On Saturday we met fellow strugglers Geelong at Bendigo. Queen Elizabeth Oval looked an absolute picture, one of Australia’s prettiest grandstands.

There were goals each early. A very high standard quarter, clean hands everywhere, although not much action on the scoreboard. Our goal though Courtney Wakefield on the end of a perfect pass from Phoebe Monahan.

Immediately in the 2nd Q McClelland goaled from a free after long hopeful bomb from Brennan. Then … a Cats clinic. Darby, McDonald, McWilliams and Cranston did as they pleased for the hoops, great hands. They had 11-2 i50s for the quarter. They kept just getting over the back of us with long kicks. I think our back six was a strength in the first two games but connection has gone missing in the 2nd quarter last week and this week. Cats got some lucky 50s [that were technically there but geez].  19-46 at half time.

We are getting nothing from the umpies – a broken record this season. It’s odious to compare AFLW players to famous male counterparts of course but Akec Makur Chuot has some early Alex Rance about her. It’s now 19-60 and the game’s gone.

Sabrina Frederick is a big power forward but her field kicks are disappointing. When we are humming (probably round 8) we’ll be seeing Campbell or Conti or Brennan or Monahan cruising past Sabs for the handball.

Suddenly, we pinged three in a row through Bernardi, Wakefield, Jacques, that’s our best five minutes of the season. Conti instrumental in all three.

• McDonald kicked it straight to Bernadi on the hotspot.
• Bernardi strong mark from a quick kick to advantage from Brennan.
• Great forward pressure from Wakefield held the ball in f50, then Kodi Jaques followed up her own high kick, took a handball from Conti, and rolled a lovely bouncing shot over and under the defence and through the middle. 37-60 and suddenly the complexion is changing.

Then Sabs puts in repeat efforts and is rewarded with a free, and salutes with a big roost from 40m. Its 43-61.

On the brink of 3QT Brennan was clattered by Ivey who didn’t look at the ball at any stage – chose to crunch a player that didn’t have the ball. Later Ivey was rightfully given a one week spell.

Katie Brennan spent the 3rd quarter on the bench. “Resting a player with possible concussion – its a no brainer” says Peta Searle, awkwardly.

Grace Campbell might be a bit lippy, she seems to inspire some rough responses. Makur Chuot gives it away, Monahan and Miller collide and the Cats goal to relieve pressure. Great chain of possession ended with Wood streaming into kick her first goal and she shanks it. Another chain started by a surging Rebecca Miller ended with a Conti give-and-go and a indecisive kick, neither pass nor shot. But she’s been massive for us.

Katie Brennan was initially given the thumbs up to return to the game then suddenly, the cue was in the rack. “The Tigers brains trust have thought better of their assessment…” says Sam Lane, awkwardly.

Final score: Geelong 10 7 67 d Richmond 7 3 45

Conti had 28 touches, Monahan 20. Bernardi with just 4 touches was tagged out of it. Ella Wood had just 2 touches but 4 tackles. Wakefield took 5 marks and kicked 3 goals, more than the whole side managed in their previous games. Alice Edmonds made 32 hitouts and 4 tackles.

The Maureen for best player
5 votes – Monica Conti
4 votes – Courtney Wakefield
3 votes – Phoebe Monahan
2 votes – Alice Edmonds
1 votes – Grace Campbell 

Leaderboard
16 Monahan
13 Conti
9 Campbell
6 Wakefield
5 Bernardi
4 Makur Chuot
2 Brennan, Edmonds, Frederick
1 Stahl

The Kate Sheahan Shield for players recruited with AFLW experience [eligible: Burchall, Bailey, Tesoreiro, Frederick, Bernardi, Conti, Whitford, Ross, Makur Chuot, Monahan]
16 Monahan
13 Conti
5 Bernardi
4 Makur Chuot
2 Brennan, Frederick

The Peggy O’Neal Claret Jug for best AFLW first year player [eligible: everyone else not in above list]
9 Campbell
6 Wakefield
2 Edmonds
1 Stahl

The Kate Dixon Grip of Death for our top tackler
19 – Conti, Jacques, Sansonetti
18 – Campbell
17 – Woodward
16 – Brennan
12 – Wakefield

I watched most of this game later on my phone, already knowing the result. It clashed with cooking dinner for guests. I peeked at it live and was dismayed that after a 2-goal first quarter we got stuck in the mud – but I didn’t see a final score until much later. Good on the Suns jagging their first win, they were better when it counted.

Fox bring us this game with an all-male comms team. Ben Waterworth says “Position A” too much but otherwise is OK. My under 13 soccer teammate Alistair Lynch is not popular on Twitter – and I agree he doesn’t add a lot of insight.

Q1 Suns are a goal up quick smart through a soccer goal to Stanton on the end of a soccer assist from Perry, who has used body position to undo the taller Akec Makur Chuot twice already. A long kick came in over the pack.

Bernardi takes a huge mark down back – isn’t she a forward? We are making bad choices with our kicks inside 50. Suns are crisp and have cleaner hands. It’s very muggy and 30° and a bit of rain falls during the game; and we drop more uncontested marks than the Suns.

Bernardi gets another soccer goal back for us from a similar long kick over the pack from Conti, although this was lucky as it came off hands nicely. Bernardi is 5th on the AFLW all-time goal kicking ladder. We are getting on top now, with the ball held in our half for a long time. Frederick hooks a behind when there was time for her to be more composed. Grace Campbell on debut is lightning quick. Constable Alice Edmonds kicked sideways inboard to no-one and Campbell was there like a shot.

Bloodnut Molan is having a good start; she hits Tayla Stahl on the chest with a pinpoint pass. Stahl did a great job to hold her position – and kicks the goal to put us in front.

We get a 50m penalty in the centre and Campbell seizes the ball and tries to outsprint the umpie to crib a bit extra. Stahl has another shot and falls millimetres short. Sabs is unlucky with a touched ball that sailed through the middle. It’s 1.2 to 2.2. Courtney Wakefield seems to have a better gut feel for kicking inside 50 but its her that we want in there marking them.

The Suns box us into defence for the last minute. Someone kicks to Rebecca Miller on the bounce; she probably should have made ground to mark it. She takes a while to grasp it and is caught HTB. Then there’s a 50m pen as the siren goes; so scores are level at 2.2 as the girls swap ends.

Q2 A good goal straight off to Britt Perry (a state player in cricket). Suns are leading, marking and kicking long and straight. It’s just good football and we aren’t countering it as well as we countered Carlton last week. The back six that should move around as though connected by elastic; seems to be getting isolated and lost. Mon Conti looks like she has gone up a gear from last week, out of basketball mode and ready to play footy. KB seems to be off the boil in my opinion. Campbell is prominent but plays like she is used to dominating at a lower level; attempts the impossible at times. She was 3rd in our VFLW best and fairest. 4.3 to 2.4 at half time.

Q3 Brennan hoists a high kick and it literally lands on Sabs’ head. We are very predictable, kicks aren’t favouring her, and she’s not a mobile player. It’s just not working. Frederick marks at centre half forward then dithers until she has to play on, and is caught holding the ball. I am clutching my head now. Yorston scores a lovely goal after slick and sophisticated ball movement. Stahl marks well again, and spots up Brancatisano.

A quick aside: multisyllabic Italian names have given so much to football culture. In this team we are blessed with Brancatisano, Tesoreiro, Sansonetti, Bernardi and Conti. I hope they will have more storied Richmond careers than Renato Dintinosante (2 games, 2 losses).

Brancatisano shanks her kick and just scrapes a point. Suns lead 5.3 to 2.5 at the last change.

Terrific centre break for us, Stahl gallops from the centre, sells the dummy and kicks to advantage for Wakefield who pulls in a great mark. She kicks to Sabs who drops the mark and gives away a free. [I don’t want to be on her case, but I am feeling a bit flat about her first couple of outings for us.] We dominate this quarter. Both teams are very tired, and the Suns are really just trying to hang on. We have plenty of chances at goal and kick 0.5 After one Bernardi miss, Alistair says “She’s cut the ears off that one” which is not a turn of phrase I’ve heard before.

The Suns do not score in the final quarter and win by 11 points.

OK, positives. Grace Campbell was very lively and should add heaps of toe to the side. Phoebe Monahan had 21 touches and did a load of work off the ball. The skipper didn’t have a great game but laid 6 tackles which is a great way to keep contributing when other parts of your game are rusty. That’s all I’ve got.

We are a quarter of the way through the home and away season. Coming up we’ve got Kangaroos, Geelong, Giants, St Kilda, Brisbane and Adelaide.

The Maureen for best player
5 votes – Phoebe Monahan
4 votes – Grace Campbell
3 votes – Monica Conti
2 votes – Christina Bernardi
1 votes – Tayla Stahl

Leaderboard
10 Monahan
5 Christina Bernardi
4 Makur Chuot, Campbell
3 Conti
2 Wakefield
1 Frederick, Stahl

10 Monahan
5 Christina Bernardi
4 Makur Chuot, Campbell
3 Conti
2 Wakefield
1 Frederick, Stahl

The Kate Sheahan Shield for players recruited with AFLW experience [eligible: Burchall, Bailey, Tesoreiro, Frederick, Bernardi, Conti, Whitford, Ross, Makur Chuot]
10 Monahan
5 Bernardi
4 Makur Chuot
3 Conti
1 Frederick

The Peggy O’Neal Claret Jug for best AFLW first year player [eligible: everyone else not in above list]
4 Campbell
2 Courtney Wakefield

The Kate Dixon Grip of Death for our top tackler
12 Sarah Sansonetti
11 Kodi Jaques, Alana Woodward
9 Katie Brennan, Phoebe Monahan