AFLW Finals: Nina Morrison and Geelong aim to hit Melbourne’s midfield
Geelong’s midfield is pumped full of confidence and has seen the cracks in the Melbourne side it will meet in a semi-final, but can they send another Demons team out in straight-sets?
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Geelong’s midfield group no longer walks into the centre hoping to compete.
Now, the Cats plan to dominate.
After a brutal opening eight minutes set the table for a comfortable elimination final win over Essendon last weekend, Geelong’s on-ballers have their eyes on taking down the vaunted veterans at Melbourne.
It’s not so long ago that the inexperienced and unsure trio of Amy McDonald, Georgie Prespakis and Nina Morrison were seen as the future of the league but with Prespakis and Morrison winning nods into the all-Australian squad of 42 and McDonald a Season 7 all-Australian, that future is now.
To earn Sunday’s semi-final against the Demons, the Cats rocked the Bombers by booting three goals in the opening eight minutes off the back of clearance dominance.
The midfield big three finished with a combined 63 disposals, 31 of which were contested and 13 inside-50s.
“We even spoke about it in our mids meeting (this week) coming up against Melbourne on the weekend, they are obviously an amazing side and we really respect them but we have spoken about the fact that for a while we have been touted as a young, inexperienced group but at the end of the day we want to take that to the next level and be one of the best midfields in the comp and to do that you have to beat those really high-end sides,” Morrison said.
“We are up for that challenge on the weekend and I know when I go into the middle, I look at those two around me particularly in Amy and Pres., or when Darcy (Moloney) rolls in and other players that add depth to our midfield, there is a real level of confidence of ‘why can’t we step it up and match it with the best teams in the comp?’.”
Morrison acknowledged that while Geelong was pumped by Melbourne to the tune of 49 points in round 5, the only time the two clubs have ever met in an AFLW game, some cracks have begun to show in the reigning premier Dees.
Melbourne’s loss to North Melbourne in the qualifying final was the first time the club has copped back-to-back defeats since February 2021.
“We walked away from that game feeling like it was a lot closer than the 50-point (49) loss and there were plenty of learning in there and I think it proved they are a team that you can’t make too many mistakes against,” Morrison said.
“But for patches of it we were really matching it with them and we have seen over the last couple of weeks they can be vulnerable in different ways as well so we can certainly see how we can match it with them.”
The joy of Morrison’s first finals win was followed a couple days later with a nod for the all-Australian squad, a triumph after two knee reconstructions sidetracked the 22-year-old’s development.
Her numbers have soared from 13.8 disposals last season to 22.6 this campaign, led by 30-plus outings against Port Adelaide, Melbourne and Hawthorn.
Playing 19 games sandwiched in the two 2022 seasons helped Morrison get past her knee troubles and launch her into a career-best campaign.
“I know that form was sort of within me but it was just a matter of being able to unlock it more often than not so it feels like it is just a natural progression almost of the way I was training throughout the year,” she said.
“Just being able to be out on the track every session and just feel improvement in myself is what I get the most joy out of and I think that was probably the most challenging thing early in my career.”
Originally published as AFLW Finals: Nina Morrison and Geelong aim to hit Melbourne’s midfield
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