Autopsy Round 2 v Hawthorn. Saturday Sept 7th - 1:05pm @ Victoria Park

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It was.. very disappointing.

The hack kicking. The skills. Kicking the the player feet.

But most of all, what was clear and day was the difference in talent between the two sides.
Hawks got some handouts last two years with being handed free top picks to the top 5 players in the draft, while last year was our first time we have had a top pick.

I think for such a long time we have wasted so much time in thinking we were better than we were, and because of that, we were always up there but never good enough and not poor enough to get a top 5 pick.
Probably had gotten away with it, but the more talent you see on other teams makes it very obvious what we are lacking.

Its good for the compeition that all this talent is finally coming through from junior level to the top, but we need some of these through our club.

Even when we had Lambert, Steph, Chloe. It still felt very blue collar. It's still very much the case again now. We may need to have to go backwards to go forwards.
 
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Asked person at the gate and she said over 3000 have been through.

Now to the game...

No speed, poor skills, going to be a long 10 weeks.

With the poor skills, alot of these ladies have been part of the AFLW program for awhile now, so how haven’t their skills improved?
Watching the kicking ability of the Hawks women, compared to ours was like chalk and cheese....
 
I watched the first 5 minutes or so and realised a disaster was going to unfold and switched off. We havent seemed to improve one tiny bit in a number of years. I watch brisbane and similar teams and there are athletic girls who can kick...but evidently we cant recruit them.

I did notice that in the off season we traded pick 11 and 29 to get pick 9. That is just too too cute. Too pseudo professional. It indicates that we couldnt use a pick 29 but we are desperate for girls at that level. I dont know if the recruiting staff got that amazing pick 9 that they were seeking but I think someone should tell them that drafting - and especially in the women's game at the moment - isnt that scientific. We need talent. Players who not only can get the hard ball and tackle, but can use the ball. The rest of the league seems to have gone out of sight in that aspect.
 

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It was.. very disappointing.

The hack kicking. The skills. Kicking the the player feet.

But most of all, what was clear and day was the difference in talent between the two sides.
Hawks got some handouts last two years with being handed free top picks to the top 5 players in the draft, while last year was our first time we have had a top pick.

I think for such a long time we have wasted so much time in thinking we were better than we were, and because of that, we were always up there but never good enough and not poor enough to get a top 5 pick.
Probably had gotten away with it, but the more talent you see on other teams makes it very obvious what we are lacking.

Its good for the compeition that all this talent is finally coming through from junior level to the top, but we need some of these through our club.
Don’t be down Jen.

With the draft rules and expansion, it was impossible for a Vic club to bottom out.

So the only option was to keep trying to find talent to stay near the top.

The leagues has moved on from superstars carrying a team and is coming more in line with mens AFL in that team/talent and tactics will win out.

They are kicking further, cleaner skills and better tactics. It’s evolving so quickly.
Talent coming through is far more skilled than current players in the system.

But I find it far more enjoyable to watch than in previous years.

Unfortunately for us, we were caught on the downward spiral when expansion started (like the blues and WB) and it’s going to take years to re build the list.

PS. I do laugh at what our team might look like if Jasmine & Chloe were still running around for us….
 
With the poor skills, alot of these ladies have been part of the AFLW program for awhile now, so how haven’t their skills improved?
Watching the kicking ability of the Hawks women, compared to ours was like chalk and cheese....
Because hawks have players who have been drilled since 12-13.

Can’t un teach bad habits.
Just is what it is.
Nothing we can do except start again.
 
There is clearly talent coming through the system now. The girls playing at U18 level now would have been playing since they were kids, which will be good for the competition. We just need to get some top talent into this club.
You can tell the skill level on show today.
 
I said end of last season, the team needs to be stripped back. They should have moved on some players with trade value eg. Schleicher, Rowe, Butler, or even a Davey, and got in some good young talent, at the high end of the draft.
They were able to do that anyway. Brought in Howarth, Hyde, and two top 10 draft picks, in contrast to the departures of Brazill and Casey both well into their 30s. Those moves are likely to pay off long term as intended.

In the meantime, if Butler can return next week and get through the remaining season unscathed, that alone will be a boost far more significant than what is being credited.
 
Good test for this group then. We'll give it a hot crack.
First home game they'll want to do everything to win. Maybe Bri can rotate between mid and forward.
Should have beaten sydney so we'll give ourself every chance.

As I thought, Hawks will be very tough to beat this year. Their ball movement can be clinical as well as really quick, and they’ve got some very good talls to balance the speed at ground level.

Regroup and prepare for another tough game next week against the Lions up there.
 
With the poor skills, alot of these ladies have been part of the AFLW program for awhile now, so how haven’t their skills improved?
Watching the kicking ability of the Hawks women, compared to ours was like chalk and cheese....
Not enough drills, skill work?

It wasn't just that, poor positioning, lack of pressure leaving opponents free to do as they wish.

Coaching department have a lot of work ahead of them.
 
They were able to do that anyway. Brought in Howarth, Hyde, and two top 10 draft picks, in contrast to the departures of Brazill and Casey both well into their 30s. Those moves are likely to pay off long term as intended.

In the meantime, if Butler can return next week and get through the remaining season unscathed, that alone will be a boost far more significant than what is being credited.
No they weren’t. No they don’t solve our future.

Don’t quote a draft pick position as a measure of a players talent. Ffs.

If you can’t see why that’s unbelievably stupid then just don’t comment.

One is off an ACL….and neither solve the glaring issue we have.

Stop using useless numbers to justify what’s a horrible take.
 
Don’t be down Jen.

With the draft rules and expansion, it was impossible for a Vic club to bottom out.

So the only option was to keep trying to find talent to stay near the top.

The leagues has moved on from superstars carrying a team and is coming more in line with mens AFL in that team/talent and tactics will win out.

They are kicking further, cleaner skills and better tactics. It’s evolving so quickly.
Talent coming through is far more skilled than current players in the system.

But I find it far more enjoyable to watch than in previous years.

Unfortunately for us, we were caught on the downward spiral when expansion started (like the blues and WB) and it’s going to take years to re build the list.

PS. I do laugh at what our team might look like if Jasmine & Chloe were still running around for us….
We haven’t been able to recover from getting the initial list build, coach and culture wrong. Priority has continually been given to expansion clubs, which means we’ve lost players and haven’t had access to top end talent.
 

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Autopsy Round 2 v Hawthorn. Saturday Sept 7th - 1:05pm @ Victoria Park

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