AFL Queensland Women's League

[spooner21]

Anyone on here follow/involved with women's footy around Qld?

 

[EKZ8]

Yea I play and coach in the womens league for Qld.

 

[spooner21]

Yea I play and coach in the womens league for Qld.

For Coorparoo?

It sounds like there are a few changes to the structure of the league(s) this year? A few new teams and a some existing ones with 2nds? All sounds very positive for the growth of the game!

 

[jatz14]

A quick question for someone familiar with QLD womens football. Would you consider that Qld is the 3rd strongest womens football state at the moment, and how quickly is it growing. Is it going to stay ahead of NSW and SA?

 

[spooner21]

A quick question for someone familiar with QLD womens football. Would you consider that Qld is the 3rd strongest womens football state at the moment, and how quickly is it growing. Is it going to stay ahead of NSW and SA?

I haven't seen any inter-state competition so can't really give a good indication sorry!

I think in general that as the Auskick generation is starting to hit senior football age both male and female football around Australia is growing rapidly. This particularly applies in the women's competitions as there's far greater percentage increase in participation. That increased participation can only result in greater standard of football being played as more and more girls get involved in club footy.

 

[jatz14]

I try to keep up with the interstate footy, but that is a little difficult. From what I have seen, it is VWFL 4 - 6 goals better than WAWFL, which is about the same ahead of Qld, with NSW probably 4th. Tasmania and SA then neck and neck.

I do not know if this is an accurate representation of the leagues though, rather than a handful of quality players.

It does seem to roughly hold true through the age groups however, U18s and 16s tend to finish in the same order as seniors, so that may be an indication. I suspect that a big bearing is the standard of the senior competition. SA seems unaccountably far behind, but I think that stems from womens football being treated as a joke in that state, this hampered the development of a quality league. Now their juniors enter an inferior league and stagnate relative to Vic and WA. VWFL has the best depth, but WA has a much smaller more concentrated league, so the teams are at a relatively high level.

 

[ilovemeatpies]

I try to keep up with the interstate footy, but that is a little difficult. From what I have seen, it is VWFL 4 - 6 goals better than WAWFL, which is about the same ahead of Qld, with NSW probably 4th. Tasmania and SA then neck and neck.

I do not know if this is an accurate representation of the leagues though, rather than a handful of quality players.

It does seem to roughly hold true through the age groups however, U18s and 16s tend to finish in the same order as seniors, so that may be an indication. I suspect that a big bearing is the standard of the senior competition. SA seems unaccountably far behind, but I think that stems from womens football being treated as a joke in that state, this hampered the development of a quality league. Now their juniors enter an inferior league and stagnate relative to Vic and WA. VWFL has the best depth, but WA has a much smaller more concentrated league, so the teams are at a relatively high level.

I really admire you guys in QLD, as most of your competitions are spread along the coast ie Cairns, Rockhampton, SE QLD whereas all the other states have a compact womens competition in terms of geographic distances traveled. With divisionalisation now occurring in NSW, ACT, WA and VIC, I think you will find the standard of womens footy improving at each level nationally.

 

[spooner21]

I really admire you guys in QLD, as most of your competitions are spread along the coast ie Cairns, Rockhampton, SE QLD whereas all the other states have a compact womens competition in terms of geographic distances traveled. With divisionalisation now occurring in NSW, ACT, WA and VIC, I think you will find the standard of womens footy improving at each level nationally.

Apparently the plan for 2014 is to have divisions as well: QWAFL will be a professionally-focussed league for more competitive/elite players, while the QWAFA will be more designed toward development of beginner players and teams.

Great move by AFLQ to help new girls/clubs stay with the game. The previous set up made it difficult for first-timers to pick it up while playing against some of the best in the State. This way there's a great chance to develop their knowledge, skills and passion for football while the stronger and more experienced girls get to play in a higher-skilled league.

 

[spooner21]

Any predictions on a QWAFL ladder? Here's my attempt:
1) Coorparoo
2) Zillmere
3) Yeronga
4) UQ
5) Wilston Grange
6) Coolangatta
7) Griffith Moorooka

 

[EKZ8]

Coorparoo
Yeronga
Zillmere,
Wilston
UQ
Cooly
Moorooka

 

[spooner21]

Any predictions on a QWAFL ladder? Here's my attempt:
1) Coorparoo
2) Zillmere
3) Yeronga
4) UQ
5) Wilston Grange
6) Coolangatta
7) Griffith Moorooka

Looks like I over-estimated my Red Lionesses a little bit! Other than that I wasn't too far off.

Congrats to Coops on claiming the minor premiership and then going on to lock their spot in for the Grand Final.

Should be a good prelim this weekend between Zillmere and Yeronga for the other place!

 

[spooner21]

Sounds like it's shaping up as a pretty even competition this year. All sides seem to have picked up players, should make for an interesting season!

 

[jatz14]

Maybe the predictions for Red Lionesses was a year early, look like risers. Coorparoo to come back to the pack a bit?

 

[spooner21]

Maybe the predictions for Red Lionesses was a year early, look like risers. Coorparoo to come back to the pack a bit?

They should still definitely be the team that everyone is trying to chase down. Two State representatives from Tassie have moved up and joined Coorparoo who I'd imagine would cover any losses they might have had over the off-season.

Zillmere sound like they have picked up some quality youth girls, word from Yeronga and Grange is that a fair few talented converts from other sports have come to them to try out footy, there's been lots of talk around the league about Coolangatta being big improvers, and Griffith will be interesting to see under a new coach.

I think the UQ girls have flown under the radar a bit but are well placed to show a lot of improvement and should surprise quite a few people. It's great to see the league taking huge strides forward, hopefully there's a bunch of really close games and even competition over the year!

 

[CrowdedHouse]

They should still definitely be the team that everyone is trying to chase down. Two State representatives from Tassie have moved up and joined Coorparoo who I'd imagine would cover any losses they might have had over the off-season.

Zillmere sound like they have picked up some quality youth girls, word from Yeronga and Grange is that a fair few talented converts from other sports have come to them to try out footy, there's been lots of talk around the league about Coolangatta being big improvers, and Griffith will be interesting to see under a new coach.

I think the UQ girls have flown under the radar a bit but are well placed to show a lot of improvement and should surprise quite a few people. It's great to see the league taking huge strides forward, hopefully there's a bunch of really close games and even competition over the year!

With that much knowledge of the league, I should have you on the weekly GirlsPlayFooty Podcast!

 

[Bird_cat]

Can we cover ground on the QWAFA... what is going on there?

 

[spooner21]

Can we cover ground on the QWAFA... what is going on there?

A few new teams who should all be quite strong straight away along with 3 of last year's top 4. I imagine that teams will be a little bit up and down week to week depending on availability. Very hard to gauge where everyone will sit but here's my (very hypothetical) predicted ladder:

1. Moreton Bay - Formerly called Caboolture, the defending champs should set the standard again and be the team to beat. Have a good mix of experience and talented young girls, looked quite strong at the AFLQ carnival day knocking off QWAFL side Griffith Moorooka.

2. Bond Uni - A bit of an unknown as a brand new side, but have been training since early last year building toward playing in this comp. I'd imagine that they'll have a lot of very athletic girls who will run and carry.

3. Zillmere - Unlucky not to win it last year, and have a very good youth girls program feeding into this side. Weekly performances may vary depending on whether any girls are called up to QWAFL duties.

4. UQ - Like Zillmere, the Red Lionesses' fortunes will be shaped by availability in the top division. Last year girls would play 2-3 games before being promoted to fill holes in the QWAFL side leaving the second side rather understrength, will be hoping to keep a handful of experienced girls in this side to mentor the rookies.

5. Jindalee - Apparently largely made up of last year's Western Magpies side, with a lot of girls who played juniors with the Jags returning home. Have some experienced footballers and will beat above teams for size, but perhaps queries over whether they will have enough speed to consistently match up with the top sides.

6. Burleigh - Also quite an unknown, from what I hear this side is the natural development on from a strong junior program. If they are all young girls the Bombers could run rings around their opponents, but I'm not sure whether they have any/enough experience to lead the way.

Crystal ball stuff at the moment, way too many question marks to be confident about how everyone will go but that should give some sort of overview about what to expect.

Will be a great competition in any event with all teams having lots of potential!

 

[spooner21]

Well my UQ girls are done and dusted for 2015 as the top sides head into finals. It's a been a great year with the standard in both comps lifting again from previous seasons.

In the QWAFL I think Coorparoo will just be too strong. I'd tip Yeronga to get the job done over Zillmere pretty conformably in the Elimination Final, and then possibly run over Coolangatta in the Preliminary Final too with the Bluebirds recently suffering a few big injuries. Regardless of who wins that one I'd still be putting my money on Coorparoo in the big one if betting with my head, but am hoping that the Bluebirds can find their early season form just to shake things up a bit.

As for the QWAFA, Moreton Bay are certainly still the one to beat. A couple of bigger bodied girls there that can really influence a game. Zillmere might be stretched a bit too thin this weekend due to playing finals in both grades and as a result could be knocked out in both. If that happens, I'll be hoping that Bond Uni can then get a run on the following week as well to give us underdog premiers from the Coast in both grades. Whichever side goes through to the Grand Final will definitely need to open the game up and use their fitness if they're going to get the win over Moreton Bay.

 

[Saul]

Unlucky Bluebirds..... Well done to Coorparoo.

 

[spooner21]

It's very early days, but with Round 1 kicking off tomorrow I thought I'd have a go at trying to predict how the respective ladders in both competitions might end up this season. Pretty difficult season to predict with each QWAFL club welcoming in a few players either from other clubs, from regional areas/interstate, and from other sports. QWAFA is then twice as difficult to predict with there now being four reserves sides whose strength will depend very heavily on availability in their seniors, and a bunch of brand new clubs who we can't really guess about until they start playing a few games. I could be way off so I would love to hear other people's opinions!

QWAFL
1) Yeronga
2) Coolangatta
3) University of Queensland
4) Coorparoo
5) Zillmere
6) Wilston Grange

QWAFA
1) Yeronga
2) Maroochydore
3) Coolangatta
4) Jindalee
5) University of Queensland
6) Zillmere
7) Aspley
8) Burleigh
9) Kedron
10) Bond University
11) Moreton Bay
12) Broadbeach
13) Pine Rivers