Geelong’s impressive late-season form has the side confident it can take it up to AFLW reigning premiers Melbourne as the Cats prepare to face the Demons in a semi-final.
Sunday’s 18-point elimination final win over Essendon was Geelong’s third-straight win and first-ever finals victory since entering the women’s competition in 2019.
“It was huge for the club; we made history yesterday for our club winning our first final, which was huge,” Cats youngster Darcy Moloney said.
“But we don’t want it to be our first and last this week, so we’re quickly moving on to this week’s opposition, but, yeah, it was huge on the weekend,” she said.
The Dees were smashed by 41 points against North Melbourne in Sunday’s other final, setting up the do-or-die clash against the Cats this Sunday at Princes Park.
Moloney said the tough loss will likely fire up the defending champs.
“They’re the reigning premiers, so if any team know how to win, it’s them.
“After two performances that I’m sure they’re not happy with, they’ll probably come out firing.”
Geelong will almost certainly be without All-Australian forward Chloe Scheer, who picked up a nasty shoulder injury early in the win against the Bombers.
The Cats leading goalkicker didn’t return to the field after quarter-time and was spotted with her arm in a sling post-match.
“She’s a competitive beast; she would’ve loved to be able to play out the game on the weekend,” Moloney said.
“She’s amazing, and she’ll get through, and she’ll support as much as she can whether that’s on or off the field.”
Moloney said the belief at Kardinia Park continues to grow, with Geelong’s three-game winning streak having the side confident it can pull off an upset.
“I feel like we’ve had that belief all year, really,” she said.
“We probably took a little bit to find our feet, but I think we’re peaking at the right time; you always want to peak coming into finals.
“I think we’re peaking as a group in terms of our togetherness and our connection; there’s just a real love within the group, the staff, the coaching staff, the club in general.
“It’s just a great environment to be in at Geelong at the moment.
“I think that’s gone a long way into making us play some good footy.”
