IN the VFL Women’s game of Round 2, it was Essendon which stamped its authority on the competition, comfortably accounting for Port Melbourne at home.

From the opening ball-up, the Bombers stamped their authority on the contest and looked the much better side. They took a 28-point lead into half time, but at times in the first half the Borough had shown glimpses of their potential.

In the third term, the Borough started to come back at the Bombers. They came out with a lot more intent and seemed to have caught their adversaries flat footed. A one goal apiece third term saw the margin drop to 26 points, and questions were raised about whether the Borough could continue this and make a real contest of the match.

That did not happen.

In the final term, the floodgates swung open. The Bombers piled on six goals to none to run away with the match and cement their place at the top of the ladder.

For Essendon, Georgia Nanscawen had an absolute field day. She was everywhere, racking up the touches and proving very dangerous for her side. She had 18 touches in the first half alone, and ultimately finished with 30 alongside Amelia Radford.

Nanscawen had quite the partnership going with Jordan Zanchetta, and the pair proved dominant in the midfield and made life much easier for their forward line.

Speaking of their forward line, Essendon’s was one daunting, dominating force. A combination of the tall targets in Mia-Rae Clifford, Federica Frew and Renee Tierney, combined with smaller targets like Natalie MacDonald, Cecilia McIntosh and Olivia Manfre meant that the Bombers were never short of an option going forward. Clifford and Tierney both finished with three goals each, Frew and McIntosh finished with two each, while MacDonald and Manfre kicked one apiece.

Meanwhile for the Borough, Sophie Molan and Sophie Locke were arguably best on ground for them despite the tough afternoon. They got plenty of the ball and tried creating options going forward, but to no avail the vast majority of the time.

Meanwhile on the scoring front, Kate Adams and Sarah Dargan were the only goal scorers for the Borough.

AROUND THE GROUNDS:

Casey flexed its muscle out at La Trobe University, defeating Darebin by 42 points. Although the scores were level at quarter time, Casey ran away with the match after that and were comfortable winners in the end.

For the Dees, Rebecca Grant got plenty of the ball, finishing on 26 touches, while Tahlia Fellows finished with three goals.

Meanwhile for the Falcons, former Dog Angelica Gogos also finished with 26 touches, while Mikayla Meyer and Sabine Cowley Du Parquet kicked their side’s only two goals for the match.

After pulling off an upset last week, the Southern Saints came crashing back to earth this week when they were beaten by Carlton.

It was a tight encounter for much of the match, but Carlton was able to kick away late and get the win.

It was a couple of AFLW listed Blues that led the way on the scoreboard for the Blues. Charlotte Hammans and Poppy Schaap both kicked two goals.

Meanwhile for the Saints, it was Tayla Kearns who topped the goal kicking tally for the side with two.

Meanwhile on the disposals front, it was Deanna Jolliffe and Amelia Klingbeil who led their respective sides with 20 disposals each.

Speaking of crashing back to earth, that’s certainly what the Hawks did this time out after their comfortable Round 1 win.

They came up against a much tougher opponent this week in Geelong, and the Cats showed why they are once again one of the contenders. Although it was a low scoring affair down in Geelong, the Hawks were never really in the match, especially after going goalless in the opening term.

No one kicked multiple goals for either side, but in the disposals count it was Laura Gardiner and Tamara Smith who led the way for the Cats (27 and 22 respectively), and it was Jaide Anthony on debut as well as Dominique Carbone for the Hawks (17 and 16 respectively).

After a shocker of a Round 1 performance, things did not get any better for the Bulldogs in Round 2, this time thrashed by Williamstown.

The Bulldogs did not score until the third term, and their lone major in said period was their only one of the match.

Full credit to Williamstown though, who after having their own shocker in Round 1, came out and righted some wrongs from that loss to the Falcons and absolutely dominated this match.

Sharnie Whiting topped the possession tally for the victors, while despite the loss Eliza Vale and Lucy Schneider got plenty of the ball for the Bulldogs, finishing with 27 and 24 touches respectively.

Elsewhere, Collingwood got back on the winners list with a strong win over North.

Although the margin got down to as low as five points at one stage, Collingwood showed its class and got the chocolates.

It was a real captain’s game from both the respective skippers, with Molly Eastman (North Melbourne) and Caitlin Bunker (Collingwood) leading their side’s respective disposal counts with 22 and 21 respectively.

There was only one multiple goalkicker on the ground, and that was AFLW star Sabrina Frederick, who kicked four in her side’s win.

Meanwhile on the scoring front, Asha Price and Elsa Mangan kicked two each for the Seagulls, while Annaleise Xanthos kicked the sole goal for the Bulldogs.