Geelong captain Meg McDonald says Cats still building ability to learn to win; Aishling Moloney shares league goalkicking award
Geelong captain Meg McDonald says the Cats have shown it can play “efficient, exciting footy” but learning to win remains an ongoing project. Plus, the numbers behind this year’s crowds.
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Geelong captain Meg McDonald says the Cats are still working to develop a winning mentality, as the club sets its sights on a return to finals in 2025.
The Cats missed finals for the first time in three seasons following its loss to Adelaide on Friday night, with their 4-6-1 record boasting three losses under 10 points, another two by 18 points and one by 24 points, though a silver lining had them as the only team to take points away from minor premier and unbeaten North Melbourne in their round 2 draw.
“I think our game sense and our own ability to learn how to win is still something we’re building across the course of our journey as a footy program,” McDonald told Cats
Media post-Adelaide match.
No expansion side is yet to win an AFLW premiership in the first eight years of the competition, with North Melbourne the only side outside the eight original foundations clubs to make a grand final (in 2023).
The Roos will be among five expansion sides to try to break that cycle this year when finals start this weekend, with the likes of multiple-premiership winning sides and foundation clubs Brisbane and Adelaide eyeing more premiership success.
McDonald was confident the Cats had shown at times it could play “efficient, exciting footy” fans wanted to see, with the Cats “lucky” to have the likes of players such as Aishling Moloney, who was crowned joint league goalkicker on Sunday for her 21 goals this year, to get on the end of their speedy ball-movement.
“We’ve had players that have had their best seasons by leaps and bounds and we’re managed to navigate some of the challenges as well,” McDonald said.
Since their introduction into the AFLW in 2019, the Cats’ all-time regular season win-loss record stands at 25-37-1 with a 2-3 record in finals.
Inaugural coach Paul Hood held a 6-17 record, which included one final appearance, in his three years in charge, before current senior coach Dan Lowther took over the 2022 seasons.
Following an 2-8 season 6, Lowther led the Cats to their best effort in season 7 later that year, with a 7-3 home-and-away record and subsequent finals berth though they exited an elimination final at the hands of North Melbourne.
The Cats bested that effort a year later, finishing the 2023 season 6-4 before winning their first-ever final, before making it all the way to a preliminary final, which they eventually lost to Brisbane.
Dip in crowd numbers
Both the AFLW and Geelong saw a drop in crowd numbers during the 2024 AFLW home-and-away season.
Geelong welcomed 13725 through the gates at GMHBA Stadium this year, for an average crowd of 2745.
This compared to figures of 24125 and 4021 (avg.) in six home games (including one final) in 2023. Their home elimination final crowd of 6679 against Essendon undoubtedly gave that number a boost, that crowd the fourth-highest attendance for a game in 2023.
In 2024, GMHBA Stadium ranked as the fifth-best venue (hosting three games or more) for average attendance, with Brisbane’s Brighton Homes Arena (3,439 across six games), Essendon’s Windy Hill (3373 in four), Port Adelaide’s Alberton Oval (3,013) and Adelaide’s Norwood Oval (2923 in three games) averaging higher.
Sydney’s Henson Park and Carlton’s IKON Park ranked higher for overall total crowds, though below Geelong for average crowds.
Meanwhile, while average crowds in the AFLW fell from 2868 to 2477 from last year to this year.
The season’s overall highest attendance of 6102 came in round five between Brisbane and Adelaide, with a low of 827 between North Melbourne and Richmond in Tasmania.
Overall crowds were down 13.63 per cent, from 283,922 to 245,208, though the league did introduce midweek games this year throughout its period of condense fixtures.
Irish Cat caps season off with share of league goalkicking title
Geelong forward Aishling Moloney has capped off a stunning second season in the AFLW with a league goal kicking award alongside Brisbane spearhead Taylor Smith.
Though Moloney was held goalless on Friday night by Crows defender Zoe Prowse, the Irishwoman took a two goal buffer into the rest of the weekend’s final round.
With Smith her nearest rival on 19 goals, it came down to Sunday’s game between Smith’s Lions and St Kilda to determine the award’s recipient.
And after two first half majors from Smith, Moloney and the Cats would have been on tenterhooks hoping Saints defenders could hold the 24-year-0ld goalless in the second half, with Smith missing the chance to take the outright lead in the final seconds, marking 30 metres out just after the final siren sounded.
Both Moloney and Smith’s 21 goals this season is a league record, with the previous best season-haul 20 in 2023, while Moloney is the first Irish player to win the award.
The 26-year-old Moloney has enjoyed a career-best year after taking up the sport just over a year ago, more than doubling her 10 goals from her rookie season and proving more accurate (21.11 up from 10.15).
Her six goals against West Coast Eagles in round 9 broke a Cats record for most goals.
‘Mixed emotions’: Cats midfielder rues lack of consistency
Geelong midfielder Amy McDonald says the Cats will rue missed opportunities this year, as their consistency-plagued AFLW campaign drew to a close on Friday.
The Cats’ finals hopes were officially snuffed out on Friday night, after giving up a two-goal half time lead in their eventual 4.4 (28) to 4.8 (32) loss to Adelaide.
A win wouldn’t have mattered in the grand scheme of finals, with Essendon and Melbourne’s wins on Saturday keeping the Cats at bay outside the top 8.
“It’s mixed emotions to a degree, I think we would have loved to be playing for the next four weeks,” McDonald said post-match on Friday.
“We know our footy’s good enough, we just haven’t been consistent this year.
“I’m sure we’ll rue a few opportunities but there is a lot to take into next season, we can play some good footy when we want to.”
The Cats’ best saw them draw with minor premier North Melbourne and defeat reining premier Brisbane this season, but goal kicking woes, second half fade outs and mounting injuries were among the Cats’ weaknesses.
Injury meant McDonald — an important piece in the Cats’ star-studded midfield — wasn’t able to get the run of consistency she had been used to in her six seasons in the AFLW.
Missing four games with a hamstring injury mid-season before returning for the final two rounds, McDonald’s omission ended a streak of 54 consecutive games, which dated back to her debut in round 1 of the 2020 season.
“It was obviously really great to get back, I wanted to get back for a couple games,” she said.
“Obviously individually it’s just trying to smash out that rehab as quick as possible to give yourself the best shot at being back out here.
“I think last week (I) was a little slow to get going, just building that trust in your body but I felt a lot better out there today, so I look forward to being back out there next year now.”
McDonald, who was elevated to the leadership group this season, said she tried to use her time sidelined to find other ways to help her teammates.
“There was some new learning opportunities for myself, it was something I’d never experienced before,” she said of her first injury.
“I think when someone’s injured or something unfortunate happens it gives opportunity for new girls so particularly just trying to get around them, making sure they understand the structures and systems of the game and just, I guess trying to build their confidence to go out there and play that role,” he said.
Round 10 analysis v Adelaide
Geelong’s end to its season mirrored its start.
Brandishing a bright first half lead against Adelaide fuelled by the glimmer of hope for finals, Geelong went goalless after half time on Friday, as the Crows mounted a successful four-point comeback, 4.4 (28) to 4.8 (32), to extinguished the Cats’ season for good.
Holding a similar two-goal buffer against Melbourne in round 1 to eventually lose by two points, the Cats’ back-to-back losses to Hawthorn and Fremantle mid-season also came at the expense of halftime leads.
Throw in a bizarre round 3 loss to 14th-placed Carlton where Geelong was kept goalless, and the Cats couldn’t replicate the heights of last year’s preliminary final berth, their 4-6-1 record littered with several missed chances and an absence of consistency.
“We lost our way in the middle part of the year and we were chasing at the end and here we are,” Cats coach Dan Lowther said post-match.
What made the season most frustrating though, was how close the Cats’ best really came. No loss was larger than 24 points — they hold the eighth best percentage in the league — while they defeated and drew with last year’s grand finalists, Brisbane and North Melbourne. Also among their better games was the narrow defeats to the Demons and Crows, who were also in last year’s top four.
Lowther said his team took some solace knowing they faced a harder draw this year — with fixture inequities of a shorter season also meaning the Cats failed to play four of the bottom eight sides — while also battling through a mounting injury list which hit its limit with just a minimum 21 players fit for the final round.
Scoring inefficiency and connection hampered the Cats in the early rounds but there was optimistic signs in the Cats’ first half against the Crows as they took their chances despite less inside 50 opportunities (10-18) as their running game took flight.
The Crows still maintained large periods of dominance but in contrast relied on their ability to hit targets by foot, outmarking the Cats 64-38 by the final siren, including 7-4 inside 50.
The visitors’ early inaccuracy — 1.5 in the first half — favoured the Cats before finding their connection in the second, mainly through Caitlin Gould, who kicked three of Adelaide’s four goals.
Lowther said the Crows’ style gave them greater control, particularly on the defensive end, adding his side had tried to inject speed into the game and capitalise on their contest craft and shape.
“We just didn’t get the finishing touches in the second half in our forward half,” he said.
Fresh off a six-goal club record last week, Cats forward Aishling Moloney’s stellar season ended on a quieter tone, the Irish star well held by Crow Zoe Prowse but also hampered by some Achilles soreness according to Lowther.
But it was Moloney’s compatriot down the other end who finished the year on a high note — and not just for her mark of the year contender late in the game.
Rachel Kearns’ fearless approach off half back inspired one of her best performances this year, with a game-high nine intercepts and her booming kick (417 metres gained) propelling the Cats forward, while Nina Morrison, in game 50, could also hold her head high with an equal game-high 25 disposals and 10 tackles.
“What a beast, she was devastated after the game, she just wants to win, she’s a winner and she’s already talking about what’s next, what she can do next,” Lowther said of Morrison.
It’s a mindset the Cats must maintain moving forward into the long off-season.
For while their best was certainly up there, winning games, and not just competing, is the only route to a return to finals in 2025.
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