AFLW AFLW/VFLW 2024 - General Discussion

[BallaratBulldog]

Jumped to 11th.

 

[W W Biscuit]

Great turnaround in form from early in the season. We're building belief. Awesome win.

 

[Bulldogs85]

I think the Girls are in great hands with Tamara Hyett as our coach

 

[MYOB]

That was a great win. Plenty still to work on, but with every win, will come confidence

 

[Fossie 32]

 

[gordo2016]

Deserved the win, worked very hard in the last quarter and eventually got the reward after a nice kick for goal. Very good captains game from D.Berry. Felt very sorry though for those Shitney supporters behind the goals at the Geelong Rd end. They went awfully quiet in the last few minutes and the weekend hasn't started well for them. Go Dogs!

 

[BeMoreBont]

I was critical of Fitzgerald after the first 2-3 games, but since Blackburn has been out she's been absolutely fantastic. She really worked herself into the ground tonight.

Our game plan is really interesting. It seems like we kick long almost 90% of the time. Almost refuse to hit up short kicks to gain territory. Maybe we just don't trust our kicking ability enough.

It worked tonight. Swans went for those kicks constantly and turned the ball over many times.

 

[Bulldogs85]

 

[Bulldogs85]

 

[Bulldogs85]

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Glad to tune in to the second half and seethe win.

On reflection having Elle out might fast track the development of some players and force others to stand up.

 

[dogwatch]

This was the first game I'd been able to watch this year.

That was a gutsy comeback. Definitely starting to build something. The pressure and tackling were far more impressive than we saw last year. And they came back well after being blitzed early in the second quarter. (Sydney kicked over half their game score in those first 4 minutes).

It was noticeable how much we went long and direct. Sydney had way more kicks (168-133) handballs (110-58) and marks (67-34) but very often it was a sideways kick or a defensive handball. That might have been their plan or it might have been our pressure. Or a bit of both. Sydney had a lot more UPs (165-88) but the stat that matters more - CPs - was almost equal (103-99 Sydney's way).

The top five kick getters were all Swans. But if you look at the leading MG stats, four of the top 6 are Bulldogs. That pretty much sums up the different approach. Fewer kicks but much more territory.

After reading some negative commentary on them over recent weeks I was watching KLWT and Deanna Berry pretty closely. I reckon they stood up pretty well.

Berry is a seasoned player but she was probably in Ellie's shadow for a long time and even in the early games this season as the new captain. She may be one of those that DRB was alluding to, who will benefit from the season-ending injury to Ellie. I thought she led the side well and was composed with the ball. I was surprised she wasn't named among our best.

KLWT is going pretty well for a first season player. She's starting to find her feet and will be a weapon as she develops strength, game nous and confidence.

Bennetts and Woodley were both very good I thought.

One thing that's a bit disappointing is the number of girls who seem unable or unwilling to kick on their non-preferred foot. That's harder to learn at this age but I guess it will improve with each new batch of juniors coming through, as long as they are being coached in those skills at the junior levels.

 

[Oliver G]

If you had asked me 14 days ago that we’d be 11th on the ladder with 2 wins after R5 I’d’ve said you were crazy.

14 to 8 shots in the end so we probably should’ve won by a little more and other than a 6 minute lapse at the start of the second quarter an impressive performance.

Sydney was resting some players and lost Morphett but this was our 4th game in 16 days (Sydney has played 3 games in the same period), so you could make a case it was even.

I was really impressed with our pressure and defence tonight. Sydney only had a handful on repeat inside 50s while we had over a dozen. We were able to rebound their entries with ease and bring the ball to neutral territory which is something we’ve really struggled with over the past 12 months.

Ball use was an issue for both teams but I feel we really struggled with our kicking tonight with far too many direct turnovers and panic kicks. What was great though is that we didn’t let it bother us and we didn’t fold, we trusted the system. Our handballing has also improved out of sight with us linking up more and more of those uncontested chains with each week. It just shows how confidence can affect a young developing team.

Edmonds was outstanding and has to get a lot of credit for staying on the ground for the remainder of the match after Borg went down and took two crucial contested marks as well.

What was also good to see was the spread of players standing up with Fitzgerald, Gutknecht, Bennetts, Berry and Jasmyn Smith all having season-best games and while Pritchard was solid it was great to see that we can win without having to rely on the likes of Blackburn and Pritchard dominating. Like last week it was very much a team effort and no one really had a terrible game.

Gee it’s exciting to see Weston-Turner’s raw talent, a quiet first half but that second half was really exciting. So strong above and below and has great pace for someone of that height.

Really sad news about Borg as well, had strung a good couple of games together too.