Results: VFLW Round 1 wrap<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nStarting at the season opener at Arden Street, Port Melbourne mixed its boom recruits with Richmond-listed players hungry to break back into the yellow and black. Atop the list was forward Christina Bernardi<\/strong>, who booted a game-high three goals for the Borough. Young defender Sarah Sansonetti<\/strong> was productive in the back half, while Alice Edmonds<\/strong> booted a goal and was named among Port’s best alongside injury replacement, Hannah McLaren<\/strong>.<\/p>\nFor the Roos, first year player Alice O’Loughlin<\/strong> was recognised in her side’s best players on debut for her role in the 33-point loss. Former basketballer and fellow 2020 draft selection Brooke Brown<\/strong> also impressed with her aerial nous and even managed to hit the scoreboard with one goal. Katelyn Cox<\/strong> was another notable Roo to take the field, having not yet registered a senior outing.<\/p>\nGeelong’s side was littered with young AFLW talent against Collingwood, led by promising talls Olivia Barber<\/strong> and Rene Caris<\/strong>. Barber booted a game-high three goals, while Caris was named the Cats’ best player. 20-year-old Georgia Clarke<\/strong> also found the big sticks with two majors, while first year midfielders Laura Gardiner<\/strong> and Darcy Moloney<\/strong> also showed promise.<\/p>\nThe impact of key position players carried on into Collingwood’s side, as senior ruck Bella Smith<\/strong> was reunited with former Norwood teammate Matilda Zander<\/strong>, as both kicked a goal in black and white. Utility Maddy Shevlin<\/strong> also troubled the scorers with one major and was among the Magpies’ best on the day as they won by two points.<\/p>\nThe round’s only other all-aligned clash saw Casey trump Carlton at Princes Park, with second-year Melbourne prospect Brenna Tarrant<\/strong> a dominant force. She finished with five goals, spurring her side to victory after the Blues hit back with terrific contested marking and positioning. Midfielder Megan Fitzsimon<\/strong> was also among the action and snuck forward well, while young tall Maggie Caris<\/strong> competed well in the red and blue.<\/p>\nWinnie Laing<\/strong> was the pick of Carlton’s senior-listed players, leaning on her running capacity to find plenty of the ball on the wing and cracking in hard despite her light frame. New signing Paige Trudgeon<\/strong> showed some promise up forward as a raw target and snared two handy goals, while Charlotte Hammans<\/strong> did her best to drive the Blues forward from behind the ball. She was named among their best players.<\/p>\nWestern Bulldogs and Southern Saints were the other two aligned clubs in action, picking up wins against Hawthorn and Essendon respectively. Midfielder\/forward Britney Gutknecht<\/strong> was clearly best afield in the Dogs’ win and snagged two goals, with Isabelle Pritchard<\/strong> also prominent. The pair were two of six senior-listed Bulldogs to find the big sticks, as new coup Annabel Strahan<\/strong> impressed down back.<\/p>\nFor the Saints, Jessica Matin<\/strong> put her hand up for another top flight opportunity after a dazzling performance. She booted three goals, had plenty of the ball and laid some terrific tackles in a well-rounded display. Another newcomer in Rebecca Ott<\/strong> was recognised for her efforts, while Poppy Kelly<\/strong> dominated in the ruck and also made an impact with ball in hand.<\/p>\nStay tuned for a wrap up of the NAB League graduates and young guns who also made a splash in Round 1 of the revamped competition, with plenty more young talent set to hit the state league as the year progresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Victorian Football League (VFL) Women’s returned on the weekend after a year away, bringing with it a revamped structure and all-new team in Port Melbourne. With the season running concurrently alongside that of the AFLW, top-flight players from Victorian clubs who miss out on senior action will be able to run out for what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":77246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3121,3134,137],"tags":[15585,2763,15639,4774,4732,15791,15586,7947,4977,5366,3291,13408,5368,3059,7248,10162,3345,3497,10910,4695,4159,15792,4379,6167,3705,3356,15739,8974,15607,3348,12664,15790,4079,4599,2802,15693,3455],"class_list":["post-77243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-vflw","category-victoria","category-womens","tag-2021-vflw","tag-afl-womens","tag-aflw-reserves","tag-alice-edmonds","tag-alice-oloughlin","tag-aligned-teams","tag-alignment","tag-annabel-strahan","tag-bella-smith","tag-brenna-tarrant","tag-britney-gutknecht","tag-brooke-brown","tag-charlotte-hammans","tag-christina-bernardi","tag-darcy-moloney","tag-draft-central","tag-georgia-clarke","tag-isabelle-pritchard","tag-jessica-matin","tag-katelyn-cox","tag-laura-gardiner","tag-maddy-shevlin","tag-maggie-caris","tag-matilda-zander","tag-megan-fitzsimon","tag-olivia-barber","tag-paige-trudgeon","tag-poppy-kelly","tag-rebecca-ott","tag-rene-caris","tag-reserves","tag-reserves-wrap","tag-sarah-sansonetti","tag-vfl-womens","tag-vflw","tag-vflw-round-1","tag-winnie-laing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}