Bulldog Celine Moody tries to escape heavy traffic during her team’s thrilling loss to Gold Coast on Sunday evening. Photo: AFL PHOTOS
HAWTHORN 1.5 (11) def by MELBOURNE 10.10 (70)
In administering this 59-point belting, the Demons made AFLW history by winning a record-breaking 13th consecutive game. Melbourne bats so deep, each win has been a total team effort, and each round a different cluster of stars has shone. This time around, Eden Zanker (three goals), Olivia Purcell (29 touches), Tyla Hanks (10 score involvements) and Libby Birch (eight intercept possessions) were the one who ensured the result was never in doubt. With North Melbourne losing, the Demons returned to top spot on the ladder and are firming for another top-four finish. In the Hawks’ defeat, Emily Bates was their best with 21 disposals, nine tackles and seven clearances.
GWS 5.7 (37) def by ADELAIDE 16.10 (106)
Even in a massive defeat – and playing without suspended captain Alicia Eva – the young Giants deserve credit for matching it in the first half with perennial powerhouse Adelaide. But ultimately, in laying down this 69-point drubbing, the Crows fell just one point short of matching Melbourne’s record score of 16.11 (107). Adelaide’s Ebony Marinoff turned in one the AFLW’s all-time best individual efforts, amassing 40 possessions, winning nine clearances, laying eight tackles and gaining 737 metres, while teammate Eloise Jones led the goalkicking onslaught with four majors. The undefeated Crows stormed home and soared to second rung on the ladder with nine unanswered goals, limiting the Giants to five points in the second half, and keeping them entirely off the scoreboard in the last term.
CARLTON 6.4 (40) def by RICHMOND 7.5 (47)
The Tigers are fast gaining a reputation as the comp’s comeback queens. Twice in the first four rounds now, Richmond has overcome fourth-quarter deficits – in this match, after squandering a big early lead – and ridden momentum to victory. While Tigers captain Katie Brennan kicked two first-quarter goals, it was her foil, Caitlin “G-Train” Greiser who played final-term hero, snapping the goal that gave her team back the lead and then setting up another. Richmond’s Mon Conti (29 possessions), Grace Egan (28 and seven clearances) and Kate Dempsey (26 and 472 metres gained) were prolific. Meanwhile, Carlton’s Breann Moody and Mia Austin (two goals each), as well as Mimi Hill (23 touches), helped overtake the Tigers early, and kept the Blues’ noses in front, before Richmond’s eventual fightback.
PORT ADELAIDE 5.12 (42) def by GEELONG 11.4 (70)
The Cats avenged their bitter loss to North Melbourne last round by smashing the Power, fresh from an upset win last weekend. Geelong bolted to a four-goal lead at quarter-time and never looked back. Star forward Chloe Scheer rebounded from a goalless performance last round, to kick four majors for the Cats and while Nina Morrison may at times be overshadowed by teammates Amy McDonald (30 touches and six clearances) and Georgie Prespakis (21 and nine tackles), she gathered a game-high 32 possessions and kicked a goal. Port Adelaide’s potent tall tandem of Gemma Houghton and Ash Saint combined for five majors, but important forward Indy Tahau exited early after suffering a suspected serious knee injury.
SYDNEY 5.4 (34) def WEST COAST 2.9 (21)
The improving Swans won for the second time in their sophomore season, piling more pain on the bottom-of-the-ladder Eagles who remain winless. While Rising Star favourite Ally Morphett dominated the ruck for Sydney, with 20 disposals, 33 hitouts and 10 clearances, Laura Gardiner was ferocious in the contest, winning 18 touches and laying 11 tackles, while Chloe Molloy and Bella Smith booted two goals each for the winning side. Stalwarts Dana Hooker and Emma Swanson were West Coast’s best, but the Eagles were doomed by their inaccuracy in front of goal.
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NORTH MELBOURNE 5.3 (33) def by BRISBANE 5.5 (35)
With the Lions heading into the game undefeated against the Kangaroos, and North having not previously lost in Tasmania, something had to give. In this thriller, which finished with an ambitious long-range shot after the siren from North star Emma Kearney that never looked like scoring, Brisbane claimed a memorable comeback victory that saw the Roos tumble from first to third on the ladder. North’s dominance of the first-half clearance count led to two goals to Emma King and one apiece to Jasmine Garner and Kate Shierlaw, for a healthy 18-point lead. But just three minutes into the second half, the Lions drew within a kick, winning two centre clearances resulting in goals to Bree Koenen and Taylor Smith. In the final term, with Brisbane missing suspended spearhead Dakota Davidson, her replacement Shannon Campbell tied the match by snapping truly after being swung forward from the backline. Two more Brisbane behinds sealed North’s fate.
ESSENDON 7.8 (50) def FREMANTLE 4.6 (30)
Bombers star forward Bonnie Toogood truly lived up to her surname at Windy Hill, leading all comers with 22 possessions, two goals and nine tackles in a 20-point win over the visiting Dockers in the first ever AFLW meeting between the two sides. An anticipated battle between contested possession queens Kiara Bowers of Fremantle and Madison Prespakis was relatively even, with Bowers winning 14 possessions and laying 10 tackles, while Prespakis had 20 disposals. The scoreboard seesawed until midway through the third term, but after Ange Stannett kicked her second goal for the Dockers, the Bombers flew up and away, peppering the sticks, including a pair of goals to Jacqui Vogt.
ST KILDA 7.5 (47) def COLLINGWOOD 5.5 (35)
Call it the “Miracle at Moorabbin”. At three-quarter time, the previously winless Saints were staring at yet another defeat, down 20 points to the Magpies who they’d never beaten before. Then a newly determined St Kilda side started winning contested ball, Jess Wardlaw was influential after being sent into the ruck, and Collingwood conceded heaps of free kicks, including one that set up Saint Ella Friend’s match-tying set shot. Friend’s goal, followed by a couple to Molly McDonald and Darcy Guttridge, capped a five-goal outburst that had the Saints marching to a surprising 12-point victory. Magpie-turned-Saint Jaimee Lambert hurt her old side with 18 possessions and a goal, while Saint-turned-Magpie Tarni White made her six possessions count, booting two goals.
GOLD COAST 7.6 (48) def WESTERN BULLDOGS 7.2 (44)
The Suns’ brilliance kept the Bulldogs winless. From two goals down, Gold Coast got rolling with a Tara Bohanna banana, then the suddenly irrepressible Jamie Stanton booted two goals to increase her total to a league-leading 12. By half-time, with Charlie Rowbottom winning 16 possessions (12 contested), the Suns had kicked five of the previous six goals to establish a commanding lead. But credit the Doggies with fighting until the bitter end, at one juncture late in the piece pulling to within a solitary point, with Deanna Berry (21 possessions and four clearances) leading the charge. But Jess Fitzgerald will rue inexplicably spraying a snap across the goal face from next to the goal post, which would’ve given her side a five-point lead with just over nine minutes left. The Suns’ win elevated them to sixth on the ladder — heights they’ve never reached to this point of any season.
