The Cats showed characteristic fightback against the Western Bulldogs on Friday night, but fell two goals short at Victoria University Whitten Oval.

On a tough night on the road, the Cats were held goalless in the first three quarters, but found some spark in the final term to give the Dogs a scare, drawing within two kick in the opening minutes of the final term, before eventually falling 2.4 (16) to 3.10 (28).

Chloe Scheer's snap out of nothing gave the Cats the breakthrough, and Phoebe McWilliams made the most of a mark and 50 metre penalty less than a minute later to suddenly put the Cats within 11 points.

But the Dogs locked down from there, holding on to win by 12.

The Cats' defence stood tall under pressure all night, led by Maddy McMahon (6 intercepts) and Meghan McDonald (5), only conceding three goals despite the Dogs' 32 entries.

Rebecca Webster (22 disposals, 5 clearances, 5 tackles) and Amy McDonald (19 disposals, 8 tackles, 5 clearances, 5 intercepts) again led the way through the midfield, while Georgie Prespakis and Julia Crockett-Grills led the way for tackles with 11 and 10 apiece.

It was a tough opening three quarters for the Cats, but goals were hard to come by for both teams.

Both the Cats and Dogs were kept goalless in the opening quarter, with defence reigning supreme. For the Cats, McMahon and Georgie Rankin in particular were reading the ball well and intercepting, denying the Bulldogs opportunity.

Chantel Emonson worked hard to drive the Cats forward in the first half, with her eight possessions to half-time yielding 252 metres gained. She finished with the equal-most metres gained of anyone on the park, with 349m.

Morrison brought the tackling pressure in the second quarter, laying crunching tackles, while Amy McDonald had a few creative toe pokes to get the Cats out of trouble. But it was the Dogs who had the better of the offence, breaking through for two goals to lead by 14 at the main break.

The Dogs added a goal to their tally and kept the Cats scoreless in the third term, before the Cats dug in to give themselves some hope in the last.

More to come

AFLW Round 7 Western Bulldogs v Geelong Cats

WESTERN BULLDOGS    0.2     2.4     3.9    3.10    (28)
GEELONG CATS               0.0     0.2     0.2     2.4     (16)

GOALS 
Western Bulldogs: Toogood 2, Georgostathis
Geelong: Scheer, McWilliams

BEST  
Western Bulldogs: Snell, Lamb, Blackburn, Toogood
Geelong: Emonson, Webster, Scheer, A.McDonald 

INJURIES  
Western Bulldogs: Nil
Geelong: Nil

Reports: Nil

Crowd: 1,530 at VU Whitten Oval