Geelong’s VFLW side showed plenty of promise as they took to the field for the first time in 2023 in a practice match against Williamstown on Saturday.

With 34 players rotating through the line-up across six periods of play at Deakin University Elite Sports Precinct, momentum ebbed and flowed, but when the Cats got their brand of footy going, they looked impressive.

The Seagulls won the clash 7.9 (51) to 6.4 (40), but it was neck-and-neck throughout much of the contest.

New senior coach Elise Coventry spoke to Cats Media following the clash.

Elise Coventry on … the first hit-out of the year
“It was good. I think we will all acknowledge at the start that we were all a bit nervous, but very excited at the same time, that’s coaches and players. Once it started, you could probably tell that we were all a bit nervous, a little bit second to get to the footy.

"But then in the second quarter once we remembered that you’ve got to win it first to play the way we want to play, everything came together and looked good.”

Elise Coventry on … how the Cats settled into the contest
“Certainly in that second quarter, everything sort of clicked and you could see the footy that we’d been training for so long. And then we just threw everything around again in the fourth quarter where we moved another 12 or 13 girls into the game, but I thought they steadied pretty well.

“Fatigue came into it in the fifth and the sixth quarter. We had a handful of players who didn’t get much rest, so it was good for them to have an experience to try make decisions under that sort of fatigue as well.”

Elise Coventry on … who impressed her
“We had our midfield – ‘Sach’ (Sachi DeGiacomi) played pretty strong footy, evading some pressure, and Sophie O’Dea looked pretty good through the midfield as well.

“(Olivia) Cicolini in the forward line took some great marks, our wings held out their width really well. Abbey McDonald in the backline, while she was on, I thought she was really strong. Lots of them (played well).”

Elise Coventry on … the backline standing up
“It came in pretty hot early, but they rarely lost the one-v-one, so they kept fighting and worked their way into it. They’re a really new group – they haven’t played much footy together – so as a backline you’ve got to work together, and that started to come through.”

Elise Coventry on … the lead-in to Round 1
“(Today was) a blowout for the players to begin with, for them to play against a different opposition rather than just themselves, like we’ve been doing at training, and then just to work out what it might look like in Round 1.

“We’ve got a pretty healthy list at the moment, obviously with 30-something girls playing today, so trying to work out what’s the best look for us, so move a few magnets around, give girls a chance in different positions, just to showcase their best footy.”

VFLW First Practice Match

Geelong            1.0   4.0   4.1   5.4   5.4   6.4 (40)
Williamstown   2.4   3.4   4.5   5.6   6.8   7.9 (51)

GOALS
Geelong Olivia Cicolini 2, Cheryl de Groot 2, Elise Vella, Ella Firth