Game Day AFLW R6 2019: Crows v Giants, Unley Oval

Feb 3, 2004
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We are incredible in these last quarters. Opposition goes to sleep and we power through
They don’t go to sleep. They are stuffed keeping up with us for three quarters. It was so obvious when they couldn’t sprint off the ground to make an interchange. Whereas we still were, right to the end.
 

WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot

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Melbourne basically have to beat us by between 25 and 26 points or more, when factoring in most reasonable AFLW scorelines

The top score for any team this season is 67. Melbourne's top score is 60.

So Melbourne would have to keep the Crows below about 5 goals for the game to have a chance. That's a big ask, considering the Crows are the highest scoring team in the comp.
 

dplggr47

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Yep. Prime example in that quarter when she was free with the ball and tried to run through a couple of players.
To be fair, I think it was Foley that handpassed to her, while she was running towards traffic. Might've been hard to change direction. IMO, that was a classic example of poor handballing choice. Though, Varnhagen should've disposed of it immediately given her position.

Varnhagen is the weakest link in the side by a fair bit imo.
I disagree. Cox has gone backwards and has been terrible this year. Riley is also another that goes missing too often. McCormack has also lost her position up forward due to our recruits and has been forced to play down back, which she has also been terrible at. I reckon she might be getting the delist at year's end. Varnhagen is a pretty good mark and does the run and carry a lot, but needs to work on her disposal and decision making.

It’s the same thing that frustrates me about Varnhagen too.
And Marinoff’s kicking has been average today.
But a win is a win so I’m guessing they’ll be ok with the GWS ultra flood.
Actually, I think Marinoff has always been an average kick. Other than one low bullet which just made it to their target today, her kicks are generally high, loopy and not directed at anyone in particular. Her skills are her tackling and contested ball.

Players I have been impressed with:
- Ponter is a superstar. Great goal awareness (best in our team) and very quick. Her goal in the goal square was Eddie Betts like.
- Stevie-Lee. No idea why she wasted two years in defence. Perhaps we didn't have any other good defenders? But in AFLW scoring power is everything.
- Phillips was harassed all day by Randall, so she was a bit down in possession, but like a superstar, she got through it.
- Scheer was fantastic again. She's got a great leg on her. That score assist to Ponter was amazing. Ended up with another goal herself as well.
- Jones is one of my favourite players. Despite her small size, she's a great tackler, mark and kick. Someone her size shouldn't be winning any contested marks, but she still does it. Love her aggression off the ball as well. The way she got in Randall's face was hilarious.
- Mules has a lot of speed and she used it today. Her disposals have always been weak and short, but she has to work with what she has. One passage of play, she won a ball against three opponents due to her speed.
Also enjoyed the commentary today from the guy (don't know his name).

My main frustration is always the umpiring. Often these girls are dispossessing their opponents and forcing illegal disposals, yet it all goes unrewarded. I think they only paid 1-2 free kicks today for incorrect disposal, yet there were many more. Also, not sure if this is the broadcasting or what, but they never show replays, whether it be a great goal, tackle, mark, or why a free kick was paid or not. So many free kicks go missed and usually, in the AFL, they'd replay that to double check whether a decision was correct or not. Either AFLW doesn't have access to that sort of footage or they don't want to criticise the umpiring of AFLW.
 
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hey shorty

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The umpiring is woeful.

There's no such thing as illegal disposal, it's almost as if the AFL have told the umpires not to pay it. Also, free kicks for a clash of heads are dumb, how do you decide who gets the free ??
 

VictorianCrow85

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To be fair, I think it was Foley that handpassed to her, while she was running towards traffic. Might've been hard to change direction. IMO, that was a classic example of poor handballing choice. Though, Varnhagen should've disposed of it immediately given her position.

I disagree. Cox has gone backwards and has been terrible this year. Riley is also another that goes missing too often. McCormack has also lost her position up forward due to our recruits and has been forced to play down back, which she has also been terrible at. I reckon she might be getting the delist at year's end. Varnhagen is a pretty good mark and does the run and carry a lot, but needs to work on her disposal and decision making.

Actually, I think Marinoff has always been an average kick. Other than one low bullet which just made it to their target today, her kicks are generally high, loopy and not directed at anyone in particular. Her skills are her tackling and contested ball.

Players I have been impressed with:
- Ponter is a superstar. Great goal awareness (best in our team) and very quick. Her goal in the goal square was Eddie Betts like.
- Stevie-Lee. No idea why she wasted two years in defence. Perhaps we didn't have any other good defenders? But in AFLW scoring power is everything.
- Phillips was harassed all day by Randall, so she was a bit down in possession, but like a superstar, she got through it.
- Scheer was fantastic again. She's got a great leg on her. That score assist to Ponter was amazing. Ended up with another goal herself as well.
- Jones is one of my favourite players. Despite her small size, she's a great tackler, mark and kick. Someone her size shouldn't be winning any contested marks, but she still does it. Love her aggression off the ball as well. The way she got in Randall's face was hilarious.
- Mules has a lot of speed and she used it today. Her disposals have always been weak and short, but she has to work with what she has. One passage of play, she won a ball against three opponents due to her speed.
Also enjoyed the commentary today from the guy (don't know his name).

My main frustration is always the umpiring. Often these girls are dispossessing their opponents and forcing illegal disposals, yet it all goes unrewarded. I think they only paid 1-2 free kicks today for incorrect disposal, yet there were many more. Also, not sure if this is the broadcasting or what, but they never show replays, whether it be a great goal, tackle, mark, or why a free kick was paid or not. So many free kicks go missed and usually, in the AFL, they'd replay that to double check whether a decision was correct or not. Either AFLW doesn't have access to that sort of footage or they don't want to criticise the umpiring of AFLW.
For me it's still Varnhagen, turnovers occur far too regular when she gets the ball. Either takes too long to do anything, doesn't have the strength to shrug any tackle ever or else just squibs the kick down an opponents throat. I've never seen her take any notable marks so I don't know where you are getting that from to be honest? I don't disagree the other players you listed are our lesser players for sure just I don't see the same level of turn overs coming from them, in fact to me they tend to be semi invisible which isn't ideal but at least they haven't stood out to me for the reasons Varnhagen has. Anyway I don't want to turn it into some hate campaign just merely that she would be the first person I'd be dropping in favour of someone better. Regardless our girls team is playing some fantastic footy and not every player can be a star like some of them.
 
Incidentally- us injuring Phillips with our hamstring specialist program last year probably cost us another flag.

Phillips injured her quad before the season started and it never came good, had nothing to do with her hamstring. She worked through a specialist program this preseason in the US to make sure the quad injury wouldn't come back, and so far it's worked a treat.

Interesting to read everyone dumping on Varnhagen here, I thought she had her best game for the club today watching from the ground.
 
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Phillips injured her quad before the season started and it never came good, had nothing to do with her hamstring. She worked through a specialist program this preseason in the US to make sure the quad injury wouldn't come back, and so far it's worked a treat.

Interesting to read everyone dumping on Varnhagen here, I thought she had her best game for the club today watching from the ground.

I agree she was very good today. The whole team turned it over way too much particularly with our forward entries. Our tackling and pressure was first rate all over the ground and in the last quarter we just smashed them. This is looking like a premiership team to me.
 
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I agree, Varnhagen has been far from our worse this year. Gore struggled today, and McCormick and Cox are patchy. Riley is the other one on the cusp. I'd put Considine back in and possibly Sedunary replaces Riley. Then we just need to find a spot for Cramey to come back and we've got our best 21 on the park.

I was really impressed with Unley oval, I've never been before but it's a gorgeous ground. I wouldn't mind if we played a few more AFLW games there going forward!

Bit of a frustrating game for three quarters but you always had the impression that GWS would be unable to withstand the pressure forever. To their credit they did a quality job of applying midfield pressure and then mopping up the wayward inside 50 entries. Punished our midfield turnovers too, until the dam finally burst open in the fourth quarter.

I thought our tackling in the forward 50 was a highlight. We kept it locked in there for large patches. Struggled to turn that pressure into goals but it was still good to see.

Erin Phillips and Chelsea Randall, is there a more consistent duo in footy? They just do everything right! Phillips marking was exceptional today and Randall's tackling was just as good. I have a Sloane-sized footy crush on Randall, I can't remember enjoying watching a footballer as much as I do her :thumbsu:

Stevie-Lee must be at least a couple goals clear on top of the league, right? Who would have thought she'd win that! She's a star, you can see the team has total confidence to put it to space in front of her.

Now we just need to get within four goals of Melbourne to make finals. Or, win next week and get one (and potentially two) home finals!

Go you Crow girls :D
 

Justinpa1

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When we beat Melbourne next week we will secure top spot. And host a preliminary final. What an opportunity for a doubleheader?!

Sat 23/3 adelaide Oval
1.05pm AFLW Crows vs Cats/Blues
4.05pm Crows v Hawks

You would surely get 25,000 at least there at 1pm. Make it free entry and then could clear the stadium at 3.30pm. And use tickets to get back in for the mens match.

I've also noticed Ports Rd2 home game is set to start at 4.40pm so fingers crossed if we host the Grand Final, play that at 1pm before the Powa game, imagine how good it would be to get 45,000 there for the GF and get a bigger crowd than Ports 1st home game!!

Either way it's going to be a few exciting weeks!

Brilliant atmosphere at Unley today, beautiful weather, great game, excellent venue.
 

R0GUE

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I was surprised something wasn't done to ensure we had a player in our forward fifty at all times, especially in the first half. A couple of times I saw the player with the ball having to kick it high when going forward because there was no one to kick to, which ultimately led to a relatively easy possession for GWS. Does anyone other than me lay the blame for this on our coach? I just thought that Matty could have made a simple change or request to make it a better structure in our forward 50.
For me the first three quarters were frustrating to watch. With 2-3 players on Erin at times why weren't our free players able to capitalise on this by creating space and awareness of this? Hopefully if this happens in the finals (provided we get there) we can look out for the unmarked players. I know Erin can still beat more than one opposition, but to me it makes sense to be mindful of our players who aren't being marked so they can be targeted.
Apart from this, am impressed with this outfit. I thought GWS really took it up to us with pressure, but their flooding gameplan was never going to work as we probably all expected our girls to continue with the run, deep into the last qtr due to our fitness.
BTW, if we lose next week get ready for the AFL to manufacture a draw between roos and freo to keep us out.
 

dplggr47

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I agree, Varnhagen has been far from our worse this year. Gore struggled today, and McCormick and Cox are patchy. Riley is the other one on the cusp. I'd put Considine back in and possibly Sedunary replaces Riley. Then we just need to find a spot for Cramey to come back and we've got our best 21 on the park.

I was really impressed with Unley oval, I've never been before but it's a gorgeous ground. I wouldn't mind if we played a few more AFLW games there going forward!

Bit of a frustrating game for three quarters but you always had the impression that GWS would be unable to withstand the pressure forever. To their credit they did a quality job of applying midfield pressure and then mopping up the wayward inside 50 entries. Punished our midfield turnovers too, until the dam finally burst open in the fourth quarter.

I thought our tackling in the forward 50 was a highlight. We kept it locked in there for large patches. Struggled to turn that pressure into goals but it was still good to see.

Erin Phillips and Chelsea Randall, is there a more consistent duo in footy? They just do everything right! Phillips marking was exceptional today and Randall's tackling was just as good. I have a Sloane-sized footy crush on Randall, I can't remember enjoying watching a footballer as much as I do her :thumbsu:

Stevie-Lee must be at least a couple goals clear on top of the league, right? Who would have thought she'd win that! She's a star, you can see the team has total confidence to put it to space in front of her.

Now we just need to get within four goals of Melbourne to make finals. Or, win next week and get one (and potentially two) home finals!

Go you Crow girls :D
If she makes it back in time, McCormick and Cox are two that are down in form in defense. I'd have Cramey replace McCormick.
 
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The crowd was great today too, thought they might get 5000, but to get close to 8000 was excellent.

Wouldn't have been many Giants supporters there padding out the figures either. I had a cheeky look at the GWS board after the match and they don't even have a Gameday thread!
To be fair AFWL is only in its 3rd season
In a non AFL traditional environment the interest would be mild
I thought the GWS team really pushed for 3/4
 
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Stevie-Lee must be at least a couple goals clear on top of the league, right? Who would have thought she'd win that! She's a star, you can see the team has total confidence to put it to space in front of her.

Yep. SLT is on top with 12 goals, and Flip in second with 9.
 
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