DRAFTEE Brooke Plummer will make her AFLW debut among three changes for Geelong’s Round 5 opener against St Kilda in GMHBA Stadium.
Plummer, who the Cats selected with pick 42 in this year’s AFLW Draft from the Northern Knights, joins out-of-favour defender Maddy Keryk and veteran forward Kate Darby for the Thursday night clash.
It will be the first game of the season for Keryk, who was Geelong’s most capped player after Season 6.
Mia Skinner, Georgia Clarke and Kalani Scoullar have been dropped for the must-win meeting for the Saints.
After starting the season with consecutive wins, losses to Collingwood and North Melbourne in the past fortnight have Geelong needing a win to stay in touch with the top eight.
The Cats have been held to three goals combined in their last two outings, and coach Dan Lowther says the inability to score consistently scoring isn’t through lack of effort.
“We had 35 inside 50s on the weekend, and we averaged 30 over the first three rounds,” he said.
“But we just haven’t found that synergy or connection that we’re after.
“We’re aware of it, and we’ve trained it pretty well. Hopefully, this weekend, we see something different.”
Lowther is hoping some of the good vibes from Geelong’s men’s team being in the AFL Grand Final will rub off on his side.
“The community is buzzing, so you can’t hide from it,” he said. “For us, it’s about embracing it.
“You hear it all on the radio … experienced coaches and players are saying ’embrace the moment’.
“We’re taking the same philosophy. It’s great for our players to walk through the halls here and just mingle with the players in the men’s program to get an experience of how big a week it is.
“For our competition, too, (with) ten games, it’s like every game, there’s something riding on it.”
Twitter: @tom_king79
AFLW ROUND 5
GEELONG (10th) vs. ST KILDA (7th)
GMHBA Stadium
Thursday, September 22 5:10pm
[supsystic-tables id=’29’]
