AFLW Finals, Week 1 - 2024 AFLW season

[Teen Wolf]

This ain't Greiser, it's the return of the G-Train.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Richmond staring down the barrel of a disastrous season. Far more so than last year, because you have to factor in which teams are very close to full strength and which teams aren't.

 

[Saints2001]

Yea some long roosts by her. But undisciplined and poor play by the Tigers giving away free kicks and not locking the game down sufficiently in the end of each quarter - Port should comfortably run out winners in Q4.

 

[mookieb]

You say that the Crows have great players all over the park, but I don't really agree. The reality is there are waaay too many passengers on our list. Matthew Clarke deserves some of the blame for sure, but not for not getting enough out of the payers. Rather, he deserves blame for not having refreshed our list. The last time we drafted a player who is making a significant impact on our current side was Zoe Prowse back in 2021. Every draftee since then has either been a bust, or a depth player at best. Admittedly it's been tough to do with state-based drafts and Port having been given access to all the best SA talent for the last few seasons, but hey, it would be pretty rich to complain about that after we built a triple premiership list out of the same access ourselves.

The Crows have an exceptional core group. Marinoff/Hatchard/Jess Allan in the midfield, Biddell/Prowse/Sarah Allan down back, Gould/Ponter up forward, and Randall all over the ground. That is an elite group which compares favourably to any top nine players from any team in the league. They have carried us through the last couple of seasons, albeit Hatchard, Ponter and Sarah Allan have all been well down this season. But once you get past that group, it's pretty slim pickings. Thompson, Newman, Charlton, Kelly, Goodwin are all decent but not great. That still leaves us needing to select at least seven of our depth players, and so it's been a rotating cavalcade of Boileau, Martin, Munyard, Kustermann, Varnhagen, Mueller, Levy, Smith, Waterhouse, Tarlinton, Boyle-Carr, Ballard and Tonon, none of which should really be getting games in a top 4 side. The injuries to Jones and Allen haven't helped, but most teams have more injuries than that.

Clarke's response to this situation has been to just leave our bottom four players on the bench for the majority of each game, not even trusting them to be on the park unless absolutely necessary. In the match last night we had four players receive less than 50% game time. Levy with 42%, Kustermann with 32%, Martin with 30%, Tarlinton with 20%(!) in a match where every North player played at least 53% game time. Other than Kustermann who managed 8 touches with her sliver of gametime, the other three players had essentially no impact on the game at all, and swallowed up a bench spot that could have been used to freshen up our better players. Almost 2/3 of all our bench time for the match went to those four players. Unsurprisingly, our best players were all spent by the end of the match.

You mentioned Libby Birch, which is a great example. North needed an extra quality defender, so they went out and got one. It has been clear for several seasons that we desperately need another quality forward, but the closest the Crows have gone to getting one has been to bring back a long-past-it Yvonne Bonner. Meanwhile we've lost Phillips, Scheer and Woodland from our forward line.

The Crows drastically need to bring in some genuine talent to replace the list cloggers. Fortunately, all of their core group other than Randall are still 26 or younger, so there is time left to do it. Not losing the best handful of players to Port each year will help matters, although it's less relevant now that the draft isn't state-based anymore. But the worry for Crows fans is that Clarke and co don't seem to have recognised there is a problem. Or if they have, they're doing a damn good impression of not having done so.

100% correct. Crows depth has steadily been eroded by losing players at the end of the year and not having recruits or draft picks replacing or improving on the players lost. Makes them very vulnerable with a high dependence of their high quality best players. When an important player like Jones goes down - they can't replace that production.

 

[X_box_X]

This finals series is really something.

 

[mookieb]

Plot twist: Brisbane were also off their game.

Typical sour Hawthorn supporters lol

Why would either team be off their game or only putting the minimum in to win?

It's a high pressure final - a disadvantage for Hawks given Bris finals experience. Hawks should have had a much bigger lead but for goal kicking, but credit to Lions they made the adjustments and imposed their will on the game. Shows the benefits of experience and taking advantage of their opportunities.

 

[cmndstab]

Have to give credit to Hawthorn, they performed better against Brisbane than I would have expected from them. They've come on a long way.

 

[cmndstab]

This finals series is really something.

Four great matches so far, and some pretty tantalising ones yet to come!

 

[The Nostradamus]

So they announcing the semi weekend and prelim weekend fixtures tonight?

 

[Teen Wolf]

Abbey Holmes having a laugh. Richmond being well beaten = Time to praise Conti for not having another one-touch quarter!

 

[Teen Wolf]

Returning to a thought I expressed after R1's ridiculous loss to West Coast, it looks like Ryan Ferguson

Ryan Ferguson

Age

43

Ht

195cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.6

2star

K

4.3

2star

HB

4.2

3star

M

3.2

3star

T

1.0

3star

No current season stats available

D

4.8

1star

K

2.2

1star

HB

2.6

3star

M

1.4

2star

T

0.8

3star

has taken the Tigers as far as he can.

Enough of Mr. Nice Guy, now is the time to give Erin Phillips a call imo. Somebody Conti idolises and might actually listen to, and somebody who already has a record for driving standards at an otherwise also-ran.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Crowd for Alberton Oval was 5,172. Very good.

Crowd for Ikon Park was 4,985. At least 500 below what it should have been imo. So the Hawks supporters need to do much better next week, given Port don't have the same fanbase in Vic as the Lions.

The aggregate for the "round" was ~200 below last year's first week of finals. But a much better vibe this year as we didn't have two games of empty grandstands to look at.

 

[Air_Chester]

Crowd for Alberton Oval was 5,172. Very good.

Crowd for Ikon Park was 4,985. At least 500 below what it should have been imo. So the Hawks supporters need to do much better next week, given Port don't have the same fanbase in Vic as the Lions.

The aggregate for the "round" was ~200 below last year's first week of finals. But a much better vibe this year as we didn't have two games of empty grandstands to look at.

They updated the Hawks-Lions crowd to 5,015. Not sure where the extra 30 people were, but there you have it.

Very vibrant crowds this weekend, great atmosphere. Pretty sure those kids in Fremantle are still chanting “let’s go Freo” as we speak.

 

[TheWalyalupFan]

those kids in Fremantle are still chanting “let’s go Freo” as we speak.

And they will be in the GF when North lose their only game for the season.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Updated win-loss records in finals:

Brisbane (9-5)
Adelaide (8-6)
Melbourne (6-4)
North Melb. (6-4)

Fremantle (3-3)
Carlton (2-1)
Collingwood (2-4)
Geelong (2-3)
Port Adelaide (1-0)
Sydney (1-1)
W. Bulldogs (1-1)

Essendon (0-2)
Gold Coast (0-2)
GWS Giants (0-1)
Hawthorn (0-1)
Richmond (0-3)

St Kilda (0-0)
West Coast (0-0)

 

[Teen Wolf]

Some truly idiotic journalism here:

Ex-Lion targeted in post-match scuffle, Hawks reject soft draw talk

Brisbane and Hawthorn players came to blows on the final siren after alleged comments from the crowd were directed at Emily Bates

www.afl.com.au

Clash after siren as tempers flare in Hawks-Lions final

Hawks coach Daniel Webster was asked about the fiery post-match altercation, including whether comments had been directed at Hawthorn captain Emily Bates, and said: “something might have been there”.

www.theage.com.au

Whether there were comments from the crowd directed at Emily Bates... maybe that's worth following up.

But it had (and she had) NOTHING to do with the post-siren scuffle, which was pure sore loser stuff.

 

[Teen Wolf]

The end-to-end cameras will have picked everything up, but just from this video alone, we can tell Tilly Lucas-Rodd should be getting a fine for misconduct, if not facing the tribunal on a serious misconduct charge (see the right of screen, 20-22 sec mark):


Brisbane players minding their own business. TLR goes up and shoves Charlotte Mullins full on in the back (and then runs away like a little chickenshit).

 

[Tjblues]

Followed on the form their men’s side showed after losing a final a couple of months ago.

TLR should be embarrassed. As a former club captain you’d like to think they had a good head on their shoulders.

 

[Tjblues]

Also just saw the brains trust in charge of AFLW have scheduled the Adelaide vs Freo final at 3:05 local time on Saturday.

There’s an Adelaide strikers WBBL game that starts at 3pm at AO

There’s a major v8 Supercars race through the streets of Adelaide starting at 3:45

It’s also currently forecast to be 35 degrees.

Once again they pick the worst possible option to showcase the game

 

[Teen Wolf]

Strikers WBBL aren't on Ch7 so it wouldn't have been given any consideration.

Stars v Renegades WBBL at the MCG is, however, on 7mate on the Friday night. Therein lies the motivation to put AFLW on Saturday arvo (which will be main channel in the traditional footy states, or so says the TV guides).

 

[blueiris]

Have to give credit to Hawthorn, they performed better against Brisbane than I would have expected from them. They've come on a long way.

4 out 3 weeks on the road for a non-professional sport team Lions looked pretty tired Hawthorn looked to have chocked especially when a lot went their way including a mark that clearly went over the behind line

 

[Aristarchus]

The end-to-end cameras will have picked everything up, but just from this video alone, we can tell Tilly Lucas-Rodd should be getting a fine for misconduct, if not facing the tribunal on a serious misconduct charge (see the right of screen, 20-22 sec mark):


Brisbane players minding their own business. TLR goes up and shoves Charlotte Mullins full on in the back (and then runs away like a little chickenshit).

Not justifying the melee but I mean, something clearly happened, in all the seasons I've watched them they've never given any indication before that they would act like that during a game, it was clearly prompted by something. So without hearing TLR's versions of events I think you're being a bit hyperbolic.

There was also this earlier in the 4th:



Whether it was a follow on from this or something crowd related (or something else), we don't know yet. I would wait for any investigation, I'd assume the AFL would look into it. They'd have to for any fines.

 

[Sherrinator]

Not justifying the melee but I mean, something clearly happened, in all the seasons I've watched them they've never given any indication before that they would act like that during a game, it was clearly prompted by something. So without hearing TLR's versions of events I think you're being a bit hyperbolic.

There was also this earlier in the 4th:



Whether it was a follow on from this or something crowd related (or something else), we don't know yet. I would wait for any investigation, I'd assume the AFL would look into it. They'd have to for any fines.

It’s called being a sore loser and forgetting you’ve got cameras on you.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Not justifying the melee but I mean, something clearly happened, in all the seasons I've watched them they've never given any indication before that they would act like that during a game, it was clearly prompted by something. So without hearing TLR's versions of events I think you're being a bit hyperbolic.

There was also this earlier in the 4th:



Whether it was a follow on from this or something crowd related (or something else), we don't know yet. I would wait for any investigation, I'd assume the AFL would look into it. They'd have to for any fines.

Doesn't matter if Hodder (who was reacting to a wild high tackle) kicked Bates' head into the stands, you don't wait until after the siren to retaliate.

Btw it's not the MRO's job to hear the players' version of events. They make judgments based on available footage, and that's what I'm doing too.

The post-siren footage shows TLR cheapshotting a BL player after the initial scuffle had died down, which could reasonably be interpreted as misconduct. Where is the hyperbole?

 

[mookieb]

My goodness did Tilly push someone over after a thrilling final? Are we talking a life ban or just a 14 week suspension. Please.

Rejoice. We got a high quality final and a close game. Now we also have a massive rivalry which is being talked about and will spill out into next year and hopefully for years to come. Exactly what the AFLW needs.