September is upon us and while the Cats are readying themselves for a blockbuster qualifying final against Richmond at the MCG next Friday night, the season has run its course for our VFL and VFLW programs.

Both sides were gallant in testing circumstances – an inexperienced VFL side manfully fighting its way through an injury curse that would not relent; the VFLW team surpassing all expectations in a ground breaking inaugural season.

Across two instalments, Cats Media will go one-on-one with the respective coaches Shane O’Bree (VFL) and Paul Hood (VFLW) in extensive Q&A’s covering the tale of the season, the surprises, the success, the challenges along the way and what’s next in 2018.

Second up, it’s Paul Hood and the VFLW.

How would you sum up the Cats' first season in the VFLW competition?

Overall, I'd say it's been a massive success. The players have had a great deal of fun and have picked up some elite training habits. They've been exposed to an AFL environment. We were a really competitive team on the field, and still managed to get 36 players through our team over the season, so lots went right. And we learned a lot about the standard of women's football in Victoria and that we've got a lot of work to do to come up to the level of the best clubs. We want to be a strong VFLW team next season and then hopefully be a strong AFLW team the year after. It's all really positive.

In terms of the win-loss record this season, you finished 8-6. We you happy with that?

Absolutely. You'd have to be pretty naive to think we were going to come into the VFLW competition and set the world on fire straight away. We went into the season hoping to win as many games as we lost, so we exceeded our expectations in that regard. We didn't get blown away in too many of our losses. Most of the time we were right in our games until late in the last quarter, so that was a real positive. The style of play we were able to put out on the field got better and better every week, so that was another real positive.

I know you like to focus on the team as a whole, but are there a few players who deserve a special mention for the way they performed on and off the field over the course of the season?

Once I start individualising, I know I'm going to miss a few, but I think the players who came over from the North Geelong Magpies deserve a special mention. Lily Mithen had a great season, while Jamie Woollett took her game to another level and really worked on her fitness and conditioning. She went back from the midfield to defence and really learned how to take the game on. That was fantastic. Krista Woodroffe and Alisha Habib provided great leadership across the team.

Maddie Boyd, who was a star with the Magpies and an AFLW player with Melbourne last year, was also a great player for us. Maddie was able to provide a target for the team and worked tirelessly all season. Maddy lead the team in marks most weeks, whilealso leading distance covered when measured by GPS. Maddie proved to be a favourite amongst teammates and coaching staff for her no fuss attitude and amazing work ethic.

Bec Goring came here from Melbourne Uni and did a great job as captain. Anna Teague was huge in the backline for someone who had never played footy before. Renee Garing in the midfield was ever-present. She worked so hard and set the training standards off the field. Cassie Blakeway was also outstanding in the midfield. She was so hard-nosed and tough.

Elise Strachan was played really, really good footy until she hurt her shoulder and her friend Hayley Trevean did a great job as an inside midfielder and contested forward in the latter part of the year once Elise had gone out of the team. Richelle Cranston was massive for us after she came back from the foot injury she suffered while playing for Melbourne in the AFLW competition, and Kate Darby impressed us with a couple of bags of goals. She got better as the season went on and she has a lot of raw talent to work with.

How do you go about next year, given we hope it's our last VFLW season before we step up to AFLW?

Now that the players and coaches have a season under the belt and all know each other, we will focus on building an elite team. We'll ramp up next year as far as training standards and what we demand from each other out on the field. That's all pretty exciting.

Are you worried that some of your players might be drafted by AFLW clubs ahead of the second AFLW season?

No. If players get drafted out of the the Geelong VFLW team, it's a great tick for our program. More importantly for each of those individuals, they'll get to play with some of the best players in the country and they'll come back to use for the next VFLW season as better players. If they happen to be part of our AFLW program after that, the experience they've already had at that level will be a great thing for them.