GEELONG was again on the wrong side of the scoreline, but coach Paul Hood was able to find plenty of positives following Friday night’s 15-point loss to the Western Bulldogs at GMHBA Stadium.
The loss keeps the Cats anchored to the bottom of the AFLW ladder, but was a vast improvement on the first fortnight of the season, where they were hammered by North Melbourne and outlasted by Collingwood.
“I thought the effort was fantastic; I can’t find any fault with that, and I’m actually pleased with our players,” Hood said.
“It was the most complete four-quarter performance from an intensity point-of-view that we’ve given.
“(I’m) pleased with that, but not content with the result, and we obviously want to continue working on our ability to score and find each other inside 50m.”
Held goalless in the first half, Geelong dominated played in the third quarter but couldn’t make the most of their opportunities.
Twice the Cats had the Bulldogs outnumbered two-to-one inside 50m but could not turn half-chances into goals.
Phoebe McWilliams eventually found Geelong’s first goal since early in the first quarter of the loss to the Magpies to cut the margin to two points.
The Cats should have taken the lead less than two minutes late when second-gamer Stephanie Williams burst towards goal but pushed her running shot to the right and cutting the margin to one point at the final change.
On the flip side, the Bulldogs made the most of two gilt-edged opportunities early in the final quarter to put the game to bed thanks to Kirsten McLeod, who had hit the post earlier in the quarter, and Jess Fitzgerald.
“One point down at three-quarter time at home, it’s a winnable game, and we get really excited about the opportunity to do that,” Hood said.
“When we sit down and reflect, we’ll feel really good about that, but really disappointed that we didn’t get the win.
“Understanding that we feel our performance has improved, and a lot of the indicators were much better than they’ve been in previous weeks.
“We just want to use the ball a little bit better and get some reward for our work.”
Geelong will now enter somewhat of a holding pattern, not knowing its Round 4 opponent or what structured training looks like following the announcement of a five-day COVID-19 related lockdown by the Victorian Government.
“We’re really grateful we still get the chance to train and work on our game, and keep getting together as a footy club,” Hood said.
“We’ll work really hard and keep trying to improve our game.
“We’ll plan to train twice during the week like we do every week, and we’re really grateful we’re in the fortunate position we’re allowed to do that.
Twitter: @tom_king79
