AFLW 2021 AFLW Pre-season (practice match info, predictions/previews, training reports, injury/availability updates, other news)

[Teen Wolf]

And the teams for Sunday's games go something like this.

Collingwood v North Melbourne

Sunday January 17 at Ikon Park

COLLINGWOOD
1 S Layton 2 C Molloy 3 B Davey 5 A Velardo 6 J Allen 8 B Bonnici 9 A Porter 11 I Purcell 12 S Livingstone 13 J Lambert 14 A Sheridan 15 E Fowler 16 A Newman 17 S Chiocci 18 R Schleicher 19 B Smith 20 J Lin 22 S Casey 23 L Butler 24 S Alexander 25 M Cann 26 T Brown 35 M Shevlin 40 A Moloney 50 E O'Dea

Sarah Rowe, Ash Brazill and Jordan Membrey not named.

NORTH MELBOURNE
1 S Abbatangelo 3 B Eddey 5 K Gillespie-Jones 6 A O'Loughlin 7 A Riddell 8 A Gilroy 9 E Kearney 10 K Ashmore 11 D Bateman 12 N Bresnehan 15 A Smith 16 T Randall 17 S Wright 18 B Gibson 19 J Grierson 20 B Lynch 22 E Gavalas 23 M King 24 T Nestor 25 J Garner 27 J Duffin 31 D Hardiman 35 J Bruton 36 B Brown 39 V Saad 44 G Hammond 60 E King

Grace Campbell not named.


Adelaide v Greater Western Sydney

Sunday January 17 at Norwood Oval

ADELAIDE
1 C Gould 2 E Jones 3 A Foley 5 R Martin 6 H Button 7 N Gore 8 N Allen 10 E Marinoff 11 R Metcalfe 12 C Biddell 13 E Phillips 14 S Thompson 15 D Ponter 16 A Considine 17 M Newman 19 J Sedunary 20 H Munyard 21 M McKinnon 22 L Whiteley 23 J Mules 24 A Woodland 25 T Charlton 26 C Randall 27 R Forth 32 M Rajcic 33 A Hatchard 39 S Allan

Chloe Scheer, Deni Varnhagen and Dayna Cox not named.

GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
1 E Goodsir 2 A Eva 3 A Parker 5 J Hicks 6 R Beeson 7 J Dal Pos 8 N Barr 9 T Hetherington 11 A Schmidt 12 P Peschke 13 C Staunton 14 A Lister 15 B Stack 16 T Davies 17 G Garnett 18 T Evans 19 R Privitelli 20 L Steane 21 P Randall 22 E Bennetts 23 E McKinnon 24 H Zrieka 25 E Todd 30 S Halvorson 32 T Mackrill 33 E Pease 37 L Graham

Katherine Smith, Britt Tully and Jess Allan not named.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Although I declined to commit to a definitive premiership tip on the previous page, here are a few predictions about some sub-plots.


BEST AND FAIREST

Karen Paxman's chances of being noticed by the umpires increases as her hair mutates out of control. She is on track to be mistaken for a Beyond Thunderdome-era Tina Turner by about round 4, it will be hard for other good players to attract the same level of attention.


LEADING GOAL-KICKER

With 2020 being the outlieringest year that ever did outlie, I return to the reasonable logic of a top team's scab forward scoring the most goals for 2021. May have already made this exact pick in the past, but... Aliesha Newman?


MOST IMPROVED

Nicola Barr (GWS): A fine kick and A+ running capacity, the fact that she hasn't put together a string of comprehensive performances is at least 50% attributable to bad luck. And although the other 50% is largely due to brain fades (for example: forgetting the annoying rule that says you can't shepherd/bump when you're more than five metres away from the ball), it's a brain nonetheless capable of completing a bachelor's degree in medical science and thus perhaps even learning from previous mistakes.

Bailey Hunt (WB): Before the start of last season, there was a video going around with the AFL captains naming standout players from their respective club's AFLW team. All of the nominations were unsurprising like "Chelsea Randall's a star" and "Emma Kearney's a ball magnet" (can't specifically remember, but that was the gist), except Marcus Bontempelli

4

Marcus Bontempelli

Age

28

Ht

194cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

22.5

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

10.3

5star

M

3.6

4star

T

4.8

5star

CL

4.4

5star

D

18.4

4star

K

9.7

4star

HB

8.8

4star

M

2.6

3star

T

4.1

5star

CL

4.0

5star

D

12.0

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

6.2

4star

M

2.0

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

1.8

4star

went with a weird flex by mentioning a lesser-known who he thought had shown promising signs on the training track. His choice, Hunt, went on to average 10 dpg after managing 4.6dpg in her first three seasons. So I think Mr. Bont nose what he's talking about and, given the glowing nature of his appraisal, it wouldn't surprise me to see the selection justified further this year.

Sarah Dargan (Rich): New club feels like it ought to be a good fit for her. Although I'm expecting merely an incremental progression from her solid 2019, it would be quite a leap forward from '20 when she didn't do much.

 

[Teen Wolf]

With St Kilda recently naming four captains (Hannah Priest joining last year’s inaugural leaders Rhi Watt, Kate Shierlaw and Cat Phillips), I think that's everybody but Carlton to have made formal leadership announcements for the 2021 season.

2021 AFLW Captains
Adelaide: Chelsea Randall (5th year running, 1st time standalone)
Brisbane: Emma Zielke (5th year)
Carlton: Kerryn Harrington and Katie Loynes?
Collingwood: Brianna Davey (1st person to captain both Blues and Magpies) and Steph Chiocci (5th year)
Fremantle: Kara Antonio (5th year)
Geelong: Meg McDonald (1st year)
Gold Coast: Sam Virgo (2nd year) and Hannah Dunn (1st year)
GWS Giants: Alicia Eva (2nd year)
Melbourne: Daisy Pearce (4th year)
North Melb.: Emma Kearney (3rd year)
Richmond: Katie Brennan (2nd year for the Tigers, 5th year as an AFLW captain)
St Kilda: see above
West Coast: Emma Swanson (2nd year)
W. Bulldogs: Ellie Blackburn (just 2nd year, sorta)

This year's Think Different campaign:

 

[cats_09]

With St Kilda recently naming four captains (Hannah Priest joining last year’s inaugural leaders Rhi Watt, Kate Shierlaw and Cat Phillips), I think that's everybody but Carlton to have made formal leadership announcements for the 2021 season.

2021 AFLW Captains
Adelaide: Chelsea Randall (5th year running, 1st time standalone)
Brisbane: Emma Zielke (5th year)
Carlton: Kerryn Harrington and Katie Loynes?
Collingwood: Brianna Davey (1st person to captain both Blues and Magpies) and Steph Chiocci (5th year)
Fremantle: Kara Antonio (5th year)
Geelong: Meg McDonald (1st year)
Gold Coast: Sam Virgo (2nd year) and Hannah Dunn (1st year)
GWS Giants: Alicia Eva (2nd year)
Melbourne: Daisy Pearce (4th year)
North Melb.: Emma Kearney (3rd year)
Richmond: Katie Brennan (2nd year for the Tigers, 5th year as an AFLW captain)
St Kilda: see above
West Coast: Emma Swanson (2nd year)
W. Bulldogs: Ellie Blackburn (just 2nd year, sorta)

This year's Think Different campaign:

Carlton have tonight confirmed they'll be retaining the co-captains for this coming season

'Harrington and Loynes will captain the Blues for a second straight year.'

Vescio added to AFLW leadership group

Inaugural Blue joins 2021 leadership group

www.carltonfc.com.au

 

[Teen Wolf]

Tayla Harris left training early on Saturday after she appeared to hurt her knee an hour into the Blues’ session at Ikon Park. But a Carlton spokesman said the star forward was ok and would be available to face Collingwood at the same ground this week. The Herald Sun reported it as an injury SCARE. Harris then tweeted that it must be a slow news day.

Fremantle have signed Mikayla Hyde as a replacement for the injured Leah Mascall.

If you're thinking about tipping GWS to pull off the big upset of R1, perhaps don't look for reassurance from Alan McConnell, who gave a typically frank appraisal of how his team is tracking in his latest presser.


The good news for the Giants is their R2 fixture change brings up happy memories for them, having beaten West Coast by 28 points in 2020. Also, for those who missed it, confirmation (albeit vague) during the week that the AFL is providing financial assistance to GWS players unable to perform their job while living in Adelaide. Nicole Livingstone said the arrangement would be in place for any AFLW club moved from home this season, should that happen.

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Biggie should we do one thread per round for matchday discussion this year, same as last? Seemed to work fine imo, based on the amount of traffic and the fact that games don't overlap etc.

 

[Biggie]

@Biggie should we do one thread per round for matchday discussion this year, same as last? Seemed to work fine imo, based on the amount of traffic and the fact that games don't overlap etc.

Yeah mate agreed.

Are ya good to start Rnd 1?