AFLW Round 5 Review | Carlton V North Melbourne
Written by Nathan Sepe
It was an overall frustrating game for the Baggers, going down to the Kangaroos 9.5.59 to 6.1.31. The Baggers seemed to struggle without superstar midfielder Maddy Prespakis as the girls lost most structure and found difficulty moving down the ground with intent or game plan.
Positives from the game included Nicola Stevens who finished the game with the most disposals for the Baggers with 19 touches and 1 goal. Grace Egan was great around the ball, showing great intensity and effort during times where we were struggling to find someone to step up. Mimi Hill was fantastic with twelve disposals and two goals in the last quarter, her first two AFLW career goals.
The first quarter started extremely poorly for the Baggers, with the Kangaroos dominating, kicking the first two goals of the game to put them ahead by 13 points. The Kangaroos were able to break open their forward 50 and find space to move around the Baggers defence, which resulted in two poorly defended goals. After this point down by 13, the Baggers started to control the ball better with Hill and Egan showing positive connections in the midfield but struggled to get any scores on the board as the Kangaroos were able to consistently keep rebounding the ball outside of our forward 50. This was the reoccurring theme throughout the rest of the quarter as the Blues had another scoreless first quarter down by 13 points.
The start of the second quarter was again similar to the first, with the first couple of forward 50 entries resulting in no score at all. Finally, the forward pressure paid off for the Baggers with McEvoy getting the ball in to Stevens, who gave it off to Vescio who bounced through the Baggers first goal of the game, 8 minutes in to the second quarter. The Baggers increased their intensity after the first goal, with more inside 50 entries looking much more threatening. Great forward pressure from Harris helped get the ball deep inside 50 to Vescio, who gave off to Brazzale who scored her first of the game to bring the margin back to one point. Great ruck work from Moody gave the opportunity for Egan to kick long into the forward 50, who helped give Vescio another chance on goal. Vescio kicked the Baggers third in a row in two and a half minutes and gave the Baggers their first lead of the game. The Baggers endured North’s forward pressure for the remainder of the quarter and went in to half time up by four.
The third quarter started with the Baggers enduring North’s forward entries with the Kangaroos kicking the first four behinds of the quarter to reduce the margin back to one point. The Baggers yet again struggled to make any effective down field movement and the Kangaroos were able to punish the Baggers, kicking a goal 10 minutes into the quarter off poor ball skills from the Baggers. Ineffective forward 50 entries from the Baggers led to another North goal, as they were able to get through much easier, finding the space to break open the Baggers defence. Another goalless quarter meant the Baggers went into the fourth quarter down by 11.
The fourth quarter started brilliantly for the Baggers, with young gun Mimi Hill kicking a fantastic goal on the run to bring up her first AFLW goal and reduce the margin back down to 5 points. However, poor defensive pressure from the Baggers led to North kicking one back through Abatangelo who extended the lead back out to 11 points. Poor kicking from the Baggers let the Kangaroos dominate most of the play, as they broke open the midfield, hit their targets and found their second in a row breaking the game open to a 17-point margin. The Baggers hit back through Hill who scored her second goal in a row through a set shot created through persistent inside 50 forward entries. The effort of this goal was shortly forgotten, as the Kangaroos kicked another goal 30 seconds later from a high tackle from Laloifi. The Baggers kept persisting throughout the rest of the quarter but were ultimately unable to find a way back into the game with little time remaining. The Kangaroos kicked two more goals in a row to seal the game and Stevens kicked one back for the Baggers which resulted in a 22 point loss.
Overall, a very disappointing result who really needed this win to keep finals chances alive. Whilst it’s still not over for the Baggers, there is no room for error now as they sit one game behind the top 6, with a much lower percentage compared to the top 6 teams, which may prove the difference come the end of the season. It will be a perfect opportunity against struggling Geelong next Saturday for the Baggers to bounce back and gain percentage.
Goals: Hill 2, Vescio 2, Brazzale, Stevens
