NAARM returned to the top of the AFLW ladder over the weekend with a 23-point win over the Kangaroos.

One of the most influential performances of the night belonged to defender Tahlia Gillard. Not one to normally attract much of the media limelight, Gillard is the kind of player who just quietly goes about her job and that is very much what she did on Saturday night. She is someone who took the opportunity she was given last year for more regular game time, and has really made the most of it.

She played on Kate Shierlaw for much of the night on Saturday night, and restricted the star forward to only nine disposals and no goals. Shierlaw still took four marks, but thanks to pressure from Gillard and the rest of the Naarm defence she dropped many more than that.

A stereotype defying defender, Gillard was able to utilise her strengths on Saturday night to really restrict North’s what is normally really dominant tall forward line.

Tahlia Gillard Stats vs North Melbourne

Disposals: 13 (8 contested and 5 uncontested)
Marks: 5
Tackles: 2
Metres Gained: 167
Contested Marks: 1
Inside 50s: 4
Score Involvements: 1
Intercept Possessions: 11
Disposal Efficiency: 76.9%

One of the strongest aspects of Gillard’s game is her ability to spoil, even from behind, which was again on full display on Saturday night. Using her advantage to her full advantage, she is able to spoil the ball in a pack situation, even carefully doing it from behind at times and avoiding high contact free kicks. This happens both in moving packs and stationery packs.

Another strong component of Gillard’s game is her intercept ability. With her height and strong positioning skills, she is really good at intercepting the long kicks coming down the ground. This was not just in defence too, but was also in the middle of the ground and even as far up as on the 50m arc of Naarm’s forward line as part of the wall.

The combination of these two skills in Gillard’s game really made it tough for North Melbourne to score in the dominant way they have for much of this season. North Melbourne’s dominant tall forwards struggled to take marks with anywhere the level of ease as they had earlier in the season, and that exposed how reliant North Melbourne is on its tall forwards.

Gillard’s intercept work even proved frustrating for North’s defenders in the last quarter. Gillard had pushed up to be a part of the wall around Naarm’s forward 50, and in the Kangaroos’ desperation to escape their defensive 50, they kept kicking long in the hope to find a target. Unfortunately for the Kangaroos, that target was often Gillard.