Collingwood escaped a major scare against Geelong without a win on Friday night and emerged from the GMHBA Stadium with a tight 11-point AFLW win.
The Cats were rank outsiders joining the competition, but cared little about Magpie's status as one of the Premiership favourites.
Geelong made life very difficult for her opponents for the third week in a row, but still, her lack of polish in the attack cost her, and when Julia Crockett-Grylls gifted a goal from a 50m penalty to Collingwood star Chloe Molloy , so this proved to be the defining moment of the match.
Three minutes later, Geelong's last chance of victory went up in smoke when Georgie Rankin missed a shot on goal from straight in front, as the more skilled Magpies were trying to extend their undefeated start to the 5.5 (35) to 3.6 (24) winners. Ran for three matches from the year.
“They (Geelong) are one of the most competitive teams and you can never undermine them,” Molloy told Fox Footy after returning to the Collingwood line-up after a week in isolation after catching COVID.
“They are a team that pinches you the whole time, they made it a dirty game, the competition we saw there is a ripper team and they really gave it to us.
“Coming back from COVID, the lungs felt it a little… Honestly speaking, I suffered more from FOMO (fear of missing out) than COVID, but this is what we are living in the minute and I have Seven done days, it's kind of tense."
For their hard work so far this season, and despite recapturing the services of the big guns Nina Morrison, Sophie Van d'Heuvel, Crockett-Grylls and Rankin, who all crashed out of the final round due to COVID protocols , Geelong (0-3) remained winless They have lost 12 of their last 13 matches since entering the competition in 2019, winning only six out of 25 matches.
Collingwood's Jamie Lambert had resisted Georgie Presakis (11 disposes) in midfield for most of the night, and the Geelong youngster weighed the gun as he found himself a game-high 21 touches (12 contested), nine clearances and seven tackles. helped. Extraordinary.
Amy McDonald did a great job for the Cats with 20 disposals (12 contested) and 12 tackles.
Geelong enjoyed a three-point lead at the start of the second quarter, but after the Magpies missed a couple of straight set shots by Sophie Alexander and Molloy, Elijah James and Alexander kept the Magpies above 12 points in the middle of the term. combined for.
Kate Darby cut the deficit to a goal before halftime and could have leveled things quickly in the third stanza, but dropped a chest mark in goal square.
The Cats turned up the pressure again after the big break, but simply couldn't keep their nose up for all their effort and after Pie kept them at bay, Molloy rewarded the visitors by giving them an 11-point buffer just before three. - Quarterly time.
Geelong was again in trouble in the final stint but the hosts' dreams of a famous upset victory were dashed when Molloy booted his second Major.