NORTH Melbourne\u2019s stellar 2024 AFL Women\u2019s season continued on Sunday afternoon, comfortably beating Sydney by 10 goals in Hobart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was not all smooth sailing for the Roos early, with Sydney really making it a back and forth tussle in the first quarter as the two sides traded goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But according to Kangaroos coach Darren Crocker<\/em><\/strong>, his side\u2019s persistence was what helped opened up the game after quarter time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll credit to the Swans. I thought they played with some real intent and effort,\u201d Crocker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven though we got away on the scoreboard it was actually quite a tight, contested game. “I think they laid over a hundred tackles. “We laid nearly a hundred tackles and in dry, mild conditions, and I know the ground’s a little bit smaller, but that’s a lot of energy and a lot of effort getting spent on trying to lock the ball in and I thought they were really good at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “But we just needed to persist, take a bit more territory when we had opportunities. Wasn’t really a game for a lot of uncontested ball or uncontested marks. So it became a little bit of a chaos game to be able to get the ball forward and give your forwards an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another area of the game that North Melbourne was dominant in was the clearances, which Crocker puts down to ruck dominance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cObviously the midfield are going really well and there’s some really great synergy there,\u201d Crocker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut it stems from our ruck and I thought Kim Rennie<\/a> was terrific today. I think she had something like 35 hit outs and a number of them to advantage, and then when she wasn’t in there, then Emma King<\/a> goes in there as well. So I thought both of that both of our rucks were able to give us an opportunity to take the ball away from the clearances quite well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n