THE unpredictable nature of the 2023 VFL Women’s season continued over the weekend, with a number of surprise results across the six games.

In the first of Sunday’s two matches saw Collingwood ultimately ran away with a 59 point win over Darebin.

It was not until the second half where things started to truly open up, but once they did the Pies were hard to stop.

Intensity was up from the get go from both sides, making it tough for either side to get clean or solid disposals.

Darebin dominated the forward territory time early, but crucially Collingwood got the first goal against the run of play thanks to the running and clever play of Nyakoat Dojiok.

Dojiok had her second goal five minutes later in an eerily similar way from the opposite flank, but the way she was kicking her goals gave an indication goals may become a luxury at times.

Collingwood continued to pepper the goals late in the term before Monique DeMatteo eventually slotted through Collingwood’s third for the term after the siren to see the Pies take a three goal buffer into the first change.

Collingwood began the second term exactly how it left off the first, but the majors continued to be elusive.

The elusive first goal came 14 minutes into the quarter when Caitlin Sargent slotted one through from the boundary for Collingwood.

Not only was Collingwood continuing to put the shots up, but its defence was holding up strong as well, and ensuring any Darebin forays forward were breaking down halfway down the field.

Thanks to some ill-discipline off the ball the Falcons were finally able to get a goal off the board thanks to Piper Louey and found themselves with a momentum switch in their favour, but unfortunately it was the final few minutes of the quarter and as such the margin was still 20 points in favour of the visitors at the main break.

The Falcons got their third term off to the perfect start with a quick goal out of the centre from Steph Simpson.

However, things turned in Collingwood’s favour after that as goals to Dojiok, DeMatteo, Jessica Bates and Sargent saw its lead at three quarter time having ballooned out to 40 points.

Goals continued to be hard to come by early in the last term, but once Sarah Hosking kicked Collingwood’s first, the goals started flowing a bit more freely.

Darebin certainly had its chances, but further goals to Dojiok and Bates saw Collingwood’s margin finish at almost 10 goals.

Not only did Bates find the scoreboard multiple times but she also won plenty of the ball, finishing just shy of 40 disposals.

Meanwhile for the Falcons Angelica Gogos saw plenty of the ball for the Falcons and really lead from the front as she does every week.

In other results:

• The surprises started in Box Hill on Saturday with the Seagulls upsetting the Hawks by three points.

After a slow start from both sides, the Seagulls actually did not score a goal until the third term, and then survived a Box Hill fourth quarter fightback to hold on for the win.

Sharnie Whiting was the only multiple goal kicker on the ground, while Matilda Van Berkel (20 disposals), Grace McRae (19 touches) and Nicole Julian (19 touches) all saw plenty of the ball for their respective sides.

• The surprises kept coming on Saturday as Casey travelled to Geelong and comfortably beat the Cats by 21 points.

A blistering start from the Dees was the key to their win, as even with inaccurate kicking they still kept Geelong to one goal in three quarters of play.

There were six different goalkickers across the two teams, while Abby Favell (27 touches) and Shree Fairchild (20 touches) were the most prolific ball winners for their respective sides.

• The surprises continued into Sunday with North Melbourne holding on for a narrow win over Essendon.

After a slow but even start from both sides, the middle two quarter was where the Roos ultimately won the game, and they held on in the last quarter and thwarted a Bomber fightback.

Georgia Nicholas booted three majors for the Roos, while Sophie Molan booted two goals for the Bombers.

• The Southern Saints moved to the top of the table with a narrow one goal win over Carlton.

Continuing their back end of the season slump, Carlton started slow but put up a final quarter comeback, however it was to no avail as the Saints held on.

Gabriella De Angelis starred in front of goal for the Saints with three majors to her name, while Ally Bild topped her team’s and the game’s disposal tally with 22 to her name.

• Port Melbourne also had a narrow win, defeating Western Bulldogs by four points to also officially eliminate the Bulldogs from the finals race.

The Bulldogs actually got the better start to the match, but the Borough flipped the script in the second and third terms and survived a Bulldog fourth quarter fightback to take the win.

Jessie Williams, Emmalyn Nekrep and Dominique Carbone all finished with two goals each for their respective sides.