Freo are ahead of us on the ladder per percentage. That’s basically due to their biggest (only) challenge being Collingwood, not Adelaide.
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IRISH sensation Aine Tighe has monstered Hawthorn to deliver Fremantle a 13-point victory and its second win of the season.
The key forward starred, booting three goals and hauling in 12 marks (five contested) and 20 disposals as the Dockers prevailed 5.5 (35) to 3.4 (22) at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.
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Fremantle midfield duo Kiara Bowers (25 disposals and eight clearances) and Hayley Miller (22 touches, six clearances) were busy throughout.
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GOALS
Fremantle: Tighe 3, Antonio, Lally
BEST
Fremantle: Tighe, Bowers, Miller, Lally, East
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LOL at forgetting to fully name “Clarke”.
ADELAIDE Crows were able to breakthrough enormous Bomber resistance to post a comprehensive 47-point win in Round 3 of the AFL Women’s at Unley Oval yesterday. The Crows had one more scoring shot than the Bombers in the first half, but still trailed by four points, before putting the foot down and sending a message to the rest of the competition.
Both sides entered the match undefeated from the first two rounds, and Essendon showed it was up for the fight early, creating a contested game that was stifling the Crows’ run. After quarter time however, Adelaide was able to break the shackles – off the back of another star performance from Danielle Ponter – to win, 12.9 (81) to 5.4 (34).
Clarke said he respected the Bombers who had plenty of talent off their list, and was pleased to keep them to five goals. Though he conceded “one or two late” he would have liked to have stopped, overall he was “really happy”. He praised his forwardline and the way it was able to boot 12 goals in the win
“I thought they worked really hard,” Clarke said. “We probably didn’t give them best advantage at times. Just our final kick into our forwards today was a little bit off. We scored a reasonable percentage of the time we went in, but we probably made it a little bit harder for our forwards.”
The star of the show was Ponter, who slammed home three goals to bring up her 50th career goal, drawing praise from her coach.
“Fifty goals is a great achievement in the fairly abbreviated seasons and she’s been fairly unbelievable for us particularly in big games,” Clarke said. “She’s stood up many, many times and we’ve very grateful and thankful to have her on our list.”
As for whether or not Ponter develops into a more permanent midfielder or remains as that dangerous forward, is a conundrum Clarke is always weighing up.
“Each season she’s worked really hard to get her fitness up to the level where she can spend some time through the midfield,” Clarke said. “Obviously very clean, silky skills, we love having her around the ball, but she’s also pretty dangerous up forward, so we don’t want to rob Peter to pay Paul.”
Another conundrum for Clarke is the ruck battle internally, with Jess Allan having another strong game, totalling up 29 hitouts to go with her nine disposals, three marks and three tackles, allowing fellow ruck Caitlin Gould to spend more time forward. Meanwhile, developing ruck Montana McKinnon had an equally eye-catching game in the reserves match between the sides.
“It’s a really tricky one. I’ve obviously coached rucks in the AFL competition as well,” Clarke said. Montana played a really strong game again in the development game this morning, so we’ll have to keep assessing what the best mix is there because both of them probably warrant selection, but often the balance of the team suggests only one ruck is sometimes necessary. We’ll keep looking at it, it’s a tough call.”
The only injury concern to come out of the win was “back spasms” to Stevie-Lee Thompson with the club set to wait until the injury calmed down to assess it. Also asked about Sarah Allan who remains on the long-term injury list – but not inactive – Clarke said there was no update to a timeframe, but credited those in the backline for holding firm in her absence.
“We’ve had to manage without Sarah throughout the whole preseason,” Clarke said. “Clearly she’s such an outstanding player for us and an outstanding leader of the group. Really happy with how they’re going on, we’re not perfect by any stretch. We’re seeing lots of development.
“I thought Sarah Goodwin today was really strong, I thought it was her best game for us in terms of her defensive pressure but also clean, took the ball and is starting to add some offence as well. That was a nice step forward, but just the way they’re holding up is really good. It’s going to be a while, so we have to make the best of what we’ve got.”.
Ignore the bit where the writer forgets how many goals Tighe kicked. Aine looks big and lumbering, but covers the ground pretty well.
FREMANTLE got its win/loss ratio for 2023 back in the positives on Saturday with a win at home over Hawthorn, and one of the stars of the win was forward Aine Tighe.
The Irishwoman started her career as a ruck, but in more recent times has shifted to a more permanent forward role, and has really taken her game to a new level.
On Saturday she had a bit of another break out game, and really showed how much of a forward asset she has become. She ultimately finished the game with 20 disposals, 12 marks, two tackles, two goals and one behind.
Her height has always been an asset for her, and being so much taller than any opponent she is very hard to match up on.
However, she has added more elements to her game that has made her even more dangerous.
Her running capacity has really grown in the past few years, allowing her to become more of a leading forward target. This has also allowed Tighe to become a target even further up the ground, which with her height advantage is a really good weapon for the Dockers.
She also finished the game with 388m gained, which for a forward of her size is huge. Her end tally was the second highest on the ground, behind only her skipper Hayley Miller.
She kicked three goals on the weekend, all of which came in very different circumstances.
Her first goal came not even halfway through the first term, where after taking a mark about 25m out went back and slotted it through from what was in the end about 40m out. Although she has a somewhat unique kicking action, it is certainly an effective one as she is accurate and can get a lot of power out of her kick.
Her second goal could not have been more different from her first. Second time around it was a ground ball pick up and a snap around the body from the pocket which sailed through.
Her third goal did not come until the third quarter, but came after a strong mark in the goal square, backing back with the flight of the ball.
She also helped set up goals for her team mates, including one in the first term where she spoiled the ball towards Orlagh Lally, who then ran onto it and slotted through the goal.
Early in the game she even pushed into defence and proved to be handy in stopping Hawthorn to even get a scoring shot away.
Post match Fremantle coach Lisa Webb was certainly very happy with Tighe’s performance.
“She just goes from strength to strength,” Webb said.
“I’m excited to see her continue to grow. She’s still got elements of her game, but she’s an important player in our team.”
First game since I’ve returned to the country and very excited to see a game played at Windy Hill.
Any tips/tricks/advice? Haven’t been before.
Make sure you have an electronic ticket beforehand. In some instances, even though it’s free, you need to upgrade to an actual ticket. Your membership alone may not be enough.
Screen grabs don’t always work.
Get there as early as possible if you want a good view.
Get there even earlier if you want a seat.
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They do have a ticket booth where you can get a paper ticket if you prefer that - just to the right of the entrance in Brewster Street.
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So, Jacques is available (and likely so is Morcs for the first time), Bannister is not. Do we do a not-like-for-like again?
How do we find a forward?
- Switch a tall back forward (e.g. Clarke)?
- Does Cutting stay in? How ‘bout Marshall as replacement tall/backup ruck?
- Or just do the literal like-for-like of Tierney?
| Name | Injury | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Amber Clarke | Knee | Test |
| Daria Bannister | Concussion | 2 |
| Lily-Rose Williamson | Foot | 5-6 |
My guess…
If Morcs is fine she comes in and plays back.
We swing Mia Busch forward.
For memory in the practice game against North, Mia played forward so that is a preference. And that was the last time Morcs played (for memory).
VFL GF and Pies vs Saints got the FTA slots.
WA viewers will get the game on 7Mate.
Pretty much the same level of activations as in the Windy Hill debut two weeks ago.
Well, I got the OUTs 100% right (Bannister by concussion, Cutting by omission).
Amber Clarke apparently OK.
At least two INs from Doonan, MORCS, Dyke, Marshall, and Barba. Do we want another ruck, or not?
| B: | 36. Brown | 14. Gamble | ||
| HB: | 27. Van De Heuvel | 28. Busch | 9. Walker | |
| C: | 20. Cain | 4. Prespakis | 2. Gee | |
| HF: | 33. Clarke | 32. Scott | 8. Toogood | |
| F: | 24. Alexander | 21. Wuetschner | ||
| Foll: | 30. Wales | 10. Vogt | 5. Nanscawen | |
| Int: | 17. Clarke | 12. Doonan | 26. Van Loon | 22. Radford |
| 25. Morcom | 16. Dyke | 6. Marshall | 11. Barba |
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Freo team not out yet. But…
ROUND FOUR INJURY LIST
Philipa Seth (hand) – test
Roxy Roux (shin) – test
Gabby O’Sullivan (shoulder) – 1-2 weeks
Mikayla Morrison (knee) - Season
FREMANTLE
In: P.Seth, N.Nield, M.Tuhakaraina
Out: Nil
They are staying in Melbourne this week, so the whole squad is more or less here.
Clarke did not train at all on Tuesday, just the bike on the sideline for some.
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We are ~$1.50 favourites.
ESSENDON (2-1) v FREMANTLE (2-1) (Windy Hill, Sunday 3:05pm local time)
The Dockers comfortably coasted to a win last round over Hawthorn, with emerging standout forward Aine Tighe putting on her kicking boots early in the piece, and Kiara Bowers rampaging through the middle. Hitting the scoreboard early is vital for Fremantle, which has a recent history of sluggish starts. Losing tough midfielder Gabby O’Sullivan through a shoulder injury for another couple of rounds is a blow, as it will be if teammate Philipa Seth doesn’t pass a fitness test. The Bombers are without electric small forward Daria Bannister, due to concussion. Bowers matching up against Essendon’s All-Australian on-baller Madison Prespakis promises to be a scintillating contest, and the Bombers’ Steph Cain will be motivated to star against her former teammates. The slight edge goes to the Bombers here, as the Dockers’ unfamiliarity with this ground may hinder their efforts.
Last meeting: N/A (first meeting)
GIL GRIFFIN’S TIP: ESSENDON
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Give Dani a game dammit.
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