AFLW 2024 AFLW season - Geelong & the greater league...

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Wonder if Moloney rucking in the last was the look at a potential positional change going forward this season - she definitely showed better follow up work than we've seen from Darby, and so while she may not be the best ruck she may give us a bit more in that position

The other thing with Moloney is that she's struggled to get into games up forward except for the second half last week, so this could be another way of getting her into games
 
Pathetic effort from all involved. Coach included.

Featherston, Kearns & Bowen probably the only ones who earnt their paycheck.

Sorely lack some big bodies in the midfield.

Season could well be cooked by next week if we don’t extract a digit in quick time.
 
Think we are pretty cooked already this season, our skill level is woefully below average, don't spread at all, look slow and far too reactive around the contest.
Relying on grit and heart will only get you so far.
Is system and skill level a coaching issue or just limited players?
 
Think we are pretty cooked already this season, our skill level is woefully below average, don't spread at all, look slow and far too reactive around the contest.
Relying on grit and heart will only get you so far.
Is system and skill level a coaching issue or just limited players?

I wonder if not having any of the AFLW listed players play any game time in the VFLW this season (I'm talking players like Morrison, Scheer, etc who to the best of my knowledge had played a game or two in previous years) was a mistake.
 
Kate Kenny needs someone to explain the basics to her. They've thrown her in the deep end before she can swim. The midfield is ok but slow and minus a genuine ruck option. They missed Prespakis, the only one with any pace. Need to comfortably beat GC next week to get some confidence.
 
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I wonder if not having any of the AFLW listed players play any game time in the VFLW this season (I'm talking players like Morrison, Scheer, etc who to the best of my knowledge had played a game or two in previous years) was a mistake.

Was this the longest break between seasons also?

Seems like previously that seasons started progressively earlier, but this time we had just over 9 months from when we played the prelim last season (25 November) to when our round 1 match was this season

The pre-season officially started on 3 June, meaning it was 6 months from the date of our last match to when they technically were officially back together as a group

I know Lowther has described Prespakis essentially a full-time footballer, but we can't say the same for the majority of other players on the list who's focus during those 6 months would be on work, education, family etc with football fitting in around those external commitments

Is there a way of trying to keep a level of cohesion during the break in seasons - maybe that is a better connection with our VFLW team, with players getting a few games with them or what potentially a hitout against them type thing


We look somewhat disjointed out on the field and got to find a way to get that connection back, or at least start having some fun out there again
 
Carlton with 51 hit outs to Geelong's 19 is a problem. Darby with only 4 hit outs is shocking. She must have been injured. How did Geelong go into the season without any serious ruck options? They seem to be taking a leaf out of the AFL team that has suffered from lack of ruck stock for several years.
 

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Carlton with 51 hit outs to Geelong's 19 is a problem. Darby with only 4 hit outs is shocking. She must have been injured. How did Geelong go into the season without any serious ruck options? They seem to be taking a leaf out of the AFL team that has suffered from lack of ruck stock for several years.

Don't think that was planned - just need to look at how things played it following the 2023 season:

  • 3 Dec 2023, AFLW Grand Final
  • 7 Dec to 14 Dec, AFLW trade period; at this time both Erin Hoare & Liv Fuller were committed to Geelong for the 2024 season
  • 18 Dec was the AFLW draft

So we get through that period with a good structure to our playing list and likely an early idea of what our 2024 best team would look like. With AFLW lists being only 30 players deep, having 2 recognised #1 ruck options on the list, along with back up options on Darby, Moloney & potentially even Bragg, it's not really surprising we didn't chase another #1 ruck during the trade or draft period

  • 13 May 24, Liv Fuller is placed on the inactive list while she explores the opportunity to pursue a career as an Air Force Fire Fighter
  • 27 May 24, announced the signing of Lilly Pearce as a replacement player for Fuller. Pearce is a recognised ruck who had previously been on Richmond's list and prior to signing her, she'd been playing with Collingwood's VFLW team where she was seconded in the league for total hitouts & averaging 33 per game
  • 20 June 24, Erin Hoare announces her retirement effective immediately, with the league approving us to move Hoare to the inactive list and be able to sign a replacement player
  • 21 June 24, we announce the signing of a Caitlan Thorne who is more of a defender/midfield option; when trying to secure a replacement player this late in the precedings & with the pre-season having already started it can mean limited options
  • 13 September 24, the club announces Lilly Pearce has done her ACL and will miss the rest of the season



So it's not exactly like we planned to go into this season with questions over our ruck situation - it's the way things have played out with players decisions being outside the club's control. With AFLW not a professional league, one can't fault players who put career & family ahead of the team, even when those decisions come late

With a full time league, a much more known structure & timing of what's to come rather than being asked to wait on even basic things like the league start date, do we maybe not see some of these late late calls? Could it instead allow Clubs can be better prepared with things like the trade period & draft, better know the structure of their lists etc without having to predict any potential player changes in the 6 months between the draft and the pre-season

A list increase could also help - even going from 30 players to 35 allows the opportunity to add a 3rd ruck without it seeming like you've overloaded on them
 
Don't think that was planned - just need to look at how things played it following the 2023 season:

  • 3 Dec 2023, AFLW Grand Final
  • 7 Dec to 14 Dec, AFLW trade period; at this time both Erin Hoare & Liv Fuller were committed to Geelong for the 2024 season
  • 18 Dec was the AFLW draft

So we get through that period with a good structure to our playing list and likely an early idea of what our 2024 best team would look like. With AFLW lists being only 30 players deep, having 2 recognised #1 ruck options on the list, along with back up options on Darby, Moloney & potentially even Bragg, it's not really surprising we didn't chase another #1 ruck during the trade or draft period

  • 13 May 24, Liv Fuller is placed on the inactive list while she explores the opportunity to pursue a career as an Air Force Fire Fighter
  • 27 May 24, announced the signing of Lilly Pearce as a replacement player for Fuller. Pearce is a recognised ruck who had previously been on Richmond's list and prior to signing her, she'd been playing with Collingwood's VFLW team where she was seconded in the league for total hitouts & averaging 33 per game
  • 20 June 24, Erin Hoare announces her retirement effective immediately, with the league approving us to move Hoare to the inactive list and be able to sign a replacement player
  • 21 June 24, we announce the signing of a Caitlan Thorne who is more of a defender/midfield option; when trying to secure a replacement player this late in the precedings & with the pre-season having already started it can mean limited options
  • 13 September 24, the club announces Lilly Pearce has done her ACL and will miss the rest of the season



So it's not exactly like we planned to go into this season with questions over our ruck situation - it's the way things have played out with players decisions being outside the club's control. With AFLW not a professional league, one can't fault players who put career & family ahead of the team, even when those decisions come late

With a full time league, a much more known structure & timing of what's to come rather than being asked to wait on even basic things like the league start date, do we maybe not see some of these late late calls? Could it instead allow Clubs can be better prepared with things like the trade period & draft, better know the structure of their lists etc without having to predict any potential player changes in the 6 months between the draft and the pre-season

A list increase could also help - even going from 30 players to 35 allows the opportunity to add a 3rd ruck without it seeming like you've overloaded on them
Thank you for the detailed response. I kew about Erin Hoare but I wasn't across the other stuff.
 
I wonder if we had mentally psyched ourselves up so much for our first two games that we had a letdown yesterday. As we all know, we had a narrow loss to the Dees, and drew with North.

North in particular on both sides of our game had spanked reigning premiers Brisbane in week one by 44 points, and just smashed Melbourne by 50 points today.
 
I wonder if we had mentally psyched ourselves up so much for our first two games that we had a letdown yesterday. As we all know, we had a narrow loss to the Dees, and drew with North.

North in particular on both sides of our game had spanked reigning premiers Brisbane in week one by 44 points, and just smashed Melbourne by 50 points today.

Our last few clashes have been really physical, it can be draining to bounce back from it week after week. Our game against Brisbane was in really oppressive heat and we seemed a bit flat against the Cats, Emma Kearney had a shocker, a lot of uncharacteristic turnovers and I think three or four that resulted in goals, it doesn't take much for the wheels to fall off when teams don't score a lot of goals in general.

I thought you guys were unlucky not to beat us last week, deserved to win imo. Melbourne, like Brisbane, gave us too much time and space, something Geelong did very well to pressure us.

I think our side has also been largely stable over recent years, your club would be pretty familiar with the players and who you had to shut down and how to play on them. I think with a club like Carlton that has seen significant change it can be a lot harder to find the right matchup, know how players who haven't played much are going to play. Part of the learning lessons I guess.
 
Georgie Prespakis has been ruled out of this Saturday’s Week 4 clash against Gold Coast with a quad strain.

After missing last Sunday’s game against Carlton, Prespakis will miss a second game, with the Club to reassess her availability ahead of the Week 5 clash against Hawthorn on Thursday 26 September.

"Georgie is recovering from a quad strain and will unfortunately miss this week. She is training well and we expect her to be available to play against the Hawks next Thursday night,” Geelong Cats Assistant General Manager of Football Brett Johnson said.

Chloe Scheer continues to work her way through a rehabilitation program and is expected to make a return in the second half of the season, while Lily Pearce has been ruled out for the season after sustaining an ACL injury last week.

Geelong heads north for a clash with the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday, with the opening bounce at 12.05pm at People First Stadium.

Catch all the action via Fox Footy and Kayo.

Geelong Cats Deakin Health Update Week 4

PlayerInjuryTimeline
Georgie PrespakisQuad1 week
Chloe ScheerToeSecond half of season
Lily PearceKnee Season


 

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