Through The Looking Glass (Alice Isn’t Good to the Dees)
Welcome to the alternative world where the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen, happens. After the close call in Perth last week, we were expecting our Girls to dominate the winless Pies in Alice Springs. Unfortunately, just like in Alice’s world, everything was in reverse.
AFLW Dees v Magpies review from Arm Chair Member – Liam Chambers
The first quarter started well for Melbourne as our defence soaked up the ferocious pressure that Collingwood piled on in search of the opening goal. Meg Downie took some splendid marks to deny the Pies a foothold, though they also managed to miss a few chances to take the lead. When we finally got into Collingwood’s half we made it count. Kate Hore kicked a lovely goal to put the Demons on the scoreboard after some aggressive tackling within the Pies 50m area.
We kept up the pressure and Shelley Scott kicked wide for a minor score. Shelley was having an off day as she then kicked another one wide before the Bean Counter Elise O’Dea slotted home a second for the Dees. A fumble by Downie was rescued & a brilliant kick to Scott was beautifully marked. Unfortunately, the ensuing kick went wide just before the siren sounded. Like last week we missed a chance to go 3 up at quarter time.
The adverse publicity for the Magpie’s Coach during the week seemed to have a motivating effect on the team & they came out blazing at the start of the second quarter. Despite some brilliant marking by our defence, Collingwood were obviously upping the ante & their kicking & marking was now matching their aggressive tackling from the first 15 minutes.
Bonnoci was very influential for the Pies but it was the combination of Bernardi & Hope that sealed Melbourne’s fate. Hope kicked to Bernardi who marked and scored the Pie’s first. Then a kick was tapped down to Hope who swung around to slot the ball between the main uprights. A free kick to Lambert in the last minute saw her kicked to an unmarked Bernardi with loads of space 25 metres from goal. Bernardi held it and kicked it to Hope just in front of goal. Hope slotted home her second from point blank range to round out the second quarter.
Still plenty of time for the Demons to recover but Hope (again) kicks beautifully to an unmarked Edwards who walks the ball into an open goal. The Magpies had there tails up then and when Guest chipped it in after some great play from Hope & Bernardi, it was starting to look like that reverse Alice world was going to continue on for the rest of the game.
We needed our Girls to step up, especially with the news that Katherine Smith was taken off with concussion & would not return. Up pops Mifsud to give the Melbourne faithful something to cheer about after a great effort in front of goal. We managed another point but the three quarter time score was 40 to 23 in favour of Collingwood.
We needed to play out of our skin in the fourth term to pull off a spectacular win from behind. Unfortunately there was to be no fairy tale ending as Chiocci kicked beautifully from 40 metres out to break the Dees hearts. Bianca Jakobsson could only look up as the ball soared over her head and bounce into goal as she ran in fruitless pursuit.
Ever the motivational Captain the heroic Daisy Pearce rugby tackled Barden, who was then inexplicably given a free kick. I may be only a simple minded Irishman who has been following AFL for less than four years but can someone please explain that ruling to me? Anyway, Barden subsequently scored from the dubious free & it was Goodnight Vienna.
Obviously the Gods of AFL decided that Melbourne hadn’t suffered enough in Alice Springs because a free kick was awarded to Kuys for what was deemed a Cat Phillips throw in the last minutes. In the end, despite some valiant efforts from the Dees, we were unable to get a consolation goal from our trip to a town called Alice.
The stats tell the story for Melbourne unfortunately. Daisy could only manage 9 disposals; well down on her previous games while Meg Downie played well in the first quarter & the start of the second, she couldn’t maintain her effort. Elise O’Dea with 19 disposals & Karen Paxman with 18 were unable to motivate the Demons to the work rate required to defeat the fired up Pies.
Much as I hate to criticise our beloved Melbourne, they’re not playing with the same intensity in each quarter. However we’re still growing as a team & there are positives to take away from this loss.
We play the Lions next week back home in Melbourne. I know we will be fired up but we have to really want to win it. I feel that we let Collingwood off the hook this week after a very promising first quarter. With such an array of talent in our side there is no reason we can’t be in the Grand Finals. We just need to rediscover the side that demolished the Crows in Round 2.
Go the Dees!!!
MELBOURNE 2.2- 2.2- 3.4- 3.6 (24)
COLLINGWOOD 0.0- 3.2- 6.4- 9.4 (58)
GOALS
Melbourne: Hore, Mifsud, O’Dea
Collingwood: Hope 2, Edwards 2, Bernardi, Barden, Chiocci, Hutchins, Kuys
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