GEELONG kept its finals chances very much alive on Saturday night after an impressive win over Richmond.

Although unsurprisingly many of their usual suspects, one player who was particularly impressive that perhaps may have flown under the radar for some was defender Chantel Emonson.

Not the biggest name in either height or reputation, Emonson more than makes up for it in reliability, and it showed on Saturday night.

On Saturday night she finished with 14 touches, which was not even close to the highest number of disposals of everyone on the ground, but that did not matter. There were plenty of other areas Emonson influenced the game in.

One of the most influential things Emonson did all game was the run and feed into attack she gave her team.

Quick with ball in hand, on a number of occasions on Saturday night she found herself attacking side of the centre for the Cats, and after receiving the handball from a team mate, would sprint forward and powerfully kick the ball sometimes 35-40m for a deep forward entry. The kick was usually very accurate and not affected by the effort necessary to generate the power needed for a kick that big.

She ultimately finished with 352m gained, which was the fifth highest on the ground and is right around her season average of 350m. She was only beaten by one other defender in that stat, with the other three members of the top five all playing through the midfield.

Her kicks into forward 50 were not the only sign of her ability to accurately dispose of the football. She finished Saturday night’s game with a disposal efficiency of 92.9%, which translates to one disposal that was not classed as efficient.

It was also the sixth highest figure on the field, and the highest figure of those who did not finish with a 100% disposal efficiency. What makes Emonson’s stats in this area more impressive is that hers was the highest disposals to efficiency percentage. Everyone who finished above her – those who finished with 100% – only had between three and seven disposals.

Emonson also had plenty of influence closer to Richmond’s goal, picking up a number of intercept marks throughout the game. Although her height is often a disadvantage in these kinds of marking situations, but Emonson is experienced enough to position her body in a way to shepherd the opponent out of the way and easily take the mark.