Geelong AFLW round 5: Cats defender Lexi Gregor opens up on debut, goalkicking star Aishling Moloney on her improving contested game
She’s effectively taken her spot in the starting 21, but teen defender Lexi Gregor has quickly found her feet in the Cats’ defensive group in large part to the guidance of her captain.
Emerging Geelong defender Lexi Gregor’s ideal player would be a mix of teammates Meghan McDonald and Claudia Gunjaca, as the 19-year-old pointed to the defenders’ influence on her since joining the Cats.
The Cats’ top draft pick in December’s first-ever national AFLW draft, Gregor made her debut in the club’s round 4 win over Essendon on Sunday, playing a key defensive role on Bombers’ forward Sophie Alexander to finish with 11 touches, three marks and four tackles.
And while McDonald and Gunjaca weren’t out there, the captain omitted for the first time since joining Geelong in 2019 and Gunjaca a late out with injury, their impact within the Cats’ backline group has carried weight for Gregor.
“Meg’s definitely probably been the biggest influence on me, not like just as a player, but as a person as well,” Gregor said.
“She’s just kind of taken me under a wing a little bit - her leadership, it’s amazing.
“The way she speaks and the way she coaches us, even on the field, we’d be in a drill and she’ll be pointing and coaching, it’s so helpful. “And then Claudia Gunjaca, she’s a massive influence as well. She’s a bit more fiery, flies a little bit more.
“I think my ideal player would be a good mixture of both of those two.”
Gregor’s first pre-season has gone mainly uninterrupted as the tall utility trained primarily in defence with only a few drills as a forward.
“ I definitely feel more comfortable in the backline … I feel like it’s just my position,” she said.
Helping make the transition easier has been fellow first round draftee and now housemate, Sienna Tallariti, whose own debut on Sunday was a fitting moment for the pair to share.
“I feel like it’s definitely helped me a lot having someone there, especially my own age, who understands kind of what it’s like and trying everything for the first time as well,” Gregor said.
“I’m very grateful for it.”
Being among the first cohort of players to come through a national draft is exciting for Gregor, many of her counterparts quickly making a mark on the league within the first month of games.
“I think it’s pretty cool,” Gregor said.
“Obviously, this shows what can kind of happen when girls are given the opportunity to play since they’re young and continue to play and develop because I feel like the draft last year is probably the best talent I’ve ever seen and it’s showing in the league.”
Among a handful of key prospects taken in the first round, Gregor knows it will take some time to develop in her game and body, as she strives to string more games together in her first season.
“I just want to probably find my place and my feet a little bit more and learn and gauge how the girls play and then play my game off that,” she said.
“A bit of a bigger step up being a key player because you have to be bigger, stronger and, you know, it takes more time to develop, but I feel like I have the best role models for it, so I’m not stressed.
“I know it’ll come.”
Time, games the key leveller, says Cats coach
Geelong AFLW coach Dan Lowther believes more time and games into players was needed for clubs to bridge the gap between the league’s best and the rest.
While Geelong’s results have been largely competitive irrespective of a 1-3 start this year, several lopsided or low scoring results in the opening month of games has raised questions around competitive balance in the opening month of the 10th season.
While Lowther was a fan of exploring different equalisation methods presented by the league, he felt more time and games into players was needed most for the competition to naturally level itself out.
“The teams that are kind of chasing and maybe not getting the scores are the teams that have built their lists over the last two or three years with some really strong draft picks that are getting games into them and that experience that they need,” Lowther said.
“When the time’s right, when they click, the talent plus the experience is going to really challenge those teams.
“We’re still kind of teetering on that middle layer there, we need to kind of find our way into that top six or top four, but it just takes time.
“Sydney have jumped big time this year with the talent they built over the last two or three years as well, and their scoring really well.
“It’s just going to take some time and practice for these girls to keep playing footy and gelling and connecting.
“The talent is now coming into the competition pretty quickly, it’s just a matter of making sure that that talent gets enough chances to play.”
It means Lowther and Geelong won’t be taking Richmond lightly on Sunday, despite the Tigers’ 0-4 start following a finals campaign last year.
“We don’t view them as a 0-4 team, they’ve just got too much talent on the field,” Lowther said.
“They’re getting looks up front, just not scoring as efficiently to put scoreboard pressure on teams.
“Against the Bombers up in Darwin, they had chances to win the game but they kicked inaccurately, a bit like ourselves (in round 1-3).
“Fully respect the fact that they’re a strong midfield team, they’re going to get looks getting forward, we just need to make sure we deter those options as best we can.”
Geelong dominated contested possessions and centre bounce clearances in their season-opening win against Essendon last round, which translated into +23 inside 50s and their highest score of the season - 8.10 (58).
“We’ve got our scoring back last week... Jackie (Parry) obviously hitting the scoreboard, Aishling (Moloney) looking pretty dangerous, a couple of our small forwards looking pretty good, Bowie (Mikayla Bowen) up the ground, we got that combination right,” Lowther said.Lowther confirmed Claudia Gunjaca (toe) was likely to return after training well this week following a late omission in round 4, while captain Meghan McDonald had fronted up well this week and would continue to put her hand up for selection.
Rookie ruck prospect Caitie Tipping will run out in Saturday’s league scrimmage match following a return from a knee injury.
‘Kitten to a Cat’: Moloney’s masterplan to wield new weapons
Aishling Moloney’s initial instinct was to outrun her opponents.
Despite her 183cm frame, Moloney can switch on the afterburners with the quickest of players.
But coming from a lifetime of Gaelic football, where tackling is propping the ball out of someone’s grip, the physicality and contest work of the AFLW is a different ball-game.
But 28 games into a burgeoning AFLW career, it’s been the 27-year-old County Tipperary product’s bodywork and contested method which has gone to another level early into year 3 down under.
“Back home in football, you can nearly outrun a player and I felt like the last two years here I was only outrunning players,” Moloney said.
“But I think just to make it easier for myself … I need to accept that I can use my body and to give myself that more space, even if I do think I want to get out there, I just get body-on-body and get yourself an extra few metres off that.
“So that’s just something I’ve been conscious of, to you know, throw my weight around a bit more and make the gaps a bit easier for me to work in my space.”
Both Moloney and Geelong knew the forward would have a name for herself coming into 2025, her maiden all-Australian selection last year coming off the back of a league record 21 goals alongside Brisbane’s Taylor Smith.
With an focus on being more composed and competitive early, Moloney put a quiet round 1 performance – aided by North Melbourne’s quality defence and attention paid to the Irishwoman – behind her to reclaim her mantle as the Cats’ more dangerous forward ever since.
Four rounds into the season, and Moloney is equal fourth in the competition for goals (seven) and second in the league for shots on goal (16).
A career-best 23 disposal game came against Sydney in round 3, where she kicked three goals, while against Essendon on Sunday, she managed 2.1 though easily could have had four goals, another shot going across the goal face in tricky windy conditions.
Navigating the difficult conditions of Windy Hill, Moloney mindset was: “on a day like today, you just have to work harder”.
“For me personally, I just want to go and work hard for the team and try to get myself in the best position possible to, if that’s to lay-off the ball or have a shot myself,” she said.
Her work away from goals, and impact as a key marking target who can influence a contest, indicates how far she’s come in the game.
Moloney is averaging higher in contested possessions, while she’s top 10 in the league for marks inside 50 (nine) and contested marks – the latter six already equalling last year’s season total.
“For me personally, it’s just sometimes I need to get more composed in the game when I get the ball in hand and be more contested early, which are two things I’m looking at this year,” she said.
“So far, I’m quite happy where I’m at with that, and I can only try and get better as well. So I’m definitely never going to be fully happy, but I think we’re going in the right direction so far.”
A busy off-season back in Ireland sees Moloney – who signed a new three year deal last year – continue to balance Gaelic football and work both as a biology and physical education teacher and on the farm.
Taking several Sherrins home with her to maintain her touch, Moloney also kept a keen eye on Geelong’s men’s AFL games to further her game IQ.
“Even if you’re getting touch (with a football) in an hour a week, it definitely keeps you in touch,” she said.
“I think one thing I found this year was I probably stayed in touch with the men’s footy more. I felt that that helped kind of with the concept of the game when I came back and I wasn’t having to like relearn the structures and stuff.
“A few times I had the footy games, Geelong footy games on the board in school – the kids love that as well – it’s just about keeping in touch and obviously Geelong has been so understanding.”
“I just love the challenge here, you know, it’s what, 20-something game now.
“I’m quite new to this sport it and I’m still as I say to the girls, I tell them – I’m only a kitten yet I’m not a cat.
“I’m just going to keep trying to put my best way forward and see what I can do for the girls.”
Key Cat back in contention for Tigers
Geelong’s Claudia Gunjaca is expected to return for the Cats’ ahead of Sunday’s clash against a winless Richmond.
A toe injury saw the intercepting defender a late withdrawal from the Cats’ breakthrough win over Essendon in round 4, replaced in the side by utility Erica Fowler.
The Cats came through the game injury free, as their injury list has started to lighten in recent weeks, a selection squeeze seeing captain Meghan McDonald omitted last week.
Among four on their injury list, veteran utility Kate Darby has returned to running after a calf injury though is still 1-2 weeks away from selection.
Geelong Cats Head of AFLW Dominique Condo said the goal was to give Darby the “best run” at an uninterrupted second half of the season.
Rookie ruck Caitie Tipping is also 1-2 weeks away from selection, after a knee injury sustained in an VFL season impacted her first pre-season at Kardinia Park.
Now back in full training, Condo said the Cats wanted Tipping to bank match practice through scrimmage matches first before ticking her off for selection.
Veteran forward Shelley Scott remains a chance to return later in the season, despite a slow progress for a calf injury keeping her return at 5-7 weeks.
“Shelley’s recovery has not progressed at the rate we initially hoped, but she is continuing to work through her rehab program,” Condo said.
Chloe Scheer’s timeless for a knee injury remains indefinite.
‘Really balanced’: How gun Cat has hit top flight
Geelong AFLW star Georgie Prespakis says she’s left “no stone unturned” to threaten more consistently, admitting there was times in the past she hadn’t handle a game’s ebbs and flows well.
An all-Australian by the time she was 19 and club best and fairest at 20, Prespakis’ talents have long been known around the wider league.
But now in her fifth season, the 22-year-old’s impact has been undeniable in the opening month of games, punctuated with another best on ground performance in the Cats’ season-opening win against Essendon on Sunday.
After a hamstring injury hindered her at times in 2024, the line-breaking midfielder has returned fighting fit and averaging career best numbers in disposals (28.3), contested possessions (17.3), effective disposals (17), clearances (8.8), inside 50s (6.0), score involvements (4.5) and marks (3.0) across the opening four rounds, with the attacking weapon also the Cats’ best metres gained player (449.5).
“It felt really good, the beginning of pre-season, I wanted to kind of leave no stone unturned and just be a lot more consistent with how I turn up and the way that I operate,” Prespakis said.
“If I can do that and also lead the way at trainings and really drive the standards … it’s something I wanted to do this year to be able to do it consistently and not just show up for a quarter or a half.
“It’s something I’m continuing to work on … I just want to be able to bring my best when I can and understand that when things are ebbing and flowing, being able to know that there will be moments.
“That’s probably something I’ve never been able to do, I probably get a little bit down, but … I try to hold my head up and know that the time will come and just to make the most of that.”
Prespakis’ form has drawn plaudits from not only her own teammates and coach Dan Lowther but opposition mentors alike.
“Georgie’s in exceptional form, she’s a great player to watch,” Essendon coach Natalie Wood said post-match Sunday.
“I thought her inside and outside work, she’s becoming a really balanced player around the stoppage, if she’s not winning first possession, which she’s been phenomenal at the last couple weeks, she’ll also get you on the outside.
“We went in with a plan … we really tried to win first possession and get our hands on the footy and we weren’t able to.”
Forced to work through a heavy tag from Sydney in round 3 to still finish with 27 disposals, 11 clearances and 452 metres gained, a growing maturity within Prespakis has her trusting in her own abilities and teammates to overcome the attention.
“I think more just a confidence knowing that I’ve done the work, I’m conditioned and feeling a strong as I’ve ever felt and knowing that, if things don’t go my way, I’ve got others around me that’ll be able to influence and impact,” she said.
“I feel so lucky to play in such a strong midfield group that if I’m down, others are flourishing.
“They always support me really well, which is good too.”
‘True professional’: Cats applaud skipper’s attitude after omission
It was the classy pre-match act which epitomised Geelong captain Meghan McDonald’s character and leadership amid her own individual setback.
Omitted from Geelong’s best 21 for the first time in her career, McDonald, 34, stood before the playing group and presented her teammate Lexi Gregor their hoops, the 19-year-old debutant soon to step into McDonald’s role on field as a key defender against Essendon.
“I feel like meeting you this year has been so beautiful … like I’m a city girl, you’re a country girl, we’re completely different age groups but I hope you feel that we’ve also had a really nice friendship along the way,” McDonald said.
“I’ve learnt a lot from you and I value that deeply.
“You make me feel like I would love to be 18 for all the reasons that are really obvious, but mostly because I get to look down the barrel of trying to be your teammate for 15 years.”
While on the fringe in her first season in the AFLW with Western Bulldogs, McDonald’s durability at Geelong has been her strength – playing 69 of a possible 71 games, a finger injury the only cause of missing the opening two rounds of the 2020 season.
But after seven seasons as a mainstay in the Cats’ defence, the all-Australian now challenged to find her way back into the best 21.
Speaking after the Cats’ breakthrough 31-point win over Essendon, Geelong AFLW Dan Lowther praised his skipper for he way she handled the feedback.
“It’s never an easy conversation to leave anybody out of the side, let alone your captain,” Lowther said.
“Just based on performance is what we wanted to make sure the conversation was around and clear, so she accepted it, that her position in the team was not this week.
“She’s still the captain of our team and our squad and she led from the front – she gave presented to Lexi Gregor, her jumper, today – one defender to the next.
“She handled it like a true professional and wants to get back in the team and that’s the challenge.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better way for her to handle it.”
Cats forward Aishling Moloney also praised McDonald’s handling of the omission, saying her captain’s leadership meant it hadn’t affected the wider playing group.
“I think with Meg is she’s such a leader among our group and being such a great leader that she is … she carried the group really well this week and carried herself really well, Moloney said.
“So it didn’t affect the group too much … because the way Meg carried herself had such a positive impact on the group.
“For us we were coming in today and like Meg all she would want us to do was win so we needed to get that win for her today and others that weren’t (out) there.”
The Cats have made some tough selection calls this season, another regular starter in winger Zali Friswell omitted after round 1 with clear feedback on what she had to do to eventually come back in by round 3.
Lowther was confident McDonald was also clear on the areas she needed to improve on moving forward.
“She just has to get back to doing the things that she’s great at,” he said.
“She knows the areas of the game she needs to get better at, and so do all our players.
“And our job as a coaching staff is to make sure we give them all a chance to improve in that space.
“The way she supported the group today, and during the week, was outstanding.”
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Originally published as Geelong AFLW round 5: Cats defender Lexi Gregor opens up on debut, goalkicking star Aishling Moloney on her improving contested game
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