Essendon AFLW team defeat Geelong by 10 points at Warrnambool's Reid Oval

The Bombers, who feature head coach and Warrnambool export Natalie Wood and defender Georgia Clarke out of Branxholme, ground out a 10-point win against Geelong in front of a strong crowd at the Cramer Street venue.

Wood was thrilled to celebrate the 4.5 (29) to 2.7 (19) win in her hometown of Warrnambool.

"I won't lie, it's nice to get the win in front of the friends and family and they support us and everything we're doing," Wood said post-match. "And it's nice to keep giving the fans some success as well.

"Both this year and last year, I think both games have been a really good game with us and Geelong.

"Just seeing the number of people down here for both teams, open training yesterday and some clinics, it's great to have the regional games."

The second AFLW game in Warrnambool was a low scoring affair, with the Cats, who won last year's contest by 15 points, getting off the mark the quickest with two first quarter goals from forward Chloe Scheer.

The Bombers rued some missed chances in the opening minutes of the second quarter, managing three behinds before they finally broke through via an Amber Clarke goal late in the term to keep Geelong's lead to six by half time.

Bombers co-captain Bonnie Toogood got her side back within a point early in the third, with scores locked 17-all at the final break.

Daria Bannister kicked the first of the fourth to put the Bombers up before Clarke managed her second to give the home side breathing room.

The Cats tried hard in the final minutes to get reward up forward to no avail.

After coming into the game off a loss to Collingwood, Wood was most impressed by the Bombers' ability to adapt its game style against Geelong.

"I thought the start of our first quarter, we were pretty strong in our contest ... but started to drop away," she said. "We know Geelong are really balanced, they win the ball on the inside and spread really well.

"We had to be able to negate the first possession.

"There probably was a two-goal wind to the left so going in to quarter time, two goals down, we tried to reinforce with our players that ... going into the second quarter we had that advantage.

"Really happy we were able to play the conditions a bit better (than last week)."

Wood praised her team's defensive efforts to keep the Cats goalless after quarter time.

"Our set up behind the ball was as good as it has been which then allowed our forwards to come forward and really compete," she said. "Really happy with how we fought it out."

Bombers midfielder Maddy Prespakis, in her 50^th AFLW game, set the tone for the victors with a match-high 33 disposals.

"Maddy's got a great ability to step up every week, she shoulders a lot for us," Wood said. "With the expectation of playing 50 games, and against her sister and Georgie playing her 25^th as well, I guess what Maddy and I spoke to the whole group about was it's a team effort, and it's going to take a team effort today."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: