GEELONG has defied persistent rain to record its second-straight win of the VFLW season.
Captain Michelle Fedele’s late goal proved enough for the Cats to score an eight-point win over Southern Saints in a low-scoring slog at Deakin Uni on Saturday.
Coach Andrew Bruce was full of praise for Geelong’s efforts.
“It just rained non-stop, and it made the ball really heavy and slippery,” he said.
“But they just kept trying to push the ball forward. We managed to score a couple of goals, one late that sealed the game for us.
“Their endeavour was fantastic. We just took it back to basic footy of getting metreage forward.
“It was hard for the girls because you train so much to try and get some release handball.
“It’s not easy to change that at a moment’s notice, so we got caught out a couple of times trying to handball a bit too often.
“But as soon as we got the ball on boot, we certainly looked a lot better.”
AFLW-listed Madi Maguire put her hand up for a recall to the Geelong team for the final two rounds of the season after a standout display.
“She was really clean with the footy, whereas everybody else fumbled quite a lot, which was understandable,” Bruce said.
“But her workrate was fantastic.”
Tamara Smith maintained the pressure, which resulted in her laying 17 tackles the previous week against Williamstown. Olivia Fuller put a back issue from Round 2 behind her to control the ruck, and forward Claudia Gunjaca also worked hard.
Bruce was also impressed with Geelong Falcons duo Renee Tierney and Annie Lee on their VFLW debuts.
“Renee took a couple of really nice, strong marks,” he said. “And because she’s a beautiful kick, the girls with good kicking techniques can still kick the ball well in the wet.
“She played a good role for us forward. Ideally, the next time she plays, she gets some nice weather, and I think she’ll play really well.
“Annie was fantastic down back. She took some really strong marks, and her decision-making was just fantastic.
“She’s going to be a very good footballer.”
Geelong’s run of home games at Deakin Uni continues next Saturday afternoon when it hosts the unbeaten Port Melbourne at 5pm.
Twitter: @tom_king79
GEELONG 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, 2.4 (16)
SOUTHERN SAINTS 0.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.2 (8)
Goals: Geelong: M. Fedele, C. Gunjaca. Southern Saints: V. Moreau
Best: Geelong: M. Maguire, T. Smith, O. Fuller, C. Gunjaca, M. Fedele, A. Lee. Southern Saints: N. von Bertouch, A. Hynes, T. Bohanna, H. Stuart, A. Brown, K. Ripari
