Carlton's B&F was held last night. The results; Winner: Dayna Finn
Second place: Harriet Cordner
Third place: Erone Fitzpatrick
Equal fourth place: Poppy Scholz and Maddy Hendrie
Fifth place: Sophie McKay
Most Valuable BlueBagger: Erone Fitzpatrick
Best Finals Player: Dayna Finn
Coaches Award: Maddy Hendrie
Rookie of the Year: Poppy Scholz and Sophie McKay
Some impressive results: [1] Maddie Hendrie was identified as one of our weakest links as the season neared, as she hadn't done much. She stepped up this year and managed the Coaches' Award. Congratulations for a season that has turned her career around.
[2] Harriet Cordner also deserves a mention after what may be her best season, after having being discarded by Melbourne and Richmond. She may be getting a bit long in the tooth, but (33 at the moment), but has also addressed her distracters in the best possible way.
[3] Our 2 kids, Sophie McKay and Poppy Scholz made a splash. May they continue to do so!
[4] Our Irish recruiters deserve a pat on the back as well, with Ronny Fitzpatrick and Dayna Finn highlighting their year with 3rd and 1st respectively. Hopefully, our next crop can show the same sort of improvement in 2026.
[5] Note the good players who didn't get a mention: Mimi Hill, Abbie McKay, Jess Good, Bree Harrington to mention just a few. That bodes well to have players of this calibre not dominating. A huge mention to Maddie Guerin as well: she was struggling for much of the season but her last month was nothing short of brilliant. Hopefully, she can reproduce that form in 2026: she needs some luck after her injuries.
Yes, it is that time of year again, when players get moved on. We've announced 3 changes today: [1] Tarni Brown: daughter of Collingwood's ..., we traded for Tarni a couple of drafts back. She played most games last season, but has a 'medical condition' (unspecified), which left her off the park this years. She has decided to retire, as she doesn't think she can perform at the highest level any longer. [2] Eliza Wood: our VFL Captain this year, she was promoted when Kerryn Peterson took a year off to have a baby. She didn't manage a senior game this year, mainly die to senior injury. I have no idea if she will go back to our VFL side or not, as her knee will take some time to recover from. [3] Charlotte Brewer: another SSP selection, replacing Eliza Wood when she got injured. Charlotte didn't play a game this year.
It will be interesting to see if Kerryn Peterson returns. She had her baby in August.
Already there have been rumours of young talent from elsewhere looking to come here.
Some of our girls really need to step up after relatively ordinary seasons so far: Keeley Skepper. Gab Pound (who has a decent excuse) and Maddy Guerin come to mind.
We play St. Kilda at Carlton on Saturday night, at 19:15. We might be on TV.
Still without Mimi Hill and Tara Bohanna, both of whom we missed badly last week. However, we get Maddie Torpey back and Maddy Guerin. We dropped Mia Austin, who must now be wondering about her future.
This Friday we play Freo at home at 17:05. It looks like we're losing Mimi Hill to injury, but gaining Abbie McKay. Gab Pound also looks to be finally fit after a long injury layoff.
At 14:35 at Ikon on Saturday 13th September. We will go in as favourites; GC has struggled somewhat. However, we do have a couple of significant injuries.
Abbie McKay is a huge out, as is Jess Good, who missed last week. Yasmin Duursma is also missing, and also would be challenging for a spot in our best line-up with her reasonable form this year. the last one missing is Gab Pound, who is still maybe a month away from playing her first game of the season. With the limited lists at AFLW level, we don't have many warm bodies left! Note: Brooke Vickers will be playing her first game in almost 2 years (670 days according to the Carlton website). And our 3rd Irish lass, Aisling Reidy, is debuting this round. Congratulations on their persistence!
The VFL don't have a name for their B&F as yet, not in this new iteration. But that will change in time. Anyway, Ethan Phillips won with 159 votes. Darcy Hogg was second, with 106 votes. Harry Lemmey was 3rd with 89.
Best and Fairest – Ethan Phillips (159 votes) Runner-up – Darcy Hogg (106 votes) Third place – Harry Lemmey (89 votes)
Best Young Player – Darcy Hogg Best Clubman – Heath Ramshaw Coaches Award – Flynn Riley Players' Player of the Year – Ethan Phillips
What does this tell us? I'm not sure, as guys who do well here don't always remain with us. Harry Lemmey, for example, has already been delisted.
I'm hoping Darcy Hogg gets a chance to train on, like Will White and others have in recent times. He is small, but he is larger than Tyson Gresham.
Phillips must also be some chance to get a go, as we will need an extra defender until Dean and O'Farrell are ready.
Voting is as usual: you have 15 votes to award pretty much as you will, with the following provisos: [1] 15 votes in total, no more, no less. [2] No more than 10 votes for any one player (even Sam Walsh or Patrick Cripps) [3] Three players at least must get a mention. [4] A grade for the game, A+ (what I want to see) to F-.
