AFLW Round 10 - 2023 AFLW season

[Teen Wolf]

Of the teams currently 8th-10th, St Kilda hold the enviable position (in terms of opponent and %), though it is a close call.

Another tough question is whether we'll get a deserving top 4 this season, or a repeat of last year where one team fell in off the back of an easy fixture, and was then predictably bundled out of finals in straight sets.

 

[The Victorian]

Of the teams currently 8th-10th, St Kilda hold the enviable position (in terms of opponent and %), though it is a close call.

Another tough question is whether we'll get a deserving top 4 this season, or a repeat of last year where one team fell in off the back of an easy fixture, and was then predictably bundled out of finals in straight sets.

Mate just give it a bloody break. I’m over your continued jealously and hatred towards us. I’m absolutely fed up with it. If we reach the top 4 then we have earnt it. We do deserve it. It’s not a case of falling lucky. You’ve still got to get the wins. We have had great wins this year including Collingwood AWAY, Richmond AWAY, Essendon last night in Mackay. Where is our credit??

 

[Teen Wolf]

Mate just give it a bloody break. I’m over your continued jealously and hatred towards us. I’m absolutely fed up with it. If we reach the top 4 then we have earnt it. We do deserve it. It’s not a case of falling lucky. You’ve still got to get the wins. We have had great wins this year including Collingwood AWAY, Richmond AWAY, Essendon last night in Mackay. Where is our credit??

We all know Brisbane is better. A lot better.

That's just a pure (and widely held) football opinion... on a football forum. Take it or leave it.

 

[The Victorian]

We all know Brisbane is better. A lot better.

That's just a pure (and widely held) football opinion... on a football forum. Take it or leave it.

If they are good enough they will finish top 4. Maybe they shouldn’t have chocked to Richmond or St Kilda?! Win those games and they’d be in top 4.

They can thank us while there at it for Smith, Heslop, Hampson and Pregelj that they poached…

 

[Teen Wolf]

While the AFL didn't get their preferred result with the Suns (that is, for the team to miss finals), they might get their second preference... a Suns' home semi-final vs Brisbane!

Turns a 1k crowd into a 5k QClash. Both would still look pretty empty at Carrara but, as I mentioned last week, who knows if that ground will even be in usable condition after the Paul McCartney concert tonight. Could be that GC play their home final at Springfield, idk.

BL don't drop below 5th spot with a loss tonight, unless Geelong make up something like a 7-goal deficit in percentage, one way or another (doable, even if the Lions lose narrowly to the Dees, depends on what Cats outfit shows up today).

Of course, Brisbane winning tonight and moving into 4th wouldn't rule out a week 2 QClash, but the Lions would be the home team in that instance (and GC would have a week 1 home final against probably Sydney or St Kilda, which will make the league look bad).

 

[The Victorian]

While the AFL didn't get their preferred result with the Suns (that is, for the team to miss finals), they might get their second preference... a Suns' home semi-final vs Brisbane!

Turns a 1k crowd into a 5k QClash. Both would still look pretty empty at Carrara but, as I mentioned last week, who knows if that ground will even be in usable condition after the Paul McCartney concert tonight. Could be that GC play their home final at Springfield, idk.

BL don't drop below 5th spot with a loss tonight, unless Geelong make up something like a 7-goal deficit in percentage, one way or another (doable, even if the Lions lose narrowly to the Dees, depends on what Cats outfit shows up today).

Of course, Brisbane winning tonight and moving into 4th wouldn't rule out a week 2 QClash, but the Lions would be the home team in that instance (and GC would have a week 1 home final against probably Sydney or St Kilda, which will make the league look bad).

STOP THIS HATRED TOWARDS THE SUNS

 

[Teen Wolf]

Hmm Mia King a late withdrawal for North Melbourne today due to "general soreness". Such a serious injury obviously puts her in major doubt for next week...

 

[In the Thirds]

Who the hell said the jumpers for Dogs vs North was OK, both blue jumpers, dark blue shorts and similar socks and white numbers on both jumpers. It’s make it a hard watch.

 

[Teen Wolf]

And it won't even be the worst clash of the round, by a long shot.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Not a game being played with facemelting intensity. Neither team wants to be out there, to put it bluntly.

 

[footyknut]

We’re going to get biased fixturing until we get to 17 games and I’m OK with it.
Every year it is likely someone will make the 8 that shouldn’t and someone will make the 4 that shouldn’t (Richmond last year) but those sides will inevitably get found out in finals and I don’t think we’ll ever get an undeserving premier.
And I think we get better games during the year and interest in the ladder right up to the finals which is what the game needs.
Brisbane are clearly the 4th best team this year but they made errors which have ultimately cost them. Two games in Queensland to start their finals campaign would give them a chance.

 

[CURVE]

The Dogs become the first team to win a Premiership and Wooden spoon.

 

[GC2015]

We’re going to get biased fixturing until we get to 17 games and I’m OK with it.
Every year it is likely someone will make the 8 that shouldn’t and someone will make the 4 that shouldn’t (Richmond last year) but those sides will inevitably get found out in finals and I don’t think we’ll ever get an undeserving premier.

Although I tend to agree with you, it's always interesting to see how far momentum can take a team in sports. Look at Carlton's male team this year - middle of the season people were saying it was another wasted year and they were playing like a bottom 4 team but then they found form, went on a crazy run of wins and made it all the way to a prelim. Now it's widely accepted that Carlton will play finals next year and could be a genuine top 4 team. You could argue Collingwood did something very similar last year and now they are premiers. I guess what I'm trying to say is - is this just the natural transition that occurs in a sports league when previously strong teams start to drop off and young teams start to rise? i.e premiers Geelong dropped off this year and missed the finals while bottom 10 team Carlton made a prelim.

I think it's a bit of both. I'd say the gap between the standard of footy with the strong teams like Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne (+North) is slowly closing and we're seeing expansion teams like Gold Coast (2020), Essendon (2022) and Sydney (2022) now emerging. That gap is only going to close more over the next few years as the young players those expansion clubs originally drafted gain more experience. North are really the only exception to this as the went really hard with their recruiting at the start and went down the shortcut route by stealing several already established stars/players from other clubs like Kearney, King, Randall, Garner, Ashmore etc instead of heavily recruiting from the draft and naturally having a few years of struggle like other expansion sides.

If you put yourself in a position to do damage then anything is possible in sports. Of course it's unlikely a team like the Suns will beat a team like Melbourne in an away qualifying final next week but IF the underdog team in that scenario finds a way to do it then suddenly you have a brand new premiership contender. That's the beauty of finals and what's possible. Any given Sunday mentality.

 

[Ticky009]

Although I tend to agree with you, it's always interesting to see how far momentum can take a team in sports. Look at Carlton's male team this year - middle of the season people were saying it was another wasted year and they were playing like a bottom 4 team but then they found form, went on a crazy run of wins and made it all the way to a prelim. Now it's widely accepted that Carlton will play finals next year and could be a genuine top 4 team. You could argue Collingwood did something very similar last year and now they are premiers. I guess what I'm trying to say is - is this just the natural transition that occurs in a sports league when previously strong teams start to drop off and young teams start to rise? i.e premiers Geelong dropped off this year and missed the finals while bottom 10 team Carlton made a prelim.

I think it's a bit of both. I'd say the gap between the standard of footy with the strong teams like Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne (+North) is slowly closing and we're seeing expansion teams like Gold Coast (2020), Essendon (2022) and Sydney (2022) now emerging. That gap is only going to close more over the next few years as the young players those expansion clubs originally drafted gain more experience. North are really the only exception to this as the went really hard with their recruiting at the start and went down the shortcut route by stealing several already established stars/players from other clubs like Kearney, King, Randall, Garner, Ashmore etc instead of heavily recruiting from the draft and naturally having a few years of struggle like other expansion sides.

If you put yourself in a position to do damage then anything is possible in sports. Of course it's unlikely a team like the Suns will beat a team like Melbourne in an away qualifying final next week but IF the underdog team in that scenario finds a way to do it then suddenly you have a brand new premiership contender. That's the beauty of finals and what's possible. Any given Sunday mentality.

No one stole anyone. Players choose to leave the club and go to another.

 

[Teen Wolf]

And so the Bulldogs secure their third no.1 pick, as we approach the 7th proper draft since the competition started. Guaranteed to go to waste again if they don't do something about both the coach and the S&C department.

 

[Liam Boy]

I think it's a bit of both. I'd say the gap between the standard of footy with the strong teams like Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne (+North) is slowly closing and we're seeing expansion teams like Gold Coast (2020), Essendon (2022) and Sydney (2022) now emerging. That gap is only going to close more over the next few years as the young players those expansion clubs originally drafted gain more experience. North are really the only exception to this as the went really hard with their recruiting at the start and went down the shortcut route by stealing several already established stars/players from other clubs like Kearney, King, Randall, Garner, Ashmore etc instead of heavily recruiting from the draft and naturally having a few years of struggle like other expansion sides.

Oh so it's stealing now? We'll have Viv Saad back then thanks

 

[GC2015]

No one stole anyone. Players choose to leave the club and go to another.

Oh so it's stealing now? We'll have Viv Saad back then thanks

Fair enough. Probably poorly worded on my behalf. Of course players have the choice to leave if they want unless contractually obligated to stay but even then they are usually granted leave if they don't want to be there.

I guess what I was really trying to say was North's initial recruitment plan was designed to make the team immediately competitive by mostly skipping the development phase that expansion clubs usually go through. Is that stealing? No, but it does take away from other clubs when you do that. My club was accused of stealing players from the Lions when the women's team entered in 2020 and we saw a drop in performance for the Lions that year. Just like how we saw the Bulldogs and Magpies drop off in 2019 when North took players from them upon entry into the AFLW in 2019.

 

[Liam Boy]

Fair enough. Probably poorly worded on my behalf. Of course players have the choice to leave if they want unless contractually obligated to stay but even then they are usually granted leave if they don't want to be there.

I guess what I was really trying to say was North's initial recruitment plan was designed to make the team immediately competitive by mostly skipping the development phase that expansion clubs usually go through. Is that stealing? No, but it does take away from other clubs when you do that. My club was accused of stealing players from the Lions when the women's team entered in 2020 and we saw a drop in performance for the Lions that year. Just like how we saw the Bulldogs and Magpies drop off in 2019 when North took players from them upon entry into the AFLW in 2019.

Probably because we weren't really a typical expansion team. We'd been putting in the groundwork and supporting the women's game for a decade or so when the AFLW started, and we were excluded but maintained those strong connections, which is a big part of why we were able to build such a strong team so quickly. It's not like other teams had that option and just chose to go youth, I guarantee they would've done it if they could.

 

[GC2015]

Probably because we weren't really a typical expansion team. We'd been putting in the groundwork and supporting the women's game for a decade or so when the AFLW started, and we were excluded but maintained those strong connections, which is a big part of why we were able to build such a strong team so quickly. It's not like other teams had that option and just chose to go youth, I guarantee they would've done it if they could.

There you go. Just proves the point even more that North were the exception when it comes to expansion teams. Probably somewhat similar to Port Adelaide when they entered the AFL and had all these previous affiliations that allowed them to recruit players like Brownlow Medalist and Port Adelaide junior Gavin Wanganeen. Port went on to finish 9th in their first season and were highly competitive virtually every year leading up to their 2004 flag. You still see those affiliations playing their part to this day with the recent recruitment of Jason Horne-Francis. Probably a big part of the reason they are the only AFL team to never receive the wooden spoon.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Few better sights in football than Pepa Randall getting towelled up.

Aaaand Goldsworthy seals the Rising Star with her 2nd goal today (cos ya know the stats is all they look at--thankfully the stats tell a fairly true story in this case).

 

[Teen Wolf]

"Natalie Barr" injured today (did Kochie clean her up?) and "Dallymore" had 15 disposals, according to Kelli Underpants.

 

[mookieb]

It just seems staggering to me that at round 10 season 8 most players who are near full time now can't handball the easiest skill in the game.

Hitting the middle of the ball, using an open palm and looping the ball like you're whacking a balloon in the air. Infuriating.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Holy Harris. 2023 the best MOTY field we've had in 8 seasons, by a mile.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Holy Harris. 2023 the best MOTY field we've had in 8 seasons, by a mile.

Took another good one a few minutes later, got flubber under her boots tonight.

 

[CURVE]

It's amazing how well Brisbane play against the top teams but struggle against some of the lower teams. Potentially the three teams they lost to won't make the finals.