AFLW AFLW/VFLW 2025 - General Discussion

[Sentinel]

I’ve pretty much checked out of AFLW. The only reason I pay the slightest bit of attention is because of my allegiance to the RW&B.

It has been so badly curated from the moment it expanded beyond the only two clubs that showed real pioneering commitment to women’s football- us and Melbourne FC. I thought by now they might have achieved a bit of equilibrium but that’s clearly not the case.

Fk the AFL.

I checked out several years ago and haven't watched a game since. The latest events, in particular the ridiculous dominance of North, makes me feel very comfortable in that decision.

 

[Oliver G]

It should be no surprise that a player that THE club rated as the No.1 pick and then didnt play, would ask for a trade.

And as for her asking to go to North Melbourne and people saying the AFL have to veto it, what a load of crap.

Either North put up something of real value, or she goes in the draft

Spot on, some of the headlines and talk make out as if she's played every game and won a B&F.

She was dropped at the end of last season and was available to play from R2 to this year and ended up playing just the one game (R6), as a replacement for McDonald who was managed.

The reality is for whatever reason, it's clearly not been a good fit and from all accounts, she is miles off playing senior footy. We've heard this from the coach, the captain and the ex-captain in Blackburn. All three, when asked throughout the year, all stated in one way or another that "she needs to continue to train hard".

The club has moved on and that was clear after she was dropped following R6. If she was gonna be part of our future plans, we would've played McDonald and Weston-Turner in the same team at some point.

Is it disappointing, absolutely, no one likes seeing a #1 pick not live up to the hype, but it's hardly the equivalent of losing the likes of a Kearney or a Conti, and McDonald has already lapped Weston-Turner in development.

If she stayed, there would certainly be no guarantee that she'd get a game, so North can either pay up or she can go to the draft.

 

[VitalDread]

Grigg and Smith went past Turner so quickly

It's a shame we wasted a pick on her

It be a rude awakening going into that north culture for her if she thinks she can walk into that line up

 

[X_box_X]

I'm still trying to get my head around why she is choosing NM or why NM would have any interest in adding her to their powerful list. Why would they fix something that ain't broken?

 

[grassman75]

Real ****ing cool that a number one draft pick can just nominate to be traded to North and there's nothing we can do to even extract fair value.

And this is why I don’t watch the Mickey Mouse competition….I used to, until we continually got pillaged and shafted. It’s dead to me now and won’t get me back

 

[grassman75]

Yet GWS, Pies and Gold Coast have been given Assistance packages this year. Yet we continue to get raided and the club got sweet **** all

No…we didn’t use her enough, so we lose her….and it’s Bevo s fault for sure…he just can’t manage the players

 

[grassman75]

Problem is I don't think the AFL care enough about it to actually address the situation. They've proven this much since the competition's inception and it's not all that surprising that a Frankenstein team like North can be bred in the current climate.

Meanwhile, article after article on AFL.com.au about the Kangaroos side being amazing, record conquering, a bigger consecutive streak than any men's side has managed in 130 seasons etc etc like that's a good thing in a competition that is meant to be growing and attracting new fans.

I'm sure it's great for North fans but it's certainly not for anyone else interested in the competition (also find it rather ironic that North are the 'rich' in the AFLW, given their current standing in the men's game).

Except the stats in the Awful mean absolutely nothing in comparison to the men’s records and that’s not even a sexist take…it’s facts. It gets mighty boring when the same teams keep winning Adel, Bris, Norf

 

[grassman75]

Not her fault of course (I blame Mr and Mrs Weston-Turner) but for efficiency purposes, I'm glad that we are getting a double double-barrell name off our list

We just can’t manage players with two, three or four dads surnames….i blame Bevo

 

[Sentinel]

Except the stats in the Awful mean absolutely nothing in comparison to the men’s records and that’s not even a sexist take…it’s facts. It gets mighty boring when the same teams keep winning Adel, Bris, Norf

I don't disagree. But the AFL's own website publishes articles such as the following, without stopping to think that maybe this is simply more evidence presented to the masses of how much the rollout of the league has been botched.

The global winning streaks in North Melbourne's sights

North Melbourne's unbeaten AFLW record is chasing down some famous marks across world sport

www.afl.com.au

This is to go along with the 9 grand finals so far including at least one of the three teams you mention, a stat never matched in the men's competition. That this is occurring in an 18 team competition with supposed equilisation measures in place is even more of an indictment given the majority of VFL/AFL seasons were played with 12 of fewer sides. Fantastic for supporters of North, Adelaide and Brisbane, and awful for everyone else who wants to take interest in the league.

 

[_Cerberus_]

They are playing in a brand new competition, that is incredibly imbalanced. The celebrating of their streak is a bit over the top. Do it when the comp is more even, then I'd be impressed.

 

[dogwatch]

They are playing in a brand new competition, that is incredibly imbalanced. The jerk fest over their streak is a bit over the top. Do it when the comp is more even, then I'd be impressed.

Jerk fest seems like a misplaced metaphor in this context.

 

[_Cerberus_]

Jerk fest seems like a misplaced metaphor in this context.

I changed it. But point still stands, the media comparing this streak to some of the greatest sports teams ever, is cringe. It's a lopsided competition at the moment, and some have questions about North being the AFLW version of Geelong. Easy to be the best when you're somehow able to poach all the other teams best players for peanuts, and despite a "cap".

I mean give them some credit for it, but lets not compare it to some of the greatest streaks ever. Seen more media articles about the "streak", than the Grand Final win itself.

 

[W W Biscuit]

They are playing in a brand new competition, that is incredibly imbalanced. The celebrating of their streak is a bit over the top. Do it when the comp is more even, then I'd be impressed.

Looking at some of the arrogant comments on the main board from North supporters makes me extremely glad that their men's team is such a train wreck. Long may it continue. Except for Caleb, of course. I hope that he wins their B&F every year.

 

[Hobdog]

And yet they shower North with praise as if they’d built their list of invincibles from the ground up. Shades of North winning its first two flags when it bought a premiership winning list in the mid 70s on the back of the short lived “10 year rule”.

Emma Kearney preaching that the other clubs need to rise to their level. A lot easier when you’ve pillaged guns from other clubs. Not saying we haven’t made mistakes in our program and recruitment, but give me a spell Emma.

 

[grassman75]

They are playing in a brand new competition, that is incredibly imbalanced. The celebrating of their streak is a bit over the top. Do it when the comp is more even, then I'd be impressed.

Sounds a. It like those Essendon flogs who always say 16 flags when you challenge them on anything…..

We all know they won most of them in tiny leagues and when cheating was rife and unpunished in the 80s

And now they’ll claim it as a finals win if they happen to win from 10th

 

[grassman75]

Jerk fest seems like a misplaced metaphor in this context.

Out of interest, what metaphor would you have used DW

 

[grassman75]

The paying the rent scene in Kingpin comes to mind

 

[threenewpadlocks]

The league couldn't give a single shit about a competition that is nothing but a tokenistic nod to an agenda that its spent a lot of energy walking back. Only an origination as inept as the AFL could squander all of the good will that the AFLW managed to build up since its inception.

They're happy that they can trumpet the story of the Norf AFLW behemoth at the end of a season that most people had as much awareness of as people outside of this niche thread do of this post. The reality of this ineptitude is a completely hollow league that is devoid of any real growth.

It's telling that the AFL interest in the league has wained in parallel with most corporate entities as they've walked back their corporate faux progressive agendas. As soon as they sniffed the changing political climate and the noisy backlash to such whitewashing. So that they could get back to their Raison d'être.

Making money. Something that the AFLW will never do.

It's the tokenistic element of it that both the AFL rushed an 18 club competition and that club sponsors of teams that didn't put in a bid pressured their clubs too.

I don't necessarily disagree that North Melbourne have a much better program than other clubs (therefore players are willing to play there for minimum money), but North fans seem to criticise other clubs, because it's far easier than blaming the AFL.

It's not really any given club's fault that they themselves don't want to invest into a strong women's program, they were dragged into it by the AFL and associated sponsors. It's the AFL's fault for accepting a substandard competition or, in an effort to drag the clubs into it, allowing poor standard women's programs at some clubs to exist. And once you accept that some expansion clubs are allowed to have poor programs, you set the standard for what's acceptable, which leaves other clubs (like our own, when we didn't even have an overall women's football manager at the club for a few years) allowing their program to degrade to that level.

The AFL are a hollowed out institution that are find it much more appealing to the corporate ideal of a women's competition (look! player tik-toks! look, we agreed with the AFLPA and gave players a big minimum salary!) than the actual nuts and bolts of why you exist as an organisation, ie, that you successfully deliver and execute a well run competition (competitive balance, minimum standards for entry, appealing for fans through good venues and timeslots, ensuring that the best players actually get the significantly more money than bad players they deserve for being significantly better, etc.).

 

[grassman75]

Do yourself a favour and watch women’s NRL….those girls can play

The best bit is, most of them played touch footy at school and the skills translate really well. It’s exciting to watch

The Awful can stay that way

 

[dogwatch]

Out of interest, what metaphor would you have used DW

How about “the backslapping braggadocio” or “the hyperbolic high-fiving”?

Or as the Mexican girl says …

 

[dogwatch]

…
I don't necessarily disagree that North Melbourne have a much better program than other clubs (therefore players are willing to play there for minimum money), but North fans seem to criticise other clubs, because it's far easier than blaming the AFL.

…

I don’t know about you 3NP but I never have any difficulty blaming the AFL.

It’s such a natural fit, after all.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

I don’t know about you 3NP but I never have any difficulty blaming the AFL.

It’s such a natural fit, after all.

North fans clearly do when it's their men's team but when it's the women's, they blame other clubs for not investing into their women's programs as if they're obligated to, rather than the AFL enforcing minimum standards that need to be maintained upon entry.

 

[TiAn_]

Something like 6 of the top 15 players in this year’s draft are tied to the Suns lol at least the AFL is consistent in propping up QLD clubs in both comps

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Looking at some of the arrogant comments on the main board from North supporters makes me extremely glad that their men's team is such a train wreck. Long may it continue. Except for Caleb, of course. I hope that he wins their B&F every year.

I had friends that went to the AFLW GF, neutral supporters and left at three quarter time because the Norf fans were so bad.

 

[Sentinel]

North fans clearly do when it's their men's team but when it's the women's, they blame other clubs for not investing into their women's programs as if they're obligated to, rather than the AFL enforcing minimum standards that need to be maintained upon entry.