Adelaide secured an AFLW finals double-chance and ended Geelong’s season with a gritty four-point win at GHMBA Stadium.
The Crows overcame some shoddy goalkicking and a 15-point second-quarter deficit on Friday night to hang on 4.8(32) to 4.4(28) and clinch fourth spot on the ladder.
The only negative for Adelaide came in the fourth quarter when exciting forward/midfielder Danielle Ponter had to be helped off the ground with a right foot injury.
Spearhead Caitlin Gould kicked three goals and defender Chelsea Bidell’s intercepting was a feature, while Ebony Marinoff confirmed her standing as one of the league’s best players with 24 disposals and 11 tackles.
The superstar midfielder enters the major round averaging 30.3 disposals, becoming the competition’s first player to average 30-plus across a home-and-away campaign.
“An absolute hot contest out there,” said Gould, who nabbed seven marks and had seven score involvements.
“That’s definitely what we expected from Geelong.
“It (goalkicking accuracy) is absolutely an area we need to keep working on. It’s that composure piece that we’re trying to get there, including myself. Hopefully through finals we get that together.”
Nina Morrison (25 disposals, 10 tackles), Georgie Prespakis (24 disposals, 10 clearances) and Bec Webster (23 touches) led the charge for the Cats who would have slipped into the top eight had they manufactured one more goal.
Prespakis, who marginally had the better of her early centre-square duel with Marinoff, produced the only goal of the first term, a crumbing, spinning gem with the outside of her boot.
Adelaide gradually curbed the Cats’ outside run but a plethora of misses meant the home side still led at quarter-time.
Goals to Geelong forwards Shelley Scott and Kate Surman put the Cats in firm control in the second.
The Crows finally found the middle of the sticks through Gould, but their strong 18-10 advantage in inside-50s returned just 1.5 on the scoreboard and they trailed by 14 points at halftime.
Adelaide ramped up the pressure in the third term, dominating territory and outscoring Geelong 2.3 to nil.
The Crows pinched the lead in the shadows of three-quarter-time before Gould’s third major early in the fourth gave them a seven-point buffer.
But the Cats kept coming. They generated repeat entries and almost stole the lead with two minutes remaining when Morrison’s snap narrowly bounced wide.
