RICHMOND improved its 2024 AFL Women’s ledger to two and one after a big win over Sydney yesterday. A five goals to one opening term from the Tigers really set up the win, much to the pleasure of their coach Ryan Ferguson.

“Yeah, I really like getting out of the blocks early,” Ferguson said.  

“You’re not going to always be able to put that many goals on an opposition. But when you get the chance you need to be able to do that. But it was more just setting the tone in the way that we played. Our hunt of the ball, our pressure was immense early.

“We were winning a contested ball, but they had no time and space, and that just allowed us to get territory dominance and then some composure and with our disposal allowed us to get some scoreboard pressure, which is huge. I thought our last quarter was a really professional performance, and just took control of the game and took the heat out of the game, and again got territory and locked the ball in.”

A big part of this early dominance was thanks to a three-goal first quarter performance from skipper Katie Brennan, whose game really impressed Ferguson.

“She wanted to make an impact last week and really set the tone after Round 1 and came out and did that and then continued on for the rest of the game” Ferguson said.

“Now, she didn’t kick goals last week, but she was by far the most influential player on the ground, in my opinion. And again, to want to back that up and set the tone early and just lead by example for her team and then the ability for her to finish, but also for her teammates to see her and put it to her advantage. “That was really pleasing for her, but also just a great statement to make for us.”

The Tigers have now won two matches in a row, which Ferguson agreed was important to have some winning momentum especially after how things went in Round 1.

“Yeah, we got a bit of a reality check Round 1 from West Coast. They were really sharp early and taught us a few lessons. I’ve been impressed that we’ve been able to learn those lessons and put them into action each week, and again, we still got so much to learn from this week. We’ve got to get better, but we played some really dominant footy at times as well.”