Play Nice AFL Womens - General Discussion

[petits]

I’m confused.

• Clubs may not lose more than a standard number of two players, a maximum of four players and a minimum of one player via expansion free agency.

Minimum? So all clubs have to lose a player? But Tasmania can only sign 18 via this mechanism, so one player per club effectively?

 

[The Nostradamus]

I think teams would be silly not to think about it.
Its a 30 player list, a young player with 2 years in the comp, you take the risk and be prepared for a bit of media scrutiny

Lot of silly teams

 

[Saints2001]

Minimum? So all clubs have to lose a player? But Tasmania can only sign 18 via this mechanism, so one player per club effectively?

No it's just saying the number of players a club can lose to free agency expansion varies on a sliding scale from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 4. It doesn't mean each club loses 1 player.

For example, going off this years results - North, Brisbane, Demons and Carlton could each lose 4 and they could then pick 1 each from Gold Coast and GWS and that's their 18. Just means no club is totally safe despite how bad they are - they can lose at least 1, with the top clubs potentially losing 4.

 

[timokane]

Whens the 2026 AFLW thread coming up.

And what you would like it too look like and any tips predictions on all things AFLW12.

I think we are up to number 12 been going for a while this comp which is good.

Not as long as VFLW tho.

 

[Callipygian]

I want to pick your collective brains about Taylor Smith.

Smith is a KPF we (the Swans) have traded in from the Lions (and before that, the Suns). I don't know a lot about the way she plays. She seems to be agile and have a good leap rather than being a strong, bulldozer-y type of key forward (that seems to be more Dakota Davidson's bag). Is that a fair characterisation? I note she was selected AA in 2024 as a full forward but does this mean that is her best position, or could she equally well play CHF? Is she a good outlet marking target when trying to transition out of defence? Does she apply a lot of defensive pressure? Is she intimidating? Is she an accurate goalkicker? Is she equally good from a set shot or in general play? Is she quick? Does she have good endurance? Grateful to understand more about the player she is from anyone who can offer any insight. Thanks in advance.

 

[The Nostradamus]

What does everyone’s best team look like next year?

Norths
best 21 next year

B: Bresnehan Ferguson
HB: O’Shea Birch Sheerin
C: Gatt King Bruton
HF: Wall KLWT Eddey
F: Randall Bogue
R: Rennie Garner Riddell
i: kearney E King Tripodi Alice 1 of Craven/smith

emg: shannon shierlaw AGM Torpey boyd

further back in depth/developing: mcelligott mahony wall

 

[Eraser]

I don’t want to alarm everyone but north have 2 first round picks next year

On top of just bringing in a former pick 1

And not losing any premiership players

There are only about 12 really good players coming through in each draft so you likely won't see any high level talent. Plus everyone already knows you're gonna dominate for a while, the thought of you having a live pick in the draft for once isn't exactly instilling fear into anyone. Anyone you draft next year won't be playing with Garner, Riddell, Bruton, Sheerin, Kearney or Randall, and you'll find that when your success dries up your luck with luring talent from other teams will too. You should've already started to transform your list if you want to avoid a prolonged period of mediocrity down the track. You guys have one player under 29 that moves the needle at all and it's Alice O'Loughlin, better hope she never decides to try her hand elsewhere.

 

[The Nostradamus]

There are only about 12 really good players coming through in each draft so you likely won't see any high level talent. Plus everyone already knows you're gonna dominate for a while, the thought of you having a live pick in the draft for once isn't exactly instilling fear into anyone. Anyone you draft next year won't be playing with Garner, Riddell, Bruton, Sheerin, Kearney or Randall, and you'll find that when your success dries up your luck with luring talent from other teams will too. You should've already started to transform your list if you want to avoid a prolonged period of mediocrity down the track. You guys have one player under 29 that moves the needle at all and it's Alice O'Loughlin, better hope she never decides to try her hand elsewhere.

Under 29 players
Bogue all aus
Birch all aus
Randall all aus
Alice oloughlin all aus
KLWT former pick 1
Tripodi 2 x premiership player
Ferguson 2 x premiership player
Oshea 2 x premiership player
Shannon premiership player
Smith 2 x premiership player
Gatt 2 x premiership player
Bresnehan premiership player
Mia king premiership player
Wall 2 x premiership player
Craven 2 x premiership player
Eddey 2 x premiership player
Amy Gavin mangan
Torpey
Our 2 draftees
And next years 2 first round picks in the top 18

We are 5 peating

 

[Eraser]

Under 29 players
Bogue all aus
Birch all aus
Randall all aus
Alice oloughlin all aus
KLWT former pick 1
Tripodi 2 x premiership player
Ferguson 2 x premiership player
Oshea 2 x premiership player
Shannon premiership player
Smith 2 x premiership player
Gatt 2 x premiership player
Bresnehan premiership player
Mia king premiership player
Wall 2 x premiership player
Craven 2 x premiership player
Eddey 2 x premiership player
Amy Gavin mangan
Torpey
Our 2 draftees
And next years 2 first round picks in the top 18

We are 5 peating

Didn’t realise Randall was that young wow. You have two players under 29 that move the needle whatsoever.

 

[The Nostradamus]

Didn’t realise Randall was that young wow. You have two players under 29 that move the needle whatsoever

Lol You have only 2 under 29 players that would make our best team

 

[Eraser]

Lol You have only 2 under 29 players that would make our best team

True, I'm not in denial about the problems with my team.

 

[weevil]

I want to pick your collective brains about Taylor Smith.

Smith is a KPF we (the Swans) have traded in from the Lions (and before that, the Suns). I don't know a lot about the way she plays. She seems to be agile and have a good leap rather than being a strong, bulldozer-y type of key forward (that seems to be more Dakota Davidson's bag). Is that a fair characterisation? I note she was selected AA in 2024 as a full forward but does this mean that is her best position, or could she equally well play CHF? Is she a good outlet marking target when trying to transition out of defence? Does she apply a lot of defensive pressure? Is she intimidating? Is she an accurate goalkicker? Is she equally good from a set shot or in general play? Is she quick? Does she have good endurance? Grateful to understand more about the player she is from anyone who can offer any insight. Thanks in advance.

She is a good tall leading forward, but she can be reliant on the team moving the ball quickly and getting it to her cleanly.

She is not super agile, and I definitely would not describe her as a bulldozer or intimidating. But she leads hard and fast at the ball and started leaping strongly into packs this year.

She has only really been seriously working on her strength the past couple of years, which has led directly to the improvement in her game, and probably has more scope to continue to improve in this area.

Aside from her marking on the lead, she is also good at doubling back and getting behind her defenders to run onto the ball. She tends to find it more difficult in contested situations, but can still at least fight to bring the ball to ground.

She finds it hard to impact the game when defences are well set and they block space for her to lead into. She does tend to be a little bit of a one-trick pony; it’s a good trick that will win you some games, but she does have less of an impact when games are tighter.

 

[CURVE]

There are only about 12 really good players coming through in each draft so you likely won't see any high level talent. Plus everyone already knows you're gonna dominate for a while, the thought of you having a live pick in the draft for once isn't exactly instilling fear into anyone. Anyone you draft next year won't be playing with Garner, Riddell, Bruton, Sheerin, Kearney or Randall, and you'll find that when your success dries up your luck with luring talent from other teams will too. You should've already started to transform your list if you want to avoid a prolonged period of mediocrity down the track. You guys have one player under 29 that moves the needle at all and it's Alice O'Loughlin, better hope she never decides to try her hand elsewhere.

Blaithin Bogue just equaled the record for the most goals in a season, in her first season playing in the AFLW, and she doesn't move the needle. There are also five or six other young players such as Craven, O'Shea, Ferguson, Mia King, Eddey and Vikki Wall that have "moved the needle" of people who have a greater understanding of the AFLW game than you or I, including past and current AFLW players.

You need to check your needle because someone superglued it in place.

 

[timokane]

love a team from new zealand in the aflw

 

[Credit To Du Bois]

Can't post a new thread, don't think I've posted comments enough times, but here's a link to a beta version of a trade search tool I've been working on.

Has trades from all 10 AFLW post-seasons loaded in, can filter by clubs involved, player name, or type of things traded (player, pick, future pick).

Very keen for feedback to keep improving it.

If you spot an error let me know too, there was a lot of manual data entry on my part to create the initial database so some things might have slipped.

https://aflwtrades.beta.credittodubois.com/

 

[timokane]

Eventually love to see AFLW run parallel to AFL and its other format VFLW.

Always think it should be say 20 rounds lets say or longer.

Each team plays each other home and away.

And AFLW is the curtain raiser to the AFL.

A double header what you call.

Have a day out be great.

Always think will be a real thrill for the girls playing on top grounds like MCG for example.

Has to be like this.

Its a no brainer.

Make a day or night out of it.

 

[jatz14]

Eventually love to see AFLW run parallel to AFL and its other format VFLW.

Always think it should be say 20 rounds lets say or longer.

Each team plays each other home and away.

And AFLW is the curtain raiser to the AFL.

A double header what you call.

Have a day out be great.

Always think will be a real thrill for the girls playing on top grounds like MCG for example.

Has to be like this.

Its a no brainer.

Make a day or night out of it.

What value does this bring the AFL? Who would sponsor a women's league or a woman's team, when that league and team play in the shadow of the more high profile men's league?
Would women enjoy running out on to a 95% empty MCG, and then watching it fill up with people that have no interest in their game, in the last quarter?
Does the AFL want the expense of opening the MCG 2 hours earlier, for a small increase in the crowd?
They cannot charge for the women's game, unless they empty out the ground between games, in which case, it's not a curtain raiser, because people that just want to watch the men, will not accept paying more because a woman's game is on. So again, why?
People that don't follow AFLW will never accept there are people that do, so they will assume everyone at the ground is there for the men, and that the interest in the woman's match is zero.
People will assume relocating women's footy to non revenue raising pre match entertainment is an admission it's a failure.

This is why some of the people that argued it shouldn't exist and was bound to fail and be wound up, have switched to arguing it should be a curtain raiser comp, as for them, this is the next best thing to it failing.

NRL did it, because they had no choice

There is a reason it's a rarity in the AFL, and if it stops being a rarity, this is in fact a sign that the AFL have abandoned it as a serious comp.

 

[timokane]

Kind of agree.

Case of where to for the aflw.

All very well more teams but at what cost.

Like to idea of a SOOW

State comp is better.

Say NSW v Vic.

State of origin lets say.

leave to club stuff to comps like saflw vflw walw for example.

Local leagues for club land.

State for AFL.

Me personally like to see AFLW go for 2 years before some major changes.

Time to tinker with it and grow into something out of left field.

Bring back an x factor about womens footy.

 

[Eraser]

Blaithin Bogue just equaled the record for the most goals in a season, in her first season playing in the AFLW, and she doesn't move the needle. There are also five or six other young players such as Craven, O'Shea, Ferguson, Mia King, Eddey and Vikki Wall that have "moved the needle" of people who have a greater understanding of the AFLW game than you or I, including past and current AFLW players.

You need to check your needle because someone superglued it in place.

She's impressive for someone in their first year and a convert from another sport but there's no way she'd be as successful in any other team, at least at this stage. She doesn't create the opportunities for her own goals, she converts the work of others. This is what I mean by moving the needle, all the players you listed are solid but take away your aging stars and that's a pretty mediocre starting team.

 

[threenewpadlocks]

What value does this bring the AFL? Who would sponsor a women's league or a woman's team, when that league and team play in the shadow of the more high profile men's league?
Would women enjoy running out on to a 95% empty MCG, and then watching it fill up with people that have no interest in their game, in the last quarter?
Does the AFL want the expense of opening the MCG 2 hours earlier, for a small increase in the crowd?
They cannot charge for the women's game, unless they empty out the ground between games, in which case, it's not a curtain raiser, because people that just want to watch the men, will not accept paying more because a woman's game is on. So again, why?
People that don't follow AFLW will never accept there are people that do, so they will assume everyone at the ground is there for the men, and that the interest in the woman's match is zero.
People will assume relocating women's footy to non revenue raising pre match entertainment is an admission it's a failure.

This is why some of the people that argued it shouldn't exist and was bound to fail and be wound up, have switched to arguing it should be a curtain raiser comp, as for them, this is the next best thing to it failing.

NRL did it, because they had no choice

There is a reason it's a rarity in the AFL, and if it stops being a rarity, this is in fact a sign that the AFL have abandoned it as a serious comp.

There's something to be said about the 100+ year cultural foundation of footy being a winter sport though, you're inherently asking people to act in an unnatural way relative to the rhythms of a year in getting them to care for footy outside of winter.

A lot of the reason for the AFLW being played in the summer was about club resourcing, not so much actual promotion of the games.

And double-headers are neither an unsolvable problem (there's been VFL double headers on the same ground for instance) ineffective in its benefit for other leagues e.g. The Hundred in England, everyone with a reason to care and promote women's cricket there has been nothing but positive about the benefits of the double headers.

It's a debate with merit and I have the view that the foundations of AFL is built on this 150 year old Melbourne/Perth/Adelaide rhythm of "footy on the weekend in winter" at local and top-tier level that seems to get ignored here.

You claim it's a "shadow of the mens league" but is there an equal argument that it's played in the "shadow of the 6 months of the year where people care about other things than footy"?

 

[jatz14]

There's something to be said about the 100+ year cultural foundation of footy being a winter sport though, you're inherently asking people to act in an unnatural way relative to the rhythms of a year in getting them to care for footy outside of winter.

A lot of the reason for the AFLW being played in the summer was about club resourcing, not so much actual promotion of the games.

And double-headers are neither an unsolvable problem (there's been VFL double headers on the same ground for instance) ineffective in its benefit for other leagues e.g. The Hundred in England, everyone with a reason to care and promote women's cricket there has been nothing but positive about the benefits of the double headers.

It's a debate with merit and I have the view that the foundations of AFL is built on this 150 year old Melbourne/Perth/Adelaide rhythm of "footy on the weekend in winter" at local and top-tier level that seems to get ignored here.

You claim it's a "shadow of the mens league" but is there an equal argument that it's played in the "shadow of the 6 months of the year where people care about other things than footy"?

I'm not against it being played in winter, though I think half the season should not overlap to give clear air, but they shouldn't be played as curtain raisers. I would do the exact opposite where possible. Eagles men are away, have women at home, and vice versa.

 

[CURVE]

She's impressive for someone in their first year and a convert from another sport but there's no way she'd be as successful in any other team, at least at this stage. She doesn't create the opportunities for her own goals, she converts the work of others. This is what I mean by moving the needle, all the players you listed are solid but take away your aging stars and that's a pretty mediocre starting team.

Interesting theory, it holds about as much water as a thimble, but an interesting theory none the less. She made the All-Australian Team for a reason, she is a freak with the uncanny ability to create scoring opportunities from near impossible situations, around half of her 25 goals were from situations where instinct and/or skill created a scoring opportunity (a snap in congestion, from an acute angle, or off the ground) or from defensive pressure (intercept mark and/or possession, or laying a tackle and receiving a HTB free). She also finished top 10 for Goal Assists and top 5 Score Involvements, so not only was she creating opportunities for herself, but she was creating for others or involved in scoring chains.

 

[Profop]

I understand the arguments against running the women’s comp in the winter to give it free air but I do think there’s also a level of football fatigue that causes people who would otherwise watch to not engage as much with the AFLW as by the time the season is in full swing people are ready for a bit of a rest

Certainly I felt that way this year but that also could have been because the Tigers were terrible

 

[Teen Wolf]

Viewership and attendance suggests the only 'footy fatigue' comes from trying to squeeze 18 games into 72 hours across 16 venues. Curtain-raisers have also already been tried. Not heaps but enough to show they are mostly disastrous.

Unfortunately the AFL have not tried the intuitive alternate option for when the seasons overlap, which is to have AFL-AFLW double-headers at the best venues wherein the women play second.

Keep the turnaround short and heaps of people will hang around rather than battling with 50,000 others to get out of the stadium. And the better the game, the longer more people will stay to watch, I think we'll find.

Fortunately I've done the jigsaw-piecing to show how double-headers can work, and I'll demonstrate this in the 2026 Fixture thread (which will be created soon, either by me or somebody else).

 

[Cdog71]

Viewership and attendance suggests the only 'footy fatigue' comes from trying to squeeze 18 games into 72 hours across 16 venues. Curtain-raisers have also already been tried. Not heaps but enough to show they are mostly disastrous.

Unfortunately the AFL have not tried the intuitive alternate option for when the seasons overlap, which is to have AFL-AFLW double-headers at the best venues wherein the women play second.

Keep the turnaround short and heaps of people will hang around rather than battling with 50,000 others to get out of the stadium. And the better the game, the longer more people will stay to watch, I think we'll find.

Fortunately I've done the jigsaw-piecing to show how double-headers can work, and I'll demonstrate this in the 2026 Fixture thread (which will be created soon, either by me or somebody else).

What’s the chances of the attendance for the year (percentage filled) will hit the trigger for another couple of games in the season dya reckon?