Jade Hillas, who played her first game of the season last week, will look to back up her strong performance which included a Goal of the Year contender.
AFLW player and new draftee Ruby Tripodi has been named in the midfield and will look to set the tone against a Darebin outfit that sits last on the ladder.
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Saturday, April 22
Darebin v North Melbourne at Preston City Oval, 2.30pm AEST
B
K. Delia (20)
R. Hicks (12)
HB
M. McDonald (5)
M. McSweeney (22)
G. Walsh (15)
C
T. Gatt (8)
R. Tripodi (34)
J. Mourney (2)
HF
A. Rhodes (4)
J. Jones (17)
G. Nicholas (9)
F
E. Paterno (21)
J. Hillas (30)
R
Z. Flanigan (16)
A. Scott (23)
F. Theodore (1)
INT
C. Fitzgerald (10)
T. Bradley (33)
E. Macdonald (24)
K. Peake (31)
M. Klaumanns-Moller (14)
EMG
J. Nursey (26)
A. Melnikas (18)
D. Edward (3)
IN: Taylah Gatt, Kayla Peake, Ellie Macdonald OUT: Ash Melnikas, Margie Purcell, Dalia Edward
VFLW R5 match report: Recruit stars in big win over Falcons
Recently drafted AFLW Kangaroo Ruby Tripodi has helped lead North Melbourne's VFLW side to a 38-point victory over Darebin at Preston City Oval
Recently drafted AFLW Kangaroo Ruby Tripodi has helped lead North Melbourne's VFLW side to a 8.9 (57) to 3.1 (19) victory over Darebin at Preston City Oval on Saturday afternoon.
The former Seagull was a spark in midfield from the first bounce, and went on to gather 23 disposals and six clearances in the team's third win of 2023.
She was ably supported by Annabel Scott (25 disposals, seven clearances) who also played an important role in ending the Kangaroos' two-game skid.
1:23:44
"Ruby's just brilliant," VFLW coach Steph Binder confirmed.
"Not only today but she's just fit into the team so well. She already loves all of her teammates and they love her.
"I think 'Patty' (Emily Paterno) said today that Ruby brought her own ball with her ... she was everywhere."
After back-to-back losses, Binder's side gained control of the contest early and continuously applied pressure to Darebin's defenders who struggled to repel North Melbourne's repeat forward line entries.
"Going back to the Western Bulldogs game, we knew we absolutely had to lift our pressure (going forward)," Binder admitted.
"We did that a bit last week but then today again we kept that come-forward pressure and energy to win the ball back."
Audrey Rhodes booted the first of the day from close range after two minutes had elapsed, which was soon followed up on by Kayla Peake who was also able to hit the scoreboard from deep inside 50.
North Melbourne's quick ball movement through handball chains became an issue for the home side during the first quarter, and it resulted in the Roos skipping out to a 25-0 quarter-time lead which ultimately proved insurmountable.
Ruby Tripodi spins out of traffic and sets up Jess Mourney for a major! 🌪
The Falcons snatched their opening goal through Alyssa Mifsud at the beginning of the second term, but after some blistering runs from small forward Felicity Theodore, and a clever spin with ball in hand from Tripodi, Jess Mourney was able to respond from the top of the goalsquare at the other end.
The home side would close out the half with another two majors, however, pegging North Melbourne's buffer back to 16 points.
A resolute opening few minutes from Tripodi at the start of the third quarter saw the midfielder shark stoppage after stoppage to get the ball going forward.
The visitors generated plenty of free-flowing run through ruck Jess Jones and impressive defenders Ciara Fitzgerald, Kiara Delia and Teagan Bradley, but lacked the final touches needed to grow their lead.
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It was Rhodes though who swiftly finished off an inside-50 clearance for her second of the match for a break through, while a minute later, Jade Hillas made no mistake from a set shot to stretch North Melbourne’s advantage to 31 with 20 minutes to play.
Both sides struggled to hit the scoreboard as time ticked away in the final term, until Peake slotted her second to cap off the afternoon.
"It's good to be back on the winners list, that's for sure," Binder smiled.
"We got back to playing our North way of footy, we had a big focus on wanting to go forwards from the contest and get a bit more penetration to allow us then to set up defensively behind the ball.
"The combination of being able to push up the ground, squeezing the ground defensively and going forwards from the contest (saw us) really build our time in the forward half and get a lot more repeat entries and looks on goal so we were really happy with that."
In her return to VFLW action, Taylah Gatt put in a promising shift, using her pace and smarts to frequently sidestep opposing players. She finished with 16 touches, three inside-50s and three tackles as she continues to build towards the next AFLW season.
Unfortunately, the Roos will likely be without Fitzgerald next week, after the defender suffered a blow to the head late in the fourth quarter.
