Callipygian
Team Player
- May 18, 2021
- 3,509
- 7,638
- AFL Club
- Sydney
The first thing to say is that it was disappointing to miss finals again. I don't want to use the word unacceptable but it was not merely disappointing: I feel strongly that we could and should have played finals. We were good enough, and we set ourselves up with a fantastic 4-0 start to the season. I think the disappointing outcome is in large part due to our inexperience, and partly due to deficits in our coaching and game plan and partly due to the lack of depth in our list. I'm not going to use injuries as an excuse (unlike in 2024).
And the second thing is: I have no confidence that we can do better next year. While I certainly think we will improve over the off-season, I think a lot of other teams are going to improve too. More than AFL, AFLW improves a lot from year to year. For instance, with their fantastic list, I rate Port as an excellent chance to play finals and maybe even top 4 next season. Carlton and the Eagles will also be stronger next year. Etc etc.
It has been remarked that our list lacks depth and I strongly agree. While we improved our depth a lot over the last off-season, we have a long way to go.
What has worked in 2025
Most of our off-season recruits were solid. Leaving draftees aside for a moment, I think Lulu Pullar and Jas Grierson have turned out to be the best. Pullar improved more and more as the season wore on. From the North game forward I think she became a really valuable contributor to the team. Grierson is no star but she is composed and uses the ball well and provides invaluable experience to the team. Darcy Moloney was the most disappointing. She has the talent but seems to lack application and her temperament seems really hot-headed. I think she could do worse than spend a lot of time with the psychologists. Van Loon is a gutsy trier with reasonable height, pace and strength but lacks high end talent. I hope she can keep improving. We never saw Brown but my concern with her is that she lacks maturity (perhaps defensible given her age).
As for the draftees: Zippy Fish is nothing short of brilliant. She is the most talented player at the club bar none and will one day overtake Chloe Molloy as our best player. Amelia Martin had a reasonable rookie season and has shown some promise. Reid and Steele-Park were free hits at the back end of the draft and probably will not last long on the list but made a contribution.
The game plan and our list has certainly improved and developed. Our defence became more sophisticated and we learned to move the ball well too. Many of our young players are starting to build up a body of games and look better for it. Exhibit A in this category is Montana Ham, who had her best season to date. Hausegger and Cooper also had strong seasons that give confidence they will have decent careers. Most of the rest of our list is under 25 and will also benefit from another year of training and playing.
Tanya Kennedy went to another level this year and, for mine, she was our best player. She really added a more offensive element to her game while continuing to apply more defensive pressure than anyone else (notwithstanding LG's high tackle numbers TK's tackles stick better and count for more).
We performed well under pressure against Geelong and especially against Carlton and West Coast. We convincingly beat those teams that were around our own level (mid-table).
What didn't work in 2025
We were too inconsistent. Dropping games against Pies, Giants and Essendon cost us our finals chance. Our inconsistency was by far the most costly issue.
We weren't flexible enough with our game plans and structures. While we improved our Plan A, we didn't have enough of Plans B, C, D & E. This told against North, when we were getting flogged and seemed incapable of changing gears and slowing the game down to stem the bleeding. However North are formidable opposition and possibly it would have been even worse if we had done that, who can say? Similarly, we didn't seem to have a plan to counter Essendon in the wet in the final round. Finally, Collingwood were pretty much on record saying that they had "worked us out" and our one-dimensional game style allowed them to come with a plan to beat us. It's unclear (to me) to what extent Giants were able to use the same countermeasures to defeat us the following week.
Our list lacks depth. Our KPFs, are not up to snuff. In general our forwards (bar Chloe when she's playing forward) are a weak point in our team. Holly has had a really strong year and hopefully will become a good player but at this stage she neither gets enough ball nor applies enough pressure. Grunden is ok and hopefully has a future. Ditto Amelia Martin, although she has a way to go. Priv had a very poor season (after a very good one last year). She is inconsistent and ageing (but I'm not writing her off). I'm not sure where Davies is at - but at this point I'm not sure we can afford to delist her, certainly not without getting someone better in and even then we don't have enough depth. Lexi was decent but I don't have very high hopes for her. Actually I have overlooked, Cynthia - she is quality and I'm glad we've got her.
Our starting mids are good but we need more depth too. It was interesting to hear Gowans suggets that Cooper could play through the midfield. Given Cooper gets so little ball I have my doubts at this stage. Morphett, Kennedy and Gardiner are an excellent starting trio on ball. Pullar is great on the wing. I'm less convinced about Sergeant-Wilson. Ham and Molloy can pinch hit. But we need more. I think we need another inside, ball-winning bull - an apprentice to Kennedy, preferably even larger (I'm dreaming of someone like Lucia Painter).
Our defenders have been good but not brilliant. BT had a relatively down year. Mitchell was solid. Van Loon was good but perhaps not good enough to have a really long career. Grierson was a wonderful addition. She's no star but she thoroughly deserved her selection every week. I think we need another quality tall KPD. There were rumours we might be interested in Zoe Prowse from Adelaide - someone like her would be a valuable addition.
Going forward to 2026 and beyond
We need to continue to develop our game plan and structures. I think we took steps forward here and need to keep going.
We need to keep our best players on the park more. We missed Chloe and Sofia this season. Of course this is only partially within our control.
We need to improve our depth. The good news is that we should be able to draft two quality players who are exactly the kind of players that we need: Alex Neylands (key forward) and Madeleine Quinn (super agile tall ruck-forward). I don't know how quickly those players will be ready to play AFLW (hence I don't know how long it will take us to become serious contenders) but they look like exactly the type of players that we need. Hopefully we can either get a pick in before having to match a bid on Neylands or, alternatively, trade our picks back so that we can get one or more extra picks to either use for trade or further back in the draft while still being able to match a bid on Neylands.
Our coaches need to consider what they need to do individually and collectively to improve. Do we need to turn over some of the assistants? Will Tanya Hetherington be poached and force our hand? I'm content to back in Scott Gowans, despite our disappointing season.
I hope that Matthew Pavlich continues to give the W program the attention it needs now that the men's program is in more need of attention than it was.
And the second thing is: I have no confidence that we can do better next year. While I certainly think we will improve over the off-season, I think a lot of other teams are going to improve too. More than AFL, AFLW improves a lot from year to year. For instance, with their fantastic list, I rate Port as an excellent chance to play finals and maybe even top 4 next season. Carlton and the Eagles will also be stronger next year. Etc etc.
It has been remarked that our list lacks depth and I strongly agree. While we improved our depth a lot over the last off-season, we have a long way to go.
What has worked in 2025
Most of our off-season recruits were solid. Leaving draftees aside for a moment, I think Lulu Pullar and Jas Grierson have turned out to be the best. Pullar improved more and more as the season wore on. From the North game forward I think she became a really valuable contributor to the team. Grierson is no star but she is composed and uses the ball well and provides invaluable experience to the team. Darcy Moloney was the most disappointing. She has the talent but seems to lack application and her temperament seems really hot-headed. I think she could do worse than spend a lot of time with the psychologists. Van Loon is a gutsy trier with reasonable height, pace and strength but lacks high end talent. I hope she can keep improving. We never saw Brown but my concern with her is that she lacks maturity (perhaps defensible given her age).
As for the draftees: Zippy Fish is nothing short of brilliant. She is the most talented player at the club bar none and will one day overtake Chloe Molloy as our best player. Amelia Martin had a reasonable rookie season and has shown some promise. Reid and Steele-Park were free hits at the back end of the draft and probably will not last long on the list but made a contribution.
The game plan and our list has certainly improved and developed. Our defence became more sophisticated and we learned to move the ball well too. Many of our young players are starting to build up a body of games and look better for it. Exhibit A in this category is Montana Ham, who had her best season to date. Hausegger and Cooper also had strong seasons that give confidence they will have decent careers. Most of the rest of our list is under 25 and will also benefit from another year of training and playing.
Tanya Kennedy went to another level this year and, for mine, she was our best player. She really added a more offensive element to her game while continuing to apply more defensive pressure than anyone else (notwithstanding LG's high tackle numbers TK's tackles stick better and count for more).
We performed well under pressure against Geelong and especially against Carlton and West Coast. We convincingly beat those teams that were around our own level (mid-table).
What didn't work in 2025
We were too inconsistent. Dropping games against Pies, Giants and Essendon cost us our finals chance. Our inconsistency was by far the most costly issue.
We weren't flexible enough with our game plans and structures. While we improved our Plan A, we didn't have enough of Plans B, C, D & E. This told against North, when we were getting flogged and seemed incapable of changing gears and slowing the game down to stem the bleeding. However North are formidable opposition and possibly it would have been even worse if we had done that, who can say? Similarly, we didn't seem to have a plan to counter Essendon in the wet in the final round. Finally, Collingwood were pretty much on record saying that they had "worked us out" and our one-dimensional game style allowed them to come with a plan to beat us. It's unclear (to me) to what extent Giants were able to use the same countermeasures to defeat us the following week.
Our list lacks depth. Our KPFs, are not up to snuff. In general our forwards (bar Chloe when she's playing forward) are a weak point in our team. Holly has had a really strong year and hopefully will become a good player but at this stage she neither gets enough ball nor applies enough pressure. Grunden is ok and hopefully has a future. Ditto Amelia Martin, although she has a way to go. Priv had a very poor season (after a very good one last year). She is inconsistent and ageing (but I'm not writing her off). I'm not sure where Davies is at - but at this point I'm not sure we can afford to delist her, certainly not without getting someone better in and even then we don't have enough depth. Lexi was decent but I don't have very high hopes for her. Actually I have overlooked, Cynthia - she is quality and I'm glad we've got her.
Our starting mids are good but we need more depth too. It was interesting to hear Gowans suggets that Cooper could play through the midfield. Given Cooper gets so little ball I have my doubts at this stage. Morphett, Kennedy and Gardiner are an excellent starting trio on ball. Pullar is great on the wing. I'm less convinced about Sergeant-Wilson. Ham and Molloy can pinch hit. But we need more. I think we need another inside, ball-winning bull - an apprentice to Kennedy, preferably even larger (I'm dreaming of someone like Lucia Painter).
Our defenders have been good but not brilliant. BT had a relatively down year. Mitchell was solid. Van Loon was good but perhaps not good enough to have a really long career. Grierson was a wonderful addition. She's no star but she thoroughly deserved her selection every week. I think we need another quality tall KPD. There were rumours we might be interested in Zoe Prowse from Adelaide - someone like her would be a valuable addition.
Going forward to 2026 and beyond
We need to continue to develop our game plan and structures. I think we took steps forward here and need to keep going.
We need to keep our best players on the park more. We missed Chloe and Sofia this season. Of course this is only partially within our control.
We need to improve our depth. The good news is that we should be able to draft two quality players who are exactly the kind of players that we need: Alex Neylands (key forward) and Madeleine Quinn (super agile tall ruck-forward). I don't know how quickly those players will be ready to play AFLW (hence I don't know how long it will take us to become serious contenders) but they look like exactly the type of players that we need. Hopefully we can either get a pick in before having to match a bid on Neylands or, alternatively, trade our picks back so that we can get one or more extra picks to either use for trade or further back in the draft while still being able to match a bid on Neylands.
Our coaches need to consider what they need to do individually and collectively to improve. Do we need to turn over some of the assistants? Will Tanya Hetherington be poached and force our hand? I'm content to back in Scott Gowans, despite our disappointing season.
I hope that Matthew Pavlich continues to give the W program the attention it needs now that the men's program is in more need of attention than it was.
Last edited:
