News 2022 St.Kilda AFLW Media Thread

Munga

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 2, 2003
12,630
20,259
AFL Club
St Kilda
Highlights from the season:

 
Sep 27, 2012
3,066
3,834
Behind You
AFL Club
St Kilda
Other Teams
Phoenix Suns
Seems we have a target or 2 in mind.
If we can hold onto the key components of our list, pick up a couple and get a couple of youngsters in its probably not too bad given the expansion clubs coming in.
 
Oct 2, 2010
19,481
69,911
AFL Club
St Kilda
Wholesome welcomes for Matthews and Kelly. It's top stuff how the team goes out of their way to support each other and all our other teams.






You love to see it. We might not have the skills yet but it's a buy in like this that will help keep the group together while we build.

It was great seeing their supporting for the VFLW team as well.

967592.jpg
 

Munga

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 2, 2003
12,630
20,259
AFL Club
St Kilda
Searle off to the Bombers. I'm glad she's back in the system.

The Essendon Football Club are pleased to appoint Peta Searle as Coach Development Manager in their AFLW program.
 

Munga

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 2, 2003
12,630
20,259
AFL Club
St Kilda
Round One, first match against Sydney away. Full fixture out in the next day or two.


Fixture due out very soon. EDIT- Over the next week according to the Western Bulldogs

New Venues
North Port Oval, Port Melbourne (Hawthorn)
North Sydney Oval, Sydney (Sydney)
Brighton Homes Arena, Springfield (Brisbane)

AFLW Season 7 Fixture
Round 1: 25-28 August
Round 2: 2-4 September
Round 3: 9-11 September
Round 4: 16-18 September
Round 5: 23-25 September
Round 6: 30 Sep-2 October
Round 7: 7-9 October
Round 8: 14-16 October
Round 9: 21-23 October
Round 10: 28-30 October
Finals W1- Elimination/Qualifying Finals: 4-6 November
Finals W2- Semi Finals: 11-13 November
Finals W3- Preliminary Finals: 18-20 November
Finals W4- NAB AFLW Grand Final- 25-27 November

OP saved for full fixture

Round 1
Hawthorn v Essendon at North Port Oval
Sydney v St Kilda at North Sydney Oval
West Coast v Port Adelaide in Perth
 
Oct 8, 2004
1,143
1,619
Melbourne
AFL Club
St Kilda
The AFL really want the new clubs to win their first games.
Even if they don't win, they'll get a lot closer than if they faced the foundation clubs or North. It'll be interesting to see just how far they'll go to avoid having the 9 expansion teams that aren't North face the other teams. 18 teams in 10 weeks leaves a lot of room for an unfair fixture.
 
Oct 2, 2010
19,481
69,911
AFL Club
St Kilda
Even if they don't win, they'll get a lot closer than if they faced the foundation clubs or North. It'll be interesting to see just how far they'll go to avoid having the 9 expansion teams that aren't North face the other teams. 18 teams in 10 weeks leaves a lot of room for an unfair fixture.
They will need to break the ladder into segments are try to give each team a certain amount of games from each group.

The 6 finalists
The 4 new sides plus STK and WC
The 6 other sides?

Probably the fairest way to do it.
 

Munga

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 2, 2003
12,630
20,259
AFL Club
St Kilda
10 matches means the season could be a laugh and over very quickly for many clubs if the AFL don't nail a fair fixture.

What about using the previous ladder, slot in the new teams where we think they are currently rated. I wouldn't be surprised if Hawthorn, Essendon and Port shoot past the Dogs, Blues and Giants. Saints and Eagles likely still bottom two. Anyway...

Then slice up that ladder into nine segments of two, and your club plays one team from each segment. So the Saints would play one team from 1st and 2nd, one from 3rd and 4th etc. That'll end up with nine matches, and the final 10th match can be reserved for special matches like showdowns and GF replays etc.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Hawthorn, Essendon and Port shoot past the Dogs, Blues and Giants.
No chance of that happening without significant injuries. St Kilda and West Coast won't finish below them either if they're at mostly full strength all season. At the end of the day it's like teams of about 16 players who've been getting a regular AFLW game vs about 8. Chalk and cheese.

I would be surprised if the fixture isn't just based on top 6, middle 6, bottom 6 from last season (with the new 4 being grouped in with the Saints and Eagles to form the bottom 6). Something like each team plays 4 matches against teams in their own group, and 6 matches against teams from the other 2 groups (3 from each).
 
Match up wise it's an ok start to the season if we've got improvement to show, but the lack of home games against similarly ranked sides makes it much tougher.

Sydney @ Syd
Hawks @ Box Hill
Dees @ Home
Suns @ QLD
Cats @ Geelong
Coll @ Home
Carl @ Home
WBD @ Ballarat
Port @ Home
Adelaide @ Home

I'd expect us to take Sydney & Port at a minimum, seriously challenge Suns, Cats & Hawks - and maybe shake Carlton & Doggies given the quality they've lost - but of those 7 games, only 2 are at home. Dees, Collingwood & Adelaide we're gonna lose anyway no matter where it's played.

On a side note, Hawthorn are using Skybus Stadium for 3 home games against interstate sides - not sure why we couldn't have played them there instead of at Box Hill, commercially would've been a better result for all.
 
Last edited:
Oct 2, 2010
19,481
69,911
AFL Club
St Kilda
Match up wise it's an ok start to the season if we've got improvement to show, but the lack of home games against similarly ranked sides makes it much tougher.

Sydney @ Syd
Hawks @ Box Hill
Dees @ Home
Suns @ QLD
Cats @ Geelong
Coll @ Home
Carl @ Home
WBD @ Ballarat
Port @ Home
Adelaide @ Home

I'd expect us to take Sydney & Port at a minimum, seriously challenge Suns, Cats & Hawks - and maybe shake Carlton & Doggies given the quality they've lost - but of those 7 games, only 2 are at home. Dees, Collingwood & Adelaide we're gonna lose anyway no matter where it's played.

On a side note, Hawthorn are using Skybus Stadium for 3 home games against interstate sides - not sure why we couldn't have played them there instead of at Box Hill, commercially would've been a better result for all.
A decent spread of expansion sides and finalists but our home match ups are brutal.

Surely they could have thrown us a bone and given us more than 1 home game against a bottom side instead of both Grand finalists and another top 6 side in Collingwood.
 
They couldn't gift the expansion teams a soft run and give us (and the other cellar dwellars Cats & Tigs) a soft one too

Hawthorn play 2 finalists in Brisbane & Fremantle
Essendon play 2 Brisbane & Collingwood
Sydney play 2 Fremantle & Collingwood
Port play 2 Adelaide & North


Obviously we'd all like to see us get results & wins, but at the same time we're not going to improve to the standard of Melb/Bris/Adel if we don't play the higher quality opposition either - so there is a silver lining in playing our toughest opponents at home. I can only hope they're looking to move away from this tiered fixturing to a complete 17 round season next year as all it's doing is contributing to the chasm between the teams with the stronger teams playing and challenging each-other more regularly. And since St Kilda can't rely on non-compromised list building, we have to get that improvement & growth organically through tougher match play.

There's opportunity with this fixture if we have it in us
 

Munga

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 2, 2003
12,630
20,259
AFL Club
St Kilda
Expansion clubs absolutely gifted a dream run. None of the four play either of the grand finalists throughout the entire season, except for the Showdown which is mandatory, obviously, and Dees v Bombers. We play both of them though, sure. Playing both at home, too, what a waste. Going to suck getting thumped in front of the faithful. Basically just three home games you might catch a win.

St Kilda, always last on the list at AFL headquarters.
 
Oct 2, 2010
19,481
69,911
AFL Club
St Kilda
They couldn't gift the expansion teams a soft run and give us (and the other cellar dwellars Cats & Tigs) a soft one too

Hawthorn play 2 finalists in Brisbane & Fremantle
Essendon play 2 Brisbane & Collingwood
Sydney play 2 Fremantle & Collingwood
Port play 2 Adelaide & North


Obviously we'd all like to see us get results & wins, but at the same time we're not going to improve to the standard of Melb/Bris/Adel if we don't play the higher quality opposition either - so there is a silver lining in playing our toughest opponents at home. I can only hope they're looking to move away from this tiered fixturing to a complete 17 round season next year as all it's doing is contributing to the chasm between the teams with the stronger teams playing and challenging each-other more regularly. And since St Kilda can't rely on non-compromised list building, we have to get that improvement & growth organically through tougher match play.

There's opportunity with this fixture if we have it in us
I dont see playing our tough opponents at home as a silver lining. We are going to be smashed by them no matter the venue we play them. There is only 1 home game we would go in with a chance of winning.

But a lot of the away games we have are against teams we would have a chance of being competitive against at home so playing them away where we would be seen as underdogs in all of them is a hit to our chances of winning more than 2 games.
 

Munga

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 2, 2003
12,630
20,259
AFL Club
St Kilda
Hawthorn’s games in Frankston seemingly encroach on community ties that St Kilda has been trying to build. An AFLW team desperately in need of strong support after finishing 13th in season six, the Saints’ ties to the Peninsula are going to be quickly replaced by the Hawks.


 
I dont see playing our tough opponents at home as a silver lining. We are going to be smashed by them no matter the venue we play them. There is only 1 home game we would go in with a chance of winning.

But a lot of the away games we have are against teams we would have a chance of being competitive against at home so playing them away where we would be seen as underdogs in all of them is a hit to our chances of winning more than 2 games.

I'm optimistic we'll have a better score result, aka get closer not playing at the windbag Casey Fields & Adelaide in Adelaide. But yes I absolutely do feel that HQ has kinda dumped us (& Geelong) for the hotter, younger, shinier expansions


Hawthorn’s games in Frankston seemingly encroach on community ties that St Kilda has been trying to build. An AFLW team desperately in need of strong support after finishing 13th in season six, the Saints’ ties to the Peninsula are going to be quickly replaced by the Hawks.


I hope this is hyperbolic, and not actually a development.

I'd imagine with RSEA now fully available this season, the club didn't want to budge on it's limited home games in a short season, fair enough. IF Hawthorn really are encroaching territory and targeting Frankston/MP then we've missed an opportunity to be playing away to them here. And if not that, at least maintain a presence on the MP. A big modern day failure of our mens administration was not successfully gaining traction in a 2nd market, we basically gifted Tasmania on a silver platter.

It's pretty clear that the AFLW is compromised by not being properly professional. It means W players are swayed very heavily by commercial arrangements and gifts/bonuses outside their contract, that's fine, they're living in the same difficult economy we all are and have earned whatever bonus they get. St Kilda's mens sides have never been able to put together packages that compete against the likes of Collingwood/Essendon/Carlton/Richmond, partially the package is financial, the other side of packages is expereience based - big club, big crowds, big matches. What's concerning me, is these mens league patterns are occurring again. "Big fish" W players are getting attracted to these same clubs because of commercial opportunities & experiences - athlete sponsorship, media opportunities company rewards aka cars, heck we've seen it affect our draft haul 2 years in a row (probably should've had Prespakis & Hurley). Of course the W are saying there's nothing to see here as they want players getting $$$ they don't have to pay, but St KildaW has already been affected by these inequalities in outside the cap offerings that we simply can't compete with - our marquee players in our first year were so far below the quality North, Richmond, Essendon, heck even Hawthorn attracted, that we're still paying that price and will continue to until we're mildly competitive.
Strike 1, we're lacking here, and will continue to as that's just the way it is for a small club in debt. How can we make up for this in other areas of player enticement?

Match day experience? Mmmm strike 2.

There's not a single match in this fixture that our players would be geeing themselves up for aside from Round 1.... cause it's Round 1.
If Hawthorn successfully get the Essendon opener moved to Marvel, then boom they've created a big occasion out of nothing that will absolutely be leveraged for years to come. And it'll probably be Kate McCarthy's & Cat Phillips biggest and most memorable AFLW experience, TLR's 2nd. Essendon already have been gifted a dreamtime match, that will no doubt gain traction and also be leveraged. It's those experiences that W players would be seeking out 2nd to commercial $$$ offerings. As things stand now, we don't have skin in that game either. (We could very well be lobbying HQ here, but not getting traction and support, it's hard to know. Us and Geelong were the only Vic sides omitted from the Friday/Saturday GF weekend occasion. Pride round, how are we not featuring in the IKON Park double header considering we started the movement at mens level? We lost the season opener, but can we not have Richmond to open the season again?)

Now here's the point of difference we an offer, and where we can move to the front on, LOCALITY.

I'm possibly biased, but for the W the Mornington Peninsula can absolutely be tapped into and utilised in the same way Geelong strongholds their area. Just look at Beleura JFC the past couple of years, and the amount of players that 1 club has attached to the Dandy Stingrays. We absolutely need to be putting ourselves as the club to play for if you wanna live and work on the Peninsula/Bayside. Post COVID, the lifestyle that offers is so much more attractive than how it was previously viewed especially for younger people. Plenty of tertiary education options, and of course more affordable housing compared to inner city - which affordability of anything is a large factor for semi-professional W athletes. Anyone drafted out of Dandenong Stingrays, we need to build the links to be in the conversation to attract them back and play for us years later once established in life and as players - McKenzie Eardley....? Yes we may count ourselves out of players wanting to live inner city or north, but there's probably 7 clubs with sponsored cars who will be fighting for that signature.


Part of my interest in the W team is that it's such a golden opportunity for a St Kilda branded entity to start over and build success from early on. I'm hoping the StKilda AFLW can learn from the mistakes from decades past, and I will be honest - I do have the fear that the W side will have the same fate as the mens. Not sure who's head of our W operations, but we're at a pretty important point in establishing ourselves now that all 18 teams are in.
 

Munga

Brownlow Medallist
Jul 2, 2003
12,630
20,259
AFL Club
St Kilda
CHBench All good points. We're either forgotten as a club or we don't speak up enough. The Pride game was ours, I'm glad it's spread to a round but you'd think that we should be the centrepiece of it. So why can't we spread the Dreamtime match too? I was a bit p*ssed seeing they've copied the same clubs from the men's, Essendon and Richmond again. The first match of the season, Collingwood and Carlton again. It all gives me the sh*ts. Spread the love. But it looks to me that all the AFL is doing is copying the men's template, which is the last thing WE want. As you said, hoping for a fresh start and a level playing field, but we'll end up disappointed. Our Peta Searle was a pioneer of women's footy. And the last time I checked we had the third highest membership in the AFLW. We are leaders in this space, but we're still treated as a last thought.
 
Mix of both, mostly forgotten I reckon. AFL media commentary on our W side is non existent. Sarah Black, Riley Beverdige don't know s**t about our squad such is the stunning lack of depth they discuss anything related to us.

How nauseating is it watching any AFL media coverage of anything expansion related? Praising the pants off of Essendon & Hawthorn, forgetting the fact they didn't want a bar of involvement in the competition's infancy. How did both of those teams end up with so many picks? Essendon especially?

On the contrary, St Kilda get knocked back TWICE for expansion, then get the most pitiful draft package thrown together, and then tossed aside when these two plastics show up to suck everyone dry. If/when Essendon & Hawthorn overtake us the narrative will be - Saints are s**t and can't develop players. Looking back at the drafts, thank god we picked the eyes out of 2019 right through to the 3rd round because there's the core of our team right there.

Depressing reading in the W board about AFL interfering to get preferred outcomes for the likes of GCS etc
 
Back