Adelaide Crows 2024 AFLW Off Season discussion

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To be fair, it's not like Bonner was keeping anyone of note out of the team. I can't imagine we were going to put Levy or Kustermann up forward. If she wasn't in there chances are Whiteley would have been. I'm not exactly devastated to see the back of her, though - or Whiteley, for that matter.

We need to focus on not having holes on the ground, rather than just relying on our best players to do everything. 1-2 new midfielders, at least one new forward, and some better small defensive options. Whether those spots will come from drafting/recruiting, or just shuffling the deck chairs remains to be seen.



Kustermann surely remains on the list. I wouldn't be surprised to see Smith let go, and then potentially redrafted depending on what happens in the draft?

Unless we can bring in some players via trade this year, we're going to be picking pretty late in the SA draft pool, so no need to get rid off too many players.

Hopefully we're in the ear of a few of Port's better players...
I think Bonner was keeping the player the Crows should’ve drafted instead out the team, if they had done some actual scouting it would’ve been obvious someone like Isabelle Starmer from North Adelaide if they were looking for a mobile tallish forward would have been a much better pickup.

My concern with Kustermann maybe being prematurely cast off is they simply did not play her, they’ve miss-cast her position as a player moving forward, she’s a deadset midfielder in waiting but club don’t seem to see that.

They played her out on the wing in her one game this year and for the majority of her 2 seasons with the Crows she’s been pigeonholed as only a halfback option just because she played that role when she was being eased into the SANFLW by Westies as a really young junior.


Agree the main Port player of interest that maybe the team should look to move for would be Ewings, could argue both her & Port have got to take responsibility for her poor season, if she can start meeting some professional standards there’s still top 10 player in the league potential in her.

Two youngsters that I liked prior to Port drafting them that haven’t totally come on are Sachi Syme and Ella Boag, Boag has some big disposal issues but certainly is gifted athletically, also a former Crows Academy member like Ewings and has played lots of football with Goodwin & Tonon.
 
Two youngsters that I liked prior to Port drafting them that haven’t totally come on are Sachi Syme and Ella Boag, Boag has some big disposal issues but certainly is gifted athletically, also a former Crows Academy member like Ewings and has played lots of football with Goodwin & Tonon.

Fair call, although we probably don't need many more players with suspect disposal.

I'd be targeting players from Port in areas of need. So obviously Ewings (and Dowrick, but I doubt she would come) as a midfielder/forward would be useful. Whereas someone like Scholz, as good as she is, is not really a priority unless it was going to be a straight swap for, say, McKinnon.

I've not paid a huge amount of attention to Port, but who do they have up forward outside of Phillips/Saint/Houghton? Since presumably none of them are coming here. I suppose Tahau once she returns from injury?
 
Fair call, although we probably don't need many more players with suspect disposal.

I'd be targeting players from Port in areas of need. So obviously Ewings (and Dowrick, but I doubt she would come) as a midfielder/forward would be useful. Whereas someone like Scholz, as good as she is, is not really a priority unless it was going to be a straight swap for, say, McKinnon.

I've not paid a huge amount of attention to Port, but who do they have up forward outside of Phillips/Saint/Houghton? Since presumably none of them are coming here. I suppose Tahau once she returns from injury?
They’re a bit in the same situation as the Crows they don’t actually have much key position depth mostly due to SA not producing any really over the past few years, later in the season Teakle came in and worked better with Saint & Houghton.

They ended up delisting Halfpenny from Norwood, who much like Whiteley could take a mark but not really do anything else.
 

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At the moment we only have 2 Draft Picks. To pass or to sign players in Feb we need to delist more. We may Inactivate Ballard in Feb 24.

Seen as Grigg has chosen National Draft Boileau should be first pick by us and I like Walsh & lfould

#27 Brooke Boileau (South Adelaide)
28/01/2005 | 170cm | Midfielder
Stats: 21.3 disposals, 2.7 marks, 5.0 tackles, 4.7 clearances, 3.7 inside 50s, 1 goal, 1 behind
Winning the third most disposals of any player in the South Australian team, the inside midfielder was rock solid consistent yet again. Her 2023 season has hardly had a dip, and she became the prominent inside midfielder alongside Goody. After missing out on playing last year, Boileau has made up for lost time and her numbers of 21.3 disposals, 5.0 tackles, 4.7 clearances and 3.7 inside 50s should put her name in contention for the All-Australian team.

#20 Zara Walsh (Sturt)
12/03/2005 | 172cm | Forward
Stats: 10.0 disposals, 3.0 marks, 3.0 tackles, 1.7 inside 50s, 3 goals, 1 behind
Did her draft chances no harm by playing her role in attack and kicking three goals in three games, including two in the final match against Queensland. Boasting elite speed and being able to burn off opponents on the lead, Walsh is creative in the forward half of the ground and has that upside that clubs love. At 172cm, she can take a strong mark, but also do the crumbing, and once she gets goalside, it is game over for any opponent.

Could free up Ponter or Jones

#18 Holly Ifould (South Adelaide)
02/09/2005 | 167cm | Wing
Stats: 15.7 disposals, 5.0 marks, 1.0 clearance, 1.7 inside 50s, 1.0 rebound 50s
Ifould had an incredible game against Vic Metro, was very hand against Western Australia, and quieter against Queensland. All in all, Ifould had a carnival indicative of most wingers, with a mixed bag. She has a great running capacity, finds space well and with time and space can do some damage by foot. There are areas to work on and she is definitely an outside player, but showed at times for South Adelaide she can get her hands dirty. Another player which might see clubs outside South Australia consider.
 
Looks like McKinnon is leaving for Richmond, while Gould and Prowse have toured the Bulldogs facility.

Gould would be a huge loss. Prowse too. Bulldogs have a lot of money to throw around, but Crows are still in the premiership window, so hopefully we can retain these two.
 
Dang - I like all 3 of McKinnon/Gould/Prowse

My preference to keep would be
1. Gould
2. Prowse
3. McKinnon

Having said that, losing Gould and finding a smaller player with similar output to her/Woodland (She wasn't married when she played for us) could add another dynamic and make us better.

As long as we keep at least 1 of Gould/Prowse, I can begrudgingly accept it.
 
FINAL LEADERBOARD - Top 10

1 Ebony Marinoff 369

2 Anne Hatchard 341

3 Niamh Kelly 318

4 Danielle Ponter 303

5 Chelsea Biddell 297

6 Eloise Jones 281

7 Teah Charlton 261

8 Zoe Prowse 257

9 Madison Newman 256

10 Caitlin Gould 250

10 Chelsea Randall 250
Hard to argue with too much of that. Although I thought Jess Allan was huge for us this year.
 

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Now that the Draft is over I may as well make the call for the Crows Team Week 1

F. Gould - Waterhouse
HF. Jones- Tarlinton - Charlton
C. Kelly - Ponter - Newman
R. Jess Alllan - Hatchard - Marinoff
HB. Allen - Biddell - Mueller
B. Sarah Allan - Prowse

I. Randall - Thompson - Goodwin - Martin - Munyard

E. Boileau - Varnhagen - Levy

O. Tonon - Boyle-Carr - Smith - Kustermann - Henry - (Ballard Injury Replacement)
 
Now that the Draft is over I may as well make the call for the Crows Team Week 1

F. Gould - Waterhouse
HF. Jones- Tarlinton - Charlton
C. Kelly - Ponter - Newman
R. Jess Alllan - Hatchard - Marinoff
HB. Allen - Biddell - Mueller
B. Sarah Allan - Prowse

I. Randall - Thompson - Goodwin - Martin - Munyard

E. Boileau - Varnhagen - Levy

O. Tonon - Boyle-Carr - Smith - Kustermann - Henry - (Ballard Injury Replacement)
Jeez 9 months is a long way out and an especially long time to wait to see if any of Clarke’s views/team mantra’s including the experience preferences he’s held over recent seasons will change and whether he jumps on to what is really becoming an obvious generational shift in talent league wide especially looking at nearly all clubs post-season list changes.

If as expected the team continues down the same path, that to be fair has been successful in the home & away section of seasons suspect only Tarlinton and Levy/Boileau come into the Clarke’s post prelim ‘best 21’ thinking as replacements for McKinnon & Bonner, especially early next season.

The main question marks for 2024 will still be the same as heading into last season; midfield mix and forward line. The Ponter, Marinoff and Hatchard midfield seems so good on paper, like having 3 Rolls Royce's rolling through at the same time but an all ball chasing mids setup like that got totally exposed in finals. Where as the forward line when Jones was taken out of the equation was just a 1 tall marking option surrounded only by mediocre hit and miss pressure forwards that turned into a dogs breakfast mess that failed miserably again towards the back-end of the season.

Speaking of team predictions, this time last year I was the one that called for Jones to move from the midfield/wing to become a permanent forward again and that’s what they did & it had a level of success, next year I really believe they should even push it further to sort those forward line issues and look at another ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’ move and get Hatchard to play more permanently as a marking forward (at least a 60/40 mix). Feel if they are really hell bent on having Ponter in the middle and around a lot of stoppages next year you can find a way to cover that part of the field and the move also makes a lot of sense given Hatchard has shown to be one of the rare few that can actually take a grab in the forward 50.

Would also start putting the onus on someone like Charlton to actually step up rather than be a back-seat driver that’s just treading water like she has become.

Also Randall permanently to halfback needs to happen most likely at the expense of Allen.

So preferred radical ‘I want new shiny things’ way too early 21 for next year?

B: Prowse, S.Allan
HB: Goodwin, Biddell, Randall
C: Kelly, Charlton, Newman
HF: Martin, Hatchard, Henry
F: Jones, Gould
Foll: J.Allan, Marinoff, Ponter

I/C: Tarlinton, Mueller, Levy, Kustermann, Thompson.

EMG: Waterhouse, Boileau, Tonon

One 2 minute video of Tamara Henry is enough for me to prefer her over both Munyard and Waterhouse. Toss of a coin between Waterhouse & Martin, pure forward Waterhouse hands down but Martin plays that Petrenko role Clarke likes. Kustermann into the goddamn middle next year too, will catch everyone by surprise in the comp.

Also Thompson, Tonon and Munyard again are gonna fight it out for that last selected player I’ll criticise rightly or wrongly as just not ‘good enough’. Reckon Boileau needs time to build before she can get a permanent spot.
 
Isnt Hatchy there to run marathons for charity?



not a bad effort.


Saw that a a couple of weeks ago, she did say previously she was going to do the full marathon but it looks like it got changed to the quarter late on, made me wonder if it wasn’t something to do with the club and/or more likely the AFLPA that may have prohibited her from entering a full professional/semi-pro marathon.

Know part of the collective bargaining agreement does state a certain amount of time of rest and non-competitive activity needs to occur for a period of time post season.
 
Article on the AFC website stating up to 10 players will play some games in the SANFLW this year.


Mentions Goodwin, Tonon, Allen, Kustermann, Waterhouse, Smith and new draftees Tarlinton, Henry & Boileau in the article.

As usual have a bit of doubt a couple of those mentioned will feature much if at all, Goodwin especially given she played the full season. Interestingly not mentioned in the article is Levy which leads me to question whether she’s unlikely to turn out as well which would probably be more so to do with what she’s doing with her basketball career, know she stated she was still keen on that being her main pursuit but would be nice to see her continue her development and strong form she had last year with South Adelaide.

As predicted Boyle-Carr will not feature as will still be located in Ireland until AFLW Pre-Season.

Will be interesting how they split the games this year, last year seemed to be a bit random especially compared to the Power listed players, Levy fitted in only a few around Basketball commitments & the likes of J.Allan, N.Allen, Ward, Mueller, Tonon, Goodwin & Kustermann played some games in the first part of the season but rarely featured post the halfway mark. Whereas others like Waterhouse & Prowse were listed originally to play but didn’t.
 
Article on the AFC website stating up to 10 players will play some games in the SANFLW this year.


Mentions Goodwin, Tonon, Allen, Kustermann, Waterhouse, Smith and new draftees Tarlinton, Henry & Boileau in the article.

As usual have a bit of doubt a couple of those mentioned will feature much if at all, Goodwin especially given she played the full season. Interestingly not mentioned in the article is Levy which leads me to question whether she’s unlikely to turn out as well which would probably be more so to do with what she’s doing with her basketball career, know she stated she was still keen on that being her main pursuit but would be nice to see her continue her development and strong form she had last year with South Adelaide.

Will be interesting how they split the games this year, last year seemed to be a bit random especially compared to the Power listed players, Levy fitted in only a few around Basketball commitments & the likes of J.Allan, N.Allen, Ward, Mueller, Tonon, Goodwin & Kustermann played some games in the first part of the season but rarely featured post the halfway mark. Whereas others like Waterhouse & Prowse were listed originally to play but didn’t.
Well the seasons in 2022 probably affected who played SANFLW in 2023 and now back to normal. looking forward to see if Tarlinton is the solution as the second Key Forward.
 

Saw this in ESPN and my have impact to the Crows and their relationship for SANFLW. The Crows emphasised for those who didn't have much game time that SANFLW would play.


From the article "While all 1,300 AFLW players are now compensated for the full 12 months of the year, the lack of structure around their six months away from their clubs leaves many floundering.

The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requires clubs to have no more than 12 weeks of official preseason training, meaning a player's access to structured coaching is limited to that period as well as the regular season.

Maintaining fitness, advancing skills, and therefore perpetuating the overall quality of the game is down to the players as individuals until their preseason campaigns begin, something Collingwood midfielder and Irish star Sarah Rowe says is "a challenge".

"Our season is six months long and we have six months off, so in that six-month period, where you're essentially 'off', we're now getting paid for all months of the year, which is great, but there's no real structure around that that allows for us to really develop," Rowe said at a gender equity in sport conference in January." and "The most recent CBA was penned last year extending until 2027. And with stipulations including increased games, and 12-month, multi-year contracts for AFLW players, the necessity for full-time coaching staff will only increase.

For the 2024 and 2025 AFLW seasons, each player and club will commit to no more than 22 hours per week during preseason and the main season including matches."

So my maths is that work around this

AFL last round 23 - 25 Aug 24 and Pre Finals Bye - 30 Aug - 2 Sep 24

AFLW Pre Season 14 Jun 24

SANFLW dates
Kicking off with Round 1 on Friday March 1, SANFLW League home-and-away season will extend from 12 to 14 rounds, concluding on Saturday June 15

SANFLW Clubs provides structured training, coaching and some game time.
 

Saw this in ESPN and my have impact to the Crows and their relationship for SANFLW. The Crows emphasised for those who didn't have much game time that SANFLW would play.


From the article "While all 1,300 AFLW players are now compensated for the full 12 months of the year, the lack of structure around their six months away from their clubs leaves many floundering.

The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) requires clubs to have no more than 12 weeks of official preseason training, meaning a player's access to structured coaching is limited to that period as well as the regular season.

Maintaining fitness, advancing skills, and therefore perpetuating the overall quality of the game is down to the players as individuals until their preseason campaigns begin, something Collingwood midfielder and Irish star Sarah Rowe says is "a challenge".

"Our season is six months long and we have six months off, so in that six-month period, where you're essentially 'off', we're now getting paid for all months of the year, which is great, but there's no real structure around that that allows for us to really develop," Rowe said at a gender equity in sport conference in January." and "The most recent CBA was penned last year extending until 2027. And with stipulations including increased games, and 12-month, multi-year contracts for AFLW players, the necessity for full-time coaching staff will only increase.

For the 2024 and 2025 AFLW seasons, each player and club will commit to no more than 22 hours per week during preseason and the main season including matches."

So my maths is that work around this

AFL last round 23 - 25 Aug 24 and Pre Finals Bye - 30 Aug - 2 Sep 24

AFLW Pre Season 14 Jun 24

SANFLW dates
Kicking off with Round 1 on Friday March 1, SANFLW League home-and-away season will extend from 12 to 14 rounds, concluding on Saturday June 15

SANFLW Clubs provides structured training, coaching and some game time.
Where did they get that 1300 figure for total AFLW players?

There's actually less than half that
 

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