s stamp their authority on the game

Last week’s away win against Geelong was a hard fought contest. Round 2 promised to be an even more difficult task as we prepared to take on the 2023 Premiers, without Tayla Harris who’s injury now looks to be season ending.

As if that wasn’t enough, we have also lost, arguably one of our most important players, to injury. Lauren Pearce has been pivotal to Melbourne’s success over the years and the fact that she was injured during training only makes it an even more bitter pill to swallow.

Brisbane was firing on all cylinders from the opening siren, making Gabrielle Colvin work hard in defence. Eventually the Lions broke through when Dakota Davidson took an uncontested mark in the square, before turning to kick the first major.

After the goal, Brisbane continued to dominate play, well set up, winning the ground ball more often and marking cleaner.
All that pressure finally paid off when Taylor Smith’s wind assisted set shot from just outside 50 sailed towards goal, landing in the square before bouncing over the line for Brisbane’s second.

Despite another late surge from the Lion’s, Melbourne manage to hold off their opponents, to only trail by ten points at quarter time.

Ferocious quarter of play but no goals

The Demons started well in the second term but Brisbane had the answers and before long were again looking threatening going forward.

The Lions were also dominating territory and taking some impressive intercept marks to deny Melbourne the chance to build any momentum. Just as Brisbane appeared to have set up camp in their forward half, Melbourne finally broke free and made several incursions inside 50. Unfortunately the Lions’ defence held strong before launching a counter attack.

Incredibly, despite a hard fought game, it was only a one point quarter, with neither side able to create a realistic goal scoring chance.

Melbourne get themselves back in the game

With the third term looking to be travelling the same way as the previous one, Brisbane finally broke the goal drought when Ruby Svarc marked the ball in the pocket before playing on. Unfortunately, despite disposing of the ball incorrectly, she was awarded a free kick for what was deemed to be a lingering tackle. Her set shot from directly in front went through, and the visitors had a sixteen point advantage.

It took almost a full three quarters of footy but Melbourne’s first goal finally eventuated when debutante Alyssia Pisano took an uncontested mark in front of goal, having also been instrumental in the process that set up the shot. A star in the making no doubt, the small forward was spot on with her kicking.

Lions prove too difficult to chase down

The Dees started the last term trailing by two goals; approximately where they’d been for most of the afternoon. We started enthusiastically, with Maeve Chaplin involved in two strong tackles in the opening minute; the latter enabling Ryleigh Wotherspoon to run and have a shot on goal. Unfortunately the kick was just short of the goal line.

As the quarter wore on, it looked like goals would again be in short supply. Then the ever dangerous Dakota Davidson took a contested mark inside 50. The subsequent 35m set shot was on target.
With only ten minutes remaining, the prospect of a Demon victory was looking increasingly slim. When Davidson had another set shot opportunity a minute later, she made sure of the difficult kick from deep in the pocket.

The Dees now required four goals in eight minutes in order to draw level with the Lions. It appeared that the laws of probability were not in our favour.

Kate Hore, who was instrumental in Melbourne’s win last week had been unable to get a good look at the goal until five minutes from full time. That was all she needed though and made the most of the opportunity by launching from 40m to bounce the ball across the line.

Unfortunately there were no more goals for the Dees but they did deny Brisbane any further opportunities to add to their tally.

Next week it’s another high pressure game against last year’s runners up, North Melbourne. The Roos beat Brisbane by a record margin in Round 1, so will be confident of taking another high profile scalp when we play them at Casey fields. We relish the underdog tag though and should be confident of causing an upset.

Go the Mighty Dees!!!

Round 1 – Geelong V Melbourne

Liam Chambers

Early Cats’ dominance gives way to late surge from Melbourne

After last season’s disappointing finals run, the Dees would have been especially keen to avenge their semi-final loss to Geelong.

The Cats delivered the first blow when Nina Morrison snapped from 15m to give Geelong a six point lead. All the pressure was coming from the home side and they were in a dominant position. It was no surprise therefore that when the Cats made it inside 50 again, they kicked their second of the quarter. This time it was another midfielder, Mikayla Bowen, who launched from 20m out.

It was looking grim for the Dees with only five minutes left in the quarter, but then Captain Kate Hore took a diving mark in front of goal. Her set shot from 35m out was perfectly executed and the Demons were on the scoreboard. After the centre bounce, it was back to back goals for Hore when she gathered the ground ball inside 50, then she turned eluding her opposition, before chipping from 20m to score, taking her team to within two points of the Cats.

Just prior to quarter time, Tayla Harris appeared to have injured her shoulder in a worrying sign for the Dees.

Melbourne in control but unable to take the lead

After wresting back the momentum towards the end of term one, Melbourne started the second quarter in the same vein by taking the game to Geelong.

Despite almost total domination by the Dees for the initial eight minutes of Q2, it was Geelong who scored first, against the run of play. Rachel Kearns launched from 20m out and watched the ball sway erratically on the breeze, before floating through the uprights.

The goal gave the Cats a new impetus but Melbourne wasn’t giving up that easily and they continued to dominate inside 50, but without any reward on the scoreboard.

Geelong had few chances but when they did, the Dees appeared to have over committed going forward, leaving their defence vulnerable. Luckily there was no damage done.

Dees snag a late advantage

It was proving to be a low scoring contest, as the wind played havoc with the ball at times. It looked like the majors were going to come from attempts close to goal and so it proved when Jacqui Parry was awarded a free kick less than 20m out. The ex-Demon smoothly slotted the kick and Geelong extended their lead to twelve points.

By now the Cats had their tails up and were dictating the terms of the game, but Melbourne was hanging on and showing true grit in refusing to be overwhelmed.

Kate Hore again shown herself to be a worthy successor to Daisy Pearce when she stepped up to kick her third goal, also the Demons’ third goal of the game, with a nicely taken 30m set shot.

Just as it looked like Melbourne had fought its way back into contention, it found itself surrounded in the square and first gamer Kate Kenny took advantage of the chaos to get boot to ball, seeing it across the line.

Unfortunately Tayla Harris looked to have re-injured her should in another tackle and this time she was subbed off. Hopefully not a season ending trauma.

Sinead Goldrick had been playing out of her skin all afternoon, although she had seen previously attempts on goal go astray. This time though she nailed it with a running kick from just outside the square to bring the Dees to within four points of the leaders.

Then with fifteen seconds remaining in the quarter, Irish eyes were smiling again as Blaithin Mackin collected the ground ball, then got a kick away off the outside of her boot, threading it through the big sticks. Melbourne was in front for the first time.

Last gasp victory for Demons

With only two points separating the sides, it was going to be an exciting race to the finish. Geelong had home advantage but Melbourne had the mettle and the desire to prove that they are more than the sum of their parts.

The Demons had a couple of scoring opportunities early in the final term, but the wind didn’t do us any favours and the margin stayed the same. Luckily the weather wasn’t bias though and Geelong’s kicks also went astray at the other end.

Melbourne eventually found a way through though when Alyssa Bannan bounced her way inside 50 before getting a kick away in the direction of Sinead Goldrick. The Hibernian high achiever missed the mark but connected on the rebound and hand passed to Eden Zanker, who then turned and tapped it through from 5m out.

Now the question was, could the Dees hold on and keep the Cats at bay for the final ten minutes of the match?

Eden Zanker had a chance to put away another major with an impressive 52m kick but sadly it was touched just before bouncing across the line. Alyssa Bannan also had a chance when she took a terrific contested mark but the 45m set shot proved too difficult in the conditions. Still the minor score gave the Dees a handy buffer of eight points with less than five minutes remaining.

Geelong knew it was now or never and went all out with a physical assault on Melbourne’s defence. Fortunately we held strong until one of the most ridiculous rules in AFLW was invoked when

Paxy Paxman failed to pass the ball to the Umpire, instead passing to Lauren Pearce. No allowance was made for the absent minded pass by an exhausted player late in the game and the Cats were gifted a lifeline. Jacqui Parry’s set shot from 10m out was successful and the next forty three seconds had Demon fans everywhere holding their collective breathes.

After the bounce, both sides threw everything at each other in the effort to be victorious but Melbourne prevailed and collected the four precious points.

Next week we play last year’s Premiers Brisbane in what we expect to be another hard fought contest.

Go the Mighty Dees!!!