Whilst I am extremely upset about losing these players, I will always support the club. Those players have a choice.
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Whilst I am extremely upset about losing these players, I will always support the club. Those players have a choice.
This would suck. Really discourages you from getting invested in the playing group and club if we are always going to face these issues every couple of years.
Don't blame the players at all, if they are getting better offers elsewhere then go for it. We clearly aren't able/willing to provide the benefits these other clubs can.
The rules of the AFLW allow one marque player which means they can pay them more than the other players. These rules really work against us and yes can't blame the players if big money is thrown at them. Players get paid a pittance and are only part time so they have another job by necessity. Unfortunately our club has to work within the rules.
It is another stuff up by the AFL who never planned ahead and never had a vision of how it will all work.
Why haven't Melbourne and the Crows targeted it's starting out like powerhouses of old and no thought to keeping the completion even.
We keep losing core players that you build a team around and we keep getting pushed back into our hole. We start getting better and we get put back into our place. The AFL pushed this too quickly and should have let it grow more from underneath before expanding at the rate they have. I'm not done yet but as I said if we lose some more good players I'll give up on this and keep my focus on the AFL and it will just a passing interest in the AFLW.
Starcevich had a fair rant about this in his post match today.
https://www.womens.afl/news/92127?ap...on=08.02.41157
There's something wrong they all want to leave surely?
What aren't we providing?
Clubs like the Saints GWS Freo North etc can't have more to offer.
He hit the nail on the head though we put the time into these players and just when they start getting some consistency they get poach away. The expansion clubs should just get the top draft picks and let them build on that let them have 5 years of pain to develop those players the early clubs did it and the new ones get a hand up.
It doesn't help that we're very much a midrange team. They're more likely to win the premiership at the Crows or Demons. Why would they leave to go to a team that probably will be bad when the expansion clubs can just target us because we're already not that great so it's not like that players would be going from the top to the bottom.
This is the final expansion right? We all knew this was coming and it will be on par with the men's after this
Tbf this isn't a new thing. We have continually lost players even when we were good, including immediately after winning the flag and have never really recruited from other clubs.
Melbourne as a club of similiar stature has had a completely different experience, recruiting key players despite the addition of the expansion sides. North obviously had the advantage of history with many players but that can only go so far and I can't imagine they can offer much more than us in compensation for their time.
The biggest thing that irks me is that the AFL hasn't decided if there will be any compensation to clubs losing players. Come on that is crazy.
Western Bulldogs trio Ellie Blackburn, Kirsty Lamb and Bonnie Toogood have been named in the 2022 AFLW All Australian squad of 40 players.
You don't replace players like that in the AFLW with the next lot of top draft picks as they won't make an impact for another 3 of 4 years unless you get extremely lucky.
Great news, Ellie Blackburn and Lambie are staying with the club.
https://twitter.com/BulldogsW/status...52330607362055
Kirsty also named in AA final squad