Fremantle’s Roxy Roux takes a genuine “Mark of the Year” contender in the Dockers’ win over West Coast. Photo: AFL MEDIA
Two-thirds of the AFLW season are now in the books and the top teams are firmly planting footholds in the top six.
This round featured a bounty of blowouts, with Carlton’s 33-point victory over winless Geelong the closest result. On the other end of things, Adelaide wrote itself into the AFLW record books with an almighty smashing of the winless Suns.
While the much-anticipated Collingwood-Western Bulldogs showdown was tight through the first half, the Pies monstered the Dogs in the second to stay undefeated and on top of the ladder. Brisbane also boosted its percentage with its drubbing of GWS.
Collingwood’s Brianna Davey and Adelaide’s Danielle Ponter had matches for the ages, Carlton dynamo Darcy Vescio again showed why she’s one of the league’s most electrifying players, and the impostor posing as Fremantle’s Gemma Houghton the last two weeks is gone now, with the real one back and imposing herself.
Melbourne’s Daisy Pearce appears to be a natural in her new forward role, and it was sweet to see Brisbane’s Jess Wuestchner continue her resurrection on the footy ground, kicking her first goal since her long absence. Next up? The run home. Strap yourselves in.
NORTH MELBOURNE 10.7 (67) d RICHMOND 5.2 (32)
Moments before their Friday twilight match, a week after the euphoria of posting their first-ever victory, the Tigers had to feel a bit like Cinderella after the ball, the way misfortune crashed down around them. Just before the match, their leading ball-winner and clearance queen, Monique Conti, was a late out after hamstring tightness. Then, midway through the first term, thanks to Roos’ mids Ashleigh Riddell (25 touches) and Jasmine Garner (22 touches), it started raining goals, from Daisy Bateman’s patented, stutter-step set-shot, to a fluid handball chain-fuelled Garner snap, to Garner’s feeding Isabella Eddey for a third major. In the blink of an eye, North was out to a three-goal first-term advantage, which ended with Richmond senior coach Ryan Ferguson shuffling the magnets, moving forward Sabrina Frederick into the ruck to try and nullify her dominant opponent Emma King, and captain Katie Brennan from forward into the middle to attempt to slow down any North midfielder she could. With North accumulating nearly double the number of possessions in the first term, it’s no wonder Ferguson plainly told the TV audience of North’s start: “They showed us how to play footy.” Unfortunately for Ferguson and his women, North continued the schooling. King ruled the air and kicked two goals, Sophie Abbatangelo added another, and the Roos held the Tigers to just 0.2 by half-time. All wasn’t bleak, though, for Richmond. The Tigers have shown in past rounds they have plenty of fight in them, and in the third term they kicked three goals and held North scoreless. Ellie McKenzie, last round’s co-NAB Rising Star Nominee, led her club with 16 disposals, while Christina Bernardi – who came in to the side for the injured Conti – kicked two goals. But early in the fourth quarter, North swiftly quashed the third-term momentum Richmond built, going on to boot four majors en route to a comfortable, 35-point victory.
BRISBANE 7.13 (55) d GWS 2.5 (17)
Only goals late in the third and fourth terms kept this from being the Giants’ heaviest defeat in their brief history. Brisbane controlled this match from the opening bounce and it didn’t take long for it to seem done and dusted. In the blink of an eye, the Lions’ Dakota Davidson – held goalless last week by Fremantle – created a contest, tapped the footy to her advantage and snapped the first of her two goals on the day. Courtney Hodder also worked her special brand of magic at ground level, snapping a goal after pouncing on a loose ball, then selling candy to a defender and slipping a tackle. Brisbane had six shots at goal in the first term, which was aided not only by its mids’ winning centre clearances, but also by the Giants conceding eight free kicks. By the early third term, with their slick handball chains, five different goalkickers and a 49-point lead, the match had all the trappings of a Lions’ training run. If Brisbane kicked the least bit straighter, the result might have been a belting of historic proportions. Lions’ supporters would have to be thrilled to see Jess Wuestchner kicking her first goal of the season in her second game back from a long injury layoff after being struck by lightning, and they’d also be excited by teen star Isabel Dawes booting two majors of her own. Emily Bates and Alexandra Anderson ran amok, gobbling up 19 possessions each. For the Giants, mids Alyce Parker and Rebecca Beeson, the comp’s No. 1 and No. 2 players respectively for contested possessions and clearances, continued their stellar work, combining for 32 disposals. Brisbane now heads into the final third of the season sitting second on the ladder, with the comp’s second-best percentage of 258.2 — and a blockbuster match next round at home against Collingwood.
ADELAIDE 13.7 (85) d GOLD COAST 2.3 (15)
How historic a smashing was this? Let us count the ways: The Crows became the first AFLW team ever to kick 13 goals in a match; they kicked their highest-ever score in their existence, falling one point short of the Western Bulldogs’ AFLW record single-match scoring tally; and they recorded their most lopsided victory, in a healthy percentage booster. Crows’ forward pocket Danielle Ponter herself to four goals. Adelaide has a penchant for strangling the life out of opposing sides early and again this round, it kept an opponent scoreless in the first term. Just for good measure, the Crows also denied the Suns any score in the third term and conceded one behind in the final term. Anne Hatchard (21 possessions) got her 23rd birthday celebration started a day early, kicking the opening major for the Crows, while the second and fourth quarters belonged to Ponter, who kicked two goals in each term. Ponter’s second goal was brilliant. She bent a banana through the sticks after running on to a ball Chloe Scheer miraculously booted forward as she was being tackled from behind. Scheer herself hit the scoreboard in the third term with a blistering set-shot from close range after being paid a free kick. Fourteen Crows reached double figures in possessions, while Erin Phillips (19 touches) and Chelsea Randall (13 touches) added two goals apiece. The match was painful in more ways than one for the Suns, who were playing their fifth straight away match. Early in the first quarter, midfielder Jamie Stanton – the Suns’ leader in this year’s AFLW Coaches votes — had to be carried from the ground on a stretcher after a blow to her ankle she sustained whilst laying a tackle. Then, shortly before half-time, Kate Surman – who at the time was Gold Coast’s leading ball winner with 17 possessions and had just booted the Suns’ second goal – left the ground after a head clash, though she returned later. The Crows weren’t without their own injuries. In a case of friendly fire, defender Nikki Gore had to be helped from the ground by trainers after a first-term collision with teammate Marijana Rajcic, which the club suspects caused Gore a fractured ankle. In the third period, trainers escorted midfielder Hannah Button to the sidelines after she injured her left shoulder. She watched the final quarter with an ice pack on the shoulder and the arm in a sling.
MELBOURNE 9.12 (66) d ST KILDA 3.4 (22)
You could say, simply, the Demons “Pearce-d” the Saints’ hearts. Coach Mick Stinear swung Daisy Pearce, Melbourne’s stalwart midfielder-turned-defender forward and it paid almost immediate dividends. She’d previously kicked just three goals in her AFLW career, yet in the opening minutes in the Saturday twilight game, Pearce booted her first of two for the match. And then there were the heroics of Melbourne’s Lauren Pearce. When’s the last time you remember a ruck accumulating as many as 22 touches in a match? Lauren Pearce not only did that, but she also dominated the hit-out count, registering 21, and also took four marks and laid four tackles, as she attempted to single-handedly redefine the phrase, “work rate.” Lauren Pearce was as instrumental in leading the Demons’ onslaught as her teammates, Karen Paxman (24 possessions), Eden Zanker (23 possessions), Tyla Hanks (22 possessions), and Kate Hore (20 possessions and a goal). It hardly mattered that Zanker’s bout with the yips in front of the sticks continues, or that Melbourne’s accuracy hasn’t completely aligned. With only 15 inside 50s for the match, St Kilda made only cameo appearances in its forward end, and Melbourne held the Saints’ leading goalkickers, Caitlin Greiser (6) and Kate Shierlaw (4) scoreless. Georgia Patrikios, Hannah Priest, and Cath Phillips each had 17 touches for the Saints, but their ineffective ball movement continues to bedevil them.
CARLTON 10.4 (64) d GEELONG 4.7 (31)
If Blues’ star Darcy Vescio could patent, then sell the recipe for whatever potion she self-generates that gives her the power to dominate matches for several minutes, she’d be a multi-millionaire. The Blues’ highest first quarter output this season before this match was a 1.0 term in a Round 2 loss to the Doggies. But with a jolt of “Darcy Dynamite”, Carlton kicked a robust 4.0. Vescio authored two majors from her own boot, from nearly identical spots near the goal square — one, a snap after playing on after a mark, and the other, a dribbler. But Vescio also was crucial to the other two goals — bringing the ball to ground, then aiding teammate Natalie Plane by shepherding a defender, allowing Plane to snap truly from long range, then while under pressure from the forward pocket, handballing to teammate Serena Gibbs who slammed home a goal. With the Blues resting key forward Tayla Harris, Gibbs, Georgia Gee (two goals each), and Nic Stevens (one goal) more than picked up the slack. And not even a stinger to the left elbow of Carlton midfield general Maddie Prespakis (27 touches) which caused her to miss part of that electric first term could keep her from having a massive impact on the match. The Blues pulled their record to 3-3, but realistically, must run the table in their next three matches to qualify for a finals berth, while Geelong, despite showing signs of improvement, remains winless. Rebecca Webster led the Cats with 20 touches, but it was a tough day at the office for forwards Phoebe McWilliams – who, despite her hard work, kicked 0.3 and missed a chunk of time after a scary head clash with Blues’ defender Alison Downie – and Olivia Barber, who despite kicking one major, had several goalkicking opportunities ruined by cruel bounces or dogged Blues’ defenders.
COLLINGWOOD 7.9 (51) d WESTERN BULLDOGS 2.3 (15)
So goes Brianna Davey, so go the Pies. Through her absolutely dominant third quarter, in which she racked up 11 possessions, Collingwood transformed a dour arm wrestle into a bloodbath. Bulldogs captain Ellie Blackburn would lead her side with 18 touches, but the Pies put the Doggies to the sword in the third term. The Pies owned the quarter’s inside 50 count, 17 to one, and as a result, kicked four goals in the premiership quarter – two from the electric Chloe Molloy – and after six rounds, remain atop the ladder, as the comp’s undefeated queens. The Dogs’ four-game winning streak is over, and they tumbled down the ladder. Davey (28 touches, seven inside 50s, seven tackles and two clearances) continued her day out in the last term, opening the scoring by slotting a set-shot off the back of a 50-metre penalty. Britt Bonnici, for good measure, added 22 touches of her own. The Pies put the clamps on the Dogs in the second half after they trailed by two points at half time, with the Doggies’ Elisabeth Georgostathis kicking the first half’s only major score. The Pies denied the Dogs any score from the beginning of the third term until four minutes into fourth, when Jess Fitzgerald kicked a goal, a day ahead of her 19th birthday. While Molloy kicked two majors, it also was an unforgettable day for Pies’ debutant Abbi Moloney — daughter of late 1980s-early 1990s Footscray Bulldog Troy — who kicked two goals from her first two kicks in her AFLW career. The Pies’ second half made their kicking 0.8 through the first half, plus a small bit of the second, a distant memory.
FREMANTLE 11.9 (75) d WEST COAST 1.2 (8)
Local authorities must have arrested and detained whoever those women were who snuck into the Freo change rooms and impersonated the real Dockers in their match last week against Brisbane. The unbeaten 2020 Freo side returned with a vengeance on Sunday afternoon, kicking its highest score of the season to pad its percentage to a league-best 285.1, and eviscerating the Eagles in the third-ever Western Derby. The Dockers, who now sit second on the ladder behind Collingwood, have conceded a league-lowest 94 points. For the last two weeks, star Dockers’ forwards Gemma Houghton and Sabreena Duffy were held goalless. But it took only one quarter for each of them to kick majors to jump-start normally slow-starting Freo. Duffy slotted three, while Houghton controlled the air, taking strong marks, and kicking a single-match, personal-best five goals, the second highest total in an AFLW match. Docker Roxy Roux, who kicked Freo’s only goal last week and starred in last year’s Derby, booted two goals – each one after she flew to take two screamers that should be mark-of-the-year contenders. Kiara Bowers – who earned Derby medal honours – was a clearance beast, registering double-digits in that department while gathering 24 possessions, matching teammate Ebony Antonio for most possessions. Grace Kelly kicked the only goal for the Eagles, who on the day, failed to take a single mark inside their forward 50, such was the Docker domination.
