Review AFLW Round 10 - West Coast v Adelaide - Saturday 4 November @ Mineral Resources Park

[brucetiki]

West Coast v Adelaide
Saturday 4 November
4:35pm Adelaide time/2:05pm Perth time
Mineral Resources Park

We finish the minor round with the Pride Game between the two sides who have invested the least into the round.

We're looking to give ourselves the best chance of top spot. West Coast just playing for...dare I say it...pride.

The weather forecast for Perth on Saturday is 36 degrees. Expect this to play a bit of a factor in the game.

 

[dplggr47]

If Melbourne lose, and Crows win, we get top spot.
If Melbourne win, Crows would need to win by like 90 or something and hope Melbourne only win by a little bit to claim top spot.
If Crows lose, we stay second.
Not liking the weather report though. Less likely we'll thrash them because we'll want our players rested for finals.

 

[cmndstab]

If Melbourne lose, and Crows win, we get top spot.
If Melbourne win, Crows would need to win by like 90 or something and hope Melbourne only win by a little bit to claim top spot.
If Crows lose, we stay second.
Not liking the weather report though. Less likely we'll thrash them because we'll want our players rested for finals.

Yes, playing a match in high-30s temperature is the last thing we need heading into a finals series. Ah well, can't be helped.

If Melbourne win, we'll need a serious thrashing to overtake them on percentage. They have almost 100 points more than us, and have conceded 30 points less. Our only real hope if Melbourne wins is that it's a high scoring match (say 50-40?) and then we win by a huge margin, would likely need to be 100+. Seems extremely unlikely.

Still, if Melbourne does win it guarantees that Brisbane will miss the top 4, so there's that!

 

[Crow54]

Is there a ruling that a game can't be played if a certain temperature is predicted? It'll be much hotter than 36 degrees on the actual oval, which could be pretty dangerous.

 

[brucetiki]

Is there a ruling that a game can't be played if a certain temperature is predicted? It'll be much hotter than 36 degrees on the actual oval, which could be pretty dangerous.

The AFL have moved some women's games around in the past, but it's rare (and zero chance in the men's competition - as we saw in round 1).

Best the AFL will probably do is have longer breaks and extra drink carriers.

Ideally, you'd move this game to a 7:00pm start Perth time. Sure, it'll mean it'll start 9:00pm local time but at least the bulk of the game will be played at night and not under the direct sun.

 

[JP Sauce]

Hoping we take this game really easy. Would rather finish second than push for first and get fatigued.

 

[Firewalker]

So they’re planning on wearing it btw …




Goodluck to anyone watching this game

 

[brucetiki]

So they’re planning on wearing it btw …


View attachment 1844146

Goodluck to anyone watching this game

Wouldn’t be the first time there’s been a bit of a jumper clash this season.

Our indigenous guernsey clashed pretty badly with the Bulldogs indigenous guernsey.

 

[JP Sauce]

Smart selections.

IN: Smith (debut), Bonner, Varnhagen, Tonon, Kustermann, Whiteley

OUT: Randall, Hatchard, Thompson, Mueller, Waterhouse (all managed), Prowse (ill)

 

[dplggr47]

In: - B.Smith, D.Varnhagen, Y.Bonner, B.Tonon, K.Kustermann, L.Whiteley
Out: - Z.Prowse (Illness), C.Randall (Managed), K.Mueller (Managed), A.Hatchard (Managed), S.Thompson (Managed), J.Waterhouse (Managed)

Probably due to the heat, we are resting/managing important players with niggles.

What position does Smith play?

 

[cmndstab]

Crikey, that's a lot of changes!

Good to see Smith debut.

 

[cmndstab]

What position does Smith play?

Medium defender I believe is how the club sees her. She played as a utility as a junior.

Edit: 171cm I believe

 

[jello_bello]

Medium defender I believe is how the club sees her. She played as a utility as a junior.

Edit: 171cm I believe

There's a nice write up of her at Rookie me centrel:

Draftee in Focus: Brooke Smith (Adelaide)

Dandenong Stingrays utility Brooke Smith has played across all three lines and earned a spot on Adelaide's AFLW list for Season 8.

central.rookieme.com

Seems to be a skilled player with speed who can play pretty much anywhere. Hope she goes well in her debut.

 

[cmndstab]

So does that leave Amber Ward as the only available player not playing and not rested?

Writing on the wall for her I think.

 

[cmndstab]

So... who captains? Probably Sarah Allan, I guess.

 

[Firewalker]

Clarke going full Ross Lyon, let’s hope it works out better in this case. Certainly knows the AFL aren’t going to extend the season with a week off prior to finals like in the men’s comp.

Like to see what Smith brings given she was touted to have some dash about her, Stevie-Lee Thompson really shouldn’t have the luxury of being ‘managed’ as she’s been horrible this season and should just be straight dropped.

 

[brucetiki]

Given the weather forecast, good call to rest some players and give some fringe players a chance to play.

Still expect us to win by plenty

 

[cmndstab]

Clarke going full Ross Lyon, let’s hope it works out better in this case. Certainly knows the AFL aren’t going to extend the season with a week off prior to finals like in the men’s comp.

Like to see what Smith brings given she was touted to have some dash about her, Stevie-Lee Thompson really shouldn’t have the luxury of being ‘managed’ as she’s been horrible this season and should just be straight dropped.

Smith aside, there aren't many options to replace SLT. She's been poor by her standards but not awful.

I guess Kustermann is really the only one that has shown some promise in the past but hasn't been used this year.

 

[Ciao Giacomo]

Smith aside, there aren't many options to replace SLT. She's been poor by her standards but not awful.

I guess Kustermann is really the only one that has shown some promise in the past but hasn't been used this year.

The third of the Allan “sisters” will return next week.

SLT just looks too slow for the increasing speed in AFLW.

 

[cmndstab]

The third of the Allan “sisters” will return next week.

SLT just looks too slow for the increasing speed in AFLW.

Ironically, speed is SLT's main weapon, while it's the main weakness of Allen.

I suspect Munyard is likely to go out before SLT, although the club seems to think Bonner is going to return as well.

 

[Ciao Giacomo]

Ironically, speed is SLT's main weapon, while it's the main weakness of Allen.

Fair point.

By speed I mean that she is in no hurry to dispose of the ball and the increased pace of AFLW means she is caught with the ball. She did get quite a bit of the ball last week.

 

[Firewalker]

Smith aside, there aren't many options to replace SLT. She's been poor by her standards but not awful.

I think other than the game against Melbourne I reckon she has been pretty awful this year, I think she’s one of those ‘veterans’ in the league that’s slowly but surely being exposed by the new wave of improvements both tactically and game speed wise in the league. At the start of the season she was trying to do too much and was just getting caught but now that’s just transitioned into sloppy skill execution and indecisiveness/choosing poor options.

That halfback line as a whole isn’t exactly providing a lot this year, especially in the absence of Najwa Allen (didn’t think I’d be saying that before the season started), don’t think they’re exactly sure what their role is, whether they are there to provide run or just defend their opponent. That lack of run was extremely evident against North, it’s basically been left all to Kelly to do all the running transition work between the lines.

 

[cmndstab]

I think other than the game against Melbourne I reckon she has been pretty awful this year, I think she’s one of those ‘veterans’ in the league that’s slowly but surely being exposed by the new wave of improvements both tactically and game speed wise in the league. At the start of the season she was trying to do too much and was just getting caught but now that’s just transitioned into sloppy skill execution and indecisiveness/choosing poor options.

That halfback line as a whole isn’t exactly providing a lot this year, especially in the absence of Najwa Allen (didn’t think I’d be saying that before the season started), don’t think they’re exactly sure what their role is, whether they are there to provide run or just defend their opponent. That lack of run was extremely evident against North, it’s basically been left all to Kelly to do all the running transition work between the lines.

Agree with most of that (although again, I think "awful" is a stretch), but again I'm just not sure what options we have in the wings.

Levy has shown she probably should have been in before she was, so perhaps Smith will show similar aptitude?

 

[Crow-eater]

The jumper clash is horrid

 

[Firewalker]

I really wish Sarah Goodwin would not pull her kicks, she slices them off her boot horribly