AFLW West Coast Womens 2025

[Byron_Clanger]

I thought it deserved its own post, but the green shoots and glimpses of what might be, that we witnessed from Riggs yesterday was very exciting.

Still only 18 and looks to be a really good player in the making.

When you see who we drafted last draft:

• Painter
• Riggs
• Dalglish

You cant help but be impressed with those who did our recruiting.

Riggs is gonna be so good once she gets her touch back and starts getting more confidence in her wrist. She was always around the contest and in a pack but the ball just wasn't finding her. Daisy said post game she was important in the last quarter cos it gave the team a target for something to kick it to.

Painter had her hands all over some of the scoring chains of the goals in the final quarter, the second quarter clunk and goal herself, looks like a 4 year player already.

And Dalgleish has been a revelation. The analysis coming out of the draft had her as a 'long term prospect' who may not even get a game but looks completely at home out there. Daisy also uses her as someone to make sure players are in position at stoppages which is pretty wild for a 19 year old.

 

[Monocle]

Riggs is gonna be so good once she gets her touch back and starts getting more confidence in her wrist being ok. She was always around the contest and in a pack but the ball just wasn't finding her. Daisy said post game she was important in the last quarter cos it gave the team a target for something to kick it to.

Painter had her hands all over some of the scoring chains of the goals in the final quarter, the second quarter clunk and goal herself, looks like a 4 year player already.

And Dalgleish has been a revelation. The analysis's coming out of the draft had her as a 'long term prospect' who may not even get a game but looks completely at home out there. Daisy also uses her as someone to make sure players are in position at stoppages which is pretty wild for a 19 year old.

Dalgleish is a very smart footballer, crafty cunning and she reads the game so very well.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Just one of those sliding doors moments where we then land the hottest coaching prospect, get a bunch of highly rated kids in and things turned immediately after she jumped.
Would have gone well under Daisy and the current setup I think.

Yeah..we ended up getting Roux and pick 27 in the trade then used pick 27 it bring in Drennan.

Even though McCarthy was All-Australian last year I don't think we did too bad out of it.

 

[squashface]

From a Code Sports article from December 2023

15 Dec 2023 — So, for the first time in her career, McCarthy decided to be selfish. And that meant requesting a trade to Fremantle after four seasons and 31 .

No one can blame her, tbh. We were a basket case who'd get pumped every week. She had enough of losing and losing big.

Got sick of losing big hey? Today must have been fun for her then.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Is there a female 'we are laughing' gif?

That will do nicely.

 

[UseR2006]

View attachment 2412994

Is there a female 'we are laughing' gif?

That will do nicely.

 

[UseR2006]

https://archive.md/Bt0oL

Swanson lauds Roberts as competition’s best player

Waalitj Marawar (West Coast Eagles) veteran Emma Swanson has declared her young teammates is already the league’s best player after her match-winning performance on Saturday.

thewest.com.au

Swanny just glazing Ella some more.

 

[Ilkka Sinisalo]

North looking a level above the rest of the comp again this year.

 

[UseR2006]

North looking a level above the rest of the comp again this year.

They did get a nasty ankle injury to one of their best mids so we'll see how things go against better oppo.

 

[WCE777]

Our woman's list is just so invested in doing well for their Coach and each other, it's palpable.

This young group will grow together and IF we are able to keep Daisy then I think success will come.

So good to see them sing the Club Song with such passion and gusto.

I like what I am seeing.

I just watched their last quarter and its worthy of a go and have a look at how a team can play.
Looks like Daisy has coached this into them for this scenario.
Absolutely blitzed STK in a quarter of footy and looks like the coach just took the brakes off and said push everything forward as hard as you can and go full noise and they responded by playing intense pressure and speed at the ball.
That's a serious team performance from mostly young players and played with passion, well done Coaches and players.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Nothing you could do to make me dislike McCarthy but it is quite funny Freo have fallen in a comparative heap and look clearly well off the contention they thought they were loading up for,

Now with that said, North might as well be handed the trophy today. Ridiculous how far they’ve pulled away from even that Crows/Lions top tier of sides.

Shudder to think what they’d do to a side like Gold Coast.

 

[Kegs15]

Another overly long game review haha-

Our midfield really didn't get organised in the first quarter - Saints were the only ones who looked like getting a clean clearance. Compared to the earlier weeks, this one really felt like they were on top of us tactically in there. Roberts was getting really tagged out of it, took some good marks but in non dangerous areas and didn't really manage to impact in transition.

2nd quarter was a more balanced midfield effort but we then dropped off on the ball movement polish we've shown this year. Lots of handballs putting teammates into trouble, or kicks to contests when they didn't need to go there. The Saints made the game scrappy, no doubt about that, but we definitely had the fumbles also. There was a play on at all costs mentality which is fine generally but unlike the GC game in particular we didn't time the handpass well at all, it'd either be early enough where they'd just tackle the receiver or late enough that we'd get caught.

3rd quarter was much of the same, really really frustrating viewing. I find skill errors more palatable if the decision/timing are correct, but so many handballs just weren't thought through. This HTB rule is being umpired way too tightly atm, but while you do have to play to the rules we really overcorrected, seemed panicked by getting caught at all and didn't put any thought into our disposals. St Kilda were also really focusing on pinning one arm and got us a few times with that. The rule and the way the opposition played completely got in our players heads in these middle quarters. This clip below is one of many frustrating patches of thoughtless, panicked disposal.

View attachment batch_process3_11.mp4

IMO the rule will relax by 15-20% come finals time and we need to accept a few HTBs if it means we're still trying to play in a positive, assertive way.

4th quarter was bloody awesome. We have two incredible, landmark figures in women's footy in Daisy and Ella Roberts at our club. Daisy sounds like she's giving away more than she is in halftime interviews etc - she's such a comfortable, conversational speaker, but reading between the lines I actually don't think she's giving away too much at all tactically, which I kind of love. Whatever she said to the players at 3/4 time I'm not sure, but they completely got out of their own heads and started playing instinctively again. Switching Lewis back into the midfield was a good call, giving Rowley (who'd played a poor game) some centre bounces was a great show of faith, Lakay looked like she had her role simplified. Things just flowed.

And Roberts making the call that she wanted to go forward and influence the game there absolutely changed things for us. Don't see this as her actually preferring being forward, but more just acknowledging the Saints were on top of her in the middle, and she would have to have her best influence in the forwardline. Reckon she'd make the position call round the other way happily if that was how the game was going. The other girls seem to worship her and it's fair, champion players know what they need to do and without ego know how they can win the game.

View attachment batch_process3_12.mp4

Other/individual stuff:

Lakfer did some of the things I've been really missing from her in the first 2 games - she's mobile and tough and plays best when she's making efforts to put pressure on and just compete IMO, rather than try to be the clean, athleticism based operator it sounds like she was in juniors (where she was probably way bigger and quicker compared to the rest of her competition). This one was one of the efforts of the season.

View attachment batch_process3.mp4

Lakay had a far bigger day in the ruck today than she did in round 1 - perhaps resting McGrath a bit? Lakay's game was a bit of (the best bits of) Bailey Williams - she's better than McGrath at following up at ground level after the tap and getting involved in a handball chain with her mids, but her actual hitouts themselves are a little dopey. She like Bailey doesn't strike me as a genius will just say that haha, but she's at least a significantly better size for a #1 ruck. Do like when she'd keep things simple and take territory like below, especially in a windy game.

View attachment batch_process3_8.mp4

Then she does silly contests like this one when we have it locked down in our forward line.

View attachment batch_process3_10.mp4

There's still the issue of neither ruck influencing in the slightest when the other is rucking. Both Lakay and McGrath are weirdly good presences around the ground when they have been taking the hitouts, but when they're not they seem to lose all sense of timing and confidence. Bench rest is fine and needed but would have times where both were on-field and the non-ruck just looked unsure where to be. Not sure if McGrath is a bit sore but looked slow and out of it after a star game last week. Will really need to figure out and simplify the ruck role going forward - like with our tall forwards, our general positioning of talls in general is something I'd love a specialist coach on for our side.

Swanson was again such a driving force off half-back, and Roux was again a really good competitior down there. Both were guilty of the dopey disposal curse of the first 3 quarters but were at least being proactive with how they contested/pushed the ball forward. Roux being a shit stirrer is so much more enjoyable when she's playing back and actually involved, it's less respectable when she'd play forward and be on 2 touches.

Bushby (as well as Drennan who I didn't rate the game of as much as others in the match day thread) were ok and put up decent numbers, but don't look like they have a position outside the midfield. When we turned the game on its head and Lewis + Painter became driving forces in the centre, they faded. I tend to lump Britton in with Bushby but she was really good I thought. Regardless these three'll continue to be important this year and probably beyond, and love how the younger two in particular have really ramped up their games, but they'll be cycled out of the side by more talented players when we really start to push for a premiership. The bench times ending out the final quarter seem to support the feeling of Bushby/Drennan being cleared out of there when we needed to win (as well as the earlier comments on our ruck balance)



Riggs and Lingdren both looked overawed in their first games. Like that we shifted Riggs forward after starting in defence and obviously this doesn't mean they won't be good players - but they really looked like they were smacked in the face a little by the pace of the game. However as others have said, Riggs in particular straitened us up and just presented in a positive manner, liked what I saw and will only build. More athletic than our other talls down there.

Rentsch tagged the everliving shit out of Patrikios - it's a great way of giving her midfield craft exposure. Patrikios is a gun and looked (almost) as frustrated as Dal Santo. Still annoys me we don't get Rentsch out on space on a wing in transition and just bang it in front of her.

And finally - Kayla mofekken Dalgleish. How the **** she only had 9 disposals is beyond me, she felt like one of the most influential players on the ground. This goal was great

View attachment batch_process3_14.mp4

But I honestly get most excited about her being able to assess when the boring stuff is required and just execute. On a day where nobody could correctly time a handball she'd just have moments like this:

View attachment batch_process3_13.mp4

And Dalgleish and hitting a smart kick into the F50 then following up and taking the next mark, name a more iconic duo.

View attachment batch_process3_9.mp4

Quickly becoming an absolute favourite, she's so good. Want to keep building her confidence - she's like Season 1 Noah Long but actually quick, better goal sense and harder tackler. This may be sacrilegious but I'd argue her impact per disposal could be better than Ella's, she doesn't need to put the team on her shoulders with every touch, she just picks the right option and vibe every single time. Also has a big of swagger to her.

Overall was a frustrating game but really interesting from a footy perspective and partly why I enjoy the women's tactically. Men's footy is so well oiled it often just feels like two machines grinding against each other with the more efficient one powering away. This game had the opposition pinning us down completely through better reading of the umpring, conditions and how we wanted to play - until we managed to completely reverse that through visible adjustments in positions, tactics and attitude. The passion, excitement and connection you could feel from the players at the end was so enjoyable to watch, puts a big smile on your face as a supporter of a team that's caused mostly frowns over the last few years.

 

[Kegs15]

*also enjoy posting overly wordy reviews as procrastination from my masters assignments haha but if they're clogging up the thread for anyone please do say so - am also not nearly as informed or knowledgeable as lots of posters in here so any shit takes plz do call out haha

 

[Livin1989]

*also enjoy posting overly wordy reviews as procrastination from my masters assignments haha but if they're clogging up the thread for anyone please do say so - am also not nearly as informed or knowledgeable as lots of posters in here so any shit takes plz do call out haha

Mate, don't you dare apologise for your ****ing awesome write ups! An absolute pleasure to read and I deeply appreciate the insight man

I'm definitely getting on board the Daggers hype train, what a ****ing STEAL she had been at pick 57? She hasn't even had time to develop and she's looking like a veteran crumber with super silky skills and goal sense. Unreal

 

[Kegs15]

Mate, don't you dare apologise for your ****ing awesome write ups! An absolute pleasure to read and I deeply appreciate the insight man

I'm definitely getting on board the Daggers hype train, what a ****ing STEAL she had been at pick 57? She hasn't even had time to develop and she's looking like a veteran crumber with super silky skills and goal sense. Unreal

Stop it you

She's such a weapon hey. Better WC pick 57 than Andrew Embley?

Was combing through the draft bios to figure out how the hell she didn't go higher and it only confused me more.

Not sure how the calculation works but apparently top overall/combined score for all events in combine testing, above Zippy Fish

TOP 24 in 2024 | Dalgleish among four PPR toppers

Dandenong Stingrays' Kayla Dalgleish was one of four to top the PPRs at the Preseason Testing Days as we named the top 25 across the nation.

central.rookieme.com

Apparently one of her draft bio weaknesses was 'kicking under pressure' which watching her this season feels like those job interview answers where you say your biggest flaw is you work too hard or you're too much of a team player.

Massive Collingwood supporter though which likely cost her 45 spots or so.

 

[Ilkka Sinisalo]

Yeah, I read that about Dalgleish too.

Standing at 161cm, Dalgleish was actually the best performed athlete in the Preseason Testing, recording an incredible 92.2 per cent Physical Performance Rating (PPR), ranked equal first of the 777 athletes that tested. The PPR measures the variety of athletic tests including jumping, speed and agility, all strengths of the top-ager.

At the combine she was outdone by Lavinia Cox, but still ranked third overall:



Seems like a big miss by a lot of AFL clubs (hell, we didn't even take her with our first pick in the 50s), but I guess she never piled up big disposal numbers and her small frame caused clubs to not rate her very highly. The combination of her smarts and athletic ability sure makes it seem like she should've gone a lot earlier though. Especially in a low-scoring comp where if a player can reliably pop up and contribute to 2-3 goals a game it makes a big difference.

Haven't even seen anything out of Boyd yet but the 2024 draft is looking like it could be an all-timer for the Eagles.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

10 Ella Roberts WCE
6 J'Noemi Anderson STK
4 Tyanna Smith STK
3 Emma Swanson WCE
3 Isabella Lewis WCE
2 Charlotte Thomas WCE
1 Lucia Painter WCE
1 Jaide Britton WCE

 

[Livin1989]

 

[Livin1989]

Stop it you

She's such a weapon hey. Better WC pick 57 than Andrew Embley?

Was combing through the draft bios to figure out how the hell she didn't go higher and it only confused me more.

Not sure how the calculation works but apparently top overall/combined score for all events in combine testing, above Zippy Fish

View attachment 2413442

View attachment 2413443

TOP 24 in 2024 | Dalgleish among four PPR toppers

Dandenong Stingrays' Kayla Dalgleish was one of four to top the PPRs at the Preseason Testing Days as we named the top 25 across the nation.

central.rookieme.com

Apparently one of her draft bio weaknesses was 'kicking under pressure' which watching her this season feels like those job interview answers where you say your biggest flaw is you work too hard or you're too much of a team player.

Massive Collingwood supporter though which likely cost her 45 spots or so.

Yep, this perplexes me even further?! Highly impressed with our recruiting staff! Since being able to access national draft we haven't really taken a wrong step (makes up for the first couple of years where we made many, many mistakes).

I have a high degree of confidence that Kav, Riggs and Boyd will break into the side and be walk up starters within a year or so. By the time Roberts & Co hit their straps at 24ish we're going to be bloody stacked

 

[EaglesVille]

Good to see Britton get a vote
I thought her game could have been underestimated
Almost the best 4 quarter performer for us, along with Swanson

 

[Ilkka Sinisalo]

10 Ella Roberts WCE
6 J'Noemi Anderson STK
4 Tyanna Smith STK
3 Emma Swanson WCE
3 Isabella Lewis WCE
2 Charlotte Thomas WCE
1 Lucia Painter WCE
1 Jaide Britton WCE

View attachment 2413607

This really underscores how the best players in AFLW are just a level above the others, to a greater degree than in the men’s game. The top coaches vote getters this year for men were Noah Anderson and Bailey Smith with 103, which is just over 5 per match for Smith and about 4.5 for Anderson (Smith missed 3 matches). These girls are up at 7.3 to 9 votes per match. Last year’s winner (Ebony Marinoff) had 91 votes in 10 games! Two other players (Garner and Riddell from North) had over 75 votes apiece, so they were pretty much just splitting the 10 and 8 votes every week.

 

[WCEswift]

Ill be interest to see how we go vs port this weekend, they pumped gc, got pumped by north like everyone else, and lost to freo weird form line

 

[UseR2006]

Ill be interest to see how we go vs port this weekend, they pumped gc, got pumped by north like everyone else, and lost to freo weird form line

I watched their match against GC, wasn't overly impressed with their win. GC didn't really put any pressure on them at all.
Going to be a much different prospect against us at home.

We get a little bit of a longer break, both sides should be well rested.
Smith and Boyd should both be around a week away.

It should be a good match, Girls will be up and about after last weekends win.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

I watched their match against GC, wasn't overly impressed with their win. GC didn't really put any pressure on them at all.
Going to be a much different prospect against us at home.

We get a little bit of a longer break, both sides should be well rested.
Smith and Boyd should both be around a week away.

It should be a good match, Girls will be up and about after last weekends win.

I don’t think we have a matchup for either Houghton or the evidently new GOAT of AFLW, Matilda Scholz.

Could be a good game for Lakay to wear her down at ruck contests repeatedly but think we’ll get exposed with her athleticism everywhere else on the ground.

Bullish on the fact we’ve scrounged our way to winning the supply battle in every game thus far but it’s definitely going to be a tough test.

 

[Monocle]

I don’t think we have a matchup for either Houghton or the evidently new GOAT of AFLW, Matilda Scholz.

Could be a good game for Lakay to wear her down at ruck contests repeatedly but think we’ll get exposed with her athleticism everywhere else on the ground.

Bullish on the fact we’ve scrounged our way to winning the supply battle in every game thus far but it’s definitely going to be a tough test.

Scholz is going to be a nightmare for all teams, she effectively is the Dean Cox of AFLW rucks - she is redefining how the positions played in womens football.

She has ruck height but has the agility, speed and athleticism of a midfielder , very competent kick either on the run or a set shot.

I think Clever gets Houghton but she will need some help to block Houghton’s leading lanes.

Plan B for me would be ZWakfer on Houghton and instruct her to play a 100% negating game and push her around, Houghton can get flustered and do some dumb shit when she is knocked off her game.
She is a confidence player get on top of her early and that’s the key to shutting her down.

Scholz is so effective doing a “Nic Nat” and roving her own ruck work, we need to have plans to counter that with heavy blocking, Lakay lacks the pace or agility to do that but they may try her in that role and obviously have a plan B should that fail.

With their ruck dominance, I would be stacking the midfield with inside players so IMO Painter must play in the midfield.