North Melbourne has made four changes to its VFLW side ahead of its Round 6 clash with the Cats at Arden Street Oval.

Co-captain Jess Jones returns to the team after missing the Round 5 loss to Box Hill, while former skipper and 2021 best and fairest winner Meagan Kiely has been named to play her first game of the season. 

Kiely has spent the past three seasons on Richmond's AFLW list, making 19 appearances as a Tiger before retiring in late 2023.

Also playing their first game of the season is Kayla Peake, who joins Kiely and Jones as inclusions, while ruck Kate Reynolds returns from her lengthy suspension.

Matilda Zander (calf laceration) and Tricia Cowan (concussion) go out of the side, while Felicity Theodore has been omitted. Defender Nicole Hales is unavailable and will also miss the game.

Both clubs currently sit in the bottom four with two wins from five outings, but are only four points off the second-placed Swans.

Bouncedown on Saturday is scheduled for 11am AEST.

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Round 6

Saturday, April 27
North Melbourne v Geelong at Arden Street Oval, 11am AEST

North Melbourne has been dealt its fourth straight defeat in the VFLW, going down to Geelong by 24 points at Arden Street Oval.

The Kangaroos had their moments throughout the four quarters, but the Cats were consistently one step ahead en route to their 8.11 (59) to 5.5 (35) victory.

Both teams started the game strongly, with Geelong's Kiara Woods opening the scoring within a minute which was promptly cancelled out by Nyakoat Dojiok after a well-worked play that ran through Alana Barba and Emily Paterno.

"We got off to a pretty poor start once again, giving away eight shots on goal in the first quarter wasn't ideal. That's something we've got to address moving forward, it's been an issue the last couple of weeks," VFLW coach Brett Gourley told NMFC Media.

"Addressing our poor starts is probably the first place to look. We were beaten around the contest, and we weren’t able to squeeze the ground off the back of some fast Geelong ball movement."

KANGAROOS v CATS Full match coverage and stats

The Roos carried on controlling the bulk of possession inside 50 but weren’t able to capitalise on their opportunities, while late first-quarter goals for the visitors saw them head into the second term with all the momentum. 

Showing strength in the air, the Cats kicked their fourth eight minutes into the second term wile continuing to punish North Melbourne's back-half turnovers.

However, on the stroke on half-time, midfielder Maddie Di Cosmo (25 disposals, one goal) worked forward and managed to break the Kangas' drought to draw her side back to within three goals.

"We had a big focus on ball movement this week, trying to be a bit more brave with the way we move the ball," Gourley said.

"We tried to take a few more risks this week with ball in hand. Some of them came off and paid off well, but others we turned it over and Geelong made us pay on the way back."

In her first game for the season, Kayla Peake got North Melbourne off to a hot start in the third term, goaling quickly to light the spark for the Roos while cutting the Cats' margin to 12 points. A stern Geelong outfit was able to regain control though, and skipped out to a game-high 32-point lead after slamming on the next four majors to ultimately put the result to bed.

Despite a disappointing afternoon for the home side, Barba fought hard in the middle of the ground and finished off with one goal, 22 disposals, six tackles, and five clearances for the game.

"Alana played her best game of the season today, I thought she really stood up," Gourley mentioned.

"I spoke to her today before the game about starting today where she left off last week (when she had 10 or 11 touches in the last quarter), and she was great around the contest for us."

Down back, Mara McSweeney tallied 22 touches, while Tahlia Meier was active as a forward, ending the clash with 20 possessions and four tackles.

NORTH MELBOURNE     1.0    2.0    3.1    5.5  (35)     
GEELONG CATS              3.5    4.6    7.9    8.11  (59)     

GOALS
North Melbourne: Tierney, Barba, Di Cosmo, Dojiok, Peake
Geelong Cats: Mason 3, Woods 2, Plummer, O'Rourke, Cicolini

BEST
North Melbourne: Barba, Di Cosmo, Rhodes, McSweeney, Meier, Reynolds