BIG time women’s footy came to the Coffs Coast for the first time when the Sydney Swans and Richmond Tigers clashed in the AFLW.

A dominant first quarter set up the Tigers 10.8 (68) to 3.4 (22) victory against the Swans at C.ex Coffs International Stadium.

The Tigers scored their opening goal after two minutes and continued to pile on the goals in the opening quarter.

Tigers captain Katie Brennan tore the Swans defence to shreds, kicking three goals in a row to give her side an early 24-0 lead.

The Tigers locked the ball in their attacking half as their intense pressure, run and carry, and aerial dominance caused the Swans problems.

They took a 31-1 lead into quarter time, an opening blitz which proved decisive.

The Swans were a much-improved side in the second quarter, stopping the Tigers run and carry with solid contested work while generating their own forward 50 entries.

But the Tigers weathered the Swans storm to take a 43-14 lead into half time.

The Swans showed some grit trying to fight back, matching it with the Tigers to get within 21 points, before Richmond reverted to their first quarter form and dominated the territory battle.

The Tigers had a 29-point lead heading into the final quarter and didn’t give the Swans a sniff, once again locking it in their own attacking half and finishing strongly for the 46-point win.

Tigers captain Katie Brennan emphasised the importance of their strong start.

“We learnt a big lesson in Round 1 that we have to start fast and come out firing, so we had to replicate that,” she said.

“We know that the Swans were trying to do the same thing, they started a little bit slow last week against St Kilda, so we knew they were going to come out firing, they are a really tough team to play against especially when they get their game going through the corridor.

The winning captain shared what pleased her the most about her team’s performance.

“We had a really good spread of goalkickers and that’s when we play our best footy – when we just share it around.

“We’ve got some superstars in the midfield, it’s sort of like if you lock down one of them, the others pop up.

“To play our way and to wrestle the game back on our terms, we knew Sydney were going to come in that second and third quarter, so to just wrestle it back and play our way was pleasing.”

By Aiden BURGESS