Carlton star Darcy Vescio nominates her favourite goal from AFLW opening match

DARCY Vescio says channelling nervous excitement into positive energy was the key to her four-goal AFLW performance. And picking her favourite is easy.

Darcy Vescio with fans. Picture: Rob Leeson

DARCY Vescio had four to choose from, but her first goal was her favourite.

The Carlton gun starred in last night’s 35-point win over Collingwood, booting a quartet of polished goals to lead her side to a historic victory at Ikon Park.

Three came in the first half as the Blues got the jump on the Magpies in front of a crowd big enough to shut the gates.

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It was an experience the 23-year-old won’t be forgetting any time soon.

“The first one (was my favourite),” Vescio said.

“It just helped to settle the nerves. You’re relieved every time you kicked one, because your team worked so hard to get it down to you. You just want to do the right thing by them.”

Carlton’s newest hero Darcy Vescio with fans after her standout game. Picture: Rob Leeson

It was physical, with Vescio wearing her fair share of Collingwood crunches early in the match.

Not that it took her by surprise.

“I think we knew that they were going to come pretty hard and really try to outmuscle us, but it was just a tough game,” she said.

“Watching the practice game between the Pies and Bulldogs (last week) we noticed they were very physical, and we knew that they were going to come at us from the first ball-up. We were ready for that.”

Darcy Vescio's game tonight worth 196 SuperCoach points if you don't mind! #aflwomens #ChangeOurGame

— SuperCoach AFL (@Supercoach) February 3, 2017

The forward was praised by coach Damien Keeping post-game, but there was an even bigger reception from the Carlton cheer squad, chanting “Darcy” and desperate for a selfie with their newest hero.

Naturally — she’d just catapulted them to a win over their traditional rival, and on a history-making night, to boot.

“The crowd was just amazing. It was such a special occasion,” Vescio said.

“All the girls were buzzing with excitement rather than nerves. We were able to harness any nervousness and turn it into positive energy.”

Darcy Vescio finds space. Picture: George Salpigtidis

Keeping credited the “balance” his players brought to the occasion in last night’s dominant 35-point win over Collingwood.

He said the Blues were able to find the line between enjoying the historic moment of the inaugural AFL women’s season being brought to fruition and an ability to focus on their football and get the job done.

And it worked, with his players declaring “seven more to go” just before they sang the team song.

“Given we’ve only got seven games, you need to be ready to go,” Keeping said.

“And that’s certainly been a focus right through the whole pre-season. I think the players came with a real balance to tonight, being in the moment and recognising the occasion for what it was but also being prepared to perform.”

Darcy Vescio flies for a mark. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Carlton shortened with bookmakers to favourite to win the AFL women’s premiership after last night’s win, marginally ahead of Fremantle and the Western Bulldogs, but Keeping is maintaining calm.

“We’re going to find out as we move along. At the minute, there’s just so many unknowns but I think that’s part of the excitement,” he said.

Blue Nat Exon copped a knock to the hip and will be assessed, along with Natalie Plane.

The Carlton coach and star forward Vescio are planning to spend their weekend watching the remaining three matches.

There’s a lot of unknowns still to be uncovered, but he said last night was just a taste.

“After that, how can you not be excited to watch women’s football?,” Keeping said.

Danielle Hardiman of the Blues confronts Moana Hope.

In contrast, 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 move the ball forward and also struggled once the ball hit the ground inside attacking 50m.

Magpies 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.

“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 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.

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 more 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 Emma Grant (concussion), Stephanie Chiocci (cut eye), Helen Roden (corky) and Stacey Livingstone (shoulder) all on the bench. Livingstone will have scans next week.

— with Chris Cavanagh

Originally published as Carlton star Darcy Vescio nominates her favourite goal from AFLW opening match