Collingwood womens coach says ball movement, forward pressure key to improvement

COLLINGWOOD will look to work on its ball movement going forward after managing just one goal in last night’s opening AFL Women’s match.

Chris Cavanagh

less than 2 min read

February 4, 2017 - 9:29AM

Moana Hope puts Collingwood into attack.

COLLINGWOOD will look to work on its ball movement going forward after managing just one goal in last night’s opening AFL Women’s match.

The Magpies too often allowed Carlton to flood back in numbers as they were slow to move the ball forward and also struggled once the ball hit the ground inside attacking 50m.

Collingwood coach Wayne Siekman dismissed suggestions his side had been too one-dimensional in going to marquee forward Moana Hope but admitted there was work to be done in the area.

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“We probably need to be a bit more composed and at times we didn’t really handle their plus-two that were in front of Mo and Mo’s performance didn’t help, either,” Siekman said.

“We just needed to be a bit more braver and take the game on when we got within that launch area 50-70m from goal.”

Hope finished the match with only four disposals, one mark and one behind.

Moana Hope misses a shot on goal.

Despite the loss, Siekman said he felt the game had been an excellent advertisement for women’s football and his players would take plenty away from it.

“The results on the scoreboard didn’t go our way but what a great learning experience for us as a football club, for our players to go through that,” he said.

“The first thing I said (to the players after the game) was make sure we keep our heads up because we’ve got six more games to go and we’re in a position now where we’ve got to win those six games to make sure we’re in a position to push for that last game (the grand final) in March.

“It’s a great learning experience and we just need to take what we can from there.”

The Magpies finished the game with just two players on the bench, with Emma Grant (concussion), Stephanie Chiocci (cut eye), Helen Roden (corky) and Stacey Livingstone (shoulder) all unable to finish.

Livingstone will have scans next week.