Cats open season with win
GEELONG’S VFL Women’s team withstood a physical challenge from Melbourne Uni to open its account with a comfortable win.
Cats coach Paul Hood lauded the performance of his players, who blew off the cobwebs after half-time to record a 39-point win at GMHBA Stadium yesterday.
“It was a bit of a struggle,” Hood conceded last night.
“It was a typical Round 1 game where everyone was having a crack and defending a little bit harder.
“It was a game of defence and it was fiercely contested early.
“Melbourne Uni really came to play and they shook us up early.
“They were really physical, they defended really well to their credit, and they were really hard to play against and that made it difficult for us to get the game flowing our way.
“Once it did open up after halftime we attacked a lot better, but Melbourne Uni made it a really difficult contest.”
Conceding the first goal of the match in the opening 10 seconds, the Cats went on to boot seven of the next eight majors in a dominant performance.
“That (first goal) was not in our playbook,” Hood said. “But they didn’t kick another one until halfway through the last quarter.
“It was 2.1 to 1.1 our way at quarter-time and we didn’t kick a goal in the second quarter. We just kept kicking points, but we kicked two or three goals to be up by about four goals at three-quarter-time and we ended up winning by 39 points.”
Elise Coventry was Geelong’s best, producing a stellar game in defence.
“She played a fantastic role for us across halfback and was really good at repelling Melbourne Uni’s attack and kickstarting ours,” Hood said.
“The midfield was really strong. Renee Garing, Richelle Cranston, Mia-Rae Clifford, Hayley Trevean were all really solid. Danielle (Orr) kicked three goals, and three goals out of seven is a pretty good achievement, and she played well. Rebecca Goring played well down back and Hannah Burchell was good on a wing as well.”
Hood was pleased with the endeavour of his players, despite patches of inconsistency.
“I really praised the players for their intent and ability to work hard, pressure the opposition and win the contested footy,” Hood said of his message post-match. “That was pleasing, and as we get a bit more experience we’ll be more predictable to each other with our ball use.”