GEELONG will welcome back Millie Brown and Bec Goring among two changes as it looks to open its 2021 account against fellow winless team Richmond on Friday night.
The defensive duo replaces 2020 draftees Olivia Barber and Laura Gardiner, who have been dropped and will play in the Cats’ VFLW season-opener against Collingwood at Deakin Uni on Sunday.
Geelong kicked its highest-ever AFLW score in beating the Tigers in 2020, and it will be looking to repeat that performance this weekend.
Coach Paul Hood spoke following last week’s loss to St Kilda about finding a balance between attack and defence and said that’s been a focus at training this week.
“It’s about simplifying those things to make it easier to get the balance right,” he said.
“Particularly with making the most of our scoring opportunities and creating more scoring opportunities.
“It’s no secret we haven’t scored a lot, so we want to play with the ball down our end a little bit more.
“There have been instances in every game where we’ve done what we’d like to do; we just want to continue to play that way for longer.
The omission of Barber will see Geelong go into the clash with a smaller forward line.
“We get a different look down forward with one more small and one less tall for periods of the game, and we’ll see how that goes,” Hood said.
“And that means we’ll have to do something with the back-up ruck situation, too.
“We’ve got plenty of options there with players like Madeline Boyd and Maddy McMahon, who have done that before.”
Nina Morrison (knee) and Madisen Maguire (concussion) are the only players unavailable for AFLW or VFLW selection.
Twitter: @tom_king79
AFLW ROUND 5
Geelong (13th) vs. Richmond (11th)
GMHBA Stadium
Friday, February 26, 7:10pm
[supsystic-tables id=’29’]
