AFLW: Waalitj Marawar (West Coast Eagles) rocked by Geelong in home defeat

Waalitj Marawar’s (West Coast) finals hopes are over after they suffered their fourth loss in a row despite star youngster Ella Roberts breaking the club record for disposals.

The Eagles lost 9.2 (56) to 3.5 (23) to follow defeats from Port Adelaide, Hawthorn and Fremantle in recent weeks. They needed to win their last two games and rely on other results falling their way to make the top eight, but must now hope to just finish the season on a high against Sydney next week.

Aishling Moloney dominated for the Cats with six goals in a stunning display inside 50 and she was the clear difference between the teams. West Coast managed only one behind in the second half.

Roberts broke Dana Hooker’s 31-possession record for the Eagles with 33 for the day to continue her amazing rise.

Eagles coach Daisy Pearce said the team had to focus on finishing off the season well next week.

“Today makes our finals chances pretty much done,” she said.

“But for a team with where we are at with our journey and (knowing) winning is hard to come by, every opportunity to keep building a winning culture and competing and playing to win is really important. Bigger picture, understanding every game is a chance to add little bits to different players’ development.”

Having managed only one goal in each of their last two matches, the Eagles forwards found their range with three in the first half but couldn’t match what Geelong did when they got the ball inside 50.

Roberts kicked the first from a classy snap in the opening quarter and then the Eagles were rewarded for their dare and desire to attack with majors to Kellie Gibson and Verity Simmons.

The Eagles clearly had more of the ball and they’d produced five more inside-50s than Geelong, but the Cats made the most of their forward entries. Moloney had three of their four goals to half-time.

George Prespakis was also damaging for Geelong as she barged through tackles and won clearances, but the Eagles kept fighting and erased a 15-point deficit in the blink of an eye.

But just as they had earlier in the game, the Cats used their powerful forwards to pull clear again. Moloney kicked her fourth in the opening three minutes and when Jackie Parry booted another, the visitors had a 14-point buffer.

Waalitj Marawar kept applying pressure, but they couldn’t get the ball forward with just two inside 50s and one behind for the term. Pearce said the team just couldn’t get reward for effort.

“Our finishing let us down early,” she said.

“I thought we had a really strong first quarter into the breeze, managed to keep them to just two scoring shots and generated a lot of looks ourselves but didn’t finish. Just the power of that scoreboard pressure for another week in a row cost us a little bit.

“But to our girls’ credit, we won contested possession, clearance and really went at a strong Geelong midfield.”

Moloney looked certain to kick a career-high fifth goal after a contested mark at the start of the last quarter, but she instantly gave away a free kick after hitting Zoe Wakfer in the head and the umpire gave the ball to the Eagles.

She made up for that moments later though and nailed her fifth to make it a 20-point game and then she slammed through her sixth in an emphatic performance.

“Six goals is a huge achievement. She’s just a competitor,” Geelong coach Dan Lowther said.

“Her goalkicking was outstanding and the difference between the two teams.”

Geelong 2.0 4.0 6.1 9.2 (56)

Waalitj Marawar 1.3 3.4 3.5 3.5 (23)

Goals: Geelong: A Moloney 6, J Parry, M Bowen, K Surman.

Waalitj Marawar: E Roberts, K Gibson, V Simmons.

Best - Geelong: A Moloney, G Prespakis, N Morrison, J Parry.

Waalitj Marawar: E Roberts, B Lewis. C Thomas, B Schilling.

Injuries - Waalitj Marawar: R Roux (back). Geelong: J Crockett-Grills (ankle), Z Friswell (ankle)

Umpires: S Morgan, J Kerr, K van Raay.