THERE were plenty of hard-fought wins to close off Round 8 of AFL Women’s Season 7 in Sunday’s action. The Bulldogs overcame a slow start to defeat a gallant St Kilda, while it took until the final five seconds for GWS to pinch a win over the valiant Hawks. The trend was again bucked in the final game of the day where Collingwood earned a handy win in the race for top four over Fremantle.

By Alyce Collett

The Bulldogs earned their fifth win of the season after downing the Saints by 15 points. In an at-times fiery clash, the Dogs recovered from a slow start to jump back into the top 8 thanks to a 4.11 (35) to 3.2 (20) victory..

TALKING POINTS

Bulldogs not making the most of their chances inside forward 50

Things could have been very different for the Bulldogs, and the match at times could have perhaps not been such a tight affair if the Dogs had made more of their chances inside 50, particularly in the second quarter. The Dogs won the inside 50 count for the quarter eight to two, but could only manage six behinds for their investment. If even half of those had been goals, things could have been very different for the Dogs.

Be grateful you weren’t in Nathan Burke’s shoes in the second term

Poor Nathan Burke had his emotions pulled in all different directions in the second term. As his Dogs were down and trying to claw their way back into the game, he had to watch on helplessly as daughter Alice went down in an awful collision where one of his own players went down too. Thankfully for coach Burke, Alice got up and was able to continue the game, and his Dogs got the four points.

Ellie had the real captain’s game

One Bulldog who particularly starred in the win was skipper Ellie Blackburn. Playing a real captain’s game, she finished with 24 touches, six tackles and four clearances and created a lot of run and drive for her team.

Brown finds purple patch

Another Bulldog that had a great game was Eleanor Brown. Finishing with 16 touches, five tackles and three clearances, she really stood up and had an influence on the contest.

St Kilda can again thank their lucky Beej’s

As she has just about every week this season, one of St Kilda’s best in the loss was Bianca Jakobsson. She was once again rock solid in defence and ever reliable as the Saints’ defence was under a lot of pressure for much of the game.

By Alyce Collett

GWS has secured its third win of the season after defeating Hawthorn by the slimmest of margins. In a see-sawing affair, it was a Nicola Barr behind that ultimately decided the contest, and helped the GIANTS to a 4.10 (34) to 5.3 (33) victory.

TALKING POINTS

Inaccuracy makes things harder than necessary for GWS

Despite ultimately getting the win, one thing that the GIANTS really need to take a look at after this game is their accuracy. They kicked 4.10, and even if a few of those misses had been converted into goals, they could have won much easier.

Alyce Parker has leather poisoning

One of the GIANTS who was an absolute star in the win, as she is most weeks, was Alyce Parker. Parker had what you might call a case of leather poisoning, finishing with the 30 touches and creating a lot of run and drive for her team.

Youthful pair have Giant performances

Speaking of the Giants, two of their younger stars in Georgia Garnett and Tarni Evans both had stellar games. Garnett finished with the 20 touches and a major, but also created a great strong target up forward for her teammates to kick to, while Evans created a lot of run out of defence, and even nabbed herself a major of her own after a bomb from 50m out.

Jas Fleming is a star

Speaking of mids that were a handful for their opponents, despite her side ultimately losing today, Jasmine Fleming continued to prove why she was such a highly touted draft prospect earlier this year. Finishing with the 11 touches, she created a lot of run through the midfield and quite the hassle for her opponents.

By Peter Williams

A remarkable defensive effort from Collingwood kept Fremantle scoreless for three quarters on the way to the Magpies picking up a 29-point victory. Though the Dockers kicked three behinds in the final term to save the embarrassment of becoming the first team in AFL history to not score, Collingwood was just too consistent across the four quarters to win, 4.8 (32) to 0.3 (3).

TALKING POINTS

Dockers dig deep until the end

Fremantle was in real danger of becoming the first ever side – men’s or women’s – not to score in a top flight (VFLM/AFL) match, but luckily for the Purple Army, a few behinds in the final term saved them from that fate. The first was an almost Goal of the Year contender from Roxanne Roux, with a checkside from the pocket under pressure going through before it was touched on the line by a Collingwood defender. They finished with three behinds, but could not quite get one through the big sticks.

Livingstone and Pugh play kick-to-kick

It was quite a remarkable game that was quite often pinging end-to-end, and while Collingwood did the bulk of its scoring in the second term, both defences held up well. The pick of the bunch were Stacey Livingstone and Laura Pugh. Livingstone racked up 10 intercepts and four rebound 50s up one end, quite often being a rock in defence for the Magpies, while Pugh starred up the other with 12 intercepts and five rebounds. She took over the rebounding role more so due to Emma O’Driscoll being thrown forward.

Bowers and Miller need support

There is little doubting that both Kiara Bowers and Hayley Miller are absolute stars, but the Dockers have struggled to find support for them consistently this season. In the loss to the Pies, Bowers was ridiculous with 28 touches, five marks, 11 tackles and seven clearances, topping the game in all those stats bar marks. Miller was quieter with 14 disposals, but still had an influence on the game with five clearances. The pair had 12 of the Dockers’ 24 clearances.

Sabrina weaves her magic

Coming into the contest with a season record of 0.8, Sabrina Frederick was keen to mark her mark on the scoreboard. After three behinds against the GIANTS last weekend, Frederick kick-started the Pies’ game after an early dour struggle, kicking back-to-back goals and finished with the majors from seven disposals and a few marks. What was the most remarkable aspect was the fact that Frederick kicked two goals you would not expect from the key forward. Instead of the traditional mark then set shot, Frederick snapped one around her body under pressure and a minute later put in a Goal of the Year contender with a dribbler from close to the boundary that somehow snuck through the eye of the needle.