The Bendigo Bank Cats have moved a step closer to securing a VFLW finals berth after a 33-point Round 10 victory against Port Melbourne at ETU Stadium on Saturday.
Laura Gardiner led from the front with a VFLW record 49-disposals, 12 inside 50s and 10 clearances to inspire her team to a 7.8 (50) to 2.5 (17) victory.
GEELONG v PORT MELBOURNE Full match coverage and stats
“She had a very good game and her workrate through all four quarters was amazing,” Geelong senior coach Andrew Bruce said.
“She just willed herself to every contest she could, and she drove really hard once she got the footy and tried to use it well, so it was a pretty amazing effort to see somebody get that amount of the football.”
The game was a deadlock early before two late first quarter goals helped the Cats to an 11-point lead at the first break.
Geelong extended its lead to 14 points at half time before pulling away in the second half to record a comfortable 33-point victory.
“It was a solid performance. Our intensity throughout the game was great, we probably just didn’t use the footy as well as we would have liked and that restricted our scoring ability, but there was certainly a lot of effort put in by the girls for all four quarters that’s for sure which was great.”
Mia Skinner led the way in front of goal with two majors as the Cats shared the scoring load with six individual goal kickers.
“As a midsized forward I thought her workrate to try and drag defenders out of our forward line was fantastic and she ended up with two goals herself but just presented all day.”
Paige Sheppard (24 disposals, 6 clearances, 1 goals) and Carly Remmos (18 disposals, 6 tackles, 1 goal) in her first game in the midfield were other strong contributors for the Cats.
The victory takes the Cats to a 6-4 record to further entrench themselves inside the top 8 with four rounds remaining in the VFLW regular season.
Their next challenge coming against North Melbourne at Arden Street on Saturday 7 May from 9.30am.
VFLW Round 10
PORT MELBOURNE 0.2 1.2 1.3 2.5 (17)
GEELONG 2.1 3.4 4.6 7.8 (50)
GOALS
Port Melbourne: O’Keefe, Wilson
Geelong: Skinner 2, Boyd, Hardingham, Remmos, Sheppard, Stacey
At ETU Stadium, Saturday, 30 April 2022.
