AFLW AFLW/VFLW 2024 - General Discussion

[hutchy31]

1.8 collectively at 3qt. After the dees v crows game earlier in the week.

It’s pretty brutal to watch right now.

On the bright side, we’ve scored two behinds in three quarters and are still somehow in the game.

Coaches are the issue tonight game can’t afford teams playing multiples free behind the ball like this

Agree that the coaching is very defensive. I suppose they’re trying to win games, or at least not be thumped, but there’s a larger threat to the viability of the comp if this approach sets in. Watching it on TV is bad enough, I can’t imagine many people will want to front up at the ground if this is what’s being presented.

 

[Foxman98]

Every time we have it 50 or 60 out there is no one leading. Hate seeing players having shots or just trying to get it as long as possible when it's outside their range, we need movement and to try and hit a forward up 20-30 out.

They all literally just stand there gives you the absolute shits

 

[Foxman98]

1.8 collectively at 3qt. After the dees v crows game earlier in the week.

It’s pretty brutal to watch right now.

On the bright side, we’ve scored two behinds in three quarters and are still somehow in the game.



Agree that the coaching is very defensive. I suppose they’re trying to win games, or at least not be thumped, but there’s a larger threat to the viability of the comp if this approach sets in. Watching it on TV is bad enough, I can’t imagine many people will want to front up at the ground if this is what’s being presented.

I can understand them doing it in games like last week but no excuses tonight teams in the mid half and below we need to be attacking and be watchable or this leagues in real trouble

 

[Mantis Toboggan]

Another absolute ****ing gift. What a piss take

 

[Bulldogs85]

50m for that

 

[Fossie 32]

Wtf

 

[Foxman98]

Let’s hope she never gets an afl gig embarrassing umpire

 

[gordo2016]

Umpire who paid that is a joke and shouldn't be umpiring.

 

[Bulldogs85]

Umpire who paid that is a joke and shouldn't be umpiring.

She should get into the Essendon huddle and sing the song

 

[Foxman98]

Serious questions need to start being asked of the coach scores of 4/8 games scoring single digits is simply not good enough

 

[hutchy31]

Serious questions need to start being asked of the coach scores of 4/8 games scoring single digits is simply not good enough

McCarthy on the commentary is saying basically that the coaching is atrocious. No team has ever had three games with no goals in a season, we’ve just done it in eight games.

I understand focusing on contest and defense, and then you overlay offense on top once the other two are established. But it can’t be at the total expense of scoring, and definitely not when you’re trying to build a fan base and justify your existence (rightly or wrongly).

I’d much rather lose 75-25 than 26-3. And I bet most players would rather play in the former as well.

 

[DognBones]

As mentioned above, our forward structure is non- existent. Aimless kicks to stationary forwards and harder-working opponents out-number us constantly and clear the ball too easily.
We also seem to chase kicks too much and get beaten on the overlap.
The players are certainly trying very hard but the whole thing looks messy. Inexperience is a factor I suppose.

 

[MYOB]

That game was a disgrace.

Disgraceful coaching
Disgraceful umpiring
Disgraceful skills

Did I mention Disgraceful umpiring

 

[dogwatch]

Only just checked this thread. Couldn't watch the game and haven't checked the score sheet but I have an idea from the posts above what it might look like.

So where do we go from here?
Is there any glimmer for us? Do we just load up with more high picks and maybe hope to snag a couple of good mature footballers with them?

It all sounds pretty dismal right now.

 

[Dogsfan1]

Only just checked this thread. Couldn't watch the game and haven't checked the score sheet but I have an idea from the posts above what it might look like.

So where do we go from here?
Is there any glimmer for us? Do we just load up with more high picks and maybe hope to snag a couple of good mature footballers with them?

It all sounds pretty dismal right now.

We have had 2 wins this season last season we had one win we put the youngest team in aflw history on the park tonight yeah it was horrible how we didnt score any goals but just stick with them

 

[MYOB]

The more I think about tonight's game, the angrier I get.

We are in prime time, with a good crowd, and we dish up that.

If anyone that watched that game tonight was watching AFLW for the first, they would never watch it again.

 

[hutchy31]

I’m a few red wines in but I’ll chip in my 2c:

At a macro level, this has been a poor season so far imo. The AFL haven’t helped with the compressed fixture, it doesn’t lead to high scoring football. That said, it is a little disappointing that the football (and in particular the kicking skills) are at the level they are.

For the bulldogs themselves, the season was always likely to be a struggle. Then your best player and captain goes down for the year. For all the advantages the men’s team has, if Bont went down for a year my guess is we’d be a ****ing disaster in that comp as well. So it’s a perfect storm.

But the coaching is not helping imo. The best teams get the ball outside and move it, it’s not easy but it’s also not rocket science. They move the ball with a plan, and don’t just thump it anywhere. Most importantly, they don’t set up to have a spare in defense when you haven’t scored a goal all night.

It must be a brutal system to play in. It’s also horrible to watch. Nobody expects a flag challenge or a finals place, but trying to at least score every once in a while is surely a reasonable expectation.

 

[MrsEddieBetts]

The coach might want to get some of the players who aren’t in the leadership group (and some who are) onside…

 

[Oliver G]

I'm not worried so much about winning or kicking goals, they will come with time, but what is so frustrating and disappointing is the style we’ve played over the last two weeks.

It’s mind-boggling, why are we so defensive? We played a loose back for the entire match tonight. We are screaming out for targets, better ball users and crumbers inside 50 and yet we consistently had players behind the ball tonight. It has to be a directive as we certainly didn’t play like that against Brisbane, Collingwood and West Coast.

In all 3 of those matches when we had the ball we’d take the game on by running the ball forward and yet over the last two weeks and especially tonight in dry weather as soon as we got the ball we’d bomb it forward or look for an option wide, allowing Essendon to get players back. We have players with speed and yet we seldom used them, and tonight against a tiring Essendon outfit would’ve been a great opportunity to capitalise on pace.

We are struggling for height both in front and behind the ball, so ball use forward needs to be spot on and our forward structure is nonexistent at the moment. The amount of times we have kicked it straight to the opposition over the past two weeks has been the most disappointing aspect for me. We had the ball in really great spots in our attacking half numerous times tonight and time and time again we kicked it straight to the Essendon defender, not to a contest, not to space but straight to Essendon defenders for an uncontested mark.

Ball use has to be the priority for the last 3 games and what makes tonight in particular frustrating is that we actually did a lot right, we won the clearances, ground balls were even, and tackling was much better, but we let ourselves down time and time again with poor ball use and if we're not giving the ball to the opposition with our use, we’re giving it to them with our poor discipline via free kicks and 50 metre penalties.

Pritchard, Edmonds and Berry were best on ground tonight for mine. Georgostathis was solid as well and could’ve got a much higher rating with better kicking efficiency and not giving away that 50. Gorham and Buttifant also had strong games and Farquharson had a really solid first half and I think really exciting prospect moving forward, tackles well, uses the ball well and has speed.

Weston-Turner continues to tease us, I still don’t know how she missed that goal, it was surely harder not to score. What is clear though is that she is going to be one of the best players in the comp in the next few years. For someone of that height to be able to win the ball on the ground and the in air is like gold dust. We’re clearly easing her into the game and building her fitness, she’s currently sitting around 65% game time. When the time comes and we are using the ball well inside our forward half, she’s going to kick a lot of goals.

Look I know we’re inexperienced, very young (especially tonight with the 4th youngest team in AFLW history) and missing not only our best player but also several key position players and we definitely heading in the right direction but these kind of nights are still very frustrating.

 

[potdog21]

We would have to be the most penalised team in the competition. I hate the way AFLW is umpired, it is shocking but we do not help ourselves with our sloppy tackling. We cannot afford to be giving so many frees away. That 50m penalty against Grant was ridiculous.

 

[dogwatch]

We would have to be the most penalised team in the competition. I hate the way AFLW is umpired, it is shocking but we do not help ourselves with our sloppy tackling. We cannot afford to be giving so many frees away. That 50m penalty against Grant was ridiculous.

Regardless of whether a penalty is warranted, 50m is disproportionately harsh in the AFLW. Men can regularly kick that far but how many women kick it 50m? The 50m is worth almost two kicks in the AFLW.

The penalty should be more like 30m or 35m.

 

[Oliver G]

We would have to be the most penalised team in the competition. I hate the way AFLW is umpired, it is shocking but we do not help ourselves with our sloppy tackling. We cannot afford to be giving so many frees away. That 50m penalty against Grant was ridiculous.

Totally agree, the umpiring standard is horrendous and is without doubt the only aspect of the AFLW that has not seen any improvement since the first season. That first 50mp against Georgostathis was definitely there, I'm not sure what she was thinking putting someone in a headlock but the Grant one was just insane.

Having said that, we are serial offenders in giving away lazy free kicks, here's the current free kick differential for season 2024...



We are comfortably on the bottom, and with territory being a huge part of women's footy at the moment it's costing us big time.

 

[stevieg1969]

I journeyed to WO yesterday and that was a hard watch. Both teams were pretty ordinary and apart from Maddy Prespakis there was absolutely no footy IQ on show. People keep saying skills have improved but given we started off with 8 teams and now have 18 teams that hasn’t been clearly evident. What hasn’t improved is the decision making with the amount of handballs and short kicks to players under pressure more the norm. You can see that KLWT is going to be a gun but despite coming from a Bulldog family she was happy to be taken by one of the Sydney teams and she will be a flight risk. The AFLW has just become one contest after another. There are hardly any players that break the lines or go for a run (and bounce the ball). It’s actually more fun watching junior girls play as you will get 2-3 girls that are better than the rest and will break games open. I also think the difference between the men’s version and women’s of AFL is the greatest out of any world sport. There are great women’s tennis players, golfers even footballers (soccer) but I think I could make a solid contribution playing AFLW and I’m 55yo.

 

[Mr. Walker]

Off topic and based on my impression only but are the women more prone to knee injury than the men? Has this been proven statistically or is the sample size too small yet?

 

[dogwatch]

Regardless of whether a penalty is warranted, 50m is disproportionately harsh in the AFLW. Men can regularly kick that far but how many women kick it 50m? The 50m is worth almost two kicks in the AFLW.

The penalty should be more like 30m or 35m.

A further couple of points on this.
The harshness of the penalty is compounded by two things: (1) the low scoring in AFLW, so the reasonable likelihood of a goal from a 50m penalty is felt much more than in higher scoring AFLM, and (2) the patently poor standard of umpiring in AFLW, means you are almost as likely to get a dud 50m penalty as you are a deserved one.