After a thrilling first-round win over Richmond, Geelong will look to build on its encouraging start when it takes on Fremantle in Round 2 of AFLW Season 7.

The Cats will have their work cut out for them against the Dockers, who will look to come out firing after a loss to Brisbane in the opening round, in what will be the first match between the two teams in three seasons.

The Details

Fremantle v Geelong
Saturday, 3 September 2022 at 1.40pm AEST (11.40am local time)
Fremantle Community Bank Oval
Whadjuk Country

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Tickets are available through Ticketmaster here.

Last Time They Met

Fremantle 6.8 (44) def. Geelong 4.4 (28) Round 1, 2020

Fremantle’s Sabreena Duffy led her side to victory with four goals in a high-quality match at Fremantle Community Bank Oval.

The Cats led early, with Georgia Clarke getting the first goal on the board, and Richelle Cranston booting a goal of the year contender in the second quarter, but the home side fought back to get ascendancy on the scoreboard and power to a 16-point win.

Julia Crockett-Grills (22 disposals, 5 marks) and Becky Webster (21 disposals, 7 marks) were among the Cats’ best in the clash.

Head-to-head, the Cats are 0-2 against the Dockers in home and away season matches.

Defence dominates again

There might be some new faces in the Cats’ back 50, but Geelong’s defence played a massive role once again in the Round 1 win.

Led by the brilliance of Meghan McDonald, who won some crucial one-on-one battles and attacked the ball well, the defence conceded just one goal for the game.

Claudia Gunjaca’s move to defence is already paying dividends after she took two game-saving intercept marks in the final minutes of Sunday’s game.

Annabel Johnson was a welcome return after injury prematurely ended her debut season, and her ability to read the play was again at the fore as she took several intercept marks against the Tigers.

New Cat Shelley Scott has also joined the defensive mix for Season 7.

Midfield machine rolling

The Cats had guts and grunt aplenty in the midfield, with another strong display from the usual suspects.

Two-time club best and fairest Amy McDonald was once again in the thick of the action, with 24 disposals, seven tackles and six clearances.

Nina Morrison (24 disposals, 7 tackles) and Georgie Prespakis (16 disposals, 8 tackles) were brilliant with their pressure and relentless attack on the ball.

Chloe Scheer (10 disposals, 2 clearances) made an instant impact when she moved into the midfield at the start of the second half, and Mikayla Bowen was strong with her chase-down pressure on the wing in her first game in Cats colours.

Key Points

1) Forward Focus
The Cats will be looking to find a clearer path to goal against Fremantle this week. Last week against the Tigers, the Cats were strong out of the centre, winning the clearance count 5-1. They also covered the Tigers for inside 50s 31-25, but it was getting the ball deep and shots at goal that proved a difficulty.

The Cats disposal efficiency inside 50 was just 22.6 per cent, with five scoring shots to Richmond’s 6.

But Geelong showed in its practice match against Gold Coast that is capable of the kind of ball movement and meaningful forward 50 entries needed to yield more reward on the scoreboard, so they will be looking to recapture that form against the Dockers.

2) Pressure Acts
Defensively, Geelong picked up where it left off last season, bringing the pressure with 62 tackles to Richmond’s 47 – despite having more possession of the ball than Richmond.

Georgie Prespakis led the way with eight tackles, with fellow midfielders Amy McDonald and Nina Morrison, and defender Chantel Emonson all sticking seven tackles apiece.

The Cats’ pressure keeps them in games longer, denying opponents clear passages into the forward 50 and, subsequently, many shots at goal.

How to Watch

Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster here.

For those wanting to follow along at home, the game will be broadcast on Foxtel (and 7 Mate in Perth) and can be streamed through Kayo, womens.afl or the AFL Women’s and AFL Live Official Apps.

Follow @catswomens on Twitter and Instagram for updates throughout the game.

GEELONG continued to show impressive defensive qualities by holding Fremantle to the lowest ever score in AFLW history at a windy Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday.

Fremantle scored just a single point for the match in difficult conditions, a behind late in the final term, as Geelong stormed to their second win of the season by a score of 3.9 (27) to 0.1 (1).

The Cats have conceded just one goal in the opening two rounds.

DOCKERS v CATS Full match coverage and stats

Fremantle's Kiara Bowers was in her element early on, matching tackles with disposals (seven) at the end of a scoreless first quarter for both sides in which the Dockers dominated territory and inside 50s but could not find the space to get a significant chance on goal.

Geelong flipped the momentum in the second quarter, driven mostly by Amy McDonald, who was at the fall of the ball regularly to collect 15 disposals, mostly hard-won handballs, to half time.

The Cats' were more aggressive through the centre corridor after quarter time, with Mikayla Bowen, Georgie Prespaskis and Zali Friswell seeing plenty of the ball.

The Cats' Nina Morrison snapped the first goal of the game after capitalising on an errant Docker handball deep inside 50 as Geelong added scoreboard pressure to match their intensity around the ground. They took a 1.3 (9) to 0.0 (0) lead into the main break.

The ball then lived in Geelong's attacking 50 for most of the third quarter. The Cats' conversion was poor, adding five behinds, but they locked the Fremantle defence in by putting an extra player behind the play, which robbed the Dockers of valuable time, possession and flow.

Prespakis and McDonald were everywhere applying pressure, standing up in tackles and setting up their teammates with incisive handballs as they extended their lead, with the Dockers still scoreless at three quarter time.

Julia Crockett-Grills ended the game as a contest in the last term, goalling on the run after Jacqueline Parry took advantage of a Docker turnover.

Geelong's play benefited from the comfortable lead and Georgia Clarke added to Docker woes with a bouncing goal from the pocket.

Mim Strom partially saved Fremantle's blushes with a behind with five minutes to go in the final quarter, meaning the Dockers avoided a clean sheet.

But Geelong finished strongly to win by 26 points.

Up Next
 
Fremantle will be desperate for their first win of the season against the Western Bulldogs on Friday evening at Ikon Park.
 
Geelong will hope to continue their momentum into a clash with Collingwood next week.

FREMANTLE 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 (1)       
GEELONG 0.0 1.3 1. 8 3.9 (27)   
 
GOALS
Fremantle: None
Geelong: Morrison, Crockett-Grills, Clarke
 
BEST 
Fremantle: Bowers, Miller, Tighe, Verrier
Geelong: Amy McDonald, Prespakis, Morrison, Webster, Friswell
 
INJURIES 
Fremantle: None
Geelong: None
 
LATE CHANGES
Fremantle: None
Geelong: None
 
Reports: None