Essendon are continuing to march towards the AFLW top four with a win against Richmond on Saturday night.
The Bombers got off to a great start at Ikon Park for the annual Dreamtime match, taking a 13 point lead into quarter time.
The sides went goal for goal in the second term before the Tigers began to mount a comeback in the third quarter.
However, the Bombers were able to regain control of the game in the last to give them a 8.5 (53)-5.6 (36) win.
“I thought that win and the game by both teams was really good,” Bombers’ coach Natalie Wood said.
“I thought both teams had some really good passages.
“Richmond were looking really good in the third, they were covering the ground really well, they were running it out of congestion in waves.
“[I was] happy that we were able to find a way… really happy with that.”
Star Bomber Maddy Prespakis was given plenty of attention throughout the night from the Tigers but was strong enough to have the most possessions from her team and hit the scoreboard too.
“Mads still did a fantastic job.. she worked her way through that attention really well,” Wood said.
“Mad’s maturity to wear that and allow us to get a free player in other areas just shows great team growth and understanding from the team,that if the team’s working the ball out that’s great it doesn’t necessarily matter who.
“Having our leaders being able to play team roles… when your leaders are willing to put the team first, to get some assedency, it’s a really easy message to sell with the rest of the group.
“It was a focus for us coming in, to be a well rounded team performance.”
Wood said playing a team game was something that her side has been working on and has led to back to back great wins.
“We’re really trying to focus on the things we can control,” she said.
“What we didn’t control two weeks ago very well was how we turned up against Collingwood, and that’s what we were most disappointed about, that we didn’t give ourselves the best opportunity to show our game and so that’s what we’ve been trying to focus on.
“So we’ve been pretty impressed by how we’ve been able to work through games, to get the last two wins has been fantastic.
“It’s due to the players really developing a strong sense of who they are as individuals, who they are as footballers and really building that connection.
“They’re getting a real sense of maturity in how they’re handling themselves as athletes.”
Essendon will host West Coast at Windy Hill on Sunday afternoon.
