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Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
A great win by the women. Lynch impressive in the last line of defence in the dying minutes. I was a bit worried about her before that as she tried to break a tackle like the game before but was caught with the ball. But she made up for it. Elle was brilliant as usual. Hope she is a doggie for life. The young girls are improving and as long as we capitalize on the balls in our fifty we should have an improved season.
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Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
Grantysghost
What a effing awesome photo. Even moreso in black and white.
If i was a Tayla Harris parents, that photo would be going straight to the bar room wall.
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Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Envious of those that got to go to the game. For a crowd of 3000 there was a good atmosphere. Good to see Bont in the crowd as well.
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Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
soupaman
Disagree. Maybe if it was their first week with it, but they've done 5 pre-seasons with them now. If a player hasn't figured it out by now I think that's more a reflection of their shortcomings than the ball.
As an aside if you want a truly stuffed footy the balls they make you use in AFL 9's are genuinely atrocious. I guess to make them less intimidating for the casual players they are trying to attract they've made them lighter and almost rounder. Nightmare to kick with any force, really hard to kick clean drop punts with and it tends to bounce out of your hands. And you are truly at the mercy of the wind.
Seeing you've played with one I'm happy to go with your experience. But do me a favour please, just between you and me if MJP asks tell him he's wrong.
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.
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Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
Hotdog60
For my 4000 post I owe an apology to Issy Huntington who I thought missed the sitter in the goal square.
Now I'm looking at you Kirsten.....
In the best traditions of the club she went with the banana from 5 metres out right in front. Interesting decision making.
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.
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Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
Twodogs
Seeing you've played with one I'm happy to go with your experience. But do me a favour please, just between you and me if MJP asks tell him he's wrong.
LOL.
I'm mostly wrong about pretty much everything.
What should I tell her? She's going to ask.
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Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
mjp
LOL.
I'm mostly wrong about pretty much everything.
I think it's when you have kids that you decide that.
"You're wrong Jana"
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.
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Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
Grantysghost
Cracking photo and great grab in the end!
In addition to this, I hadn't watched an AFLW game for a long time given I was in VN in 2019 and the 2018-2019 summer, but on Friday night I was impressed and a bit concerned about how psychotic some of the attack on the ball was. There was one particular moment (I think SoS referred to it) where about four players just ran straight at it at the Barkley Street end goal square and smashed into each other. Not sure if it's that they're nuts or they're still figuring out how to not be psychos to avoid unnecessary injury (I get that sounds patronising), but it was impressive.
Nobody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate.
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Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
soupaman
As an aside if you want a truly stuffed footy the balls they make you use in AFL 9's are genuinely atrocious. I guess to make them less intimidating for the casual players they are trying to attract they've made them lighter and almost rounder. Nightmare to kick with any force, really hard to kick clean drop punts with and it tends to bounce out of your hands. And you are truly at the mercy of the wind.
The AFL 9s ball is a nightmare, literally no redeeming qualities. If you can kick a normal footy on the run, low and hard, you're stuffed if you want to do the same with a 9s ball. It goes OK off the boot if you hit it properly, but schwangs badly mid flight sideways and dips as it loses momentum. Genuine finger busting stuff.
Nobody's looking for a puppeteer in today's wintry economic climate.
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07-02-2021, 01:04 PM
#100
Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
jeemak
Cracking photo and great grab in the end!
In addition to this, I hadn't watched an AFLW game for a long time given I was in VN in 2019 and the 2018-2019 summer, but on Friday night I was impressed and a bit concerned about how psychotic some of the attack on the ball was. There was one particular moment (I think SoS referred to it) where about four players just ran straight at it at the Barkley Street end goal square and smashed into each other. Not sure if it's that they're nuts or they're still figuring out how to not be psychos to avoid unnecessary injury (I get that sounds patronising), but it was impressive.
I think there's a few factors at play:
1) The season is so (ridiculously) short, it adds a finals like desperation to many of the games. Intensity is crazy, especially when you see it in person;
2) Not only are the players tough & courageous, they're also well aware of the way the words 'women', 'girls', 'feminine' etc, are typically associated as being weak and softer (among other things), than 'men', 'boys', 'masculine' etc. So they've had to prove their courage, over, and over, and over again.
It makes for a compelling, brutal, and at times terrifying spectacle. But the women's game is frequently tougher than the men's game at present.
I'm not saying this is a good or a bad thing. There are certainly problematic consequences for the bodies (and sometimes minds) of those who play. The levels of courage certainly share a border with craziness.
Although it broke our hearts it did not break our will
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07-02-2021, 01:33 PM
#101
Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
I can't say I'm a good judge as I don't watch it with regularity but Friday Night's game was entertaining, initial thoughts are the standard has improved a bit from a couplenof years ago.
Thoughts?
Watched a bit of Richmond and Melbourne too which was good for a half. Brennan doesn't seem to be overly effective when I've seen her, which probably suggests the standard improves every year and particularly from when she was a dominant player in its formative years.
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07-02-2021, 02:25 PM
#102
Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Here's an important piece discussing how the AFL's primary media partners are stuffing up their coverage of the AFLW when so many other's could do it well.
It get's to MJP's point (along with some others), of there not being enough critically astute coverage of the game, which is clearly true. (Although I'd add that AFLM TV commentary drives me batty as well, just appalling, but we've largely had that conversation already...).
Originally Posted by
The Bulldogs Bite
I can't say I'm a good judge as I don't watch it with regularity but Friday Night's game was entertaining, initial thoughts are the standard has improved a bit from a couple of years ago.
Thoughts?
The standard has risen, and will continue to do so, primarily for the simple structural reason that we're now getting players enter the AFLW who've been on elite pathways their whole footy life.
That said, the pace and trajectory of the improvement is complicated by the expanding competition, and the short memories + lack of patience around this. Remember how shitty those expansion AFLM teams were? How much $$$ has been pissed away on the Suns, who are still largely crap. (The answer is a tonne more $ than has been invested in AFLW so far.) Plus we know that increases in skill don't always make for a more 'beautiful' game, as pressure skills also get better, and coaching innovations can take footy in lots of directions.
But nevertheless, players like Prespakis and Fitzgerald start to show glimpses of the ceiling that we'll get to in AFLW if the AFL are able to hold their nerve and properly support the comp...
Originally Posted by
The Bulldogs Bite
Watched a bit of Richmond and Melbourne too which was good for a half. Brennan doesn't seem to be overly effective when I've seen her, which probably suggests the standard improves every year and particularly from when she was a dominant player in its formative years.
Brennan is one of the elite VWFL players who hasn't been able to transition effectively to the higher level. She was superb when playing for the Darebin Falcons, and I can sort of understand the rationale for making her our captain - at her best she was breathtaking. But Darebin (and the Bulldogs exhibition teams) was a super-team, and it's become increasingly apparent just how dependent she was on the players around her.
Basically, Brennan is decent on a lead, and has generally been a fantastic kick at goal. But she's got a fair bit of Josh Schache to her game, and fancies herself as a midfielder. This wouldn't be as big of a problem, if she didn't have the power of being captain at clubs that haven't stood up to her. As a midfielder she's not great at contests, is ok at putting herself in places to receive the ball, doesn't have the acceleration or core strength that she thinks she has to burst away from contests, and is hopeless at giving off the quick, necessary handpass to advantage under pressure. As a result, she's frequently caught holding the ball.
Brennan was barely a factor in our 2018 premiership run (even though the suspension for the GF itself was bs). And she's never been that good at AFLW level. Mo Hope was also found out by the rise in level. In retrospect, both look to have been more dependent on the work of their teammates than was initially thought.
Mon Conti, on the other hand, still makes me wince each time I see her. She was bog in the GF as a 19 year old, was streets ahead in the B&F for the Tigers last year, and if she'd stayed with the one-true faith she'd be on par with Blackburn. I try not to begrudge her leaving, because making a living playing footy as a woman is so much harder than it is for the elite men. But I still hate seeing her in anything but the tricolours.
This raises a more general point. We've clearly got a group of players who could become something special. Will the club work hard enough to keep them? I really, $%#& hope so.
Although it broke our hearts it did not break our will
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07-02-2021, 02:54 PM
#103
Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
My partner also notes that Brennan was one of those players who had the time, dedication, and resources (starting her own gym), to be able to get the most out of herself. This helped her a lot in the pre-AFLW days, but became much less of an advantage once all the players were in more elite training environments.
There's something like an irony to the fact that the incoming glamour forward stars - Brennan & Hope - largely crashed and burned, while Sarah Perkins went undrafted after similar production at VFLW level (though over a shorter time period). Perkins has had an up and down AFLW career so far, but was vital to Adelaide's inaugural premiership run, and helped drag Melbourne into the finals last year.
Speaking of Melbourne, Daisy Pearce is another player who hasn't lived up to the (very) high standards she set at state level. She also was dedicated to getting the most out of herself. But while she's been good at the Demons, I don't think she's been nearly as much of a star as the very lazy AFLW media coverage makes her out to be. She's just too limited as a player, despite being great at reading the play, and impacting the game at key moments. Still, she hasn't been able to dominate games in the manner that say Blackburn has in the first two rounds this season.
In contrast, another former Darebin Falcon (and briefly premiership winning Spur), Karen Paxman is the most underrated star going around. If we could have any other player in our team, I think I'd want her (except that she's now getting older, but in the Shaun Burgoyne mold of a couple of years back). She's so efficient, might read the play better than anyone, constantly intercepts opponents forays into the forward half, and then has deadly disposal long and short to boot. And you can put her basically anywhere you need to at any point of the game.
Although it broke our hearts it did not break our will
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07-02-2021, 07:38 PM
#104
Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
Raw Toast
In contrast, another former Darebin Falcon (and briefly premiership winning Spur), Karen Paxman is the most underrated star going around. If we could have any other player in our team, I think I'd want her (except that she's now getting older, but in the Shaun Burgoyne mold of a couple of years back). She's so efficient, might read the play better than anyone, constantly intercepts opponents forays into the forward half, and then has deadly disposal long and short to boot. And you can put her basically anywhere you need to at any point of the game.
Alisha Newman. Determined, skillful, loves the game, good on both feet, kicks goals (won goal of the year with a Buddy like effort in 2019) was in an elite sporting program for years before AFLW and is a bulldog supporter.
They say Burt Lancaster has one, but I don't believe them.
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08-02-2021, 09:46 AM
#105
Re: AFLW - Game Day discussion - Season 2021
Originally Posted by
Twodogs
Alisha Newman. Determined, skillful, loves the game, good on both feet, kicks goals (won goal of the year with a Buddy like effort in 2019) was in an elite sporting program for years before AFLW and is a bulldog supporter.
Yes out of the rest of the teams she is one player I enjoy seeing play.
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