MATCHING the Western Bulldogs at the contest will be vital if Geelong is to open its 2021 AFLW account according to Cats coach Paul Hood.
The Dogs will come to GMHBA Stadium for the first time on Friday night after a stirring six-point win over Carlton in Round 2 that has them sitting in seventh spot, a game and 85 per cent behind sixth-placed Collingwood.
“No doubt they’re a really strong contested team,” Hood said. “They’ve got some fantastic players in the midfield.
“Ellie Blackburn and Kirsty Lamb are great AFLW players with a pretty good amount of experience now.
“They’ll be strong around the footy, and we’ll need to use the depth of our midfield to make sure that we can be strong as well for the entire four quarters.”
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Geelong has made two changes for the match, with baseball convert Nicole Garner to make her debut and experienced defender Rebecca Gording to play her first AFLW match since Round 5 last year.
Garner finally gets her chance after being an emergency five times since being drafted in 2019.
“Unfortunately the cards never quite fell her way,” Hood said.
“And at AFLW level, with a smaller squad, you need everyone available whenever you can, and Nicole’s done all she can to make sure she’s the best tool for the team, and now she gets her chance.
“It was really tough having those conversations with her. But she was always around the mark, and now she gets her go.
“I can’t wait to see her perform.”
Hood couldn’t consider defender Millie Brown (hamstring) for a second-straight week, while young midfielder Nina Morrison’s return from a second knee reconstruction won’t come until next month at least.
“It’ll be late in the season rather than late, and that’s the most we know at the moment,” he said.
“But she trained really strongly last night, and it’s just a matter of getting enough of that exposure.
“A training session might go for 30 minutes, and a game goes for an hour-and-a-half.
“So we need to get her up to enough training minutes to then be confident that she’s ready to go.”
Twitter: @tom_king79
