Fans brave the new world of sport

Mere hours before Round 6 was scheduled to get underway, anxious AFLW supporters received the word that from Saturday onward, games will take place in closed grounds.

The writing had been on the wall as overseas organisations shut down or stalled competitions and closer to home the Formula One Grand Prix was cancelled in the morning of the clash at Kardinia Park.

Compounded by chilly conditions, there was a surreal feeling seeing so many empty seats in the stadium – which of course will only become more stark with the next game and for the foreseeable future.

Fans of both sides that turned up were no shrinking violets however, with fervent barracking and groans of disapproval at umpiring decisions that didn’t go their way puncturing the cold night air until the final siren.

Cats caught opponent napping, but Roos bounced back

This was certainly a game of two halves and for the first stanza, Geelong not only took their chances but left North Melbourne befuddled in the process.

The powerful Kangaroo midfield that had been so on song for the past month were unable to make anything of their possession chains forward of the centre and consistently gave away the ball to Cats defenders, chief among them Meg McDonald.

The Roos had most stats go their way, but there was no mistaking which side had the game on their terms for significant portions of the opening half. A curious 50 metre penalty notwithstanding, Geelong deserved their lead going into the main break and the ladder leaders looked decidedly out of sorts; Jas Garner going sight unseen being the real shocker.

In a rampaging third term that kicked on into the fourth, North flicked the switch as Garner, Mia & Emma King, Jenna Bruton and Ash Riddell made the Cats look second rate out of the contest as they hit targets with aplomb.

Goals came thick and fast and Geelong looked every bit a side that had no answers when the chips were down; to their credit they never shied away from attacking the footy or the player with it, but the marauding machine from Arden Street weren’t to be denied.

Nina’s horror Friday the 13th

It was a dark day for sport in Australia already, but when Nina Morrison failed to get up on the wing after her knee bent and twisted laterally after a kick the figurative clouds really descended over Geelong.

Having ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament in the lead up to Round 2 of her debut year in 2019, one of the league’s most admired and talented players had put in a mountain of work to rejoin her team-mates this season.

Coming off of a best on ground performance last week, Morrison had been building her game nicely when it all came crashing down again. Stretchered off in front of a stunned crowd, there was but a slim hope that she may have avoided the worst-case scenario of another year of treatment, recovery and rebuilding.

Even though most of the chatter in the days and weeks ahead will be about coronavirus-related issues, the image of a crumpled Nina Morrison on the turf won’t fade fast from the collective mind of the AFLW family.

If the terrible fate of another ACL injury comes to pass, surely that will spur on all those tasked with researching and developing methods and practices to better prevent this scourge even more.