FEW WOULD have predicted that last year’s wooden spooners Collingwood had the ability to push an in-form offensive juggernaut like Narrm (Melbourne) when they faced off over the weekend, but by the end of the match, AFLW Dees coach Mick Stinear conceded the Pies “deserved to win”.

Narrm entered the Round 3 match having smashed its first two opponents, while Collingwood went down to Carlton rather easily before scraping over the line against fellow battler GWS Giants. Pies coach Sam Wright kept the faith believing the side was starting to show signs of turning its fortunes around against the orange team, and that came to ahead when making the Dees sweat right to the last second.

Shots on goal to Imogen Barnett and Grace Campbell in the last 30 seconds had the potential for Collingwood to take some points away from Naarm, the latter’s shot coming after the siren looking good until it veered into the goal post to make it a four-point loss.

“Even just talking to Wrighty and (Collingwood General Manager of Women’s Football) Jess Burger after the game, it was like I really felt they deserved to win the way they played consistently for four quarters, the way they competed around the ball, they outworked us,” Stinear said post-game.

“I thought Collingwood dictated the tempo of the game apart from the first quarter, I thought we were in a good spot then. Very much felt that way but sometimes you’ve just got to take those ones.”

Stinear said there was still plenty to take out of the game for the Dees, and admitted it was always nice to “have four points in the bank” than have learnings from a defeat.

“I thought in the second half after the second quarter, the group responded in the right way and we had some moments, but we just couldn’t shake Collingwood all day, and to their credit they really pushed us and I honestly think they deserved to win the way they played,” he said.

“But we’ll take the four points and it’s always nice to learn and have four points in the bank than learn with a loss or a draw. Those last couple of minutes I was preparing for every single scenario, but grateful to be on the right side of it. But no, full credit to Collingwood I thought they did really well today and they’re going to really trouble teams if they bring that level of effort.”

The major concern highlighted from the game was the Dees midfield – long been Narrm’s strength – getting beaten around the ball by a younger Magpies outfit as third-gamer Ash Centra and Carly Remmos both got their chances in there in the absence of Ruby Schleicher and Brianna Davey. Narrm’s loss of Olivia Purcell to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) proved a huge blow, as the Magpies had seven centre clearances to four, and when it got to the outside, won the uncontested possession count 137-114.

Stinear said he was “disappointed” to concede 42 inside 50s and with the Dees’ inability to “keep the ball in our forward half”. By comparison, Narrm conceded just 48 inside 50s across the first fortnight, including only 18 in the win over St Kilda last round.

“We got beaten around the stoppage, we got beaten around the contest, but when we did get our opportunities in the forward half, it quickly came back out, we were sitting off and they were very good at finding those uncontested marks, and then we put our backs under way too much pressure,” Stinear said.

“That’s been a strength of ours in previous weeks, we’ve been missing some key personnel, but because we’ve getting our hands on the footy and been able to keep the ball in our forward half we’ve protected out backs a little bit. But today we exposed them.”

He praised the work of debutant Jemma Rigoni, third-gamer Molly O’Hehir – who had some “really strong moments – and Ryleigh Wotherspoon who came into the side and played her first game in defence.

“Wasn’t ideal, but I feel like we’ll learn a lot and then ideally we’re not putting our backs under that level of stress but that was a disappointing element of the game, but definitely some positives to come out of it,” Stinear said.

Collingwood coach Wright said he was “very proud” of the way his side fought to the line, and it was the way football goes sometimes that “some fall your way, some don’t”.

“I think for where we’re building as a young side, you had four or five of our best players out, a change before the game, we carried on from last week and they’re the best contested ball side in the comp the way they move the ball with star forwards ahead of the footy,” Wright said. “We’re really proud, and again we had three or four or five chances to win it in the last quarter, but we’re putting our selves in positions to win games, and against top of the ladder.

He admitted it was a little daunting to face a stacked Narrm side given the inexperience of the Pies’ midfield, but he reiterated how important getting first hands on the ball was against a Dees team.

“I think when you come up against a good side like Melbourne, if you start looking at the whole ground you can get a little bit worried, but for us, and for them it starts in the contest, so we really tried to match it in there with what it looked like around our contested method, and also tried to just open up the ground with a little bit more with our ball movement,” he said.

“That was probably the best we’ve moved the ball whether it was slow play, fast play, live play, I felt like they were courageous with the way they moved the ball, and in turn it helped us defend the ground as well, so really proud.”

Narrm look set to make it four straight wins when it hosts Richmond at Casey Fields on Saturday, while Collingwood have the daunting task of trying to match it with the electrifying top of the table Roos who are coming off both a competition record high score and winning margin of 114 and 100 points respectively.