Giants saviour Aimee Schmidt has revealed she refused to look at the scoreboard as she was tasked with landing a game-levelling shot at goal in the dying stages of Saturday's draw with Fremantle.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The West Australian's straight kick from 25 metres after marking a spearing ball from Ellie Brush squared a see-sawing contest at 43 points all, and neither side was able to break the deadlock in a frantic finish at Blacktown International Sportspark leaving both sides winless after three rounds of the AFL Women's competition.
Schmidt knew the game was close when she marked from Brush as the game ticked into time on in the final quarter, but opted not to glance at the score before drilling the ball between the big sticks.
"I didn't want to have a look because I knew that it was close and I knew that it was nearly time on, I just thought 'just get this through' and then we'll go from there," Schmidt said.
"I just went back and went through my routine and thank God it went through. I knew if I missed it I'd hear about it from all the Freo players especially being from WA myself. I knew that I'd get it from them.
"I've played with the majority of the [Fremantle] girls within the state teams and at a local level. I've got some of my best mates in that team and some good old rivalries there."
The 23-year-old was taken with pick 17 in last year's inaugural AFL Women's draft and has instantly established herself as a key component of the Giants attacking half.
She took four marks and laid three tackles in the draw against the Dockers which was easily the highest-scoring game so far in the women's competition.
It was also the club's first home game of the season played in front of about 4000 parochial, orange-clad fans. But things don't get any easier with a daunting trip to Queensland to face the unbeaten Brisbane Lions next on the agenda.
"Hopefully next week we can take that extra step and get the win, I think we're definitely moving forward in how we're playing and we're certainly coming together as a team now," Schmidt said.
"It was pretty disappointing [the Fremantle result], we could've got the four points. We still have to be happy with the way we came back and managed to get the draw.
"There were some good points that we could take out of it but it was a bit disappointing that we couldn't get over the line."
The Giants escaped the brutal game against the Dockers unscathed, with Phoebe McWilliams cleared of knee damage after being helped from the ground late in the first quarter before returning to the field of play.
Fremantle weren't so lucky with Tiah Haynes forced to leave the ground in the third quarter after she was left writhing in pain with a dislocated shoulder from a Jacinda Barclay tackle.
Haynes' teammate Cassie Davidson also left the field late on with what appeared to be an ankle problem.
