This game is set to be next week's game, but it is supposed to be at Fremantle. With the Covid situation and WA, there may well be a change.
Hopefully we can be competitive.
CARLTON
B: C.Wilson 20 P.Trudgeon 26
HB: J.Dal Pos 2 K.Harrington C 9 D.Walker 23
C: N.Plane 32 E.O'Dea 46 G.Pound 6
HF: G.Gee 19 N.Stevens 21 B.Walker 7
F: L.McEvoy 13 D.Vescio 3
Foll: B.Moody 16 M.Prespakis 4 A.McKay 5
I/C: M.Hill 10 V.Laloifi 8 J.Good 15 L.Brazzale 12 G.Egan 1
Emerg: A.Lee 11 C.Hammans 17
In: B.Moody, L.Brazzale
Out: C.Jones (HS protocol), B.Vickers (injured)
This has to be our strongest line-up for the season. I still have questions about our list, but I think we might give Freo a big scare. we should have beaten Freo last year. We were the better team on the day. But it does depend on how Moody is"when she ran out of puff last year, we lost momentum.
FREMANTLE
B: E.O'Driscoll 3 L.Pugh 32
HB: S.Verrier 5 A.Tighe 10 J.Low 30
C: E.Antonio 12 A.Stannett 4 S.Cain 20
HF: A.Runnalls 22 K.Antonio 15 R.Roux 17
F: G.Houghton 27 M.Tuhakaraina 13
Foll: M.Strom 21 H.Miller C 19 G.O'Sullivan 9
I/C: T.Toth 33 J.Stewart 7 M.Hyde 28 D.East 8 M.Morrison 11
Emerg: S.Wielstra 24 B.Webb 26
In: J.Stewart
Out: A.McMahon (omitted)
I agree its our best team of the year, but i can't see us pushing Freo.
They are top 4, we are barely top 10.
Our girls are giving their all, but we just have too many players who cannot kick.
Wilson
D. Walker
Trudgeon...not as bad as the other 2, but below average
All 3 play in the backline.
Transitioning from HB to HF is our biggest issue so far this season, and with kicking like that, you can see why.
Our forward line needs some work, but i think its more about getting through the midfield and to our forwards advantage.
How many marks inside 50 have we had for the year? Not sure we'd break double figures!
Harford should have been pushed after last week's effort.
We'll lose more good players after this season's debacle....
Pushed?
The girls gave their all for the whole game.
Were never going to win against the Crows, who have been the best team in the comp since it started.
He won't last much longer.
Excellent, we can knife another coach.
It’s great to see the lessons being learnt 👍🏼
Personally I don't think our failure this year could be put down to anything other than injuries and having had our talent pool thinned by important players retiring, being suspended or going elsewhere.
Whether or not Harf should be replaced I'm not sure.
He got us to a grand final. Had us as one of the last 4 teams in finals when the season was cancelled, so he has credibility as a coach.
We've dropped off since then, but from all reports its been the players leaving that as ultimately hurt us, and its been our 2 biggest names leaving (Davey, Harris) which have been issues outside of his control.....(and perhaps other names as well which we are not aware of)...so he has been swimming upstream somewhat.
I wouldn't toss him yet, but we are carlton so we'll do the opposite of what we should!
If nothing else, i think he is a great marketing force for the girls, club and game.
I haven't been able to watch the whole game, but what I've seen so far the lack of run on our list is smashing us, it's the same story as our men, we've too many similar types.
Freo can run around the flanks and still beat our core midfield group from arc to arc, even though our crew control and run through the corridor. The whole point of forcing an opponent out wide, forcing them to go the long way, is to allow your team to get back through the shortcut corridor and setup in defence.
It's all too familiar for anyone who watches our men's team live!
Playing with a real lack of confidence and making critical errors.
The commentary is so biased that it makes me ill.
There is no run and we make errors a ten year old wouldn't make.
I know Harf has done really good things for us, but this is not unusual this year. We cannot play like this.
I'm sorry, but we need to make some changes in the coaching staff.
I don't want to put all of the blame in Daniel Harford: there have been a lot of things were not under his control. But we are better than we're showing at the moment. Talent wise we are as good as Freo, today's result not withstanding. But we don't look fit enough. there is no run at all and very little back-up, our players are making simple errors, their heads drop very easily and their skills don't appear to have improved.
Unfortunately, there are all things in the coach's direct control. In the end, he is ultimately responsible. It isn't fair, and I think he is the best coach we've had so far, but it isn't working. What he is saying is not providing results.
And things are not likely to get better for us. With our non-performance on the field, our better players will be tempted by bids from expansion clubs. What we get in return will be negligible in comparison to what we lose. Then, the draft will be compromised, again! That means we will not be able up improve our list with good youngsters, as they won't be available for us to select. Unless our former players can produce a large number of female offspring in the near term, we're going to really struggle.
FREMANTLE 1.0 2.1 6.2 7.9 (51)
CARLTON 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.3 (9)
GOALS
Fremantle: Morrison 3, Hyde 2, K Antonio, Stewart
Carlton: Vescio
BEST
Fremantle: Morrison, Miller, K Antonio, O'Sullivan, O'Driscoll, Pugh, Hyde
Carlton: Hill, Moody, Prespakis, Vescio, Egan
INJURIES
Fremantle: Roux (hamstring awareness)
Carlton: Nil
Reports: Nil
1 point in 3q of football. Nothing more to say.
For whatever reasons, we are 6 goals behind the pack. Where do you start?
1. Finding a key forward who can mark, kick accurately and draw defenders to her.
2. Not being so quick to move on older players with plenty of good footy left in them.
Downie may have been worthwhile as a deep target for a year or two whilst seeking a younger kpp
Darcy Vescio kicked 1.2 in about 8 minutes of footy.
The rest of the team managed 0.1 in the next 50-odd minutes. :-[
Downie was used to fill a hole at CHB towards in her last season. She was next to useless for most of the time, and managed about 5 possessions a game and was clearly not going to get any better.
The question was, do we persist with her, knowing her output would be on the decline, from an already relatively low level, or do we start pushing the kids through and give someone like Paige Trudgeon a similar role. We obviously moved Downie on, and Trudgie has exceeded most people expectations and actually been in the votes the last 2 weeks.
So, in isolation, that move has worked.
To add to that, we made that decision with Serena Gibbs earmarked as our next key forward. We moved Downie on and then found out that Gibbs would be sitting out the year (eg similar to Jones and the mens.......screwed on both accounts).
That being said, we also have 2 other options we want to try, Jess Good and Imogen Milford.
Unfortunaly both have missed multiple weeks due to H+S protocols which has compounded the loss of Downie (and Harris).
Simply put, the AFLW lists are not big enough to 'carry' someone as backup.
70% (21) of your list is playing in the 1's each week.
10-20% (3-6) of your list is usually injured at any given time.
That means you have 3-6 players who are fit enough to play 1's, but are not picked.
Given that 10% (3) of your list is recently drafted players....usually 18yo's.
There isn't really a whole lot you can do in terms of personnel.
Having seen her play for Collingwood, I think we made the right decision on Downie. She has a big heart, but she doesn't get to the contests like she used to and she no longer does much in the ruck.
We probably made the right call on Loynes, as she has struggled to make a real impact with GWS, But she is a great trier and tackler, something that isn't happening at the moment.
Losing Dalton was like a knife in the heart. She may not be setting the world on fire at GWS, but she was brilliant for us and made our midfield just so much more potent.
Losing Harris was also a disaster, although there wasn't much we could do about that. Even though she was poor last year, she has so much talent. She is also the focal point we badly miss at the moment.
Gibbs is a much larger loss than expected because we lost Harris as well. We would be better with her as a target. Not as a ruck.
Trudgeon has been reasonable and has generally filled in Downie's role in defence. As Krudd noticed, she has probably exceeded expectations. That hasn't been the case with many of our players.
To be honest, I think the lack of pre-season has affected us both last year and this year. A couple of years back we finished all over the top of other sides. We don't do that now. In fact, we start well enough and then run out of gas. other teams, like Adelaide and Freo, really ran all over us late in the game. It was even obvious against Collingwood. We need to change out fitness regime. It would also help if we played fewer games when it is so hot, but that is another tale.