AFLW Round 3 Preview | Carlton V St Kilda
Written by Nathan Sepe
Following back-to-back losses to open up the AFLW Season, it is up to the Blues to seek their first win against a young emerging Saints side, following a late fixture change seeing the Blues play their first competitive game at Moorabbin Oval since 1989.
It was an overall promising game from the Baggers last week, with a bigger improvement from the lacklustre performance against the Pies in Round 1, but ultimately it was the low levels of fitness and footy smarts that left the girls down when it really mattered. The Baggers were able to start the quarters effectively and efficiently, but ran out of gas quite early with about 5-10 minutes remaining in each quarter. There was a lack of offensive structure, as the Baggers struggled to find any promising options heading out of the Dog’s forward 50, constantly rebounding out and holding in the pressure. This at times seemed too much for the Baggers and was overall the defying point of the game that led the Baggers to their second loss in a row.
There were some shine through games for first year player Mimi Hill, who dominated around the contest and was fantastic bringing the ball out of halfback, getting many players into the game. Bri Moody also stood out in the ruck, dominating aerial and being able to move into the backline to help with transition up the ground. It was a statement game for Tayla Harris, finding some form of reestablishment, improving from game one scoring two goals and capturing some great marks.
Opposition Analysis
Similar to the Dogs’ the Saints revolve around fast running and fast ball movement, to effectively move them up the ground. Whilst the Saints are still an up and coming young side there are definitely heaps of standouts that have made the Saints quite competitive from their first two games starting the season 1-1.
The Saints being a young team, struggle to match up strong effective players in more developed teams such as the Kangaroos they lost to last week, only being able to score 10 points for the game. The key position players for the Saints were no match for the Kangaroos, who have a lot more developed and standout players.
Strong players for the Saints include young gun midfielder Georgia Patrikios, who has dominated around the middle and averaged 25.5 disposals, becoming a problem for opposition midfields to shut down. Another strong player for the Saints is Caitlin Greiser, a key forward who is great in air and is able to provide a strong lead up target for St Kilda mids to kick to. Greiser has kicked two goals this season and has averaged 10 kicks per game.
Who is it a big game for?
Grace Egan – Egan struggled to involve herself in last week’s match and it will be key for her to get herself involved and place as much pressure on the St Kilda midfield as possible. Egan has fantastic ball use in congested space will be needed to breakout through the middle to hit up our wide range of forwards.
Bri Moody – Moody had a fantastic game last round, and it will be key for her to do heaps of running this week to push back and be an aerial threat to Greiser who is quite tall in comparison to most of the Blues’ backline.
It’s set out to be a cracker of a game this weekend, and it is a great time for the Baggers to get their first win of the season against a Saints side who are also pushing for their first finals appearance.
