By Roy Ward, Hannah Hammoud and AAP
Bombers fly up into top eight
Georgia Nanscawen and Madison Prespakis have produced outstanding displays to lead Essendon to a hard-fought nine-point win over Gold Coast at People First Stadium.
On a hot and humid Queensland day, Nanscawen racked up 28 disposals, seven clearances and 441m gained, while Prespakis was also influential with 22 disposals, nine clearances and two goals.
The 5.6 (36) to 4.3 (27) win lifted Essendon (4-3) into seventh spot.
Madison Prespakis of the Bombers celebrates a goal against Gold Coast Suns .Credit: Getty Images
In contrast, Gold Coast (six losses, one draw) remain dead last on the ladder.
“It’s super exciting,” Prespakis told the Seven Network of being in the top eight.
“It’s hot up here. But both teams are playing in it. I’m really proud of the girls. I thought we fought hard all game.”
But it wasn’t all good news for the Bombers, with forward Amber Clarke set to undergo scans after her left knee twisted awkwardly in a tackle late in the third quarter.
Clarke kicked two goals for the match, but was sporting a knee brace after her injury and cut a forlorn figure on the bench.
Jacqueline Dupuy kicked two goals for Gold Coast, while Lucy Single and Charlie Rowbottom finished with 22 disposals each and a combined 15 clearances.
Essendon dominated the opening term, winning the inside 50m count 12-4 as well as taking five marks inside 50m compared to Gold Coast’s zero.
Georgia Nanscawen was dominant for the Bombers.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
But the Bombers had just one behind to their name until Clarke snapped truly with 33 seconds remaining in the quarter, for a 7-0 lead at the break.
Suns forward Dupuy took a powerful mark in the opening seconds of the second quarter to kick Gold Coast’s first.
Prespakis was doing her utmost to break the shackles from tagger Elise Barwick, and she won a series of free kicks for being held.
The star midfielder also kicked a dribbling goal midway through the quarter, but the margin was back to two points by half-time.
Essendon broke the game open with three goals to nil in the third term.
Three goals in seven minutes: Swan stuns but Cats hold on
Geelong have held off a surging Sydney to keep their season alive with a three-point victory.
The Cats led at every change on Sunday before the Swans mounted a serious fourth-quarter challenge to reduce a game-high 21-point lead.
Lexi Hamilton brought the Swans within four points late in the last quarter, but the Cats held on to win 5.14 (44) to 6.5 (41) in front of 3127 fans at Sydney’s Henson Park.
Cats players celebrate after defeating Sydney Swans.Credit: via Getty Images
Starting the round in 16th, Dan Lowther’s charges can finish as high as 11th by the end of the weekend, with four matches remaining.
Georgie Prespakis (19 disposals, 13 contested possessions) starred in the absence of injured ball-winner Amy McDonald, alongside Julia Crocket-Grills (one goal) and Jacqueline Parry (one).
Sydney’s season is hanging by a thread after their third-consecutive loss.
Their path towards a second straight finals appearance won’t grow any easier, with matches against competition heavyweights Brisbane and North Melbourne ahead.
Geelong brought the heat early against the Swans, kicking the opening three goals to build a 3.2 to 0.2 lead at the first change.
With the breeze behind them in the second term, Sydney finally found reward on the scoreboard when Irish import Paris McCarthy kicked three goals in seven minutes.
McCarthy stunned the Cats’ defenders when she snapped overhead after teammate Bec Privitelli’s shot at goal fell short to reduce the margin to two points.
The former Gaelic footballer, playing her first match of the season, had never kicked an AFLW goal before Sunday.
Veteran forward Shelley Scott had an opportunity to rebuild a comfortable lead before halftime for the Cats after marking just in front of goal, but sent the ball wide.
Ahead by just seven points, Geelong could not make the most of their advantage with the wind and kicked one goal and three behinds before the final change.
The Swans came alive in the last term, with goals from Bella Smith, Privitelli and Hamilton, but could not leap ahead.
Laura Gardiner (30 disposals, five clearances) was the star in a Swans engine room missing Ally Morphett and Chloe Molloy, alongside Sofia Hurley (20, two).
Lightning interrupts Tigers’ win over Pies
Neither Collingwood’s best efforts nor a 46-minute lightning delay could stop Richmond from notching an impressive 36-point win and moving into the top four at Punt Road on Saturday.
Play was delayed by 46 minutes after severe weather including lightning and hail hit the ground during the half-time break.
The Tigers have already experienced a delay against GWS caused by a snake, and they handled this delay with aplomb, as did many of the fans who stayed through the rain.
Monique Conti of the Tigers handballs whilst being tackled against Collingwood.Credit: Getty Images
“We’ve been through this before, we had the snake [on the ground] up at GWS so it’s just a matter of being patient and sticking to the process,” Tigers head of AFLW operations Kate Sheahan told Fox Footy during the delay.
“This is AFLW. We’ve had lightning, floods, snakes and heat.
“We come prepared for anything. Last week we played in torrential rain, today it is lightning.”
The Tigers had a 14-point lead and the teams returned to find the ground much heavier underfoot as the heavy rain made the already damp conditions more difficult to negotiate.
Monique Conti led the Tigers with 27 disposals while Tamara Luke, Eilish Sheerin and Ellie McKenzie kicked two goals each.
Sarah Rowe led the Magpies with 27 disposals.
McKenzie kicked the opening goal to help her side to an 8-0 lead at quarter-time.
The Magpies closed the margin to a point after Lauren Butler was awarded a free kick off the ball and booted the major.
Instead of dropping their heads, the Tigers attacked the contest with Conti winning a quick kick from the ball up that found Mackenzie Ford whose pass found Luke who kicked a goal and McKenzie followed with her second goal to build a match-winning lead.
The scenes at Punt Road Oval on Saturday.Credit: Fox Footy
Fan-favourite Caitlin Greisser, celebrating her 50th AFLW game, pulled in a mark soon after the restart and booted her 44th career goal then birthday girl Sheerin kicked a major from close range for a 33-8 lead.
Luke, who retired in July but returned when the Tigers needed an injury replacement, booted her second goal despite kicking a water-logged footy late in the final term to cap off Richmond’s win.
Sheerin joyfully kicked her second goal, a career-best return, and celebrated with teammates as the Tigers showed they are a team to be reckoned with at the business end of the season.
AFLW WEEK SIX
- Fremantle 6.9 (45) d. Geelong 3.9 (27)
- Hawthorn 4.11 (35) d. Gold Coast 3.4 (22)
- Essendon 4.3 (27) d. Sydney Swans 3.6 (24)
- Melbourne 6.5 (41) d. GWS Giants 3.7 (25)
- Adelaide 3.8 (26) d. St Kilda 3.4 (22)
- North Melbourne 8.11 (59) d. Western Bulldogs 0.4 (4)
- Richmond 7.4 (46) d. Collingwood 1.4 (10)
- Port Adelaide 7.7 (49) d. West Coast 5.6 (36)
- Brisbane Lions 9.14 (64) d. Carlton 1.7 (13)
- Essendon 5.6 (36) d. Gold Coast 4.3 (27)
- Geelong 5.14 (44) d. Sydney 6.5 (41)
Ruthless Roos too good for Bulldogs
North Melbourne forward Emma King should have known better than to tempt Melbourne’s weather gods.
The undefeated Roos cruised to their sixth AFLW win of the season with a 55-point victory over the Western Bulldogs at Arden Street on Saturday, but King, perhaps inadvertently, dared the heavens to open, telling Fox Footy at half-time they were enjoying the fine conditions after playing their last three games in the wet.
Jasmine Garner of the Kangaroos celebrates a goal.Credit: AFL Photos
Cue a torrential downpour.
Still, it mattered not to the premiership favourites, as Jasmine Garner snapped the first goal of the second half in rain that was heavy enough to briefly interrupt the broadcast signal, returning just as Garner booted her second.
King added her second goal soon after, perhaps sensing she owed her teammates after her weather gaff.
“It’s like weather from up north – it was sunny and a balmy 20 degrees this morning and then poured down rain,” Roos defender Eliza Shannon, who played her first game of 2024, told Fox Footy after the thumping 8.11 (59) to 0.4 (4) victory.
Jasmyn Smith of the Bulldogs is tackled in her club’s loss to the Kangaroos.Credit: AFL Photos
“It feels like we’ve been in the pool; luckily it cleared and we got some good passages of play in.”
The Dogs were in the wars and deserved more for their energy and pressure but they were down two players early into the second half with Dee Berry (illness) and Lauren Ahrens (foot) out.
Ash Riddell led the Roos with 26 disposals and a goal on the siren while Garner had 19 and could have had three goals but for a set shot hitting the post.
Isabelle Pritchard had 18 disposals to lead the way for the Bulldogs, while Jessica Fitzpatrick had 15 disposals and nine tackles.
The Dogs made some forays into the forward line early, finding Sarah Hartwig in range of the goals but couldn’t make the most of their chances, and it proved the difference as the Roos were far more ruthless and efficient when their opportunities to score arose.
If anything, the ladder leaders were a touch wasteful in the first half with four behinds which could have been goals.
North’s Vikki Wall collected the Bulldogs’ Dominique Carruthers in a bone-shaking tackle late in the first half, with Carruthers bouncing back to battle on for her under-siege side.
Seven players fined after Bomber bump sparks brawl
Hannah Hammoud
Seven players have been fined for their involvement in one of the largest melees in AFLW history, sparked by a bump from Bombers midfield star Maddy Prespakis.
Players from both sides ran into the fray on the three-quarter-time siren of Essendon’s three-point win on Wednesday night.
Players from both teams were caught up in a melee at three-quarter-time.Credit: AFL Photos
With just four seconds remaining in the third quarter, Prespakis was immediately confronted by Sydney players Lexi Hamilton and Tanya Kennedy, drawing in teammates from both sides.
On Thursday night Essendon’s Prespakis, Paige Scott, Jacqui Vogt, and Brooke Walker each had their $200 sanction for engaging in the melee downgraded to $100. While Swans Hamilton, Kennedy, and Cynthia Hamilton were also hit with the same sanction.
Prespakis, who was tagged for all four quarters, spoke about the mental toll of having her impact on the game restricted after the thriller at Whitten Oval.
“Really proud of the girls,” Prespakis said.
“We fought really hard and Sydney came at us in the end.
“It [getting tagged] is really hard and does take a mental toll.
“Every single week I feel like I’ve got a thumb in my back everywhere I go.
“Woody [coach Natalie Woods] just says smile at them, take it as a compliment and do what you can.”
The incident marks another chapter in an AFLW season that is witnessing heightened physicality as the game grows each year.
North Melbourne’s Libby Birch copped some attention when she came up against former side Melbourne this season, while there have been melee and wrestling charges in two other matches this year.
AFLW players have not shied away from scuffles on the field, and Wednesday night’s melee may be in contention to overtake last year’s Collingwood-Richmond clash, dubbed “the biggest brawl in AFLW history” by players Sarah Hosking and Sarah Rowe.
Speaking on the duo’s podcast Tagged, Hosking stated that melees were all part of the game.
“If my teammate needs help, I’m not just letting her sit on the ground while she gets pummelled by someone else,” she said.
“I love that stuff. I think it’s all part of the game and I think it’s great – obviously no one gets hurt. It gets fiery … I think it’s all part of it.
“It really tests the character of your teammates, and we’ve literally taken the piss out of some of our teammates because you might see this little scuffle on the ground or something and someone’s close by — now you’ve got an option here, to either run and help … or you run in the opposite direction, and we’ve got a few teammates that do that here or there.”
The brawl broke out between the two sides at Victoria Park late in the fourth quarter when Magpie Sarah Sansonetti tackled Tiger Emelia Yassir over the boundary line. Teammates from both sides then rushed over to join in.
Rowe described it as one of the more notable melees in AFLW history.
“I’m the type that I’ll go in to bat for my teammates, I’ll go stick up for them for sure, but I’m also the one that I’ll probably do it with a smile on my face, and I’ll be like, ‘come on, we don’t actually want to hit each other’,” she said on the podcast.
With AAP