AFLW Prelim Final: Crows vs Cats, Sunday 24 March @ 1:10pm, AO

[Tony Barber]

I've got to ask.
Why does anyone care?

I am completely rapt the girls now have a pathway.
But they should have just built the comp under the vflw tag until the clubs were ready.

You can see better footy in front of 100 people at GFL level.
There's already no loyalty. These aren't clubs. It's a bunch of people looking for the best deal year on year.

 

[Turbocat]

Talent is definitely an issue.
Big learning curve this year.

Then the debate is how you coach in that situation. I think you can almost make the case that we got to the wins we did thru effort ..and when the effort dropped off thru fatigue or injury then our performance really looked inept. Now that you can sign multiple year contracts we should double down on talent ..even if its too young. We are just wasting our time with players that are too limited. If the girls cant hit targets over 40 then cross. If you cant spread then cross .if cant jump and mark then cross... and too many crosses you are passed by others.

 

[Max Milburn]

I've got to ask.
Why does anyone care?

I am completely rapt the girls now have a pathway.
But they should have just built the comp under the vflw tag until the clubs were ready.

You can see better footy in front of 100 people at GFL level.
There's already no loyalty. These aren't clubs. It's a bunch of people looking for the best deal year on year.

Wrong Tony.
What you actually mean is "I don"t care".

 

[Turbocat]

I've got to ask.
Why does anyone care?

I am completely rapt the girls now have a pathway.
But they should have just built the comp under the vflw tag until the clubs were ready.

You can see better footy in front of 100 people at GFL level.
There's already no loyalty. These aren't clubs. It's a bunch of people looking for the best deal year on year.

Dont like it dont watch it.

Its for girls pathway and as a father of girls I wholeheartedly support the clubs efforts. That doesnt mean i will not be critical or happy with todays efforts.

I have no idea what you are talking about loyalty etc.

 

[dazbroncos]

I've got to ask.
Why does anyone care?

I am completely rapt the girls now have a pathway.
But they should have just built the comp under the vflw tag until the clubs were ready.

You can see better footy in front of 100 people at GFL level.
There's already no loyalty. These aren't clubs. It's a bunch of people looking for the best deal year on year.

Simple. Girls can play footy and they can do it representing GFC. As an example of who cares, my girls of 9 and 11 now have females players that they can relate to watching from over here.

You're a smart man VC bit this is not one of your more educated posts.

With that said, they ( GFC AFLW) are not immune to criticism or review. AS for loyalty.. pretty sure Mel Hickey came to the club for exactly that. Same for Rocky.
Im sure there are also players that came for $ only. Smells a lot like the mens version honestly. Better go post about lack of loyalty in that one too I guess.

GO Catters.

 

[cats_09]

Not sure there's really that much money in being an AFLW player - this from during the week when they announced 2-year contracts will now be available

Players will also be able to sign two-year deals, up from the current mandatory single-year tenure, under a new agreement.

A new pay deal is yet to be finalised for the 2020 season. This season, playing contracts ranged from $13,400 to $24,600.

The players are playing for the love of the game, fans are going because they support the club & as above they have young girls who now have players that actually represent the future them.

Can't really complain about lack of loyalty when the AFLW have put restrictions on things such as contract lengths, even now with 2-years that offers slightly more security but still not the freedom to sign for a long term from either side

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...s/news-story/e333765c51705388558bb45c060e3900

 

[hoopla]

Skill level is definitely an issue, but the most obvious problem is fitness. The cats looked stuffed for most of the game. Their fitness will improve year on year.

 

[Turbocat]

Skill level is definitely an issue, but the most obvious problem is fitness. The cats looked stuffed for most of the game. Their fitness will improve year on year.

I think the fitness of the players is hard to maintain in a non professional environment.

 

[Tony Barber]

Simple. Girls can play footy and they can do it representing GFC. As an example of who cares, my girls of 9 and 11 now have females players that they can relate to watching from over here.

You're a smart man VC bit this is not one of your more educated posts.

With that said, they ( GFC AFLW) are not immune to criticism or review. AS for loyalty.. pretty sure Mel Hickey came to the club for exactly that. Same for Rocky.
Im sure there are also players that came for $ only. Smells a lot like the mens version honestly. Better go post about lack of loyalty in that one too I guess.

GO Catters.

I already stated I'm rapt the girls have a pathway.
For example. 9 years ago my daughter asked to play Auskick. And I said 'why? It's not like you can continue playing it until you're 20'.

Yes, she now uses that on me.

As for loyalty (this isn't female focussed per se)
The league may end up being very clever with the current setup as the league talent may even up well and quickly with expansion.

But a team like Geelong could easily lose 6 players or so next year due to expansion.
The top girls get 50k. If you're 18 years old and very promising why wouldn't you move?
It pays for uni.

I don't like how they set it up to be transient.
If they just wanted an amateur comp they should have just called it the VFL.

 

[Turbocat]

I already stated I'm rapt the girls have a pathway.
For example. 9 years ago my daughter asked to play Auskick. And I said 'why? It's not like you can continue playing it until you're 20'.

Yes, she now uses that on me.

As for loyalty (this isn't female focussed per se)
The league may end up being very clever with the current setup as the league talent may even up well and quickly with expansion.

But a team like Geelong could easily lose 6 players or so next year due to expansion.
The top girls get 50k. If you're 18 years old and very promising why wouldn't you move?
It pays for uni.

I don't like how they set it up to be transient.
If they just wanted an amateur comp they should have just called it the VFL.

I suspect there is group of players that will play for several side till its fully established.. the 1Y contract length almost ensured this , next year they can be signed to two year contracts which will be a balance for the sides coming in. For sure we can lose several girls to other clubs ..the list has to be reduced to 22 but id say they may even consider trimming harder if the players on the Falcons list look promising...obviously some of the girls currently at the club are just short of whats required.

 

[cats_09]

I already stated I'm rapt the girls have a pathway.
For example. 9 years ago my daughter asked to play Auskick. And I said 'why? It's not like you can continue playing it until you're 20'.

Yes, she now uses that on me.

As for loyalty (this isn't female focussed per se)
The league may end up being very clever with the current setup as the league talent may even up well and quickly with expansion.

But a team like Geelong could easily lose 6 players or so next year due to expansion.
The top girls get 50k. If you're 18 years old and very promising why wouldn't you move?
It pays for uni.

I don't like how they set it up to be transient.
If they just wanted an amateur comp they should have just called it the VFL.

Which players are earning $50k salaries, or are you including independent sponsorships in those earnings?

The AFLW has a structured contract rates for 2019 and they are:

• Tier 1: $24,600
• Tier 2: $19,000
• Tier 3: $16,200
• Tier 4: $13,400

Yes there is also a minimum $20k for additional service agreement (marketing appearances etc) will also be in place for all clubs, with no cap for 2019 - are you suggesting that some clubs are flaunting that additional fund to prop up salaries? The AFLW increased the total player payments across the league to $4.748million across the league - really not a high salary average, and not sure there really are too many that can actually earn a living from AFLW alone.

Next year we probably will see some players earning higher salaries with the introduction of 2 players being excluded from the salary cap - so it's going to be interesting to see what impact that has on player movements or loyalty if clubs look at external sponsors to help with that.

Not sure the salaries on offer would have been playing much of a role in player movements to date, unless it was to help reduce costs by being closer to home (as we saw with some of the Geelong girls where they could sign here & not have to cover the cost of traveling to Melbourne, through we do have a few players who are traveling from Melbourne to play with us)

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-11-15/aflw-player-wages-to-rise-finals-prize-money-introduced

 

[Partridge]

I think the fitness of the players is hard to maintain in a non professional environment.

They've got to pay players something. Which means they've got to generate money from the game. It may not get significantly better until that happens.

 

[winty]

Skill level is definitely an issue, but the most obvious problem is fitness. The cats looked stuffed for most of the game. Their fitness will improve year on year.

We did have to travel interstate 4 times in 8 weeks (twice to Adelaide, once to Brisbane and once to Sydney). Don't even think the men's side has to travel that often in such a short period of time. Couple that with the fact the girls have to juggle games and training with a full time job, and it's no wonder they were flat by the end of the season.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Our girls didn't really deserve to play that PF really, the conference system was a failure this year. The gals have to do a lot to get better.

 

[Partridge]

With that said, they ( GFC AFLW) are not immune to criticism or review. AS for loyalty.. pretty sure Mel Hickey came to the club for exactly that. Same for Rocky.
Im sure there are also players that came for $ only. Smells a lot like the mens version honestly. Better go post about lack of loyalty in that one too I guess.

Might want to check out the Geelong Facebook page regarding that. There’s a lot of “la la la I can’t hear you” in response to posts that dare intrude into planet Earth.

 

[Max Milburn]

Might want to check out the Geelong Facebook page regarding that. There’s a lot of “la la la I can’t hear you” in response to posts that dare intrude into planet Earth.

Since when does Facebook have anything to do with planet Earth?

 

[Turbocat]

They've got to pay players something. Which means they've got to generate money from the game. It may not get significantly better until that happens.

For sure.. for the comp has to at some stage become closer to self sufficient but it may take decades till its make real money.

There is still much to work out..the current way the finals have been played when R1 of the men have commenced is not ideal imo yet with more teams and more football where do they fit. How do they develop as a commodity that earns with the mens product to compete with. Eyes on them thru TV has got to be the way their product can start to develop revenue.
Till that happens they will continue to be reliant on the mens comp to absorb their costs and to pay them a wage...but without a significant wage they will struggle to move into a professional environment.

 

[dazbroncos]

Might want to check out the Geelong Facebook page regarding that. There’s a lot of “la la la I can’t hear you” in response to posts that dare intrude into planet Earth.

Im not on FB so I cant comment on that... although I can only imagine....

And whilst im not here to rip them down they played a poor game, were completely outclassed and got spanked by a vastly superior team.

That said, I can and will still applaud what they achieved, what they have done and look forward to next season and whatever it brings.

GO Catters

 

[thejester]

I think the fitness of the players is hard to maintain in a non professional environment.

If that was true Freo, GWS and Adelaide all would have been in the same boat. It's definitely improved for them since season 1.

 

[Turbocat]

If that was true Freo, GWS and Adelaide all would have been in the same boat. It's definitely improved for them since season 1.

Id say 4 interstate in the last 6 weeks hurt them.. and the girls seemed to never recover from the Freo game..

 

[goyoucatters]

The inability to score..not being beaten. Beaten is no problem...but not being able to score make everything almost pointless.. it means its only a matter of margin

I see what you did there, Turbo.

The horrific mismatch that was our AFLW prelim appearance might have just cost us the ignominy of the lowest AFLW score for all time. It's probably already locked in to be the lowest AFLW finals score for sure.

My only hope is that some of the expansion teams are massively outclassed in match-ups against the likes of the Craas in the next year or so. Otherwise, we look like we'll now be the holder of a very unwanted record for all time.

 

[Partridge]

Im not on FB so I cant comment on that... although I can only imagine....

And whilst im not here to rip them down they played a poor game, were completely outclassed and got spanked by a vastly superior team.

That said, I can and will still applaud what they achieved, what they have done and look forward to next season and whatever it brings.

GO Catters

For now it's been mostly positive. Fair enough. It's still very new.

But the standard at times is utter shit. And if it stays like that people won't keep watching. Even allowing for the spectacular cowardice of so many people, they're not going to indefinitely watch a poor standard game. Unless the players are allowed to play and train much closer to full time, it won't get much better.

 

[goyoucatters]

For now it's been mostly positive. Fair enough. It's still very new.

But the standard at times is utter shit. And if it stays like that people won't keep watching. Even allowing for the spectacular cowardice of so many people, they're not going to indefinitely watch a poor standard game. Unless the players are allowed to play and train much closer to full time, it won't get much better.

In what respect are you asserting that many people are spectacularly cowardly?

 

[Partridge]

In what respect are you asserting that many people are spectacularly cowardly?

The amount of fans who are too scared to say the standard is poor for starters.

 

[goyoucatters]

The amount of fans who are too scared to say the standard is poor for starters.

Do you know many of the spectacularly cowardly personally? Or is your pronouncement primarily based on your observation of the media coverage?

And, either way, of what do you think they are afraid?