AFLW Round 1 Recap
Written by Nathan Sepe
It was not the start the Baggers’ wanted to start off the 2021 AFLW Season, going down to the Pies by 6 points in a hard fought, intense battle at IKON Park that saw four (4) new faces and many familiar faces show their impressive capabilities they have to offer for the season ahead.
It was an aggressive and physical game to start the first quarter for the Baggers, with the likes of Charlotte Wilson and Vaomua Laloifi defending well, taking important intercept marks and bringing some resurgence out of the backline. The Baggers were able to hold strong and maintain the pressure effectively, with impressive grit and run through the middle from Maddy Prespakis, although had nothing to show for it, going into the quarter time break down 0-1.
It was an all too familiar Carlton in the second quarter, as the intensity and body language of the girls had dropped, and the midfield creativity had been overrun by the likes of Chloe Molloy, Britt Bonnici and Jaimee Lambert for Collingwood. Maddy Prespakis highlighted a fantastic show of club passion and grit with an iconic moment slamming former Blue now Pie, Bri Davey into the ground after a fiery challenge after a tackle. The Pies managed to kick four on the trot in the second quarter and found themselves out by 26 points going into the halftime break up 0-26. But in true Bagger fashion, we all knew this was not game over.
The third quarter, as expected, brought out the likes of Maddy Prespakis and Jess Hosking who began to work themselves into the game and helping the Baggers to kick three consecutive goals to start the quarter, bringing the margin back down to 8 points. Unfortunately, this run of goals was stopped by an impressive Jamiee Lambert pickup and assist and Aishling Sheridan goal, which proved to be the deciding goal come the end of the game, and showed the class that the Baggers lacked in the offensive end throughout the match. Darcy Vescio was controversially ungifted a mark on the goal line, giving a behind, which may well have been put away by Vescio to reduce the lead 8 points going into the three-quarter time break. Nevertheless, this set up the Baggers for a hard fought, gritty game for the last quarter going into the three-quarter time break down 19-32.
All was set up for a great final quarter for the Blues, who consistently pushed forward but with no real intent or set up for key forwards in Talya Harris and Darcy Vescio, who unfortunately failed to get into the game and were dominated by key Collingwood defenders in Livingstone and Schleicher. The Blues showed fight for the remainder of the final quarter but were too late in their endeavour, kicking one last goal from Jess Hosking to go down by 6 points, 27-33, all soured by a late injury to Laloifi, who was brought down by a dangerous tackle in the fourth term from Pie Aliesha Newman.
Overall, it was classic Baggers fashion, going down by a big margin in one-half or quarter, conceding consecutive goals in a row and ultimately being unable to work themselves back into the game. It was not all negative as there was great fight shown from the girls to create effective midfield flow and efficiency and bring the forwards into the game. Key improvements for the Baggers over the week will definitely need to be the inclusiveness of all forward line players, as at times it seemed like the Blues relied on their key midfielders and forwards to kick their goals.
Best players from the game included Maddy Prespakis with 18 disposals, Charlotte Wilson with 6 kicks and 3 intercept marks, Mua Laloifi with 10 disposals and 4 tackles and Grace Egan with 13 disposals and 7 kicks.
Goal Kickers: Stevens, Vescio, Hosking, Harrington
It’s time for the Baggers to regroup and come back strong against the Bulldogs this Friday night at Footscray Oval at 7:45PM AEDT.
For more from Nathan, check out The Carlton Wrap
