AFLW 2024: How Geelong’s season came undone by lack of consistency and mounting injuries

Geelong had reason for optimism in 2024. After reaching a preliminary final, many predicted the Cats would contend again. But in the end, reasons both in and beyond their control took a toll.

Geelong defender Anna-Rose Kennedy tries to evade Adelaide duo Hannah Munyard and Teah Charlton. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Geelong’s end to its season mirrored its start.

Brandishing a bright first half lead against Adelaide fuelled by the glimmer of hope for finals, Geelong went goalless after half time on Friday, as the Crows mounted a successful four-point comeback, 4.4 (28) to 4.8 (32), to extinguished the Cats’ season for good.

Holding a similar two-goal buffer against Melbourne in round 1 to eventually lose by two points, the Cats’ back-to-back losses to Hawthorn and Fremantle mid-season also came at the expense of halftime leads.

Throw in a bizarre round 3 loss to 14th-placed Carlton where Geelong was kept goalless, and the Cats couldn’t replicate the heights of last year’s preliminary final berth, their 4-6-1 record littered with several missed chances and an absence of consistency.

“We lost our way in the middle part of the year and we were chasing at the end and here we are,” Cats coach Dan Lowther said post-match.

Injury has sidelined Geelong forward Chloe Scheer (right) for the entire 2024 season. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

What made the season most frustrating though, was how close the Cats’ best really came. No loss was larger than 24 points — they hold the eighth best percentage in the league — while they defeated and drew with last year’s grand finalists, Brisbane and North Melbourne. Also among their better games was the narrow defeats to the Demons and Crows, who were also in last year’s top four.

Lowther said his team took some solace knowing they faced a harder draw this year — with fixture inequities of a shorter season also meaning the Cats failed to play four of the bottom eight sides — while also battling through a mounting injury list which hit its limit with just a minimum 21 players fit for the final round.

Scoring inefficiency and connection hampered the Cats in the early rounds but there was optimistic signs in the Cats’ first half against the Crows as they took their chances despite less inside 50 opportunities (10-18) as their running game took flight.

Georgie Prespakis celebrates kicking the opening goal on Friday night. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

The Crows still maintained large periods of dominance but in contrast relied on their ability to hit targets by foot, outmarking the Cats 64-38 by the final siren, including 7-4 inside 50.

The visitors’ early inaccuracy — 1.5 in the first half — favoured the Cats before finding their connection in the second, mainly through Caitlin Gould, who kicked three of Adelaide’s four goals.

Lowther said the Crows’ style gave them greater control, particularly on the defensive end, adding his side had tried to inject speed into the game and capitalise on their contest craft and shape.

“We just didn’t get the finishing touches in the second half in our forward half,” he said.

Fresh off a six-goal club record last week, Cats forward Aishling Moloney’s stellar season ended on a quieter tone, the Irish star well held by Crow Zoe Prowse but also hampered by some Achilles soreness according to Lowther.

But it was Moloney’s compatriot down the other end who finished the year on a high note — and not just for her mark of the year contender late in the game.

Nina Morrison leads the Cats out on Friday night in game 50. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images

Rachel Kearns’ fearless approach off half back inspired one of her best performances this year, with a game-high nine intercepts and her booming kick (417 metres gained) propelling the Cats forward, while Nina Morrison, in game 50, could also hold her head high with an equal game-high 25 disposals and 10 tackles.

“What a beast, she was devastated after the game, she just wants to win, she’s a winner and she’s already talking about what’s next, what she can do next,” Lowther said of Morrison.

It’s a mindset the Cats must maintain moving forward into the long off-season.

For while their best was certainly up there, winning games, and not just competing, is the only route to a return to finals in 2025.

Originally published as AFLW 2024: How Geelong’s season came undone by lack of consistency and mounting injuries