This weekend the victorious Blues take on a young and inexperienced GWS side at Princes Park around 1700. Things may do some changing yet, as Collingwood will probably have to move their game from Olympic Park, at that centre simply cannot handle the number of people likely to come to that game. However, whatever they do about timings and the like, the Blues WILL be playing GWS.
Last weekend GWS lost. They showed their relative inexperience, although they do have talent (where have I seen that before?). Our list looks a little more likely, but you can NEVER take anything for granted. Disrepecting your opposition is a certain way to be embarrassed.
I'll publish the teams on Friday.
Time for the start has changed due to the moving of the Collingwood game. Blues vs GWS in the afternoon about 1530.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11
Carlton v Greater Western Sydney, Ikon Park, 3.35pm AEDT
CARLTON
B: K. Loynes 2, B.Davey 1, L.Arnell 13
HB: G.Pound 6, K.Gillespie-Jones 5, S.Last 7
C: L.Brazzale 12
HF: L.Attard 14, K.Darby 8, N.Exon 15
F: J.Kennedy 23, B.Jakobsson 35, K.Shierlaw 25
FOLL: A.Downie 30, D.Vescio 3, A.Brown 27
INT: R.Privitelli 9, B.Moody 16, S.Hosking 10, T.Lucas-Rodd 18, D.Hardiman 31, S.Audley 26
Emergencies: T.Nestor 20, M.Keryk 4
IN: K.Darby 8, R.Privitelli, K Shierlaw
OUT: I.Ayre (injury), N.Plane (injury), M Keryk
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
B: A.Saundry 4, K.De Pellegrini 9, M.Collier 14
HB: A.Farrugia 18, R.Tomkins 1, A.Williams 20
C: M.Nguyen 2
HF: R.Beeson 6, P. McWilliams 3, A.Schmidt 11
F: K.Stanton 33, J.Barclay 34, A.Guest 19
FOLL: C.Lawton 41, B.Tully 16, J.Dal Pos 7
INT: N.Barr 8, E.Ross 15, E.McKinnon 23, J.Bibby 22, S.Walker 5, E.Brush 10
Emergencies: C.Briggs 31, H.Wallett 13
IN: M.Nguyen, S.Walker, E.Brush
OUT: C.Briggs, H.Wallett, E.Swanson
Quarter time and we are down by 7 points.
Quarter time and we are down by 7 points.
And the stands are empty.
And the stands are empty.
There was quite a crowd watching the warm-up - did they go home?
And the stands are empty.
A number are in the back of the stands out of the sun. It's a bit more like the regular crowd you'll get.
The Blues are 1 point down. We missed a lot of opportunities.
The Blues are 1 point down. We missed a lot of opportunities.
A point up now at half time.
Getting smacked this qtr. 13pts behind, a decent margin in the women's game.
Just like that we're level pegging.
Lead 40-28 with 10.30 to go.
Blues win by 13pts.
Overall the skills all round were alot better than last week.
Never thought I'd get excited over a woman's footy match.
Go Blues, great win with great composure. Now the Camry Cows.
Just a side note, Fleming needs to grt the girls to kick closer to the girl on the mark. They can't kick long distances so need all the metreidge they can muster.
Good game otherwise.
Firstly, those commentators gave me the irrits. It was all Giants this and Giants that. When we kicked a goal to get back to 6 points it was Carlton are back in this contest. We were only 12 points down before the kick with just under a half to play. Seriously. Then we were 3 goals up and we 'might' be ok?
Anywho...despite all the pro-giants crap, not just the mens game apparantly, we came out on top with a very good and gutsy win.
Same players i mentioned last week i was happy with.
Vescio
Davey
Jakobsson
Brazzalle
Exon
etc
Thought Shierlaw and Downie were good marking options for us.
Did i hear correctly that we were premiership favourites?
Happy days.
8,000 people at the game apparently and there are long queues for the Collingwood-Melbourne game. Given that GWS has little support, 8,000 is a respectable crowd and it seems that the first round attendances weren't a flash in the pan.
A good result by the girls and it will be very interesting to see whether they can continue their winning streak :)
8,000 people at the game apparently and there are long queues for the Collingwood-Melbourne game. Given that GWS has little support, 8,000 is a respectable crowd and it seems that the first round attendances weren't a flash in the pan.
A good result by the girls and it will be very interesting to see whether they can continue their winning streak :)
I reckon the changing of the start time may have caught a few out as well.
Crowd was pretty good. I was thinking about 10k.
Really liked the shorter game time. With the kids it is so much better.
8,000 people at the game apparently and there are long queues for the Collingwood-Melbourne game. Given that GWS has little support, 8,000 is a respectable crowd and it seems that the first round attendances weren't a flash in the pan.
A good result by the girls and it will be very interesting to see whether they can continue their winning streak :)
8k, that's pretty good, sometimes GWS / GC men can play in front of only 15k!
More people at the Colkingwood game.
More people at the Colkingwood game.
It's cooler!
More people at the Colkingwood game.
Two Melb teams
Another win on the board. Congratulations to our girls.
I thought the game provided a great opportunity to:
- experience being caught out a bit early. With GWS key players out, I think we took a while to find our mojo. There will be times where this will be where a game is lost.
- have to claw the lead back in the final quarter. A great test of fitness. Both physically and mentally, under the duress of increasing fatigue.
Great effort girls. Next week against the Crows in SA will be a superb challenge for them.
Go Blues
Next week against the Crows in SA will be a superb challenge for them.
Top of the table clash.
Win next week and lift the lid.
I wonder what a ladies flag would do for general pride in our footy club and membership numbers, not to mention light the fire under the men's bums for those who are yet to pull their fingers out..
Looking at you kj!
Firstly, those commentators gave me the irrits. It was all Giants this and Giants that. When we kicked a goal to get back to 6 points it was Carlton are back in this contest.
@kruddler
One of the commentators is a collingwood player. Not surprising, the one who revealed in good GWS play. When we scored, comments like (re: DV nice goal) " that's what you should get from marque players" pffftt ???
I guess one could say that the Pies marque players are just a little short of the mark in that case ::) . pretty sure I know what I'd prefer.
Our girls backed up last week's win nicely. I saw several of the second tier players lift their game. The likes of Audley, Pound, Hoskins, Brazzely, and Lucas-Rodd are a few that come to mind. Downie was good in the ruck. Not always in hit outs, but nailed a goal at a critical point and laid 5 tackles. Imagine if our blokes could match those stats!! It was IMO, a more rounded team effort.
The broadcast did have its issues, and the focus on GWS was one of them. There were times when I wondered if we had won or not when I was listening to what they said.
Nichevo. We won.
[1] Our centre setup;
This didn’t work as well this week. Our rucks tried hard and did well around the ground: Alison Downie in particular showed her ability in some really good clutch marks under a lot of pressure, and her ability to snap a goal was excellent. But the young Giant ruck was good and she was able to interfere with the effectiveness of our taps.
As a result we did not appear to be able to stop GWS getting the ball away like we did with Collingwood. They moved the ball quickly out of the middle, so our defence was always having to deal with that.
GWS also appeared to block Arnell effectively in the centre.
[2] Smothers:
We were down in this area compared to last week. GWS were able to move the ball quickly at times, which made it much harder to set up. Even so, you had to be impressed with the intensity of our players.
[3] Out bodying Opponents:
Again, we were not as good at that this weekend. GWS had a couple of very strong girls and a couple of very fast ones, making the task more difficult. What did impress me was the number of times we blocked the girl on the mark. It gave us an extra few metres which made a real difference.
I don’t really like this is a tactic: Hawthorn appear to have it as their modus operandi. However, while it is legal and accepted, I’d much rather see us doing it than having it done to us.
[4] Marking:
I don’t think the marking was as clean as often yesterday. A number of times we just couldn’t hold our marks. However, we were better at it than the Giants and a few of our players really stood up and were marking targets. Downie and Shierlaw and Hardiman stood out with their marking. But I would like us to work on that a tad.
[5] We were challenged and we won. I like that.
[6] Best Players:
We had a real team effort. A lot of players stepped up when we were under pressure, although Vescio and a few others were down compared to last week.
Best:
Bree Davey: Another really solid effort and a lot of the ball. I don’t think she played as well this week, but she still was crucial in getting the ball out of defence.
Katie Loynes: Loynes probably doesn’t get the ball enough, but she does get in the thick of the action and was involved in most of our position forward moves. I liked her last week, and he impressed me again.
Lauren Arnell: Not as effective in the centre square, I was impressed at her work rate. Her possessions were good value.
Nat Exon: Like last week Exon probably didn’t get as much of the ball as I would like, but, like Arnell and Loynes, she was a real contributor who put her body in and made things happen.
Dani Hardiman: Like last week, she was strong in defence and kept the GWS tall forwards from firing a shot.
Kate Shierlaw: In the first half we were probably too Vescio conscious, aiming at Darcy even when she was was being double teamed. After half time we appeared to realize that Shierlaw was there and all of a sudden we had avenues to goal. Shierlaw took some good strong marks and really made the GWS work.
Tilly Lucas-Rodd: A solid performer last week, Tilly did some nice things and deserves a mention. One of our lesser ranked players who really stood up when we needed a lift.
Firstly, those commentators gave me the irrits. It was all Giants this and Giants that. When we kicked a goal to get back to 6 points it was Carlton are back in this contest. We were only 12 points down before the kick with just under a half to play. Seriously. Then we were 3 goals up and we 'might' be ok?
Really poor performance from Kelli Underwood - boring, repetitive and inaccurate - but not as bad as her main sidekick Chyloe (I think).
The only positive thing I could say was that it made the channel 7 commentary team seem less annoying.
The broadcast did have its issues, and the focus on GWS was one of them. There were times when I wondered if we had won or not when I was listening to what they said.
Nichevo. We won.
[1] Our centre setup;
This didn’t work as well this week. Our rucks tried hard and did well around the ground: Alison Downie in particular showed her ability in some really good clutch marks under a lot of pressure, and her ability to snap a goal was excellent. But the young Giant ruck was good and she was able to interfere with the effectiveness of our taps.
As a result we did not appear to be able to stop GWS getting the ball away like we did with Collingwood. They moved the ball quickly out of the middle, so our defence was always having to deal with that.
GWS also appeared to block Arnell effectively in the centre.
[2] Smothers:
We were down in this area compared to last week. GWS were able to move the ball quickly at times, which made it much harder to set up. Even so, you had to be impressed with the intensity of our players.
[3] Out bodying Opponents:
Again, we were not as good at that this weekend. GWS had a couple of very strong girls and a couple of very fast ones, making the task more difficult. What did impress me was the number of times we blocked the girl on the mark. It gave us an extra few metres which made a real difference.
I don’t really like this is a tactic: Hawthorn appear to have it as their modus operandi. However, while it is legal and accepted, I’d much rather see us doing it than having it done to us.
[4] Marking:
I don’t think the marking was as clean as often yesterday. A number of times we just couldn’t hold our marks. However, we were better at it than the Giants and a few of our players really stood up and were marking targets. Downie and Shierlaw and Hardiman stood out with their marking. But I would like us to work on that a tad.
[5] We were challenged and we won. I like that.
[6] Best Players:
We had a real team effort. A lot of players stepped up when we were under pressure, although Vescio and a few others were down compared to last week.
Best:
Bree Davey: Another really solid effort and a lot of the ball. I don’t think she played as well this week, but she still was crucial in getting the ball out of defence.
Katie Loynes: Loynes probably doesn’t get the ball enough, but she does get in the thick of the action and was involved in most of our position forward moves. I liked her last week, and he impressed me again.
Lauren Arnell: Not as effective in the centre square, I was impressed at her work rate. Her possessions were good value.
Nat Exon: Like last week Exon probably didn’t get as much of the ball as I would like, but, like Arnell and Loynes, she was a real contributor who put her body in and made things happen.
Dani Hardiman: Like last week, she was strong in defence and kept the GWS tall forwards from firing a shot.
Kate Shierlaw: In the first half we were probably too Vescio conscious, aiming at Darcy even when she was was being double teamed. After half time we appeared to realize that Shierlaw was there and all of a sudden we had avenues to goal. Shierlaw took some good strong marks and really made the GWS work.
Tilly Lucas-Rodd: A solid performer last week, Tilly did some nice things and deserves a mention. One of our lesser ranked players who really stood up when we needed a lift.
I thought our marking was much better this week. Ball seemed to stick in their hands a lot more. Also, I don't think Arnell spent as much time in the middle as last week. Seemed to spend a bit of time in the pockets, which I think hurt us in the middle.
Not sure why Keeping changed the lineup much after last week, it worked very effectively. Going to need to be on our A-game this week.
Not sure why Keeping changed the lineup much after last week, it worked very effectively. Going to need to be on our A-game this week.
I suspect a few reasons;
- They have only 7 weeks to assess the whole list for next year.
- I noticed in all the games players looked tentative compared to week one, most likely many players were sore after the intensity of their first AFL week.
- We have our first interstate game this week, he needs to keep the travelling list fresh.
Just to put Saturday's official attendance 7,884 in perspective, a record crowd of 4,591 watched the W-League grand final :o
Just to put Saturday's official attendance 7,884 in perspective, a record crowd of 4,591 watched the W-League grand final :o
Just to put THAT into perspective....how much are tickets for each?
The AFL has always been ahead of the game in terms of pricing for its events. Womens events is largely free (if not completely) and is more about marketing then it is making money at this stage.
Just to put THAT into perspective....how much are tickets for each?
The AFL has always been ahead of the game in terms of pricing for its events. Womens events is largely free (if not completely) and is more about marketing then it is making money at this stage.
That's right, and I suspect that the W-League crowd would have been larger had the game been held in Melbourne. Even so, it's a marketing failure by the round ball game; free tickets for all WA juniors would have improved the atmosphere and encouraged many to continue to play the game.
It was interesting to hear Georgina Robinson's comments on Offsiders on Sunday. She went to great lengths to point out that other sporting codes - soccer, rugby and cricket - have career paths for women and Australian footy doesn't. When Gideon Haigh talked about how much he and his family enjoyed watching the AFLW game at Princes Park, Robinson interjected with "That's if you like AFL!"
I'm not sure that women's soccer and rugby in Australia have career paths; certainly not to the same extent that netball and women's basketball do, but it was hard to take Robinson seriously given her obvious bias. Haigh, on the other hand, is a sports polymath and his impressions of the AFLW game were informed and interesting.