What did you like and dislike from Round One of AFLW action?
The Doc was all over it – here is what he saw.
LIKES
The Swans off to a flyer
You’ve got to hand to the Pies in large parts of this game, they were willing to take the game on at every chance and were willing to embrace the chaos in an undersized forward line. But in football, you live and die by the opportunities given – The Pies won the inside 50 count by eight and had five more scoring shots than the Swans.
Yet it was the Swans who made it count when it mattered. Swans co-captain Chloe Molloy had a hefty tag from debutant Muireann Atkinson for most of the night, but still managed to get two goals in by the time she was taken out of the game – you sense she’s going to be in for another huge year.
Her co-captain Lucy McEvoy was in the thick of everything, playing behind the ball, getting inside 50 and kicking snags for fun, getting around congested spaces, and having an impact. The leaders stood up when they needed to.
They got good bang for the buck from Montana Ham (16 disposals, seven marks and a goal), their number one draft pick from 2022 is on good pace to have a breakout year. Laura Gardiner picked up where she left off from last year and Rebecca Privitelli was a handful in the air for the defenders for most of the night.
It wasn’t pretty at times for the Swans, but wins are crucial in the early goings of the season, onwards and upwards for Scott Gowans’ troops.
Daisy’s day
Pre-game, all Daisy Pearce wanted to see from West Coast in her first game in charge of coach is to see the team compete. Well, by halftime we were asking the question of how much they’d win by, putting up five goals to one. The players worked tirelessly off the ball and the skills had improved tons from this time last year.
Then we started to see the effort wane in the second half and by the 16th-minute mark of the final term, they spectacularly coughed up the lead after conceding four consecutive goals.
The Eagles had to dig deep to find something. Led by Ella Roberts, Ali Drennan, Bella Lewis and Ali Drennan, they found that goal to take the lead back late in the game through Kellie Gibson.
Before the start of this year, the Eagles had won just eight games since entering the league in 2020, but win number nine may just prove to be the turning point to the Eagles’ misery. They found bright spots all around the ground.
Jess Hosking’s two goals early against her old side were crucial. Sanne Bakker’s pressure was great, Amy Franklin showed presence in the forward line, and Georgie Cleaver went head-to-head with Katie Brennan and did plenty to suggest she’s going to be a star in the future.
The Eagles got away with one, Richmond dominated them around the contest in the second half, but at least Daisy can build something around the defensive effort – the Eagles had 64 tackles in this game, as did Richmond. For the record, the Eagles were 15th in the competition for tackle differential last year.
Massive ticks all around.
One Giant leap
There’ll be plenty of questions going the Dogs’ way following this game, but as far as the Giants are concerned, they did what they needed to do and won emphatically at that. The wind made it tricky at times, but it could’ve been a far greater margin.
We’ll see how they stack up in the coming weeks: Richmond next week away, followed by a home game against the Gold Coast and then the Sydney Derby in week four. But there’s a lot to like from the Giants camp going forward.
Cam Bernasconi flipped a lot of magnets around. Alicia Eva and Tarni Evans were deployed forward and looked comfortable, Izzy Huntington was used as a defender and was hard to stop with her marking hands and Eilish O’Dowd in game one was used as the number one ruck.
O’Dowd will be a story this year, a rookie-lister from Ireland, her first play in this game saw her gather a loose ball from the centre and then run it to 30 metres to drill home the Giants opening goal. She worked over Alice Edmonds in this game and was in enough space to get herself another goal during the third term from the forward pocket.
Another player we’ll be watching this year is Kaitlyn Srhoj – the number three pick in last year’s AFLW Draft showed a lot in this one, the highlight a big contested mark on Dogs captain Deanna Berry and then hitting a target inside 50 after her back was crunched hitting the turf.
The Giants dominated the Dogs off the turnover and showed enough to suggest they’ll make some strides in season 2024.
Rolling and Rocking
The Dockers are going to be one of the intriguing watches this year in 2024. You were likely to be in one of two camps during the pre-season: Like me, you had the Dockers nowhere near the eight, given the outs of Kiara Bowers and Ange Stannett and seemingly nowhere with the list currently at their disposal, or you’ve bought stocks in the Dockers and considered them a finals threat.
If you were in the latter camp, fair play to you. The Dockers came to life in the second term, putting four past the Bombers before putting them to the sword in a final quarter that saw them kick five goals to nothing.
Their pressure was outstanding. During the fourth quarter, their pressure rating was at an absurd 320 and recorded 97 tackles on the Bombers, truly suffocating their ability to clear the lines and do something with the ball.
Aisling McCarthy (24 disposals, two goals, and 14 tackles) will be the toast of Fremantle this weekend. Her ability to attack and defend in the clinches were pivotal for the Dockers when it was there to be won. Hayley Miller (six clearances) was strong and played a great role, whilst Mim Strom (48 hitouts and 17 disposals) will be in the running for All-Australian ruck after this performance.
Aine Tighe is already firming as a leading goalkicker chance after her four goal bag. Two of them came during the Dockers’ second-quarter assault and then finished the job in the last quarter. She has come along as a superb talent over the last few years.
Write the Dockers off at your peril this year, away wins are worth two at home, and they have disposed of a side many expected to play finals once again.
Jesse means business
This time last year Jesse Wardlaw wasn’t buying a possession in Saints colours. 12 months on and she’s looming as one of their most important pieces.
The Saints’s 54-point rout of the Suns indicates that they want to be in the finals picture this year, and if they’re going to do that, they’re going to have to put the ball in Wardlaw’s hands a fair bit. In the second half of last year she was thrusted into a secondary role into the ruck and was able to get hands to the ball and help move the ball positively.
She had 17 disposals in this game, kicked two goals and registering four goal assists is brilliant numbers from someone who has been earmarked as the next big hope up forward for the Saints. But she also moves up the ground and does things modern day key forwards can do, she links up, she presents as the bail-out option and is so clean.
The Saints had a pre-season that emphasised on ball movement and they delivered with a systematic demolition of the Suns. Gold Coast led most of the statistics, but were appalling with their ball movement, where the Saints made them pay with swift precision.
Kate Hore is so good at footy
There were questions to be asked of Melbourne’s midfield ahead of Round One. How would you build it around Tyla Hanks and with Liv Purcell out with a facial injury, it was only going to be tougher for the Dees to overcome the stars Geelong have in their midfield unit.
Well the captain answered to the call, and answered it in a big way. She led the way in a Melbourne unit that defeated the Cats in clearances and defeated them comfortably. Centre bounce clearances were squared at six each, but it was the stoppages that hurt Geelong and Hore had six stoppage clearances – seven in total.
We know she’s a player that loves to move up the ground and get her touches, but her ability to rest up forward and impact to maximum effect is what has her up there as one of the better forwards of the game.
On top of the 23 disposals and seven clearances, she also bobbed up with three majors – two of them in the opening term after Geelong had kicked the opening two goals of the game – in one of the AFLW’s all-time performances.
The Dees were disappointing to close out last year, but they might have found a way to stay in touch with the better sides in the league. Knocking off Geelong early doors is a big step in the right direction.
The one-two punch is at it again
The Crows remain unbeaten in Showdowns for another year, but gee, Port Adelaide gave it a good shot.
In what will surprise no one reading this, the two most influential players in this game were Anne Hatchard and Ebony Marinoff. The latter taking home the Showdown medal for her efforts – 29 disposals, nine tackles, five clearances and 647 metres gained in this one. Hatchard had 22 touches, a goal, 12 tackles, six marks and three clearances.
The Crows mids will be hard to beat this year. Against Port Adelaide, they only won the contested possession count by one, but were well on top in the clearances, especially in centre bounces – the Crows won that by seven.
it was a big game for Jess Allan in ruck as well, picking up seven clearances in this game. A settled ruck preference (last year, Allan, Montana McKinnon, and Caitlin Gould all saw ruck minutes) could unlock the Crows’ chances of going all the way.
Finding support acts as well will go a long way. Danielle Ponter (five centre clearances and seven in total) is going to be huge for them this year as always, while the injection of Stevie-Lee Thompson into the guts is a welcome addition as well, bringing pace and a different style to unlock Hatchard’s outside run a little more.
North’s warning shot
Heading up North to Springfield to take on the Lions is not an easy task on a good day, but in the Grand Final rematch, the Roos sent a statement to the rest of the competition, handing Brisbane their biggest-ever losing margin of 44 points.
Leading at every change, the Roos performance was highlighted with a blistering third term, which saw them put six goals to nothing on the board.
Everyone was harping on about their defensive unit last year, and how the addition of Libby Birch could make it even better, but I don’t think anyone made mention about how the re-addition of Vikki Wall would make North’s forward even more potent than what it already was.
Wall was one of four North Melbourne players who managed two goals in this one – I wasn’t a fan of her dumping Shannon Campbell to the ground at quarter time, and evidently, neither were the Lions, but I am a fan of her capacity to hunt both ball and player and be able to hit the scoreboard.
Wall kicked six goals in her first year at North Melbourne two years ago, and after one game, she’s on her way to eclipse that total.
Aside from that, the regulars were at it again from the midfield: Ash Riddell (31 disposals, one goal, five tackles, 483 metres gained), Jasmine Garner (27 disposals, one goal, six clearances, six tackles and 445 metres gained) were wrecking shop, while Alice O’Loughlin (two goals from 19 touches and three marks) was outstanding playing half forward.
DISLIKES
How Many Weeks?
The third quarter was interesting viewing. The Swans got a good run going, kicking four on the trot to blow the game open, but the talk of the game is about Tarni White, who ironed out Maddy Collier and sparked a massive push and shove in the middle of the North Sydney oval. Collier was ruled out for the remainder of the game with a concussion. It was interesting hearing Nat Edwards on the boundary talk about how distressed White was after the whole ordeal.
Given that she had been dealt with behind play about a minute earlier, you could sense the frustration with the bump. It happens to the best of us in footy sometimes. However, the Match Review Officer probably won’t be so forgiving in its findings. The facts are she elected to bump and got her high.
What the MRO does in the coming days will set the precedence with contact to the head. In past years, AFLW players would get a little more leniency given a shorter season, but for what it’s worth, it needs to be a minimum of three weeks if we’re serious about the head in this game.
Any less and we’re just taking the piss with this competition.
The Tigers
The Tigers will be cursing themselves for this game – their first half was about as dreadful as it has been for Richmond since their first year in the competition. Way too many bush-league decisions from senior players who should know better. They conceded three 50-metre penalties, all from their forward unit in the first half.
Emelia Yassir gave away one, and Katie Brennan gave one away after missing a gimme goal from 15 metres out. Libby Graham gave away a free kick late in the second term that resulted in an Eagles goal.
And while Richmond found a way to get back into the game, the chickens came home to roost by the end of it, as poor kicking for goal also helped cost the Tigers the win. Led by Brennan who kicked a miserly three behinds. Stella Reid dribbled away an easy opportunity early and Caitlin Greiser had a couple of shots on goal that missed everything and Courtney Jones also missed an easy opportunity.
Monique Conti had 30 disposals and willed her side back into the game, but at times even she was sloppy with her disposal going inside 50, as her kicks to both Greiser and Brennan went in every other direction except her intended targets.
Richmond can’t afford to slip up any more from here: Next week is GWS at Punt Road, followed by Sydney away, and then both Carlton and Port Adelaide at Ikon Park. If the Tigers want to be big business, they need to cut out the amateurish attitude towards the opposition, because, at times in that first half, it felt as if they were expecting it to be handed to them.
Going to be another hard year for the Bulldogs.
Tamara Hyett has the toughest job in football, to build a broken side from the ground up.
The results during the pre-season were uninspiring, but you can see the Dogs try to take the game on through the guts and the pressure is good until fatigue kicks in.
It was more of the same in this game against the Giants. After conceding an early goal, they went to work and despite dominating territory for the first half of the second term, only managed just one goal for their efforts.
But that’s where it finished up for the Dogs. They were extremely poor defensively in a third term that saw them concede multiple marks inside 50, nearly 50 more disposals, and 17 inside 50s for 5.6. 34 of those 36 points were generated from forward-half possession chains.
Just to highlight the frustration with this team. The play was stopped for a few minutes due to the blood rule during the third quarter, the ball was outside GWS’ attacking 50. It should’ve given the Dogs time to set up inside defensive 50, but still allowed space for the forwards to lead into.
It was a hapless effort from a dog’s defence that looked frustrated, but the big one was that no one was stepping up again. Only one Dogs player featured in the top 10 for disposals, and if you guessed Ellie Blackburn, you’ve done well. Only four other Dogs recorded numbers in double-digits: Issy Pritchard, Lauren Ahrens, Jess Fitzgerald and Deanna Berry.
And when they did go inside 50, it was to the favour of both Pepa Randall and Izzy Huntington and repelled back with ease.
In the end, they conceded 72 points to a GWS team that has historically been a struggling team. I hate to imagine how they’ll fare against Brisbane or North Melbourne down the track.
But one thing is for sure, Dogs fans are going to be in for another tough year.
What was Amber Clarke thinking?
Momentum means a lot in football of all classes, and when Amber Clarke crunched into Bonnie Toogood as she went back in flight with the footy early doors in the second term the Bombers were in front and were looking good for another chance on goal.
Anyone calling that out is courageous needs to stop. It was far from courageous, it was plain silly from a player who should’ve known better in terms of assessing the situation. As a result, she got herself concussed and Toogood was ruled out for the rest of the game with a knee complaint.
That played right into the hands of a Dockers side that thrived on the situation with their defensive structures. The only positive to come out of this Bombers team was Daria Bannister, who kicked two goals in her return game after suffering a knee injury midway through last season.
The Bombers have more issues than just no Toogood. Way too many passengers again were on display for the Bombers. Maddy Prespakis and Georgia Nanscawen combined for 50 disposals and 18 clearances, but no one else was willing to stand up when push came to shove.
They needed more from the likes of Brooke Walker (four disposals) and Steph Cain (nine) in this one.
What was that from the Suns?
From a side that finished in the top eight last year, this was remarkably poor by the Suns. It almost felt as if they moved six steps back this weekend.
The Suns were on top of the contested work and got enough inside 50s, but the polish went missing and went missing big time. By the midway mark of the second term, they recorded a forward half efficiency by foot of only 33 per cent. St Kilda were going 67 per cent going the other way.
Among some of the main offenders were Tara Bohanna (12 disposals at 25 per cent efficiency), Daisy D’Arcy (12 disposals and 33 per cent), and Lucy Single (21 disposals at 47 per cent).
I want to believe that it was an off night by the Suns, and in a way, you can believe it, given the pressure the Saints were putting on. But the Suns cannot afford to have another one of these games going into the next month
The competition in the mid-tier is closing in and the race for a finals spot is going to heat up in an 11-game season. To be shown up like that on home soil is embarrassing among other things.
Undisciplined from Port
There was a lot to like from Port Adelaide in their showdown; they were plucky, and gallant and gave it a red-hot crack against their arch-nemesis.
Shineah Goody was sensational on debut and is already firming for a Rising Star award, I liked the dare from Teagan Germech in her first game as a Port player, Janelle Cuthbertson was very good in stopping a lot of Adelaide’s forward entries and positive steps from the likes of Sachi Syme, Molly Brooksby and Ashleigh Saint who was working her way up the ground numerous times.
However, during the game, you couldn’t help but feel Port gave away needless free kicks in ruck contests and round stoppage. Between Danielle Ponter and Jess Allan alone, Port gave away nine free kicks to the pair. In the ruck contests, Matilda Scholz gave away multiple free kicks, as did Olivia Levicki.
It might be nitpicking, considering the effort Port showed around stoppages and the contested spaces of Alberton, but if they’re to develop and make progress in 2024, they need to stamp out this kind of sloppy free kicks that will cost goals – I think I counted at least three goals they gave away from free kicks on Saturday night.
Singing the Blues in Frankston
Hawthorn opened their account with a big win over Carlton in Frankston. It felt expected given the changes at the club over the off-season and the impressive nature they played during the pre-season.
But I’m not sure many were expecting the dominant manner in how it happened. The Blues might be in for a world of trouble this year if there isn’t much in the way of development. While we’re seeing the Hawks make magnificent in-roads, the fact that the recruits Carlton brought in over the off-season have failed to put much to the table is maybe the most haunting thing.
Yasmin Duursma was named as an emergency, Tarni Brown is on the sidelines with injury and the one who did play, Celine Moody, had three touches and no impact on the contest at all. Where as you look at the other end, Eliza West was unquestionably the best player on the ground, and Casey Sherriff left an imprint on the game with two goals.
On-field, the numbers don’t show anything rosey for the Blues – whilst they had 11 more clearances than the Hawks, they conceded 21 scoring shots and had just eight themselves. They also conceded 24 more inside 50s and crippled by the Hawks’ defensive pressure 76 to 62, with the Blues only recording two tackles inside 50.
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