BASEBALL convert Nicole Garner and experienced defender Rebecca Goring have been included in the Geelong team for Friday night’s AFLW Round 3 opener against the Western Bulldogs at GMHBA Stadium.
2019 draftee Garner will make her debut after being an emergency in the opening two rounds.
Goring, who captained Cats in its AFLW debut match in 2019, will play her first match since the Round 5 win over Gold Coast on March 6 last year.
“Bec wasn’t quite available for selection last week, but she’s raring to go and really fit,” coach Paul Hood said/
“It’ll be great to get some of her experience back into our backline.”
They replace Darcy Moloney and Georgia Clark who have been dropped and are likely to play in the Cats’ VFLW practice match against Port Melbourne at Deakin Uni on Saturday.
“The opportunity now with VFLW games getting played means players who haven’t seen a lot of the footy can do that; try and get plenty of possessions and work on developing their games,” Hood said.
“And it’s a chance for us to rotate some of the younger players, or rotate some of your newer players like we’re doing with Nicole.
“It’s of great benefit to us to give those players who aren’t playing a run in the VFL.”
Young defender Millie Brown remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.
“Unfortunately the six-day break’s done us in again, and Millie hasn’t progressed enough to be ready,” Hood said.
“We expect to see her in training next week, and we’ll take it from there.”
Twitter: @tom_king79
AFLW ROUND 3
GEELONG (14th) vs. WESTERN BULLDOGS (7th)
GMHBA Stadium
Friday, February 12, 7:10pm
[supsystic-tables id=’29’]
