GEELONG has named two debutants as it looks to bounce back from last week’s 62-point loss to North Melbourne in Round 2 of the AFLW season.
2020 draftees Olivia Barber and Stephanie Williams have been included for Saturday’s meeting with Collingwood after impressing in last week’s VFLW practice match, replacing young defender Millie Brown (hamstring tightness) and Rene Caris.
Geelong due to play the Lions in Brisbane on Sunday. However, an adjustment to the fixture due to COVID-19 border concerns has the Cats remaining in Victoria for clash with the Magpies at Victoria Park.
Coach Paul Hood says his players have responded well after last week’s disappointing performance.
“All the players could do was work really hard at training, bring a really good attitude, and a high level of intensity and they’ve done that very, very well,” he said.
“The players have given themselves a really great chance to bounce back this week.”
After battling in 2020 to create inside 50m opportunities, the Cats generated 25 last week – just two less than North Melbourne.
However, they kicked just 1.3, with their first score not coming until the final quarter.
“We’ve focused really hard on how we want to set-up ahead of the ball this week,” Hood said.
“Hopefully, those changes give us the opportunity to compete a little bit more.”
Collingwood enters the clash following a six-point win in which they dominated Carlton in the first half to start the new season.
“They gave a very, very solid performance against Carlton,” Hood said.
“We know that we’ll have to bring the appropriate level of pressure and really compete hard.
“But Collingwood is an impressive team.”
Twitter: @tom_king79
AFLW ROUND 2
COLLINGWOOD (6th) vs. GEELONG (14th)
Victoria Park
Saturday, February 6, 3:10pm (AEDT)
[supsystic-tables id=’29’]
