THE 2022 VFL Women’s season is almost here, so it is time to take a look at each of the competing teams and see where they sit as another season approaches. Today, Rookie Me Central takes a look at Geelong, who made the 2021 Grand Final.

Despite how it ultimately finished, Geelong had a great season in 2021 and will certainly be looking to reach that mark again in 2022.

Coach Andrew Bruce, who will be back at the helm this coming season, was happy with how it went despite the way the year ended.

“It was a fantastic year, it was my first year as coach and it was really enjoyable,” Bruce said. “We had a really great bunch of girls who just tried to be their best every week and every training session. That’s all you could ask for. We had a great time as a really close group, and even though we’ve had a change in our group to this year, it’s a similar type of vibe. Fantastic year, disappointing end to it but out of everybody’s control, so it’s just the way it is.”

Skipper Brianna Beckley agreed with her coach.

“It was a tough challenging year we all had to navigate in some way, shape or form, but we still tried to get our best team out there and all tried the best to play the games when we were allowed to and unfortunately didn’t quite get there and get to play the Grand Final,” she said. “But I think it’s great knowing we had made it and we could have either come home winner or loser but I think it’s a great opportunity to be able to make it and it’s so good for our club and our team.”

The Cats narrowly lost to the Magpies in Round 1, before comfortably beating Williamstown in Round 2, and then beat the Saints in Round 3.

They then lost to the Borough before going on an impressive winning run, taking out the next seven matches. They then lost to Carlton and Collingwood, which bookended a win over the Hawks.

This saw Geelong finish in second place, with its superior percentage meaning they finished ahead of the Borough, even though they both finished on ten wins each.

This saw the Cats up against the Pies again in a Qualifying Final for week one of the postseason. They lost that one, but then beat the Saints and Bombers to find themselves up against the Pies again in the Grand Final.

Unfortunately, an increase in Covid cases in Victoria at the time meant that the state was in lockdown and the Grand Final was never able to be played, and we will never know who the 2021 Premiers were going to be.

Leading into 2022, Bruce said that this preseason had certainly been different to last year’s and noted that it had been a “bit more up and down in relation to player availability.”

He named a number of players that had been training well – Chloe Leonard (who’s now full time with the Cats after coming from the GWV Rebels in the NAB League), Mia Skinner (who’s fresh out of the AFLW system), and Sachi DeGiacomi.

Skipper Beckley also sung the praises of Skinner and Leonard, as well as Madeleine Boyd, who’s come down from the AFLW system.

There are also a number of new recruits that have come to the Cats ahead of the 2022 season.

Bella Hill was playing at Grovedale last season, but did play at the Rebels in her NAB League days.

Sophie Dineen has come from Barwon Heads, while Emily Ramsay used to play at Geelong but went away for a few years.

Unfortunately for Geelong, their one scheduled practice match against the Bulldogs was cancelled due to the Covid chaos happening in the Dogs’ camp.

They did still get out for couple of practice matches, with a few AFLW players from Geelong playing in the first one and some of Collingwood’s unselected AFLW players playing in the second.

Bruce’s ultimate goal for 2021 is pretty straightforward.

“Look, we want to be really competitive,” he said. “We want to play a brand of football that gives us the best opportunity to kick goals and to develop some good players who hopefully then get an opportunity to play at the next level and in doing so that win a lot of games that we can push our way into the finals that’d be outstanding for us.”