Star Irish forward Aishling Moloney is on track to win this year’s AFLW goalkicking award after bagging a career-high six majors in Geelong’s 33-point win over West Coast in Perth.
Moloney was unstoppable throughout Saturday’s match, kicking a club-record 6.0 to go with her 18 disposals and seven marks in the 9.2 (56) to 3.5 (23) win.
The result kept Geelong’s slim finals hopes alive, but West Coast’s fourth loss on the trot means their hopes of reaching the top eight are now officially over.
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Moloney has a league-leading 21 goals for the season, and has the chance to add to that tally when Geelong complete their home-and-away campaign against Adelaide next week.
Brisbane’s Taylor Smith is Moloney’s closest rival with 16 goals, and has the chance to close the gap ahead of the final round when the Lions host Sydney on Sunday.
Geelong led West Coast by 14 points at three-quarter-time, and kicked three goals to nil in the final term against the breeze to cruise to victory, with Moloney kicking two of them.
“It was a massive day on the office,” Moloney told Fox Sports after the win.
“I’m delighted to get the win. We dug it out in the end.
“They’re a great team. it was looking scratchy there for a while, but we got the win at the end of the day.”
Georgie Prespakis was also influential for Geelong with 27 disposals and nine clearances.
Star West Coast midfielder Ella Roberts continued her standout season with 33 disposals, five clearances and a goal, while Sarah Lakay (34 hitouts, five clearances) dominated the ruck battle.
Geelong lost Julia Crockett-Grills to an ankle injury early in the match, and Zali Friswell was carried off by two trainers in the third quarter after rolling her left ankle while laying a tackle.
Friswell bravely returned to the field in the final quarter.
Roberts tallied 11 disposals and kicked a memorable goal on the run in an entertaining opening term.
But Geelong’s ability to kick over West Coast’s defensive press – leading to two goals from point-blank range – gave the visitors a three-point lead at quarter-time.
Moloney nailed two set shots at the start of the second term to give Geelong a 15-point lead, but the margin was back to just two points by half-time.
West Coast’s strong finish to the first half included a maiden AFLW goal to former Diamonds netball player Verity Simmons.
The Cats dominated the third term, with West Coast’s first inside-50 for the quarter not coming until the dying minutes.
Moloney kicked her fourth goal and Jacqueline Parry added another as the Cats headed into the final change with a 14-point edge.
A brain-fade from Moloney early in the final term – when she caught her opponent high after taking a mark close to goal – briefly robbed her of the chance to kick her fifth goal.
But she soon made up for it, kicking two quick goals to seal the win for Geelong.