WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.2 (20)
SOUTHERN SAINTS 8.10 (58)
THE Southern Saints bounced back from last week’s upset loss to Carlton and marked their 50th rebel VFLW match in style with a comfortable 38-point win over the Western Bulldogs at VU Whitten Oval on Sunday.
The Saints were challenged early by a team that had only kicked 1.1 across their first two games, trailing by seven points when Bulldogs forward Mary Sandral kicked the first goal at the 10-minute mark, but best-on-ground Isabella Shannon answered within 90 seconds and the Saints had the next 13 scoring shots for 6.7 to take control.
The Bulldogs almost broke even in the second half and won the clearances 23-18 in positive signs for coach Kirby Bentley, but the damage was done as the Saints consolidated their spot in the VFLW top six.
Shannon was unstoppable for the visitors, responding to her AFLW omission in style with 28 disposals and six marks, and finished off her good work by sneaking forward to kick 2.2.
Ruck Leah Cutting provided her with silver service, winning 24 hitouts and backing up with 25 possessions of her own, plus three clearances, four inside-50s and five tackles in a terrific battle with Bulldog Jaimee-Lee Morrow (22 disposals, 14 hitouts, five clearances, four inside-50s).
Hannah Stuart and Tahlia Meyer gathered 18 touches each for the Saints, Gabriella De Angelis had 17 and five inside-50s, Amelia Peck pulled in nine marks, Alana Woodward laid eight tackles and Ebony Nixon led the defence with five marks and five rebound-50s.
Sandral was outstanding in her best match for the Bulldogs, grabbing seven marks and kicking all three of their goals without a blemish to finish off the good work up the field from Lucy Schneider (26 possessions), defender Eliza Vale (20, four marks, six rebounds) and Mara McSweeney (19, five marks).
For the Saints, it was their first win at Whitten Oval, their biggest VFLW away victory and biggest against the Bulldogs, and their highest score against the Bulldogs while conceding their lowest score at the venue as they took their overall record to 27-23 from their 50 VFLW matches.
CARLTON 4.3 (27)
ESSENDON 12.7 (79)
FEDERICA Frew produced a career game to remember, kicking a stunning six goals as Essendon continued its blistering start to the season and brought Carlton crashing back to earth by a record 52 points at Ikon Park on Sunday.
Frew terrorised the Blues’ defence with five first-half majors as the Bombers kicked the first eight goals and 11 out of 12 to three quarter-time before the home team put some respectability on the board in the last term with three goals to one.
She also booted the last goal of the game to finish with 6.2 from nine disposals as Essendon logged its highest score against Carlton, its highest away from its two home venues (by 27 points), its biggest away win and the overall highest score against the Blues at Ikon Park while handing them their biggest loss at the ground.
The Bombers set up brilliantly across half back, winning disposals 243-201 and inside-50s 36-22 despite being beaten in the centre (36-22 hitouts and 25-19 clearances), with third-gamer Amelia Radford enjoying a breakout game with 25 disposals, five marks and six inside-50s.
The league’s best player, co-captain Georgia Nanscawen, dominated again to rack up 22 touches, six marks and nine tackles, while former skipper Courtney Ugle (18) and Jordan Zanchetta (17) also performed well and Renee Tierney kicked three goals for the second week in a row to move to eight for the season.
Carlton was best served by Millie Klingbeil, who was important in the midfield victory with 19 touches, five tackles, nine clearances and a goal underneath dominant ruck Jorja Borg (31 hitouts, six tackles), while impressive rookie Lily Goss (20 disposals, eight tackles) continues to shine as she seeks an AFLW contract and draftee Imogen Milford snagged three goals.
The experienced Lauren Brazzale (18), Brooke Walker (seven tackles) and Annie Lee (eight rebounds, six tackles) could also hold their heads high for Carlton.
Essendon, however, is sweating on the availability of star Grace Dicker for its clash with Williamstown this week after she was referred directly to the tribunal by the MRP for alleged rough conduct on Blue Brooke Vernon during the third quarter.
The incident was graded as careless conduct with severe impact and high contact.
COLLINGWOOD 6.2 (38)
WILLIAMSTOWN 2.6 (18)
COLLINGWOOD was again forced to fight all the way before claiming a 20-point win over an improving Williamstown at Victoria Park on Sunday.
The Magpies are well below their best, losing to Southern Saints in Round 1 before battling past North Melbourne last week, and were again challenged by a team which finished in the bottom four last year and could have caused a massive upset if they had taken their chances.
But Collingwood has built its success on a stingy defence and that was again the cornerstone of its 45th win in just 53 VFLW matches as it conceded just 2.6 from 28 inside-50s, holding the Seagulls to their lowest score at Victoria Park despite kicking their own lowest against them.
Caitlin Bunker put her hand up for an AFLW recall with a best-on-ground display that yielded 23 disposals, nine tackles and 10 clearances, with her desperation to be first to the ball emphasised by winning five free kicks.
She received fine support from Ebony O’Dea (17 touches, seven tackles, eight clearances, while Matilda Zander (17, seven clearances) and tackling machines Marla Neal (12), Demi Hallett (10) and second-gamer Shanel Camelleri (eight) didn’t give Williamstown any space and reigning Rohenna Young medallist Imogen Barnett capped it off with three goals.
Alana Sarec got the better of a ding-dong battle with Bella Smith in the ruck with a massive 35 hitouts to a still impressive 24, sharing claims for Williamstown’s best player with Sharnie Whiting, who had another terrific game with 18 touches, four marks, six inside-50s and seven rebounds as she roamed all over the ground.
Tayla Dinnucio matched Collingwood’s pressure with 12 tackles and Stella Bridgewater had seven, while Ellie Cleland had 11 touches and kicked a goal on debut.
Seagull Lana King has been offered a reprimand with an early plea by the MRP for forceful front on contact on Zander in the final quarter of the game, with the incident assessed as careless conduct, low impact and high contact – she faces a one-match suspension if she fights the charge and loses.
CASEY DEMONS 6.8 (44)
NORTH MELBOURNE 3.6 (24)
CASEY Demons saw off a concerted first-half challenge from North Melbourne before retaining its undefeated start to the season by 20 points at Casey Fields on Saturday.
The Kangaroos kicked the first goal through Alexia Hamilton and were still within two points five minutes before the main break after Jennifer Guy kicked truly, but the Demons were able to steady and pull away in the second half by being cleaner with the ball and making better use of their opportunities.
North Melbourne won the hitouts 28-21, the clearances 25-21 and the inside-50s 30-29, but weren’t able to make those advantages count as AFLW-listed Demons Megan Fitzsimon (19 disposals, five clearances, one goal) and Brenna Tarrant (18, six tackles, four clearances, one goal) proved too hard to handle and third-game rookie Cara McCrossan (17 disposals, four inside-50s, one goal) produced her best game at the level.
Last week’s matchwinner Tahlia Fellows also made her presence felt up forward but blotted her copybook by kicking 0.4.
Daisy Bateman led all-comers for the Kangaroos with a match-high 20 disposals and four marks, while Ella Maurer had 18 and five clearances, Elizabeth McGrath provided her midfielders with first use with 19 hitouts, Perri King (12), Sarah Skinner (10) and Emily Paterno (seven) kept the pressure on with 29 tackles between them and Molly Eastman worked hard down back with five rebound-50s.
But they will be sweating on leg injuries to Guy and Eastman, who both failed to finish the match, while Casey’s Maeve Chaplin was carried off on a stretcher after head knock in the final term.
GEELONG 7.10 (52)
PORT MELBOURNE 0.1 (1)
GEELONG left injury-hit Port Melbourne’s season hanging by a thread after clubbing the Borough by 51 points at Deakin University on Saturday.
The Cats controlled the footy from the outset, winning the disposal count 257-167, marks 39-27, clearances 32-16 and inside-50s by a whopping 47-7 while also laying 73 tackles to Port’s 64 as they only conceded a solitary behind – which didn’t come until the opening minutes of the final term.
In doing so they recorded their first win over the Borough, with the one behind being their lowest score conceded and Port’s lowest VFLW score, the 7.10 (52) was their highest against Port and the Borough’s highest conceded away from home, while the 51-point margin represented the visitors’ biggest loss in their 18 games since joining the competition.
Paige Sheppard (26 disposals, five marks, 12 tackles, six clearances, eight inside-50s) ran riot for Geelong both with and without the ball, with Chloe Leonard (25 disposals six tackles, seven clearances, five inside-50s, one goal) and Tamara Smith (22 touches, nine tackles, five clearances) also proving unstoppable and Melissa Bragg took full toll of the high volume of entries to kick four goals.
Sophie Locke battled hard all day for Port Melbourne to finish with 23 disposals and eight tackles, while Olivia Barton was a big reason why the margin wasn’t bigger, gathering 20 touches and having seven rebounds inside the back half.
Lisa Davie also had seven rebounds in her return from a calf injury, and Nayely Borg (eight), Kate Adams (seven) and Hannah Fosbrooke (seven) combined for 22 tackles in a bid to stem the tide.
DAREBIN 0.2 (2)
HAWTHORN 9.14 (68)
HAWTHORN wasted no time getting back on track after its loss to Geelong last week, smashing Darebin by 66 points at LaTrobe University.
The Hawks kicked the first goal through Jessie Williams after just 3½ minutes and never looked back, with three goals in six minutes from Kristy Stratton either side of quarter-time putting the game to bed.
The Falcons had their best period for the rest of the second quarter, holding the visitors scoreless from the two-minute mark until five minutes into the third, but were only able to manage two behinds themselves, one of which was rushed.
Once Williams, who finished with 4.3 from 18 disposals and four marks, broke the deadlock, it was one-way traffic again, with only Hawthorn’s wastefulness in front of goal keeping it from a bigger percentage booster.
Aimee Whelan (26 disposals, six clearances, five inside-50s), Lauren Szigeti (23, seven clearances, one goal), Nic Garner (23, five inside-50s) and Sarah Perrott (17 touches, 23 hitouts) also dominated for the Hawks, who finished with 304-169 disposals, 27-17 clearances and 48-11 inside-50s.
Sally Lynch’s 31 hitouts ensured Darebin won that stat 33-26, but Hawthorn’s midfield ensured she had to fall behind the ball, where she had six rebound 50s to help out the under-siege backline.
Nicole Callinan (18 possessions, nine tackles), Gena Lawson-Tavan (17) and Angelica Gogos (16, 12 tackles) also battled hard for the Falcons.
Hawthorn’s 9.14 (68) represented its highest score against Darebin at LaTrobe and 66 points was its biggest away win and biggest against the Falcons, while 0.2 (2) was the Hawks’ lowest VFLW score conceded and Darebin’s lowest against Hawthorn.
Twitter: @BRhodesVFL
LADDER
Essendon 12 (595.4%), Geelong 12 (523.3%), Casey 12 (214.3%), Hawthorn 8 (322.9%), Southern Saints 8 (180.7%), Collingwood 8 (115.6%), Williamstown 4 (132.9%), Carlton 4 (42.1%), Darebin 4 (33.5%), North Melbourne 0 (42.4%), Port Melbourne 0 (25.3%), Western Bulldogs 0 (12.7%).
THIS WEEK – ROUND 4
Saturday: Geelong v Southern Saints (Deakin University, 10am, YouTube); Essendon v Williamstown (The Hangar, 11am, YouTube); Casey Demons v Western Bulldogs (Casey Fields, 11am, YouTube); Collingwood v Hawthorn (Victoria Park, 12.05pm, AFL.com.au). Sunday: Carlton v Port Melbourne (Ikon Park, 10am, YouTube); North Melbourne v Darebin (Arden St, 10am).
NEXT WEEK – ROUND 5
Saturday, March 12: Collingwood v Port Melbourne (Victoria Park, 9.45am, YouTube); Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn (VU Whitten Oval, 10.05am, AFL.com.au); Geelong v Casey Demons (Deakin University, 12pm, YouTube). Sunday, March 13: Essendon v Southern Saints (The Hangar, 11am, YouTube); Darebin v Carlton (LaTrobe University, 11am, YouTube); North Melbourne v Williamstown (Arden St, 12.30pm, YouTube).
THEN
March 19-20: General Bye.
In a first for VFLW, all matches in 2022 will be live streamed free. One VFLW feature match per week can be watched live via afl.com.au and the AFL Live Official App. All remaining games will be streamed live and available on demand via the VFL/W YouTube channel (youtube.com/AFLVictoria).
To access live scores, results, ladder, stats and to link to live streams/replays, download the VFL/W Official App from the Apple or Google app stores.
