Women's Footy Crows AFLW Season 2022 The 2nd - Defending Our Flag for Back to Back Glory

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Firewalker said:
They better bring a few of those portable light trucks down to the ground, if they wanted it to be under lights they could’ve chose Marvel it’s not like many more Demon fans are going to attend it if it’s at IKON instead of Marvel, trying to make sense of AFL fixturing is near on impossible let alone their fixturing of AFLW as an afterthought. I imagine Brisbane ended up requesting a day game if they were forced to play at the Gold Coast so they could try to get more Brisbane fans to attend, logistically Richmond wouldn’t be happy they have to fly back Saturday night from Queensland.
Click to expand...

Doesn’t Ikon Park have brand new LED light towers? They haven’t needed the hired lights for any games there this season, so I highly doubt they’ll be needed Friday night.

On the flip side, we’re 1-2 under lights this season, and generally speaking we historically don’t play well at night.
 
brucetiki said:
Doesn’t Ikon Park have brand new LED light towers? They haven’t needed the hired lights for any games there this season, so I highly doubt they’ll be needed Friday night.

On the flip side, we’re 1-2 under lights this season, and generally speaking we historically don’t play well at night.
Click to expand...

To be fair, those two losses were really more to do with the opposition than the time of day. And we've only played a single night game during the previous three seasons combined, a loss to Melbourne. Hard to get a good data sample from that!
 
brucetiki said:
Doesn’t Ikon Park have brand new LED light towers? They haven’t needed the hired lights for any games there this season, so I highly doubt they’ll be needed Friday night.

On the flip side, we’re 1-2 under lights this season, and generally speaking we historically don’t play well at night.
Click to expand...
I thought that too but the games under lights there this season all the pockets and goals are still in darkness, visually for a final I don’t think it should be there at night. But they’ve played games at night at local venues in substandard lighting for a top standard competition though through the home and away season so maybe the finals shouldn’t be any different.
 

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The coaches votes for the last two rounds were finally released today. Both rounds are somewhat interesting. Starting with round 9:

8 Georgie Prespakis
7 Ebony Marinoff
6 Anne Hatchard
5 Danielle Ponter
2 Caitlin Gould
2 Amy McDonald

Six individual players means that each coach must have one unique player in their list. The top three have more than 5 votes each so it can't be any of them. So either one coach rated Ponter as best on ground and the other didn't even list them, which is possible but would be strange... or else we get the following unique breakdown which is odd in its own right.

5 Prespakis
4 Ponter
3 Marinoff
2 Gould
1 Hatchard

5 Hatchard
4 Marinoff
3 Prespakis
2 McDonald
1 Ponter



For round 10:

7 Molly McDonald
6 Ebony Marinoff
5 Chelsea Biddell
5 Danielle Ponter
4 Sarah Allan
2 Anne Hatchard
1 Georgia Patrikios


There are a few different possible breakdowns here, but there are seven players, so there must be overlap between the coaches for exactly three of them - McDonald, Marinoff and one other. So at least one of Biddell or Ponter must have been voted as BOG by one coach despite being entirely unlisted by the other coach. From there, either Allan was voted second best by one coach and was unlisted by the other, or else BOTH Biddell and Ponter received 5 votes from the two coaches and zero from the other. Massive discrepancy either way!
 
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With the minor rounds over, I thought I would review our players and give them a score out of ten. In each case I indicate whether their score has gone up, down, or stayed the same since the review I did after round 5.

#1 Caitlin Gould (7=) – Her second half of the season hasn’t been quite as dominant as the first half, but overall she has maintained her position as clearly our #1 ruck, functioning as an extra midfielder and good for a goal every other game. Averaging 17.5 hitouts and 11 disposals per game.

#2 Eloise Jones (6.5=) – Jones has struggled this season compared to earlier in the year, but her pace and reading of the ball has ensures she remains one of our important players. It would be good to see her lift for the finals series. Her free kicks to frees against ratio remains a concern.

#3 Amber Ward (3-) – After playing rounds 2-4, Ward found herself out of the side before a brief return for round 9. Defensively, she tends to get overcommitted, and she has struggled to get involved in rebound play. At this stage she is a depth player at most.

#4 Zoe Prowse (4+) – Having been left out the side since round 3, Prowse was surprisingly given a chance to play down back in round 10 and, after a nervy first ten minutes, handled herself well. She has been selected to play down back again this week, so hopefully Prowse has finally found a position in our side since she is too talented to just sit on the sidelines as ruck depth.

#5 Rachelle Martin (5.5+) – The second half of her season has been better than the first, slightly increasing her disposal average (from 6.6 in rounds 1-5 up to 7.9 in rounds 6-10) while also doubling her tackle count (12 tackles in rounds 1-5 up to 24 tackles in rounds 6-10). She seems to be spending less time up forward than at the start of the season, which is helping.

#6 Hannah Button (3.5=) – It’s hard to know how to rank Button’s second-half of the season. She played her two best matches of the season in rounds 6 and 10, but was omitted in rounds 7 and 9 and played arguably the worst game of any player in Crows colours in round 8 against Brisbane. Her matches against Melbourne and Brisbane have resulted in 3 disposals in total, so it’s hard to see what value she will bring to the finals. One thing is for sure, she is not a defender.

#7 Keeley Kustermann (2.5) – Kustermann managed to play one match, in round 7 against Fremantle. She looked composed and competent playing down back, but statistically her game was poor (3 touches, all handballs, 1 tackle, no marks). Hasn’t played since and probably won’t this year barring injuries or suspensions, but there is something there to work with for the future.

#8 Najwa Allen (6+) – After a slow start to the year, Allen has been in decent form recently, including being one of our best in the loss to Brisbane. Not flashy, but gets the job done and is definitely the best option we have in her position right now.

#9 Mackenzie Dowrick (3-) – After her brief cameo kicking four goals against GWS in round 5, Dowrick was looking less impressive in round 6 against Port before doing her ACL. Obviously her year is done, and it’s not clear she will remain on the list going forward. She might be saved by our complete lack of a tall marking forward.

#10 Ebony Marinoff (9-) – Statistically speaking, Marinoff’s second-half of the season has actually been even better than her first half, averaging an extra four disposals, an extra 100m gained, and an extra 1.2 contested possessions per game. She is now the leading disposal getter across the comp (was 3rd at the halfway mark) averaging 26.5 per game (1.5 touches more than second place), and is still the leading meters gained player, averaging almost 100m more than any other player per game (488.6m per game, second place is Garner with 398.1m). Inside 50s are slightly down (5.4 compared to 5.8) but she still is #1 in the comp for that stat, likewise tackles are down as well but she is still second place (a full 5.3 tackles per game behind Bowers’ ridiculous average of 14.6 per game). However, the most notable aspect of Marinoff’s second-half of the season has been her decreased disposal efficiency. Immense midfield pressure from Brisbane, Geelong and St Kilda in the last few rounds have seen her disposal efficiency average below 50% for rounds 6-10, and she is now even behind Hatchard’s disposal efficiency for the season (previously she was around 5% higher).

#11 Jasmine Simmons (1.5=) – Was somehow given two more matches in the back end of the season, and performed even worse than the two in the first half of the season. Clearly the coaches see something in her, but I don’t know what it is. Opposition players very clearly target her opponent as someone to work the ball forward through.

#12 Chelsea Biddell (9+) - Biddell has been fantastic this season, not a single poor game from her. Has been reliable in the air and in general play, gets close to midfielder numbers (averaging 12.9 touches a game), and is arguably the best kick in the side. She couldn't have done much more than she has.

#13 Kiera Mueller (4) - Broke into the side in round 9 and has held her place since then, again being named for the first final. She hasn't got a heap of the ball so far, but looks composed with ball in hand and has a nice left foot kick.

#14 Stevie-Lee Thompson (7=) - Thompson has been able to maintain quite a high standard throughout the whole year. Her pace continues to be her greatest weapon, and she generally makes good decisions. Nine tackles in round 10 was a career high. She has now jumped ahead of Newman and Charlton in disposals for the season, and is behind only Marinoff, Hatchard and Randall.

#15 Danielle Ponter (7+) - After a slow start to the year and then a three week injury just as she was getting going, Ponter has performed well since her return in round 7. She has goaled in every match, including two 2-goal performances in the last two weeks at crucial times. You can usually rely on Ponter to turn up when it really counts, so hopefully this good form leading into the finals is a good omen.

#16 Ailish Considine (1=) - Has been injured since round 2, after being left out of the round 1 side. After round 5 I predicted we would see her again this season, but injuries have prevented that so far. Is there a finals callup on the cards for Considine? I hope not, but if history is any judge...

#17 Maddi Newman (6-) - The second half of Newman's season hasn't quite been as good as the first half, but if anything it's been consistent, with between 10 and 14 disposals each week from rounds 6-10. Doesn't seem to be in any danger of losing her place in the side, but I'm sure last season's grand final omission would be weighing on her mind.

#19 Jess Waterhouse (3.5-) - Waterhouse had a nice mid-season cameo, two games which both resulted in nine touches and a goal, but was then suspended for a week following the Showdown. Since that suspension, she seems to have lost her place in the side, with the likes of Randall and Whiteley being played up forward instead. She's not named for the first final this week either. I think she adds something unique to our side, but she seems to be out of favour at this stage. Still has question marks over the defensive side of her game.

#20 Hannah Munyard (5.5=) - Had a purple patch mid-season, averaging nearly 15 disposals in rounds 4-7, but has only averaged 6.5 disposals in the other six rounds. Of all the mids we've tried to play up forward she has looked the most comfortable, but has only scored one goal for the season. On the plus side, she has held her spot all season long, something she hadn't done before this season.

#21 Montana McKinnon (6.5+) - After her bizarre omission from the side in rounds 2 and 3, McKinnon has held her spot and performed quite well. She has averaged around 15 hitouts and just under 9 touches a game since round 6 which puts her a bit behind Gould but still a solid contributor. Arguably our best contested mark, her role resting down back may be in question with Prowse taking up a key defensive post.

#22 Lisa Whiteley (3+) - Had a better second half of the season than first, but only barely. She has now been dropped four times this season. Seemingly brought back in to cover Randall's injury, she finally managed to actually impact the scoreboard in rounds 9 and 10, scoring a goal and a behind. Reliable to take a couple of nice marks up forward, but offers little more than that. With Randall's quick return from injury, she's back out the side again.

#23 Niamh Kelly (5.5+) - Probably the biggest improver from the first half of the year to the second. After a poor preseason trial match and a dismal round 1 effort, Kelly finally looked good for a half against Collingwood before injuring herself laying a goal-saving smother. Finally returning to the side in round 8, she has improved each week and had her best match in Crows colours in round 10, collecting 14 touches, 5 marks and 3 tackles. She seems much more comfortable in the side now that she did at the start of the season!

#24 Ashleigh Woodland (6-) - Woodland has struggled to an extent all season, given the absence of Phillips and our less efficient midfield. In the first five rounds she found ways to stay involved anyway, kicking 8 goals from limited touches. Unfortunately the same was not true in the second half of the season, with only five goals scored. Woodland has a way of making the easy look difficult, and vice versa. Concerningly she didn't take a single mark in rounds 7-9. I'll cut her some slack because she is often being asked to play an impossible role in our forward line which has broken down structurally many times this season. At the end of the day, 13 goals is enough to put her equal third in the AFLW for goals so maybe I'm too harsh on her.

#25 Teah Charlton (7=) - Has maintained her extremely consistent form of around 13 touches all seasons long, with only one blip (8 touches against Geelong). Her tackle count has improved significantly in the second half of the season, more than doubling from 3.2 per game in rounds 1-5 to 6.6 per game in rounds 6-10. She's a very smart player.

#26 Chelsea Randall (8=) - Randall's 27 touches and 3 goals in the Showdown would have to go down and one of the best individual performances in a Crows jumper, right up there with Phillips in the 2017 grand final for my money. As much as I yearn for Randall to play down back again, it's hard to argue with performances like that. She kicked seven goals in rounds 5-8 while averaging 22.3 touches, before suffering an ankle injury which threatened to keep her out for the rest of the season. In typical Chelsea Randall fashion, she has found a way to get back in the team in time for the finals. Where will she play? Who knows! But I want to see her inside a 50m arc, either down back or up forward. She's less likely to tear herself in half doing something stupidly athletic there!

#27 Abbie Ballard (5.5=) - Has played every game this season, not bad for her second season. The second half of her season was marginally better than the first half, other than a disappointing 2 touch effort against Fremantle. In a team that has been fumbly all season long, she has looked clean below her knees.

#28 Brooke Tonon (3.5+) - Had a disappointing start to the season, but has been persisted with at times and has played six matches. Was dropped after arguably her best ever game in round 7 against Fremantle (8 touches, 5 tackles, 2 marks). Seems to have a game but hasn't been able to put it all together yet. Last played in round 9 and hasn't been selected this week.

#32 Marijana Rajcic (4+) - Found her way back into the side in round 6 and played three games, even doing well enough in rounds 6 and 7 to prompt a "how Rajcic managed to get her groove back" article on the Crows website. Despite all that she struggled badly in round 8 against Brisbane (3 touches, 1 tackle, no marks) and was dropped, replaced initially by Ward and then by Prowse. It may be the end of the road for Rajcic.

#33 Anne Hatchard (8- ) - Although she continues to rack up big numbers (4th in the AFLW for disposals), Hatchard has struggled a bit all season by her lofty standards. Her disposal efficiency is still down around 55%, and her usually vaunted marking ability is down as well, averaging only 1.8 marks per game since round 7 (although she did manage 9 marks against Port in round 6). Still very valuable to the side, but it is clear that Hatchard is well off the standard she set last season. She has shown a capacity to step up in big finals though, so hopefully she'll play her best footy over the next few weeks.

#39 Sarah Allan (7.5=) - Defensively, Allan has been as solid as ever (outside of round 1), but her capacity to get involved in rebound play has been well down this season. She is averaging only 7.2 touches per game over the last five weeks, and is averaging just barely over half of the meters gained as she did last season. Thankfully Biddell has been able to pick up the slack offensively, and Allan has been able to focus on just being miserly, which she is still one of the best in the game at.
 
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With the end of Season 7 approaching I look back at my beloved Crows from afar and make some observations:

Now that 5-6-5 was introduced in Season 6 have others adjusted better and are we picking teams with this in mind. Should our 21 players selected each game be 6-9-6. Here is what I mean 6 Defenders with 1 on Interchange 6 Forwards with 1 on Interchange and 9 Midfielders 3 Outside Mids (Wings) 4 Inside Mids and 2 Rucks. We seem to have an excess of Mids who flow to Forwards.

The ‘Game Style’ of taking ground does that need to change to a more possession based game. We have moved the ball at times well when we broke out and found space.

Our Forwards we may have a great Forward line but they may not have been selected in the same team. I look back with fondness to the 2017 Men’s Forward line who were a great collection of what they could do not what they couldn’t. All had weakness but their group skills made up for faults. Lynch roam far ‘connected’ the mids to attack, McGovern the high marking, Jenkins aerobic output making up for his contested marking, even the differences between Betts and Cameron and Walker as the cherry on top.

Back to our AFLW we have the potential with Woodlands who’s strength ins marking on lead, set shots and 2nd efforts as per her 2 brilliant Checkside kicks in Round 10.
Ponter I am not completely sure what her greatest strength is because she can do most things well but can provide the magic.
Dowrick until ACL was our blue collar CHF with a booming kick able to present for our dump kicks forward.
Small forwards Waterhouse and Martin really chalk and cheese or offence and defence. We need more crumbing goals. Charlton and the resting midfielders in Jones and Ballard.
Gould resting forward the marking target.
Finally, with footy miles and concussions building on Chelsea Randall maybe we need her for her brave pack marks and the forward line marshalling similar to Allan’s Defence marshalling. Chelsea can still attend Centre Bouunce Clearances but at times pushes Jones back forward.

Let us see Plan A with Woodland being feed on the lead. Plan B, Ponter 1 out in the goal square. Plan C, Gould at Full Forward with a mosquito in either Martin or Waterhouse. Plan D & E with Jones or Randall as marking targets. Throw the magnets around.
 
www.afc.com.au

AFLW: Four Crows in All Australian squad

Chelsea Biddell has earned her first call-up to the All Australian squad
www.afc.com.au www.afc.com.au

AFLW: Four Crows in All Australian squad​

Chelsea Biddell has earned her first call-up to the All Australian squad

Four Adelaide players have been named in the AFLW’s All Australian squad for Season Seven.

Young defender Chelsea Biddell has been selected in the extended squad of 44 for the first time, following an impressive fourth season at West Lakes.

Across 11 games, Biddell averaged career bests in disposals (13), marks (2.8) and rebound 50s (5.8).

Midfield dynamos Ebony Marinoff and Anne Hatchard have again been named thanks to impressive numbers en route to Adelaide’s third place finish.

Marinoff has been selected in every All Australian squad since the competition's inception and has made the final side four out of a possible six times.

Adelaide’s No.10 averaged a career-best 25.6 disposals per match, along with 9.5 tackles and 5.1 clearances.

Partner in crime Hatchard has been named in the squad for a fifth time with hopes of a fourth All Australian berth.

After being crowned Club Champion in Season Six, Hatchard has continued her impressive form with 23.5 touches, 5.5 tackles and 4.5 clearances per game.

Rounding out Adelaide’s inclusions is the skipper, Chelsea Randall.

The three-time Premiership captain won the inaugural AFLW Showdown medal in Round Six at Adelaide Oval.

Randall has notched career-best numbers this season in both disposals (17.8) and clearances (3.7).

The 2022 Season Seven AFLW All Australian selection panel consists of Nicole Livingstone (Chair), Sarah Black, Sam Virgo, Andrew Dillon, Laura Kane, Kelli Underwood, Megan Waters, Narelle Smith and Tim Harrington.

Final team will be announced at The W Awards on Tuesday 22 November.
 
Mutineer said:
www.afc.com.au

AFLW: Four Crows in All Australian squad

Chelsea Biddell has earned her first call-up to the All Australian squad
www.afc.com.au www.afc.com.au

AFLW: Four Crows in All Australian squad​

Chelsea Biddell has earned her first call-up to the All Australian squad

Four Adelaide players have been named in the AFLW’s All Australian squad for Season Seven.

Young defender Chelsea Biddell has been selected in the extended squad of 44 for the first time, following an impressive fourth season at West Lakes.

Across 11 games, Biddell averaged career bests in disposals (13), marks (2.8) and rebound 50s (5.8).
Click to expand...

Excellent to see Biddell named in the squad :thumbsu: I reckon in the final counting it will be Biddell and Marinoff in the side, Hatchard and Randall to just miss out.
 
It's very disappointing losing Randall for the final after just getting her back.

Randall ruled out of semi final​


Randall suffered a knock to the head in the closing stages of last week’s loss to Melbourne

www.afc.com.au

AFLW: Randall ruled out of semi final

Randall suffered a knock to the head in the closing stages of last week’s loss to Melbourne
www.afc.com.au www.afc.com.au
 
maxlilly said:
It's very disappointing losing Randall for the final after just getting her back.

Randall ruled out of semi final​


Randall suffered a knock to the head in the closing stages of last week’s loss to Melbourne

www.afc.com.au

AFLW: Randall ruled out of semi final

Randall suffered a knock to the head in the closing stages of last week’s loss to Melbourne
www.afc.com.au www.afc.com.au
Click to expand...

AFLW boss Nicole Livingstone says clubs medical departments aren’t being undermined by the league stepping in and using previously unseen vision to rule Adelaide captain Chelsea Randall out of the Crows’ do-or-die semi final with concussion.
Despite being clinically cleared by club doctors of concussion from a head knock suffered against Melbourne last Friday, and training with the Crows this week, Randall was ruled out of Adelaide’s semi-final against Collingwood on Saturday, after she was placed in the AFL’s concussion protocols.

This happened after the AFL’s chief medical officer Michael Makdissi provided the Crows fresh footage of the hit, and Adelaide and league doctors decided this was enough to rule out Randall on Wednesday night – days after she had suffered the hit and also been clinically passed to play.
The three-time premiership captain herself teed off against the decision on Thursday, saying if she suffered the knock at training she would have been able to play.

Livingstone said it was a good thing there was extra vision available, despite Randall’s disappointment.
Randall, who was ruled out of the Crows 2021 grand final loss to Brisbane after suffering a concussion the previous week in the preliminary final which was the first real test of the AFL’s 12-day minimum stand down rule, said she was frustrated at what had happened.

“Clinically when you get reviewed for concussion you go through all the tests, and I was cleared clinically,” she said.

“But there is another part of that and basically when the vision has been decided by higher up you don’t have another say in that.
“In this scenario it is frustrating and I’m disappointed in the system and the process because clinically I was cleared of all that and it was only late last night that I found out it had changed.

“I feel fine, it is a frustrating one.

“Speaking with the medical team, unfortunately with this process it means that some players who actually aren’t concussed will miss games. That’s part of the process using the vision.

“If I had the same knock at training we wouldn’t have vision and I would be clinically passed and I would be able to play.”

Clarke said it was a more challenging process than the 2021 grand final for Randall, because she had not been clinically passed then.
 
That sounds like it opens a pretty big can of worms for the AFL, being able to just rule players out based on video footage. Presumably this is a risk-minimisation strategy for the AFL, but it feels very arbitrary.

It's not clear to me whether this is the AFL basically coming to the club and saying "we've got this extra footage and we feel Randall shouldn't play" and the club having to essentially go along with it, or if it's more that the AFL provided extra footage and then the club doctors said "s**t this is worse than we thought, we'd better pull her out/review her situation more closely." From Randall's comments it sounds like the former, which would be concerning to say the least.

It's also not clear to me if the decision to rule her out was based entirely on the new footage, or if this was a 55-45 type situation where they were just barely convinced to let her play before, but then the new footage just tipped the scales the other way.
 
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cmndstab said:
That sounds like it opens a pretty big can of worms for the AFL, being able to just rule players out based on video footage. Presumably this is a risk-minimisation strategy for the AFL, but it feels very arbitrary.

It's not clear to me whether this is the AFL basically coming to the club and saying "we've got this extra footage and we feel Randall shouldn't play" and the club having to essentially go along with it, or if it's more that the AFL provided extra footage and then the club doctors said "s**t this is worse than we thought, we'd better pull her out/review her situation more closely." From Randall's comments it sounds like the former, which would be concerning to say the least.

It's also not clear to me if the decision to rule her out was based entirely on the new footage, or if this was a 55-45 type situation where they were just barely convinced to let her play before, but then the new footage just tipped the scales the other way.
Click to expand...
This is the AFL overiding Doctors clinical testing by just looking at a video.
Sounds dodgy as all *
 
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