AFLW 2024 - Round 9 - Indigenous Round - Chat, game threads, injury lists, team lineups and more.
2008 - top 4 all made the Prelim Finals
It's not huge, but it's all we've got. The AFL used a different final 8 system before that time, one which allowed us to win the flag from 5th despite getting belted in the first week of the finals.
)), 1 from 2 v Collingwood, 1 from 2 v Richmond o), .5 from 1 v Brisbane, and 1 from 1 v Hawthorn, making us 6.5/9 or 72% which is much better than our 48% W/L record overall.
Errr... I think crow-mo was taking the piss.
I think that's more to do with us struggling interstate (Sydney in Sydney being the only win from 5 attempts). On the MCG we're 2 from 2 v Carlton
From our point of view, three suspensions and a possible injury will mean that no one is omitted as four changes is really too much as it is going into a final.
Lloyd, Ryder and Lonergan will all miss after accepting their suspensions (interestingly in the case of Ryder and Lonergan IMO), and Bellchambers is the only definite in. I'd suspect that Quinn and Skipworth (remember him? A lot of our fans seem to have forgotten him) will replace Lloyd and Lonergan. We were too tall anyway for Saturday's game, so a small for Lloyd won't make a huge difference. McVeigh is also a chance to miss, as he has a small fracture in his hand (or something along those lines - it's not an injury I've seen before), and hopefully Reimers or Dempsey can get up from injury to replace him if necessary. If not, I'd suspect Leroy Jetta, or even Jay Nash according to some rumours on our board, will get a lucky call up which neither really deserve.
Hurley will play CHF and Neagle FF, so there'll be no surprises there.
At the other end, I suspect Pears will take Porplyzia (if McVeigh is out) and Fletcher Tippett. Slattery has played on Burton before to good effect, so I'd suspect that if McVeigh plays, Pears will take someone like Hentschel. McPhee and Lovett-Murray will play down back, on the wing and up forward, and will take any additional height (e.g. resting ruckman), and will probably be the sweepers as well.
In the middle, hopefully Knighter has learnt the lessons from the last time we played you and sends Welsh straight to Edwards. Dyson has been playing a somewhat defensive role for us this year, and I'd send him to van Berlo, personally, but not having seen you play much in the second half of the year, there may be another option who needs tagging before him (Vince? Goodwin?). Watson, Stanton and Lovett are the three from our side who need some close attention, and in that order. Watson is best matched up on by a tagger who has an offensive side to his game, so that Watto's lack of pace can be exploited. Stanton tends to struggle under a close tag and play very well when left alone (see Saturday's game), so is the best bet for a close-checking, annoying type tagger. Lovett has too much potential to be damaging to be ignored.
Overall, from our point of view, we need a couple of things to happen to be a chance to win:
We need Watson to fire, especially in the absence of Ryder, Hille and Laycock. We literally have our fourth and fifth choice ruckmen playing, and our next choice is Christian Bock (Nathan's brother) who's about 6 metres tall and weighs about 40kg. If Watto gets a lot of first possession and starts feeding the ball to the likes of Stanton, Lovett, Dyson, Lovett-Murray and Prismall, we can put on 3 or 4 goals in as many minutes. Conversely, with Lonergan out, a lot falls on to Watson's shoulders.
We need our forwardline structure to work. That means Monfries pushing up the ground and collecting a lot of marks, and hopefully chipping in with 3 goals. That means Neagle and Hurley not getting in each others' way (not an issue from the way they've handled the forwardline by themselves in the latter half of the year) and hopefully kicking 7+ between them. That means Jetta or Quinn, and Winderlich providing a good option when we enter the 50.
We need our backline to function in a way that allows Fletcher and McPhee to zone off and provide cover for our other defenders. If someone starts to get a lot of the ball and starts to kick goals, then we could be in a bit of strife.
Overall, we certainly aren't going to be a pushover, but we face an uphill battle if we want to win. I don't think anyone can expect us to win, and you should win comfortably. I'm just hoping that we put up a good fight, and play with a finals intensity for the entire four quarters. As my sig shows, I wasn't expecting to win a final this year, and anything from here on in is a bonus.
I'd say good luck, but I hope you have rotten luck and we get up.
We CAN win this thing. We'll just need to re-write history to do it. That said, records are made to be broken!Vader, repeat after me.... "WE CAN WIN THIS THING!"
I've got a good feeling about this group!
Either that or losing the plot.
