Seven rounds down and we’re starting to eye finals. Here are The Doc’s likes and dislikes from this past weekend.
Likes
Still unbeaten
The Dogs made it hard for the Crows at times on Friday night, but as the old saying goes, the cream always rises to the top. Adelaide feasted on the Dogs’ turnovers and looked dangerous on the transition.
Since round one, Niamh Kelly has shown she can be a hazardous football player. On Friday night, she played the best game of her career. Her run, spread and ability to impact on the scoreboard was on full display, kicking one goal and directly setting up two more.
Eloise Jones continues on her trajectory as an All-Australian forward. Her link-up work and her ability to connect in the forward half and hit the scoreboard consistently have just been on another level. Half of her eight score involvements were goal assists, and she kicked 1.2 from 20 touches and eight marks.
Ebony Marinoff was again in insatiable touch in the midfield (32 disposals, 513 metres gained), Anne Hatchard’s contested work was outstanding (25 disposals, 11 contested), as was the grunt work of Teah Charlton (18 disposals, six clearances, six tackles).
The Crows will play North Melbourne and Brisbane in two of the last three rounds of the season. Beat these two teams, and we can begin debating whether this is the greatest Adelaide team we’ve seen in the AFLW.
Are the Saints on the way to finals?
We often say in the men’s competition that football is a funny game; you can also mirror that in the women’s game.
A month ago, the Saints were 0-3, and a more comprehensive range of fans asked questions about Nick Dal Santo and his coaching style, if not calling for his head. I’m certainly one to put my hand up and take it back.
Since the loss to Port Adelaide, the Saints have won four on the bounce and are now 4-3 – three of them came against sides currently sitting in the bottom five, but the win against Collingwood is nothing to be sneezed at, considering they were down and out at three-quarter time.
Maybe it was always going to be a process integrating all the recruits into the side, but this was quickly the most comfortable Jesse Wardlaw (two goals) has looked in Saints colours and is now just seemingly picking up where she left off at the Lions, with a great display up forward.
Nat Exon has kicked multiple goals in consecutive weeks. Jaimee Lambert is recapturing some of her best form, and the natural development of players like Ash Richards, Nicola Xenos and Serene Watson will make the Saints a far greater force.
Tyanna Smith’s story of returning from a knee reconstruction is a bloody ripper. This week (17 disposals, eight tackles, six clearances and a goal) was easily her best game of the season, and she’ll continue to get better every week. Georgia Patrikios (20 disposals and four clearances) was also in excellent form.
A happy team at Hawthorn
Since round two, the Hawks have been gallant in many of their games. Even when blown out against sides like Melbourne and Brisbane, they’ve worked hard to make the opposition earn their touches before the gulf in class shined through.
They deserved this win. The Swans kicked the first two goals of the game before Hawthorn had eight of the next 11 scoring shots; although it should’ve been much more significant than 1.7, they turned it around in the third term.
Where do you start with the Hawks? Emily Bates kept quiet in the first half before she stepped up with a significant third term and helped set it all up.
Aine McDonagh kicked two goals and was again instrumental when the Hawks got clicking. But she had some mates up forward this week, none bigger than Kristy Stratton, who kicked 2.2 and helped set up at least a couple of others with her manic pressure.
Greta Bodey kicked two behinds, but her pressure in this game was too much for the Swans to handle at stages, and Sophie Locke looked damaging anytime she got hands to the ball, and Kaitlyn Ashmore was outstanding in moving the ball through the middle of the ground.
It’s how you respond
It was a big win for the Lions, who kept the Q-Clash dominance against the Gold Coast intact with a decisive victory. Regarding territory, the Lions were too good and overwhelmed the Suns defensively.
It was mentioned by Craig Starcevich in the post-game press conference last week about dropping both Poppy Boltz and Jade Ellenger due to a drop in professional standards. Both returned to the side this week, but I thought the game of Ellenger this week was outstanding on return.
She’s a player who can play many roles for the team; she commanded the wings of Heritage Bank Stadium in this one, got onto the scoreboard early in the game, and finished with 14 disposals and a team-high 480 metres gained.
But it’s not just about Ellenger. Ally Anderson (27 disposals, nine score involvements, and two goal assists) was again terrific. Belle Dawes (22 disposals, five clearances and five score involvements) was outstanding.
Lily Postlethwaite’s two goals outline how good of a year she’s having after such a rough go of it with injury. Tahlia Hickie’s second and third efforts in the contest were enormous against Lauren Bella. Courtney Hodder’s bold mark in the game’s closing seconds says all you need to know about Brisbane’s premiership chances.
You aren’t getting rid of them that easily.
The Dons are flying
Essendon are only just a percentage outside of the top four currently, and they’ve got an exciting run home ahead of them: West Coast at home next week; you’d classify that as a win. They’ll love their chances at home the following week against Carlton before a potential top-eight shaper against the Suns in Mackay in round 10
Some might argue that they are beneficiaries of an easy draw, but you can only take on who’s in front of you, and they looked sharp against the injury-plagued Tigers at various points of the Dreamtime game on Saturday night.
In the contest, they slaughtered Richmond: +15 in clearances and +23 in the contested ball. The Tigers brought the heat, but the Dons found plenty of cool heads around the ground. Led by the midfielders – Maddy Prespakis will sweat from the MRO for her sling tackle on Mon Conti, while Georgia Nanscawen (21 disposals, 10 tackles and six clearances) was outstanding at the source.
Amelia Radford (18 disposals, four tackles) played the best game in her short time in the AFLW. Bonnie Toogood was kept to just one disposal but still had enough of an influence up the ground to have a say.
Paige Scott was an influence (2.1 from 13 disposals and five tackles) up forward, and Renee Tierney showed she could be a dangerous option in the forward line.
They’ll sweat on Maddy Prespakis’s tackle on Monique Conti, which was seen as a sling motion, and they’ll hope Daria Bannister’s knee isn’t as severe as initially feared. Still, the word from the Bombers camp is that it’s positive there’s no structural damage.
Hot Pies
Collingwood have won three in a row and are making a late play for the top eight.
Against Carlton, they were switched on from the outset with their contested ball and smothered their opposition to the point where Carlton only managed seven inside 50s up to three-quarter time.
I’m a little worried about this trend of letting their guard down in the fourth quarter. It happened in round two against Fremantle and St Kilda in round four. They conceded 14 inside 50s in the last quarter, but even without Stacey Livingstone and Selena Karlson, they held the Blues to just two points in that last term.
The usuals starred for the Pies. Brittany Bonnici (22 disposals, nine tackles and a goal), Bri Davey (21 disposals, 15 tackles, a goal and eight clearances), and Mikala Cann (22 disposals, nine tackles and six clearances) were all at their brilliant best.
But I was so impressed with the efforts of Grace Campbell in this game. I’ve always considered her a scrapper who thrives in conditions similar to what was presented at Ikon Park in this one.
She had 12 tackles and three clearances to go with her 17 disposals. She’s come a long way from the pressure forward she was at North Melbourne; she’s now become such a solid player at the Pies.
How fun is North Melbourne to watch?
At this stage of the season, you usually get an indication of who is firing and in form.
North Melbourne scored their highest since coming into the competition with an emphatic display over Port Adelaide at Arden Street.
Jasmine Garner broke the league record of metres gained with 789 and was an unstoppable force, recording 39 disposals, eight clearances and kicking 1.2 and directly involved with another two. Ash Riddell kicked two goals and added 35 disposals with five clearances. Mia King (27 disposals and four clearances) and Jenna Bruton (26 disposals, one goal and eight tackles) comfortably aided the star pair.
Alice O’Loughlin could be one of the more underrated mid-forwards in the competition. She kicked a freakish goal in the last quarter and finished with three for the match, but she also finds space to lead consistently, and her forward pressure is relentless.
North are setting themselves up for a dynamite clash next Saturday against Melbourne, and we’ve seen what close games they’ve had last season. It’s a test to see if they have the kicking boots and killer instinct. Do that, they can stamp their authority on this competition.
They’re the best defensive team in the comp and coming up against the best offence. It doesn’t get any more must-see than that.
Bannan goes Bang
Since her draft year, I’ve long heralded Alyssa Bannan as an elite talent. You don’t get many tall prospects with a running ability like hers. Deceptively quick and already such an established tank on her, she’s proven to be such a handful for the opposition since her debut.
Against the lowly Eagles on Sunday evening, she feasted on a backline with enough to combat just one of their star key forwards. Sophie McDonald had her hands full with Eden Zanker for a lot of the match, and Kate Hore could’ve had more than a couple of goals had it not been for wayward kicking.
Bannan completely torched Beth Schilling on speed. But what this game does is help ascend Bannan’s status as a star in this Melbourne side. She had five goals but gave off a couple of others and could’ve been in with a shot to at least tie the league record for goals in a game, set by Brooke Lochland’s seven in 2018.
I also want to give some love to Rhi Watt, who made her Melbourne debut after being picked up as a delisted free agent last year and played her first football game in nearly 600 days.
She didn’t look too out of place in this one. With no Lauren Pearce, it was up to her and Georgia Campbell to tackle the ruck duties and easily won out over Lauren Wakfer and Eleanor Hartill. Watt’s particular game was super impressive, recording four clearances, three marks and 12 touches.
Dislikes
Friday Night Carnage
At times, Friday night, they looked more like a demolition derby, with players dropping quicker than flies, particularly in the first half.
Keely Coyne was on the ground clutching her knee in the opening minutes after what looked like an innocuous incident. Astonishingly, she returned to the field briefly in the second term before she was officially ruled out.
We’re still unsure what the damage is; I suspect it’s still an ACL tear, maybe partial. However, she got back out, and the doctors cleared her of structural damage, but you hope it’s still nothing profound. She’s shown good growth across the defensive half this season.
The same can’t be said for Abbie Ballard, who, until her injury, was doing a sensational job limiting Ellie Blackburn’s influence on the contest. Scans revealed the day after that it was an ACL tear.
You feel for a player like her, who has had to fight tooth and nail to hold a spot in such a damn good team. You also have to feel for someone like Kirsten McLeod, who has had to work hard to come back from injury time after time; she was taken out of the game with a concussion.
Dom Carruthers was also concussed in this game, who was hit clean in a spectacular Eloise Jones mark. It had shades of the Jarrod Harbrow and Jordan Lewis collision 13 years ago, a sickening hit.
The situation for the Bulldogs
This isn’t going to be another hit on the Bulldogs this week. I thought they were tough and brave and stood up to the Crows, particularly in the second half when they were down to just two on the bench.
But let’s have a look towards the end of the season. For the Dogs, it can’t come quick enough for them. They look condemned to the wooden spoon at worst and, at best, the worst Victorian club. Injuries have taken their toll, and the 27th, 28th, and 29th players in the squad and so forth… they’re not up to the ever-growing standard of women’s football, but that’s footy sometimes.
They will likely land themselves the first Victorian selection in the upcoming draft. But there’s a big problem.
In August, Sarah Black reported that the expansion clubs have been given more handouts by the competition in the form of pre-signing players from their academies.
It’s almost a given that Lauren Young and Shineah Goody, seen by many as the best two under-18 talents in the competition, are likely to join Port Adelaide this off-season. Both of them are under the Power Academy banner.
In Victoria, the best talents are Alyssia Pisano, a clever mid-sized forward who can play on-ball, and Laura Stone, a brilliant ball-winning midfielder. Both of them are Eastern Ranges girls and tied to Hawthorn’s academy.
As if clubs like the Bulldogs, ravaged to the bones with expansion, haven’t been rooted enough, the AFL has continued to shaft them to the point that they’ll most likely pick up the Victorian talent who is rated third or fourth best through many talent experts.
What are the Dockers?
This season looks like it’ll be a write-off for the Dockers, and in Lisa Webb’s first season as coach, I’m left with more questions than answers. What’s the identity of this team? Who stands up when the chips are down, and it’s go time?
If not for poor kicking and conversion in front of the big sticks, the Dockers would’ve lost the game by quarter-time. Geelong were +21 in marks and +41 in the uncontested ball. The Cats outran the Dockers and played the possession game far better.
I watched their win against Richmond, and a lot of that win was based on driving it forward anytime they could. But against good sides, they don’t have an answer for when the avenues get cut off.
Another problem with Fremantle is that many of their list are either battlers or they don’t have the experience to be up to the level of the top eight sides of the competition. There’s a lot to like about the Irish girls. Tahleah Mulder’s first game in the AFLW was promising, and I’ve enjoyed watching the development of Maddy Scanlon.
Unfortunately, they don’t have enough players like Aine Tighe, Hayley Miller or Emma O’Driscoll to be a formidable outfit.
That’s it for the Tigers
I’m putting a line through Richmond’s chances of playing finals. They let another game slip through their fingertips at 3-4, seven weeks into the season.
It’s a harsh game sometimes, especially when you get hit with injuries, and some sides have such elite depth they can cover a player if they go down. The Tigers do not have that right now.
I’m looking at Richmond’s bottom six players on Saturday. One of which is a train-on player, who I believe has great potential, given she was best on the ground in this year’s VFLW Grand Final in Lauren Caruso.
Aside from her, you’ve got Katelyn Cox, Meg Macdonald, Charli Wicksteed, Jemima Woods and maybe Molly Eastman. These five players are role players currently playing on borrowed time for a side like the Tigers, who should be pushing to be a top-six team.
I would also love to know from Ryan Ferguson why he put a top-10 ruck in the competition in Gabby Seymour in a lockdown role on Bonnie Toogood. Granted, Toogood only managed one goal on the night but still managed 17 touches and eight marks.
It was a move that backfired and backfired horribly. Steph Wales completely dominated Poppy Kelly and Woods at numerous stages; if it wasn’t in the ruck contests, then Wales certainly got her hands dirty in the contest.
There’s got to be some serious discussions about the direction of this playing list next year.
The Suns aren’t there yet
At 4-3 and with a favourable run home, I have no doubts that the Suns will play finals football in 2023. I’m unsure what the internal goal is, whether they win a final or believe they can go far.
If they think they get to the final four, then forget about it. I’ve enjoyed watching the Suns this year and the continued rise of many of their players, but you’ve just got to hang with the competition’s best.
They weren’t completely blown out of the park by Adelaide or Brisbane, but five to six-goal losses suggest they aren’t close enough to give the top four a shake, either.
Around the contest, the Suns broke even with the Lions: -1 in clearances, -5 in contested ball and -9 in the uncontested ball and 54 marks apiece. They have an excellent midfield nucleus in Charlie Rowbottom, Claudia Whitfort and Lucy Single, who will lead the club for the next decade.
But once Brisbane got the ball forward, the forward pressure, like it has for many a team over the years, completely smothered the Suns system. Brisbane had 45 inside 50 entries for 17 scoring shots. Gold Coast had just 27 for six.
There are positives, though. Jaq Dupuy looks to have built on what was a super strong season. For someone of her size, she has got an elite skill set. Viv Saad played her best game to date, and Daisy D’Arcy coming out of half-back has been fun to watch this year.
What’s going on at Port Adelaide?
Lauren Young and Shineah Goody probably can’t come quick enough for a Port Adelaide side who are crying out for some depth across the lines.
It was another dismal performance against one of the top sides in the competition. They were utterly destroyed around the contest, and North Melbourne’s running and offensive game completely overwhelmed Lauren Arnell’s charges.
North were +52 in the contested possessions and a whopping +95 in the uncontested ball. Nobody expected them to beat the Roos, but that’s damning numbers.
The endeavour is there; they registered over 70 tackles, but there’s not enough pulling their weight when they get the ball.
Ash Saint was terrible, just zero impact under intense pressure. Ebony O’Dea had just the five disposals, and the younger players such as Yasmin Duursma, Ella Boag and Sachi Syme aren’t getting their hands on the ball when they need to be aiding the veterans like Erin Phillips and Ange Foley as much as they can.
Hannah Ewings was dropped this week for not meeting professional standards, but I’d say a few others in this team aren’t pulling their weight.
The Power play Gold Coast, Hawthorn (away) and GWS to close the season. If they can’t beat one of Hawthorn or GWS to close out the year, it’ll be an extremely long off-season at Alberton.
Is it time for a forward line shake-up?
Geez, Darcy Vescio is just a polarising player. One season, you get an All-Australian calibre star capable of setting games alight, and then the following season, you get complete doughnuts.
I was on the call team for WARF Radio for this game. Following that, there was a brief discussion about Darcy and whether or not it’s time for a change. Sophie Casey had the direct match-up for a lot of the afternoon and handed them a bath in this one, only registering six touches, but six tackles is a pleasing sign.
But after kicking 16 goals in the 2021 season, Vescio has kicked 17 goals in the past three seasons; that’s 26 games of league football. We saw Darcy play some defence last season, and looked comfortable. It’s something for Mathew Buck to consider next season.
I hold a lot of doubt over Phoebe McWilliams and what exactly she adds to this side at 37. I won’t hang it all on her because some of the forward 50 entries towards her in the last quarter were poor and often fell two metres short.
I like Mia Austin – she took a great contested grab on Sunday and has consistently contributed to the scoreboard this season. Maybe McWilliams is there to ease some defensive pressure off the young key forward, but the trigger will be pulled sooner rather than later.
And wet weather footy meant it was always going to be a rough time for a player like Breann Moody to contest in the air. Still, with no Stacey Livingstone and Selena Karlson this week, the Blues missed an opportunity to take advantage.
Michael Prior
Michael Prior’s made some baffling comments since taking the reigns as West Coast coach. Remember his remarks in season six about the club not wearing a pride guernsey when every other club had one?
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
His latest comments about having to be fixtured against Melbourne feel nothing more than a petty whinge.
“At the end of the day, that’s the team that won the Grand Final last year against the team that finished last… 18 teams in the comp and only 10 games, how we play that team is beyond me. That’s what you get when you get fixturing like that.”
This year has been one of the more favourable draws for the Eagles, who have played nobody who finished in the top eight last season up to this point. They lost to a previously win-less GWS the previous week, embarrassed at home against Carlton and lost winnable opportunities to Sydney and Fremantle.
In fact, out of the top eight sides last season, they only play three – they’ve got the Bulldogs in round nine and Adelaide in round 10.
If I were Michael Prior, I’d spend more time looking at what he can control than what the league controls. They’ve got a winnable game at home in a couple of weeks against the Bulldogs; drop that one, and there may be hell to pay out West.
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