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Willy fell just short of North in the final game of the round.
Right now it looks like 5 good teams, 2 middling ones, 4 bad ones, and Darebin.
Those first two quarters of the year versus the Saints still haunting us.
| Team | Games | Points | For | Against | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port | 5 | 20 | 236 | 106 | 223% |
| Pies | 5 | 20 | 240 | 121 | 198% |
| Casey | 5 | 12 | 208 | 131 | 159% |
| Cats | 5 | 12 | 173 | 109 | 159% |
| Essendon | 5 | 12 | 212 | 137 | 155% |
| Fark Carlton | 5 | 12 | 178 | 213 | 84% |
| Saints | 5 | 8 | 163 | 140 | 116% |
| Willy | 5 | 8 | 112 | 164 | 68% |
| North | 5 | 8 | 145 | 214 | 68% |
| Hawks | 5 | 4 | 154 | 240 | 64% |
| Footscray | 5 | 4 | 128 | 215 | 60% |
| Darebin | 5 | 0 | 71 | 230 | 31% |
We play Willy and the Hawks after Easter, and then get a big challenge vs Collingwood on ANZAC Day weekend.
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Ha. Everyone in the suburb could hear me urging Frew onwards during her run from the wing to the goals in the last quarter.
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Yep, I can vouch for that.
Nanscawen vs Peschke was a decent battle in the midfield. Nanscawen can usually clamp down on anyone who gets the ball at a stoppage, but early in the game Pip was often too quick and composed. Courteney Bromage then took over as the BOG midfielder in the second half. Monahan and Chuot bossed our half-forward line. A few dominant players can have a disproportionate influence at this level.
Geez, we missed some chances in those opening minutes… and ump, that was OVERTLY and cowardly tapped over the line next to our goals. Ya softie, that could have been a good early lead.
Barba and Macdonald seemed to be side-by-side so often in this game, feeding each other.
If you watched the warm-ups you would understand some of our suplex tackles during the game.
So after quarter time it was 3.2.20 each. Those chances early and late lost us the game.
Ha, someone needs to tell @PH_WARFRadio the uber-apocalypse has come for the VFLM team. Been kicked to the kerb for the VFLW reserves at Calder (OK, the only time I’ve reported on them was this weekend). The VFLM have that AFLM stink on ‘em.
Listen to cued commentary below, through to the Port players returning to the middle, to boost my ego:
I can’t believe I failed to post this at the time:
Goal of the day was yet again by Federica Frew: I would have been the only person at the ground with a top-down view of this, and she was working on a postage stamp between numerous opponents.
I disagree with the call of “suplex city” (and not just because it was the swear-word-removed version). That was clearly a sidewalk slam by Clifford, not a move on her. She’s strong!
(Shut up nerds who want to point out that the Sidewalk Slam is sometimes referred to as a side suplex. The comment was in the context of us not getting a free.)
Watching the video it feels much tighter than it did at the time. CBomb held strong down back amidst all the chaos. Mackay got the ball on the wing as usual but geez she murdered some opportunities today.
The forward line was largely non-existent outside of Frew — and we needed her help in the middle. She and Barba are our most creative players, especially by foot.
With pressured entries there was a negative feedback loop as the forwards stopped leading, as they have been doing so well in recent weeks.
Nalder hasn’t got up to speed yet… it likely doesn’t help that in the break between 2019 and 2021 the women rucks seem to have got MUCH BIGGER.
Davies does not mind being demonstrative at the umpires. She was right both times.
Theodore needs to ALWAYS kick for goal the same way. Has missed two easy goals this year, and hence the position of leading goal-kicker for us, by doing pissy little dabs like that one in the last quarter.
So it was frustrating today, so many could have done better; but we didn’t drop our heads, and you can expect a belter of a game if and when we meet again this year. Collingwood with added AFLW players may be the league pacesetters, though.
The official call
Goal Kickers: F. Frew 2, A. Barba, F. Theodore
Best Players: E. Ashley-Cooper, C. Ugle, A. Barba, A. Morcom, F. Frew, G. Nanscawen
Alana Barba in action against Port Melbourne on Sunday. (Photo: Celie Hay)
Essendon VFLW’s three-game winning streak has come to an end in an 11-point loss to the undefeated Port Melbourne on Sunday.
The Bombers fought hard all day but the pressure from the league leaders proved too much, with the Boroughs winning 6.2 (38) to 4.3 (27) at the NEC Hangar.
The intensity was high from the first bounce with both teams fighting hard at contests.
Georgia Nanscawen and Eloise Ashley-Cooper competed in midfield to lock the ball in the Bombers’ attacking half and create multiple forward entries.
The Bombers were first to hit the board, with Federica Frew converting on the run. The Boroughs answered with consecutive goals, changing the momentum and establishing control over the opening term.
Both teams were locked in a tough contest throughout the second quarter, with neither team giving their opposition any space.
Alex Morcom and Eloise Gardner stood strong, taking contested marks and cutting off the opposition’s forward entries, while Emma Mackay provided great run along the wing.
Port Melbourne broke free from the pressure of Essendon to score two quick goals and take a three-goal lead into the main break.
Defenders from both sides were working overtime in the third quarter as the ball went back and forth. Alana Barba fought with intent through the midfield, snapping a goal from a forward contest to break the deadlock.
The Bombers kept Port Melbourne goalless in the last term and managed to reduce the deficit through a major from Felicity Theodore.
Vice-captain Courtney Ugle was impressed with the Bombers’ intent across the four quarters, but disappointed in their inability to maintain the high-intensity game played by the Boroughs.
“We knew they were going to come out hard at the ball and against us. We knew that they were bigger body quality side, obviously haven’t lost a game this season so far so we knew the fight was going to be brought,” Ugle said.
“We probably owned the first five minutes of every quarter, but then they kind of ran on top of us. I think we kind of broke down on the field and we looked a little bit tired, but our thought and endeavour and intent couldn’t be questioned.”
Despite the defeat, Ugle was impressed with the individual performances of Barba, Mackay and Gardner.
Eloise Gardner was a standout against Port Melbourne. (Photo: Celie Hay)
“Alana Barba was exceptional. You can see the way when she doesn’t have any pressure on herself, she just glides and uses the ball really well. I thought that Emma Mackay was great out on the wing as well, confidence to just get the ball and go,” Ugle said.
“'Logger’ (Gardner) was strong down back as well and took some really great marks. She looked really composed when she was hitting up targets.”
Although disappointed, Ugle believes the loss to the competition’s benchmark will better the team in future games.
“I think it is really good for us to be hit with a tough game like that. I think it’s only going to drive us to come back and be hungry for the back half of the season,” she said.
“But what Port did really well was they used the ball well and they were a lot cleaner than us. They were able to execute better than us and they are a quality side and we fully respected that. Playing against a quality side like that is only going to make us better.”
Ugle was pleased with her team’s ability to push Port Melbourne until the final siren, looking to the upcoming Easter bye as an opportunity to reset ahead of the rest of the season.
“I think attitude is a big thing. As we came off, some emotions were pretty high and I think that just goes to show how invested we are about this group, this club and the growth of our football,” she said.
“It’s nice to see the emotion but we really need to regroup, come back together. We’ve got two weeks off now to rest our bodies, rest our minds, and come back and regroup because we know that we can play great footy. We just need to believe in ourselves.”
The VFLW will have a competition-wide bye over Easter before the Bombers return for their round six clash with Hawthorn at Box Hill City Oval on April 10.
ESSENDON 1.1 2.1 3.1 4.3 (27)
PORT MELBOURNE 3.0 5.1 6.1 6.2 (38)
Goals: Frew 2, Barba, Theodore
Best: Ashley-Cooper, Ugle, Barba, Morcom, Frew, Nanscawen
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Stats exist. Sometime we even get granted snippets of them, below.
Port Melbourne continued its unbeaten start to its first ever VFLW season with an 11-point win over Essendon. A five goal to two first half set up Port Melbourne’s victory, ending the Bombers three game winning streak.
Essendon fought hard and were able to control the first five minutes of each quarter, even holding the Borough goalless in the third, but Port Melbourne’s experience, clean skills and usage of the ball allowed it to always wrestle back momentum. Hannah McLaren was instrumental in the back half for Port, taking nine marks and collecting 22 disposals. Pip Peshke was also influential through the middle, ending up with 17 disposals and nine tackles.
Federica Few hit the scoreboard twice for the Bombers from her 15 disposals, while Georgia Nanscawen’s excellent season continued with 24 disposals and 11 tackles.
Nanscawen struggling against quality competition = 24 disposals (lowest for the season so far) and 11 tackles (second-highest so far).
Reminder: this is just her third year playing footy at any level coming off 205 games with the Hockeyroos. Her experience with footy before being named our captain was:
- 3 games at Swan Districts
- 2 games with Norf AFLW
- 12 games with us in 2019, winning our B&F and a VFLW Team of the Year spot
After 22 non-practice games of experience at any level, she currently has 25% more disposals than the second-highest player in the VFLW. And that certainly hasn’t been due to any silver service from our ruck team…
Her early games were with the Western Spurs/Bulldogs, but “Quigls” barracked for us as a kid and will be forever immortalised as kicking our first goal (it didn’t happen till the third quarter and the crowd went wild).
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