Geelong battled it out under pressure in slippery conditions against Collingwood at Deakin University on Satuday, but ultimately felt three points short.

Despite the Cats’ determination, the Magpies claimed the win, prevailing 4.6 (30) to 4.3 (27).

In a sunny first quarter, the Cats started off slowly, before Analea McKee kicked the first goal, followed by a brilliant snap from Liv Fuller, bringing the scores in line with the Magpies.

Renee Garing started off strong with three disposals, three tackles and two handballs in the opening term.

In the second quarter, heavy rain poured onto the ground while Geelong maintained their defence. The Cat’s pushed the ball forward and Cheryl de Groot kicked a goal in the middle of the quarter, giving the Cats the lead.

In the third quarter, Geelong continued the defend well with strong tackles and marks from the likes of Georgia Rankin and Emily Ramsay. In the final minutes of the quarter, Sophie O’Dea kicked a goal, however Collingwood swooped in front with Nyakoat Dojiok kicked her second of the term to give the Mapies a five-point lead.

In the final term, the Cats fought hard against the Magpies while keeping the ball in their forward half for most of the term, but Collingwood maintained the lead.

Geelong Cats VFLW senior coach Elise Coventry highlighted the forward pressure from Collingwood and the determination of the Cats to move in front resulted in such a close-scoring game.

“From the beginning, I think it was a pretty tough contest,” Coventry said.

“Collingwood were a strong contest team. Some really strong bodies out there that probably got on top of us early, and then our girls got used to those conditions, fought themselves back into the game and obviously, as the scoreline suggested, it was a pretty tight contest from there.”

“We mentioned at each quarter break, to break it open we just had to continue to win one-on-one, get the ball forward, but unfortunately when we were forward just there in that last quarter couldn’t finish it on the scoreboard, which is okay. We’ve had a nice little run of wins, it’s a good chance to learn some things to work on.”

Coventry lauded the efforts of Renee Garing, who finished the game with 15 tackles and 17 disposals, as well as Melissa Bragg and Liv Fuller.

“I think Renee stood out for us early in the piece,” Coventry said.

“She starts games well and she grinds them out to the finish, and even in that last quarter, it looked like she could’ve gotten on the end of a score as well.

“So Renee was super important not only was she tackling today, (but) she was winning her own footy, trying to use the ball in the method that her teammates expect her to so, she was important for us.

“I thought with Liv Fuller, who’d come in and played most of her time on the ruck, she got herself forward and was able to score. She was really good in the way that she was like a fourth midfielder around the contest to gather ground balls and shift the ball forward and got into support us behind in defence as well.”

“We had Melissa Bragg set up behind the ball. We tried to keep her quite deep to make sure nothing much got past for her and as she does, she was able to do that and help us generate attack.”

Coventry said that focussing on the players’ key roles is the most important aspect of a strong team.

“The girls probably got a little bit of a shock at the start with the pressure that was coming, but we were able to adjust and start to win their best position and win the footy,” she said.

“We’ve got some strong midfielders like ‘Simmo’ (Charlotte Simpson), who are able to contribute to that around clearances and they were able to get on top of a really strong clearance team and win some clearances themselves, so it was good.”

Coventry looks forward to next week’s game against the Darebin Falcons in Melbourne.

“Just like every week, we just like to have a look at what we’ve done and learn some things from it not to change too much in our method,” she said.

“Just make sure that individually we know our roles when the opposition throw us different looks, that we know how to fix it just based off what our role is in the team we’ll go ahead and try and win a nice one on Mother’s Day.”

In Round 8, the Cats will face the Darebin Falcons at Latrobe University on Sunday. First bounce is at 3pm.

VFLW Round 7 - Cats vs Magpies

GEELONG              2.1   3.1   4.1   4.3 (27)
COLLINGWOOD   2.2   2.5   4.6   4.6 (30)

GOALS
Geelong: Cheryl de Groot, Liv Fuller, Analea McKee, Sophie O'Dea
Collingwood: Nyakoat Dojiok 2, Monique De Matteo, Rene Caris