GEELONG fought off a fast finishing Sydney by three points yesterday to secure its second win of the season and keep its finals hopes alive.

Reflecting post match, Cats coach Dan Lowther noted that his heart rate “had come down a bit” after the tight finish, saying that “it was hard to watch” but it was also “exciting footy”.

“I thought what we had done prior to that the last 15-20 of the game was really positive enough to give us that confidence in the last quarter that we’re doing things right,” Lowther continued.

“Full credit to the Swans, that surge, use the breeze really well, try a few little tricks here and there. They played their need scenarios really well. Our girls defended it towards the end and did enough which I’m really proud of.”

Joining her coach at the post match press conference, Geelong skipper Meghan McDonald noted how important it was to get the win without key midfielder Amy McDonald, who is still on the sidelines with injury.

“Ames has been our best player for a number of years,” she said. “She so important for us to get the ball from the inside out [but] we’ve got other players who can do it. Shoutout to Bella Smith who made her club debut today and she was brought in for that reason.

“Some of her contested ball was really impressive. Nina and Prezzy and all the other minds really stood in that space as well.”

With finals hopes alive for the Cats, Lower shared what his side’s focus and pre-game focus is.

“For us, it’s regaining the way we play our game to a level that’s required to win games,” Lowther said.

“We’ve been in games as Meg mentioned before up to our necks but we just haven’t got across the line so the aim for today was to win. The aim for today was to win and we move on to Richmond next week and the aim is the same. Whatever happens off the back of that is out of our control.”