Richmond VFLW Coach, Tom Hunter, could not hide his excitement despite a last gasp practice match loss to Collingwood at the Swinburne Centre on Saturday.
Hunter said that his team was “miles ahead” of where they were at the same point last year, when they were defeated by Hawthorn by 80 points.
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“I thought we were great, the girls stuck to the things we have been working on and most of the mistakes that were made, were made trying to play our brand of footy,” he said.
“It was a very good standard from both teams and the pressure was very similar to a home and away game, it probably just showed late that they had had a few more runs than us.”
The Magpies who were kept to just two goals for the first three quarters booted six majors to Richmond’s one in the final stanza to clinch a six-point victory.
Natarsha Bamblett’s grunt work around the stoppages was superb, while Tayla Stahl-Smith and Imogen Milford looked dangerous up forward.
Milford was particularly prolific early, booting a goal and setting up another as the Tigers broke out to a 19-point quarter time lead.
The second term was then simply owned by new recruit Akec Makur-Chuot, who was outstanding in defence.
The former AFLW defender showed Tiger fans plenty of tricks as she dominated Collingwood forwards in the air and provided plenty of drive with genuine leg speed and long kicking.
“She’s very exciting,” Hunter said.
“Most importantly she is learning to play our kind of footy- she will fit into our plans well, we want to take the game on and play with some dare.”
Laura Bailey was also a pillar in defence, keeping Collingwood to just one second term goal despite a flurry of forward 50 entries.
The Tigers then extended their 11-point half time lead to 25 at three quarter time as Bendigo Pioneers recruit, Kodi Jacques, who sat out the opening half showed her ability with a stack of possessions.
“She’s very classy,” Hunter said.
“We will teach her a few things like how to use her body a bit better, but I think she will really benefit from being in our program.
“Along with Tamara Smith and Grace Egan, they are girls who are really going to improve being with us full-time.”
Hunter said the Tigers would now look to implement more contested and pressure-based drills into their training as they ramp up towards round one.
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