Adelaide vs St Kilda, Wk 1 Finals, Norwood Oval, Sun 9 Nov 305pm AEDT

[Saints2001]

So we made our first final! Well done - now to see if we can win our first final...tough game against Adelaide in Adelaide but they are showing signs of weakness this season so I'm hoping we can repeat our first round effort and nail them again, this time at their own house.

TEAMS as per below.

Good sign that Trudgeon is named on field, she was missed last week and has been one of our best players this year. Vesely and Barr come back in as well. Ari Clarke drops out.

For Adelaide, Chelsea Randall back is a huge in, she's been missing a few weeks with concussion issues.

 

[BrutThough]

Very good ins. The backline fell apart without Trudgeon last week.

And nice to see Vesely return from injury in time.

 

[maanco]

mods please move this to the main page.

Some great ins, which may help the woman win the first finals game.

 

[Simon Templar]

Go girls... Well done on the season so far. Brilliant effort.

 

[CHBench]

Making a good fist of it so far defensively, but we really lack polish to get anything going in terms of a score

Watson is a jet, and should be taking the captaincy off Priest next season

 

[saint66au]

Adelaide a class above

 

[CHBench]

This is looking like a 70+ belting once we drop our effort

I know we have a stack of injuries, but our ball movement forward has always been horrible under Dal
Some really questionable kicking technique too from a few out there, really glaringly obvious having just watched Brisbane vs Melbourne earlier

 

[Saints2001]

Yeah not looking great at HT. Real pressure from the Crows and our skills are lacking. Near the end there Watson gives that handball over to Simpson who just bombs it long down the line to a free Adelaide player. And that pressure from Kelly at the end for that last goal.

Need to lift second half and show some more run and better skills. Easier said than done and shows the gulf in class.

 

[Saints2001]

Much better quarter undone by that goal given away to Hatchard.

Caris at the end of that third quarter where the f was she kicking it to...I counted 6 or 7 Crows against 2 or 3 Saints. Like why...where at the free Saints if there's so many Crows.

 

[Saints2001]

3 scoreless quarters is a bad game. Not winning last week costing us dearly. Would have loved to see the same game played at RSEA Park.

Anyway - Adelaide showed what they're capable of and I wouldn't be surprised if they beat Melbourne next week.

We missed our injured players - no support for Wardlaw, would have been so much better if Ash and Xenos were around.

 

[Vacuous Space]

no support for Wardlaw

This, to me, is the most upsetting thing. We knew, post-draft, that we were thin at both ruck and key forward. We had two list spots going into the year. Instead of getting some height that could contribute this year, we brought in Hung, who didn't play a game, and Ari Clarke, who only really played as much as she did because of injury. As a result, we ended the season with Caris rucking and Besanko at key forward. I don't think that's anywhere near good enough.

In general, I think our list moves were great last year, but it just seems such a blatant list management mistake not to bring in experienced talls to fill those last two spots.

 

[BrutThough]

Need to go all in on finding another key forward in the off season

 

[Mat Mann]

I know it won't happen, but it's time to move Dal on, kick and hope, no skills, poise, or finesse.

Happy to make the finals, but disappointed with the way we have done it and can't see it taking us much further

 

[The Jack]

I know I’ll get shouted down for this take. We are a very poor side. Probably says something about the competition. For almost a decade it’s been going now and apart from North no side would beat a quality under 16’s, possibly under 14’s male side. We need to stop pretending it’s some kind of elite competition. The coverage it gets compared the the quality of output is actually quit ridiculous. Good luck to the girls but let’s say it how it is.

 

[BigMonty]

Did Adelaide drop an uncontested mark? We dropped about 5.
Our handballs bar about 6 players look awful and have no penetration.
Our passing in the backline is loopy and we got cut off about 6 times.
There's the difference.

We need another quality hard ar Mid and a young hard at it tall forward. Plus get 6 first picked back from injury and we would be quite competitive.

Love the spirit the girls play with..Fun to watch and enjoy it for what it is.

Hopefully as a productive off season as the boys have had.

 

[Saints2001]

know I’ll get shouted down for this take.

Yeah and you'll be rightfully shouted down. No one is forcing you to watch it.

I've watched it since the start and seen the development of the game overall. These last few years are the first that girls are being drafted having played the game right from their childhood. The skills they bring are significantly ahead of some of the older players and I'm looking forward to the whole league being filled with players like them.

You also need to stop comparing it to the men's game. It is the elite of women's football and it is in its infancy overall still.

I've got a 5 year old who is so much more interested in footy than she is in the men's game - she has posters of the women's players and she has attended AFLW games while being far more ambivalent about the boys. That's the sort of interest AFLW brings and I'm on board for it.

The AFL can and should be doing more to make the competition more even, bring in 17 round seasons, stop using it as some sort of testing ground for rules etc sure, I have issues with that - but to dismiss the whole of AFLW entirely is rubbish.

 

[Saints2001]

know it won't happen, but it's time to move Dal on, kick and hope, no skills, poise, or finesse.

Look I've been writing him off for 3 seasons now but it seems he is able to get something from the group - wins over Brisbane, Adelaide and comebacks like the one against Port. He isn't the best coach out there but he's better than I thought he would be.

This season injuries have hit hard unfortunately, at the wrong time.

 

[The Jack]

Yeah and you'll be rightfully shouted down. No one is forcing you to watch it.

I've watched it since the start and seen the development of the game overall. These last few years are the first that girls are being drafted having played the game right from their childhood. The skills they bring are significantly ahead of some of the older players and I'm looking forward to the whole league being filled with players like them.

You also need to stop comparing it to the men's game. It is the elite of women's football and it is in its infancy overall still.

I've got a 5 year old who is so much more interested in footy than she is in the men's game - she has posters of the women's players and she has attended AFLW games while being far more ambivalent about the boys. That's the sort of interest AFLW brings and I'm on board for it.

The AFL can and should be doing more to make the competition more even, bring in 17 round seasons, stop using it as some sort of testing ground for rules etc sure, I have issues with that - but to dismiss the whole of AFLW entirely is rubbish.

I watch it every week because the girls represent St Kilda. If it was a game of tiddlywinks with St Kilda represented I'd also watch because I love St Kilda. So I have the right to an opinion on the standard and the standard is extremely poor, even though It's improved. It's nowhere near an elite competition. Some of the skills are horrendous.

 

[Imtellingya]

Yeah and you'll be rightfully shouted down. No one is forcing you to watch it.

I've watched it since the start and seen the development of the game overall. These last few years are the first that girls are being drafted having played the game right from their childhood. The skills they bring are significantly ahead of some of the older players and I'm looking forward to the whole league being filled with players like them.

You also need to stop comparing it to the men's game. It is the elite of women's football and it is in its infancy overall still.

I've got a 5 year old who is so much more interested in footy than she is in the men's game - she has posters of the women's players and she has attended AFLW games while being far more ambivalent about the boys. That's the sort of interest AFLW brings and I'm on board for it.

The AFL can and should be doing more to make the competition more even, bring in 17 round seasons, stop using it as some sort of testing ground for rules etc sure, I have issues with that - but to dismiss the whole of AFLW entirely is rubbish.

Hear hear