After a weekend off, the VFLW was back on the weekend for Round 6, and there were some big results, not just on the scoreboard.

In this week’s game of the round, Casey sent a brutal message to the rest of the competition, completely annihilating the Southern Saints. It was a very evening opening part of the opening term.

It took almost eight minutes for the first goal to be kicked, which went the way of Melanie Hogg from the Dees. Georgia Campbell then minutes later executed the perfect tackle which result in a holding the ball decision, and she kicked truly to extend the lead out even further. It then felt like the floodgates opened and the momentum was all Casey’s. At quarter time the margin was 16 points in favour of the Dees, with the Saints remaining scoreless for the entire term.

It did not take quite as long for a goal to be kicked in the second term, when Cara McCrossan kicked truly for the Dees to extend their lead out to 23. Amelia Peck finally got a score on the board for the Saints a couple of minutes later, but it was only a behind.   Olivia Flanagan then kicked the Saints’ first goal about halfway through the term.

Jacqueline Parry then kicked two quick goals to wrestle back control for the Dees and snuff out any momentum the Saints may have had. Sarah Lampard then kicked a very rare goal to heap even more pain on the Saints.

At half-time the margin had ballooned out to 36 points in favour of the Dees, and they were really stamping their authority on the game. It took a while to get the scoring going in the third term too, but it was Parry who kicked her third and heaped even more pain on the Saints. Eloise O’Connor then got on the scoreboard too to extend the margin out to almost 50 points.

Not a lot was going right for the poor Saints. They were struggling to get it into their forward 50 and create and reasonable opportunities for their forwards to score. The Saints had a chance to score late but could not convert so at the final break the margin was 50 points. The final term was a mere procession for the Dees. They piled on the pain even more on the Saints with a few more goals, and in the end won the match by 89 points.

Casey had quite the stacked line-up, which certainly helped in the win but was not the only factor in the win. There was no less than 11 AFLW listed players in Casey’s team compared to one in the Saints’ lineup.

Among Casey’s best were Parry with four goals, Maddi Gay who gave a lot of run through the middle, and Brenna Tarrant and Ali Brown in defence. Meanwhile for the Saints, Grace Buchan was everywhere, and ended up with 22 touches.

Casey coach Peter Mercoulia was very unsurprisingly very happy with how his side went

“We were happy with the overall outcome and the performance.

We went into the game with different types of objectives. We had the objectives from our Melbourne Football Club point of view, getting time into some of our players for our Preliminary Final this week against the Brisbane Lions, which is really exciting at the MCG. So we had some key fundamental focuses for individuals with that. Moreover obviously our Casey players, they also had their key fundamental focuses for the game and I felt that together they ended up helping each other and serving each other really strongly, and were complimenting each other really well. So as a Melbourne footy club and Casey footy club, as the Demons, we were very happy with the overall performance from the playing group.”

Although it came as a surprise to some outsiders, there were some clear cut reasons as to why AFLW level regulars Gay, Lampard and Eliza West played for Casey on what was a weekend off for the AFLW side.

“The decision was made collectively. I guess as the mids coach Maddi Gay and Eliza West and Lampy (Sarah Lampard) as the backs, it’s important that they get continuity in relation to their football as well. I think the challenge for us which is a new challenge due to the Health and Safety and Covid is we’ve almost had three weeks off before our Prelim Final, so that means that the players wouldn’t have played for three weeks and as training can only give you so much, that we felt that some players probably needed some physicality through matches and also making contest decisions, things around that are live matches. Moreover, like the players, Sarah, Maddi Gay and Westy, and some others, actually put their hands up to want to play as well.”

In other results:

• Darebin’s remarkable season continued on the weekend, absolutely belting the Bulldogs by 80 points. The win also sees the Falcons into the top four, and with a good run coming up finals are definitely on the cards for the resurgent Falcons.
  
  For the Falcons, Angelica Gogos was a star, finishing with 23 touches and a goal while Alyssa Mifsud finished with four majors.
  
  Meanwhile for the Bulldogs, Lucy Schneider and Eliza Morrison worked hard all day, and finished with 29 and 24 disposals respectively.

• Collingwood’s premiership defence continues to be on shaky legs, going down to the Blues by three points.
  
  After a bit of a low scoring start, Carlton eventually got a bit of momentum and a bit of a lead on the board. Collingwood came right back at them in the last but ultimately ran out of time.
  
  Amelia Klingbeil was the top ball winner for the Blues with 21 touches, while Matilda Zander was a workaholic for the Pies, picking up 22 touches.
  
  On the scoreboard front, both Nyakoat Dojiok and Steph Lawrence kicked two goals for their respective sides.

• Hawthorn recorded another solid win, this time over North Melbourne by 47 points. Hawthorn led all day and were in total control.
  
  For the victors, Dominique Carbone was the disposal getter with 20, while for North Annabel Scott had another great game with 23 touches.
  
  Despite the one sided score line, Kristy Stratton was the only multiple goal kicker on the entire ground with her two goals.

• Williamstown registered their second win of the season, defeating Port Melbourne by 30 points.
  
  Although Port Melbourne took the lead early and held it for much of the first term, the Seagulls took it back at the end of the term and held it for the rest of the game.
  
  In her first game after earning her first AFLW contract, Aimee Whelan had a stellar game and finished with 29 touches, while both Sophia McCarthy and Sharnie Whiting both kicked two goals for the winners.
  
  Meanwhile for the Borough, Sophie Locke had another great game in front of goals, finishing with two majors.

• The final game of the round saw the Bombers belt the Cats by 78 points in what was a milestone match for both Cecilia McIntosh and Kendra Heil.
  
  Although the margin was only just over two goals at quarter time, the Cats were never in it after that and only scored one goal for the rest of the match.
  
  For the Bombers, usual suspects Georgia Nanscawen and Jordan Zanchetta run rampant in the middle as they picked up 28 and 26 disposals respectively.
  
  But they were not the leading disposal getters on the ground, as Cat Laura Gardiner picked up 31 touches despite her side’s loss.
  
  Meanwhile on the scoring front for the Bombers, it was more of a case of the usual suspects as Federica Frew kicked four goals, while McIntosh, Mia-Rae Clifford, Grace Dicker and Courtney Ugle all kicked two.