Afl - w 2024

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Can someone give a rundown on Stephenson?

Most times when I'm watching Hawks games I'm too busy hoping Hawthorn lose to pay much attention to their players haha.
A quick look at the stats has her at 178cm and scoring 5.3 from eight games played this year (which seems to be the first year she's played primarily as a forward?). FWIW, an average of 41 fantasy points per game too, which is about on par with Woodley and Hartwig.

I'm quite happy with the pickup - she's also spent a few years in Hawthorn's leadership group, and with our forward line being so young her experience is arguably more valuable than her on-field skills.

Doesn't hurt that all she cost us was a player we haven't played in two years and a few extra minutes waiting for our last pick on draft night.

- BNC

[jazzadogs]

Most times when I'm watching Hawks games I'm too busy hoping Hawthorn lose to pay much attention to their players haha.
A quick look at the stats has her at 178cm and scoring 5.3 from eight games played this year (which seems to be the first year she's played primarily as a forward?). FWIW, an average of 41 fantasy points per game too, which is about on par with Woodley and Hartwig.

I'm quite happy with the pickup - she's also spent a few years in Hawthorn's leadership group, and with our forward line being so young her experience is arguably more valuable than her on-field skills.

Doesn't hurt that all she cost us was a player we haven't played in two years and a few extra minutes waiting for our last pick on draft night.

- BNC

Thanks BNC, and welcome to Woof!

[weltschmerz]

https://x.com/BulldogsW/status/1867091254137511955

Presumably Stephenson means there isn't a role for her any more. We've got the raw young talent in Farquharson and Weston-Turner, a reliable player in Hartwig, having a mature leader definitely rounds that out.

[weltschmerz]

https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/news/1263082/sarah-blacks-draft-late-mail-who-will-your-club-pick

Seems like we've kept our plans quiet, but Sierra Grieves or Charlotte Riggs both look good with our first pick. Grieves is a Jets girl who's a super competitive and well-rounded midfielder. Riggs is a genuine lockdown key defender who's a great mark and has played seniors for years.

[weltschmerz]

Welcome to the Bulldogs Amy McDonald!

https://central.rookieme.com/afl/player/emma-mcdonald/

Though her aerial work is her dominant element, McDonald's groundlevel work is superb for a tall, and a real reason why she is a point of difference compared to many others. Once the ball hits the deck, the 180cm forward is quick to swoop, scooping up the pill quickly and firing out to a teammate or knocking it on for her side's advantage.

It is hard to believe that the player who averaged five marks from 15 touches is such a good groundlevel player, but McDonald won a ridiculous 64.3 per cent of her ball gets from a groundball situation be it loose or hard. While not one to run with the ball too often, she does use overlap handballs or soccers off the deck to space if she sees a teammate in a goalscoring position.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Welcome to the Kennel Emma!

Stoked with the pick - we've needed a proper key forward for a while now

- BNC

[weltschmerz]

https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/1704788/2024-telstra-aflw-draft-pick-25

Welcome Sarah Poustie! Holds the combine record for the 2km time trial.

[Testekill]

Hardingham as expected with our final pick

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Yes Keeley!

https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/1704831/2024-telstra-aflw-draft-pick-48

- BNC

[josie]

Welcome to kennel Emma, Sarah & Keeley!!

[jazzadogs]

So a key forward, an inside mid and a ruck/forward?
And also traded in a key forward.

How do the keen aflw watchers rate that? Tall forwards have certainly been a missing link since we lost Huntington, Newton, Moody, Toogood, Morris-Dalton in the space of a couple of years, so it makes sense to me.

[weltschmerz]

So a key forward, an inside mid and a ruck/forward?
And also traded in a key forward.

How do the keen aflw watchers rate that? Tall forwards have certainly been a missing link since we lost Huntington, Newton, Moody, Toogood, Morris-Dalton in the space of a couple of years, so it makes sense to me.

I figured our draft would look something like that, though I thought we were more likely to take a key defender.

Forward line now stacked with young talent. Hartwig is 22 and has a natural feel for the goals. Farquharson spent the year building her tank but has elite footy IQ. Weston-Turner has so much going for her, and McDonald has an almost Darcy-like ability to play both aerial and at ground level.

[Hotdog60]

Hartwig started with us in defense maybe she could be going back.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

So a key forward, an inside mid and a ruck/forward?
And also traded in a key forward.

How do the keen aflw watchers rate that?

If I'd been the list manager, I'd have gone a key forward, a key back, and Hardingham. Pretty happy to have guessed 2 out of 3

Going into year 2 of a rebuild, we're very well set up.
Our forward line is loaded with talent now: Westo, Hartwig, Zimmie, Woodley and McDonald are all 22 or under, while Stephenson brings a lot of experience and leadership while also being the sort of key marking target we didn't really have this year.
Our mids were probably the strongest of the three lines this year, and that's despite Blackburn being out with injury most of the season.
We should have both Ahrens and Mua returning to the backline next year too, which will be a huge boost, and even when both weren't playing our other defenders showed a lot of promise this year. If I have one concern, it's that our defence is already the oldest part of our list (and really the only line where player retirements could be any sort of concern in the next few years) and we did lose three players from our backline this year, so bringing someone in might have been wise - but then again, our mens team is on a bit of a run turning failed forwards into defenders, so if we need to...

Stats wise, Hardingham's VFLW run in 2024 was significantly better than Borg in 2023 (I know fantasy points are of limited value, but a 97 average vs 71 has to count for something!), and Stephenson (40 average this year) should be an improvement over McFarlane (28).
Aurora Smith played two games this year without much impact, the other three we dropped didn't play any. If, in the worst case scenario, McDonald and Poustie turn out to be duds, I'd say we've still broken even - if they're both stars we'll be well ahead.
Add another season of experience to what is still a very young list, and there's a lot to like about the future!

- BNC

[weltschmerz]

Kimber has shown herself to be a half decent key back, and Hartwig is more than capable back there as well, so our young key back stocks aren't bad. I was leaning towards Riggs over McDonald, but McDonald and Weston-Turner could become an elite duo up forward, and you never say no to that.