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!!!