Geelong claimed an exciting six-point victory against North Melbourne in the VFLW on Saturday, kicking a goal just before the final siren to win 3.10 (28) to 3.4 (22) at Arden Street Oval.

In the first quarter, despite the Cats’ determination, the Roos jumped in front, opening the game with two goals.

Despite this setback, the Cats did not lose hope and continued to push forwards in the second quarter with Breanna Pratt kicking the first goal for Geelong.   

In the second half, the Cats maintained good pressure up front with Liv Cicolini kicking a goal in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Cats worked on their efficiency and Cicolini closed out the match with a triumphant mark and winning goal just seconds before the final siren.

Geelong VFLW senior coach Elise Coventry was impressed with Cicolini’s performance, which moved the Cats into the lead.

“I was confident once she’d marked it in the last two minutes, when we were playing a lot of footy in our forward 50 and the scores were level,” Coventry said.

“I wasn’t sure how we were going to find a score but once she took a mark, I knew she had the distance, so I knew we’d get a behind or a goal."

Coventry reflected on the differences from Geelong’s Round 1 loss against North Melbourne to Saturday’s stirring victory.

“It was a bit of a scrappier game today,” she said.

“North Melbourne seemed to be able to take a little bit of our control of the footy away from us, they did that in Round 1 and did again today.

“The difference today was I think the girls’ belief in their method, and fighting hard to try and get the game back on their terms, and they finally did in the last. Obviously we were a little bit inaccurate in front of goal - we could have perhaps had a better lead - then it would have been a draw for most of the game.

“So it was scrappy, but we kept fighting away to find a way, so good on the girls for getting the win.”

Coventry said that some of the standout players across the match were midfielder Renee Garing, with 11 tackles, 20 disposals, eight clearances and three marks, and defender Melissa Bragg with 14 disposals and two marks.

“From the very first quarter, when North Melbourne had a lot more of the ball, she (Garing) was our last resort, and was just run down tackling anyone that was getting out of the contest she stood out across the four quarters,” Coventry said.

“We thought that Ella Firth on the wing played a really important role for us. North liked to use their wings a lot and she controlled her space and actually was quite dangerous for us.

“Melissa Bragg in the backline of the last quarter in particular stood up and saved us from having scores kicked against us.

“It was a pretty even performance for most of the game and we struggled to play our style of footy, so we didn’t see our girls playing at their strengths until probably the last quarter.”

Coventry said there were some areas of improvement the Cats would look at ahead of next week’s game against Collingwood.

“(We’ll) just go back to work at training and work on the things that fell away from us in that first half, particularly controlling the footy and being really hard to play against when the opposition have the ball,” she said.

“We haven’t played Collingwood yet this year, but the competition is very level, so we’ll just go in and try to play our way. 

“We’ve had some really tight contests that they (the players) have been able to scrap away at and win, so having five wins is a really nice spot to be in at this point, but we’re also aware of how even the competition is for any team we come against.”

In Round 7, the Cats will face Collingwood at Deakin University on Saturday. First bounce is at 10.30am.

VFLW Round 6 Kangaroos v Cats

NORTH MELBOURNE   2.1   3.2   3.4   3.4 (22)
GEELONG CATS           0.2   1.7   2.8   3.10 (28)

GOALS
North Melbourne: Ruby Tripodi, Emily Paterno, Jess Mourney
Geelong: Liv Cicolini 2, Breanna Pratt

LEADING STATS - Geelong
Disposals: Renee Garing (18)
Marks: Analea McKee (6)
Tackles: Renee Garing (8)
Hitouts: Kalani Scoullar (30)
Clearances: Charlotte Simpson (7), Renee Garing (7)