AFLW NMFC AFLW 2025 | 27 straight wins | 29 games unbeaten | Back to Back premiers 2024/25 | Invincibles | KLWT is a Roo w/ #37

[datakid]

There was a moment in the second where Bella's composure was elite. Literally in a pack of brown and yellow, didn't lose her head or blaze away, just misty stepped her way through and got it out by hand. Pure.

 

[Caracas]

After watching the replay, Ruby did a lot of heavy lifting all game, she is a bit in the shadows behind Jas and Ash, but with Mia missing, has lifted her game superbly, quite often Boyd gets called as Ferguson, but i thought she was an important part of the defense, O'Shea just keeps getting better, easily BOG last night for me.

Ferguson is our enforcer. She’s like the ultimate “thou shalt not pass”. Seldom needed but always at the ready. If anyone breaks through our first and second defensive lines, she just abruptly stops them in their path.

 

[Caracas]

Most sides that have "taken it up physically" to us have had to move away significantly from their preferred style of play to do so, it ends up putting themselves off their game more than it does us. If you are only going to score 0.3 trying to put us off our game then you are not a threat, you might as well forfeit.

We like the tough contested physical footy, we can play this way for four quarters and we will get the opportunities to get it on the outside and we do more damage than other sides playing this way. There is just no one-trick pony way to beat us, we are a side that likes the wet and greasy conditions the least because our outside game is elite. Hawks had everything going for them in this match in terms of conditions and the way they wanted to turn the game into a maul and despite the relatively close margin for the first three quarters, if you can't score you can't win.

Sides have to hit the preseason and get their fitness up to our standard and get their skills up to our standard, then they wont have to rely on gimmicks to beat us, they can just play their style of game. If Crocker said we had to play some different way in a final to try and beat a side I wouldn't have a lot of faith in him or the system.

One moment where a Hawk player tried to hit EOS forcefully and ended up down injured in Erika’s wake was instructional. For such a lithe body, she sure packs a punch. I like the way she takes the ball in space, takes a split second to survey options, then bolts forward 10 metres at pace before delivering. I think she’s even more lethal up the ground as in defence.

 

[King Corey]

"Play on"

 

[Frank Thring]

I get the Hawks wanting to take it up to us physically but I do feel it’s just poking the bear when it comes to our team. We took it right back up to them and their players were dropping like flies. Kearney in particular thrives on this shit and when Bodey sniped her it was clear we were in their heads.

We have some real tough nuts like Kearney, Randall, Ferguson, Tripodi, M King and Wall. They thrive on the physicality of the game.

 

[Frank Thring]

Ferguson is our enforcer. She’s like the ultimate “thou shalt not pass”. Seldom needed but always at the ready. If anyone breaks through our first and second defensive lines, she just abruptly stops them in their path.

She was so good last night. Just about BOG for mine, only pipped by EOS. She was genuinely out to hurt.

 

[Horace]

I must say that was a masterclass from Webster and his fresh strategy to beat us last night. Especially as they kept some of their best ideas to stop our girls on hold last week.

A score of 3 might well get him (or not) a Manager's position with an EPL Club. What a pity the opposition managed a score of 42, including 5 actual goals.

Was part of his strategy based on the Hawks not kicking a solitary goal?

 

[Horace]

GOALLESS in a final.

The Hawks are cooked. They should be a relatively easy kill for whoever plays them next week.

Let's face it the Hawks should never have been in the 8 in the first place. Not playing every team at least once in a season, compromises the competition. Their percentage of 104.2, more accurately defines their season, with six other teams below them on the ladder having better percentages.

 

[shintemaster]

I must say that was a masterclass from Webster and his fresh strategy to beat us last night. Especially as they kept some of their best ideas to stop our girls on hold last week.

A score of 3 might well get him (or not) a Manager's position with an EPL Club. What a pity the opposition managed a score of 42, including 5 actual goals.

Was part of his strategy based on the Hawks not kicking a solitary goal?

They do say in big games that people should focus on what they're good at, if that's not kicking goals - who are we to argue?

GOALLESS in a final.

The Hawks are cooked. They should be a relatively easy kill for whoever plays them next week.

Let's face it the Hawks should never have been in the 8 in the first place. Not playing every team at least once in a season, compromises the competition. Their percentage of 104.2, more accurately defines their season, with six other teams below them on the ladder having better percentages.

At the moment a pretty big argument for a different structure - say a final 6 until the comp strengthens. Shorter final series and a closer to a fairer H&A season.

 

[Horace]

I don't normally get any of our players to sign anything after a game, because I'm never seated close enough to the fence for our men's team, but last night I did get three signatures on last years (2024) Membership Cap (I onmly wore the white one once this year because the nearly all white colour, in my opinion, is not a good look.

I'm going to call the signed cap from last night's game the "Hard Nut" cap.

Any guesses as to who the three signatories might be?

 

[Disco Dew]

I don't normally get any of our players to sign anything after a game, because I'm never seated close enough to the fence for our men's team, but last night I did get three signatures on last years (2024) Membership Cap (I onmly wore the white one once this year because the nearly all white colour, in my opinion, is not a good look.

I'm going to call the signed cap from last night's game the "Hard Nut" cap.

Any guesses as to who the three signatories might be?

The bottom one surely

 

[motlopfan]

Hawthorn obviously had Mourinho in during the week to talk about how to park the bus.

Has to google that remark In the presser Crocker made reference to Hawthorn doing things that made it hard for North to score BUT as it meant that they wouldn't score either so OK with that. Clueless Media can hang their hats on Hawks keeping North to low score. Hawks did not score a goal!!!!! Humiliating.

 

[Caracas]

I must have been really deflating for Hawthorn to bring so much pressure and, yet, get completely overwhelmed in that department. They were on a hiding to nothing. They did really good well to cling on for dear life for so long and even manage to give a fair yelp in the third quarter.

 

[Horace]

View attachment 2472607
The bottom one surely

No but she certain!y is right in that company.

Has to google that remark In the presser Crocker made reference to Hawthorn doing things that made it hard for North to score BUT as it meant that they wouldn't score either so OK with that. Clueless Media can hang their hats on Hawks keeping North to low score. Hawks did not score a goal!!!!! Humiliating.

Humiliating is the word. It is hard to see how they can pick themselves up again and be competitive next week.

 

[Roo202]

I must say that was a masterclass from Webster and his fresh strategy to beat us last night. Especially as they kept some of their best ideas to stop our girls on hold last week.

A score of 3 might well get him (or not) a Manager's position with an EPL Club. What a pity the opposition managed a score of 42, including 5 actual goals.

Was part of his strategy based on the Hawks not kicking a solitary goal?

I don't envy any opposition coach going up against us, but it does seem the only tactic anyone has come up with is a negative, physical, pressure game, which, while it may have some success in lowering our score (I'll generously give them partial credit for their pressure playing a part in our inaccuracy) when it comes at the the total abandonment of any ability to score themselves it has no future.

Whenever this wonderful unbeaten streak comes to end (hopefully several years from now!) it may be with a team strangling our scoring and fluking a couple themselves to pinch an unexpected win, but for a team or teams to become sustainabily competitive, they need to develop a team and game plan that rises up to meet us, rather than trying to drag us back to them.

You would think that is what opposition teams would be working towards, if next season the best they can come up with is the same negative, defense only game plan, rather than backing their own style and strengths to go head to head, it will most likely be more of the same.

Seeing the media and even their coach reflecting on last night's game as in anyway the Hawks 'taking it up to North' or 'doing a lot right, but lacking polish at crucial moments' is ridiculous, if the coach is in anyway satisfied with a game plan that conceded 17 scoring shots while only generating 3 behinds, they may want to raise the bar a smidge higher!

 

[Friday Night Lights]

One moment where a Hawk player tried to hit EOS forcefully and ended up down injured in Erika’s wake was instructional. For such a lithe body, she sure packs a punch. I like the way she takes the ball in space, takes a split second to survey options, then bolts forward 10 metres at pace before delivering. I think she’s even more lethal up the ground as in defence.

And her consistency in hitting a target after her customary sprint is outstanding.

 

[sutcliffe's hotel]

Having just watched the replay & endured the woeful commentary, it would be remiss of me not to wish a happy “feel sorry for Najwa Allen” day to all who celebrate.

 

[Caracas]

And her consistency in hitting a target after her customary sprint is outstanding.

Particularly, going inside 50. When she’s bolting out of defence, she tends to concentrate on metres gained than on precision. She kicked it straight to the Hawks defenders a couple of times.

 

[speedy]

One scoring shot off the boot for the entire game. That is insane.

 

[Friday Night Lights]

15.19 to 2.9 across the 8 quarters v Hawthorn.

Take all our goals out and we only lose by 2 points.

Randall outscored them 30-21 by herself.

 

[kool kangas]

One moment where a Hawk player tried to hit EOS forcefully and ended up down injured in Erika’s wake was instructional. For such a lithe body, she sure packs a punch. I like the way she takes the ball in space, takes a split second to survey options, then bolts forward 10 metres at pace before delivering. I think she’s even more lethal up the ground as in defence.

She is all muscle...It would be like hitting a brick wall...

 

[hcd199]

I don't envy any opposition coach going up against us, but it does seem the only tactic anyone has come up with is a negative, physical, pressure game, which, while it may have some success in lowering our score (I'll generously give them partial credit for their pressure playing a part in our inaccuracy) when it comes at the the total abandonment of any ability to score themselves it has no future.

Whenever this wonderful unbeaten streak comes to end (hopefully several years from now!) it may be with a team strangling our scoring and fluking a couple themselves to pinch an unexpected win, but for a team or teams to become sustainabily competitive, they need to develop a team and game plan that rises up to meet us, rather than trying to drag us back to them.

You would think that is what opposition teams would be working towards, if next season the best they can come up with is the same negative, defense only game plan, rather than backing their own style and strengths to go head to head, it will most likely be more of the same.

Seeing the media and even their coach reflecting on last night's game as in anyway the Hawks 'taking it up to North' or 'doing a lot right, but lacking polish at crucial moments' is ridiculous, if the coach is in anyway satisfied with a game plan that conceded 17 scoring shots while only generating 3 behinds, they may want to raise the bar a smidge higher!

Agree with all of this. Despite their pressure being where it needed to be from the start, you could tell they were at a strategic dead end the moment they were flooding all their numbers back in the first couple of minutes - and if that didn't make it obvious enough, they got a good forward break on us at one point early in the first term, but Bodey then had to stop and reverse from barely forward of centre wing because they had no structure in place to move it forward from there. Then they went the scrap and we saw how that turned out:


This isn't how to keep competitive and win finals, it's the kind of face-saving style bottom teams play to keep the size of the blowout down. I get coaches trying to keep spirits up, I get broadcasters trying to peddle a narrative other than 'this is a foregone conclusion', but it doesn't look good for any of them trying to spin last night as a success for Hawthorn; all they succeeded in doing was making a comfortable win for us look a little uglier. (Which was aided by some abysmal officiating and shoddy camerawork/shot selection for the broadcast.)

To actually talk about our performance for a bit - I thought we coped okay despite being a little fumblier in the conditions and under finals pressure. O'Shea was a clear standout; I thought the backs were structurally robust despite a couple of slip-ups from Shannon early, and Kearney and Ferguson in particular had good games; some of the in-tight handballing to find the loose running option was seriously impressive; Smith was quieter after a really strong season and I wonder if they identified her as one to close down on?; I thought the talls presented well up forward, Randall in particular, and in contrast to Hawthorn, we seemed to have a clear sense to kick long and get out the back if the press had pushed everyone up too tight. Wasn't the best we have to offer, but when 'not our best' is keeping the opposition goalless in a QF and winning comfortably despite inaccuracy, we can hardly complain.

 

[kool kangas]

l'm still waiting to see what their coach was going to impliment that he didnt do last week...

 

[sutcliffe's hotel]

l'm still waiting to see what their coach was going to impliment that he didnt do last week...

Not kick goals?

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Watched the replay and now up to the fan scrum post game - familiar face talking to Tess Craven? kool kangas ?