Geelong has kept alive its fading hopes of snatching a third straight AFLW finals appearance with a gutsy 10-point win over the Brisbane Lions at GMHBA.
In a contest in which the Cats never trailed, they held off a late surge from the reigning premier to record their third win of the season, 7.5 (47) to 5.7 (37), in front of 2,850 people.
The victory – Geelong’s first over the Brisbane Lions since entering the competition in 2019 – brings Daniel Lowther’s team to within six points of the top eight with two rounds to play.
Star midfielder Nina Morrison, who finished the match with a game-high 24 disposals, rated the victory one of the club’s best home-and-away results.
“It felt pretty good,” Morrison told krockfootball.live.
“It was nice to sneak away with it in the end; we probably made it a bit harder for ourselves than we needed to in the last couple of minutes.
“Brisbane, obviously, are such a good side and quality opposition… so good to get a win at home.”
Geelong caught the Lions by surprise, kicking the first three goals of the contest through Aishling Moloney, 75-gamer Shelley Scott, and the continually improving Jackie Parry.
The visitors eventually got on board at the 18-minute mark through Dakota Davidson.
However, it was the All-Australian’s last meaningful contribution to the match.
She suffered a concussion after landing awkwardly following a strong mark in front of Cats captain Meg McDonald in the second quarter.
Geelong extended its advantage in the second quarter thanks to a second goal from Scott and a long finish from Mikayla Bowen before Lion Orla O’Dwyer’s running shot on goal cleared the pack to help Brisbane cut the margin to 15 points at the main break.
The first half of the third quarter proved to be an arm wrestle that was only broken when Morrison took a solid overhead mark and converted truly from 15m out to make the margin a game-high 24 points.
The Lions managed to pull a goal back when a handball from Cat Caitlin Thorne gifted Charlotte Mullins a goal.
However, Moloney’s goal-of-the-year contender snuffed any real hope of a Brisbane revival early in the final term, which again made the margin 23 points.
With league-leading goalkicker Taylor Smith held to just two behinds by the Meg McDonald-Claudia Gunjaca combination, Moloney’s two goals moved her to within one of the star Lion.
Morrison was well-supported in the midfield by Georgie Prespakis (20 disposals, 10 clearances, 10 tackles) and Julia Crockett-Grills (20 disposals, five clearances, five tackles).
However, the performance of Irish talent Anna-Rose Kennedy proved eye-catching.
She had a career-high 18 disposals, from which she gained 587 metres, running off half-back.
“That role was a nice one to play today,” Kennedy said.
“It got me a bit more ball, and I was able to get it up to allow our forwards to do the work.”
The only disappointment for the Cats was a hamstring injury suffered by Gabbi Featherston, which sidelined her after half-time.
X: @krockfootball
