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| Venue: | Ikon Park, Carlton. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | Saturday 19th February, 2022 (5.10 pm). | ||||||||||||||||||
| Result: | Won by 46 points. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Crowd: | 1,642 (restricted capacity) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Goalkickers: | D. Vescio 2.1, B. Moody 2.0, J. Good 1.0, C. Jones 1.0, K. Sherar 1.0, G. Egan 0.2, A. McKay 0.1, M. Prespakis 0.1, Rushed 0.1. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reports: | Nil | ||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires: | Nicholas McGinness, Leighton Rowe, Brent Wallace. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Injuries: | Nil | ||||||||||||||||||
| Ladder: | 10th | ||||||||||||||||||
Match Review
Blues' emphatic return to winning form -Carlton has recorded a 46-point triumph over St Kilda - by Cristian Filippo.
Back on the winner's list. Carlton produced an emphatic return to triumphant form with its first home win of the season. Keeping St Kilda scoreless after the opening five minutes of the contest, the Blues stormed away with a 46-point victory, recording their biggest win of the season.
Quarter one
The Saints made the early running with the territory in the opening minutes, but two misses would prove to be costly. Firstly, it was the returning Keeley Sherar who produced her first goal for the club she supported as a kid, coming on the back of exemplary forward pressure. A quick clearance from the resulting ball-up saw another inclusion - Maddy Guerin - find Brea Moody in the square, giving the Blues the first two goals of the game. Grace Egan and Georgia Gee were busy in the back-end of the term, registering six disposals apiece, with the latter producing an assist for Darcy Vescio’s goal on the quarter-time siren.
Quarter two
The Blues put their foot down in the second term, suffocating the Saints with their forward pressure and seeing the ball camped in their front half. It was a moment to remember for Jess Good, with the former basketballer breaking her scoring duck and recording her first goal at the elite level. There was also a sixth goal of the season for Courtney Jones, while Kerryn Harrington and Paige Trudgeon were always on hand for any of St Kilda’s forays forward. Mimi Hill continued her brilliant run of form with a prolific second term, ending the first half with a game-high 13 disposals.
Quarter three
The third quarter followed a similar pattern to the opening two, with one notable exception: the Blues couldn’t do the damage where it counted. It was ultimately a scoreless quarter for both sides, despite the Blues having repeat forward entries. Playing in a different role up forward, Maddy Prespakis got in on the act with six third-quarter disposals.
Quarter four
Carlton continued in the ascendancy in the fourth term, thwarting any St Kilda attacks that came their way. After goals in the opening term, reigning All-Australians Breann Moody and Darcy Vescio doubled their accounts for the day, opening up a 46-point buffer come the final siren as the Blues recording their highest score of the season. It had taken five weeks, but by the end of the game at IKON Park, the ‘Da da da da das’ were ringing out loud on Royal Parade.
Three things we learned
1. The famous ‘Velcro’ duo really can’t be split. Ending the day with 20 disposals apiece, Georgia Gee and Maddy Prespakis were Carlton’s highest disposal winners on the day. Spending more time higher up the ground on the wing, Gee was arguably Carlton’s most influential performer on a day where there were contributors all across the board.
2. Aside for the third term, Carlton found its scoring formula. The Blues had recorded their biggest score of the season by the middle of the second term, when Courtney Jones recording the team’s sixth goal of the day. The ball lived in Carlton’s forward half for the majority of the afternoon, recording 14 tackles to seven inside 50.
3. Daniel Harford and the coaching staff shuffled the deck chairs on Saturday evening, and they’ll be pleased with the results. Gee spent more time on the wing while Prespakis provided a damaging presence higher up the ground, while Lucy McEvoy (four marks, four intercepts) was deployed permanently behind the ball to good effect.
Moment of the match
This section is generally dedicated to first goals — and you’ll be pleased to know that there’s no exception here. This week, there’s two. A terrific rundown tackle brought about Keeley Sherar’s first goal, getting the Blues on the board and opening her career account in the process. A quarter later, a dribbler from Jess Good saw the forward-ruck produce her first goal in her fifth game. You love to see it.
Best: G. Gee, M. Prespakis, D. Vescio, G. Egan, V. Laloifi, M. Hill.
Blues back on winners list as Saints slump to sixth straight loss - by Josh Gabelich.
Carlton has snapped a four-game losing streak in emphatic fashion at Ikon Park, smashing the winless St Kilda by 46 points on Saturday. Daniel Harford's side hadn’t won a game since beating Geelong in round two and had suffered an average losing margin of six goals across the past month. But their season has a faint pulse again. The Blues booted three goals in the opening quarter and had their highest score of the season by half-time – 5.5 (35) – before putting the foot down again in the final term to finish on top in the 7.6 (48) to 0.2 (2) contest. The much-needed win reignites a season that has been a disappointment to date, launching Carlton from 13th up to 10th on the ladder, two games outside the top-six. St Kilda took only eight seconds to take a mark inside 50, but that shot faded to the right and was just about as good as it got for the red, white and black.
St Kilda kicked the first two points of the game but didn’t trouble the goal umpires again, finishing goalless and with the equal-lowest score in the history of AFLW. The Saints haven’t won a game since they beat West Coast in round nine last season and currently sit dead last on the ladder under new coach Nick Dal Santo. Dal Santo – whose side has been hit hard by injury and suspension – will have to quickly rally the troops at RSEA Park on Monday, with two games to come in the next seven days, starting with a trip to Sydney to face Greater Western Sydney on Wednesday. Blues young gun Georgia Gee cut the Saints apart across the ground, using her beautiful kick to punish the opposition, before finishing with 20 disposals and six marks in an eye-catching display. Carlton star Mimi Hill continued her brilliant return from a knee reconstruction, adding another 17 disposals to the 25 touches she had against Fremantle last week, after amassing 26 in a stunning return to the game a fortnight ago. While Hill and Gee were two of the best players on the ground, Carlton enjoyed an even spread of contribution, with star forward Darcy Vescio producing a handful of special moments that sent the crowd into a frenzy, including a goal early in the last quarter to put the icing on the cake.
Finally some goals for the Blues
Carlton has struggled to impact the scoreboard this season, but finally found some form in front of goal – and should have kicked more goals given the amount of scoring chances they generated. The Blues put their highest score of 2022 on the board, benefiting from much better ball movement than in recent weeks.
Milestone within reach for Carlton star
Dual All-Australian Darcy Vescio continued to show why they're one of the best forwards in the competition, slotting two classy goals to move just two goals away from becoming the first player to reach 50 goals in AFLW history.
What's next?
The ever-changing fixture will provide an anomaly this week. The next side Carlton and St Kilda will both face is Greater Western Sydney. The Saints will play the Giants first on Wednesday before the Blues face them next weekend in Canberra.
Say what?
“It was disappointing. We came here fully prepared. We knew the opposition well. We’re clearly disappointed. I thought at times we showed some signs of how we want to move the ball but also how we want to defend. Clearly for the majority of the game we didn’t do that. We’re in it together – this is a collective – clearly we’re not where we want to be yet.” - St Kilda coach Nick Dal Santo
“It’s been a while coming, been a month coming for the players, so to see them celebrate victory and have the joy in their face from playing a four-quarter performance was lovely. It was nice in the rooms for the first time in a while.” - Carlton coach Daniel Harford
Footnotes
1. The Blues now have the record for the highest ever score (87) and the equal best defensive effort (2).2. The Saints score of 0.2 was the equal lowest score equaling Richmond's 0.2.
3. The Saints had six Ex Blues playing for them in this game, they were Nat Exon, Bianca Jakobsson, Tilly Lucas-Rodd, Kate Shierlaw, Jayde Van Dyk and Rhiannon Watt.
Team
| B: | 8 Vaomua Laloifi | 6 Gab Pound | |
| HB: | 2 Jess Dal Pos | 26 Paige Trudgeon | 23 Daisy Walker |
| C: | 10 Mimi Hill | 1 Grace Egan | 9 Kerryn Harrington (c) |
| HF: | 3 Darcy Vescio | 13 Lucy McEvoy | 22 Courtney Jones |
| F: | 21 Nicola Stevens | 18 Maddy Guerin | |
| Ruck: | 16 Breann Moody | 4 Madison Prespakis | 5 Abbie McKay |
| Interchange: | 19 Georgia Gee | 46 Elise O'Dea | 32 Natalie Plane |
| 25 Keeley Sherar | 15 Jess Good | ||
| Coach: | Daniel Harford | ||
| Emg: | 12 Lauren Brazzale | 20 Charlotte Wilson |
In: Courtney Jones, Maddy Guerin, Keeley Sherar.
Out: Charlotte Wilson (omitted), Lauren Brazzale (omitted), Brooke Walker (omitted).
Milestones
First Goal: Keeley Sherar, Jess Good.AFLW Coaches Votes
9 - Vaomua Laloifi8 - Georgia Gee
4 - Madison Prespakis
4 - Mimi Hill
3 - Rhiannon Watt (STK)
1 - Breann Moody
1 - Darcy Vescio
AFLW Team of the Week
Defenders: Vaomua LaloifiForwards: Georgia Gee
AFLW Best and Fairest Votes
3. - Madison Prespakis (Carl)2. - Breann Moody (Carl)
1. - Darcy Vescio (Carl)