ROUND 1 every year always brings many debutants across the competition, normally with much fanfare and anticipation.

One debutant who flew under the radar leading into the weekend was new Tiger Eilish Sheerin, but after her first up performance on Sunday she will not be able to fly under the radar for long.

This Player Focus will take a look at that debut performance against Geelong.

Eilish Sheerin stats vs Geelong

Disposals: 19 (eight kicks and 11 handballs)
Marks: 5
Tackles: 4
Intercepts: 17
Metres Gained: 407m

FIRST QUARTER

Sheerin certainly came out of the blocks firing in the opening quarter, and was playing like someone who was certainly trying to make the most of her opportunity.

It did not take her long to get involved in the game, as she laid a tackle on Rachel Kearns that induced a holding the ball free kick.

From the opening quarter, it was a sign that she was going to finish with as many intercepts as she did.

And she was not just doing them in one part of the ground too. She was doing them in defence and in Richmond’s attacking half of the ground too.

One of her intercepts and forays inside 50 set up Gabrielle Seymour for Richmond’s first goal of the game, and another one showed her body strength and she almost barrelled her way completely out of a pack tackle.

She also laid an impressive smother late in the quarter.

SECOND QUARTER

The second quarter did not get off to a start as good as the first for Sheerin, after she was caught for holding the ball.

One thing that Sheerin really showed in the second how clean she is with the ball. Her kicking is very straight, and although her disposal efficiency was down in the 50s, it did not seem that low to the naked eye.

She also took an intercept mark on Richmond’s attacking 50 mere seconds before the half time siren, and should not have played on but she did so her kick for goal did not count.

THIRD QUARTER

Sheerin was back to her best in the third quarter, landing quite a number of intercepts. Her most memorable was when she pulled one off while facing the wrong way running back to stop the ball.  

She also created good run out of defence and showed how fierce and strong she is in a tackle.

Her only blight for the quarter was when she gave away a free kick for high contact.

FOURTH QUARTER

One of the things that came to the fore in Sheerin’s game in the last quarter was her willingness to take on the contact and try and barge through the tackle. On multiple occasions she showed how strong she is in the tackle as she was able to stand up and try and push her way through.

Her other highlight in the final term was her last ditch but brilliant goal saving tackle on the goal line. Ultimately it was in vain as Geelong still kicked a last minute goal to win the game, but without Sheerin’s tackle the Cats could have won by much more.