Review AFLW Round 7 - Adelaide v Western Bulldogs @ Norwood Oval

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Of course, the womens.afl article doesn't actually show any footage of the incident :rolleyes: I couldn't even remember it happening, so I went and looked at the replay. It happens with around 13:20 on the clock in the first quarter and seems almost completely innocuous. Just a little bump, no pace behind it and her feet don't leave the ground or anything. Allen handballs it to Kelly, then shepherds McLeod, and when McLeod gets around her she just leans into her for a little bump.

Obviously McLeod ended up concussed and that's never good, but geez. I'm not sure Allen was even aware McLeod was hurt.
 
Is there any clear footage of it?

Found it hard to see on the match replay, and that was watching it at half speed to pick it up. In this frame Kelly has the ball, Allen is shepherding McLeod but it's very blurry. 3 matches would be equivalent to 7 in the men's game.

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Of course, the womens.afl article doesn't actually show any footage of the incident :rolleyes: I couldn't even remember it happening, so I went and looked at the replay. It happens with around 13:20 on the clock in the first quarter and seems almost completely innocuous. Just a little bump, no pace behind it and her feet don't leave the ground or anything. Allen handballs it to Kelly, then shepherds McLeod, and when McLeod gets around her she just leans into her for a little bump.

Obviously McLeod ended up concussed and that's never good, but geez. I'm not sure Allen was even aware McLeod was hurt.
Footage shown on their X/Tweet
 

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FFS

PUNISH THE OFFENCE NOT THE RESULT

Why should a soft Sheapard that accidently concusses someone be punished more than a ferocious off the ball bump that knocks someone over who gets right back up.

edit: I'm not opposed to a 1 week suspension for just clipping the head. But 3+ weeks for an accident is bs.
And you know the worst thing. THE RULE IS WRITTEN IN A WAY WHERE THIS COULD FEASIBLY BY 3 WEEKS.

Stupid AFL.
 
3 weeks for a 10 week season is ridiculous. If that happened in the mens game, it wouldn't be 3 weeks. Yes, the result is severe (concussion), yes, it must've been high to result in concussion, but it wasn't careless. It was a shepherd in play.
 
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Is that based on insider info, Jen? If not, very insightful.

Melbourne's spare-player, run-on and handball game last year made them clearly the best side in the Comp.

Looks to me that the Crows/Clark have taken on elements of that this year, with improved fitness and a tougher edge. The Crows' overlap-and-run style is creating that loose player which makes for uncontested ball movement.
Add to that the ball-magnet power and delivery of Marinoff, Jones and Kelly, plus the strength of Gould and Hatchard forward and there's no weakness on any line.

Next 2 games vs. Brisbane then NM are critical to finishing top-2 and will shape the Final 4.
A loss to either team might see the Crows in 3rd spot.
No, based on an interview he did at the beginning of last season where they asked if he’d change much of what we’d done (given we’d won the premiership the season before). And he said what we were doing had clearly worked and he saw no need to change it up. I knew then we had no hope of winning last season (and mentioned it at the time).
 
Surely cannot suspend her for 3 games in a 10-game season for THAT shepherd-bump?
Have you not met the VFL?

Crows top of the ladder and looking great (again).
How to stop them? Hmm. Can we make a key player miss a final for a non-existent concussion? Wait, already done that!

How about make an example of a Crows player for bumping and causing concussion. It's about time we got serious about it! Let's make it a huge issue this week and then forget about it next week.

Always the same.
 
The fact that the season is only 10 weeks is not (and probably should not) taken into account. Should all the one week suspensions turn into fines because the season is shorter too? If an action warrants three weeks suspension, then it warrants three weeks suspension.

However, I think the Crows should be able to argue medium contact. I know McLeod ended up concussed here, but there are harder bumps every single week. Honestly, this one looked more innocuous than the McKinnon bump that saw her suspended for the GF.
 
Allen found guilty :oops:
The incident was graded as careless. Was it careless? It was a legal shepherd. They tried to downgrade it from severe to high, but failed.
 
I think the moving of her elbow and arms probably contributed to the severity look of it all, the point of her elbow really does hit a nasty spot.


I think this will be another McAdam she'll get 3 weeks to be fair it probably worth 2 weeks at the least so I think the AFLW might use this as an example


Oh it's happened already and she got 3
 

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Oh well. Sucks but what are you going to do?

Tonon can come back in, or Randall back, or whatever. Sarah Allan back soon as well.
I even have doubts that there’s even a realistic appeal mechanism offered in the AFLW, my conspiracy theory is they are just told that’s what it is, it needs to be accepted, now just go on playing in your little competition.
 
I even have doubts that there’s even a realistic appeal mechanism offered in the AFLW, my conspiracy theory is they are just told that’s what it is, it needs to be accepted, now just go on playing in your little competition.
It was pretty realistic when Marinoff successfully appealed a 3-match suspension.
 
I even have doubts that there’s even a realistic appeal mechanism offered in the AFLW, my conspiracy theory is they are just told that’s what it is, it needs to be accepted, now just go on playing in your little competition.
Should the Crows appeal?
They appealed Noffy's 3-match ban a couple years back when her tackle led to that GWS player fracturing their neck.
Different circumstances, but I feel like the ban was based on the result.
 
Marinoff was standing near stationary, the GWS player tried to pick up the ball and used her head (probably accidently) as a battering ram into Ebony.

There was zero intent from Marinoff.

With Allen she actually had some sort of intent (even if just a sheapard).

The annoying thing about all of this is that under the rules, the punishment is probably fair. It's the rules which need to be challenged. And I'm not sure 1 simple appeal will change that. We probably need to accept this as a symptom of a flawed system. Let this ride. But challenge the system so it doesn't happen again.
 
Should the Crows appeal?
They appealed Noffy's 3-match ban a couple years back when her tackle led to that GWS player fracturing their neck.
Different circumstances, but I feel like the ban was based on the result.
That was certainly a unique circumstance, it wasn’t a bump to start with which is why the question was asked, being at a different time of year without men’s football dominating the news cycle leading to the amount of attention it copped on social media also had an influence.

More so I feel if it’s a bump or rough conduct tackle especially if it leads to a concussion nowadays given the current environment I get the feeling in this competition especially compared to the men’s competition club’s are more advised that that’s the punishment it’s not going to change you need to accept it.
 
Should the Crows appeal?
They appealed Noffy's 3-match ban a couple years back when her tackle led to that GWS player fracturing their neck.
Different circumstances, but I feel like the ban was based on the result.
That ban was absolutely outrageous. The GWS player's own stupidity caused the incident
 
Marinoff was standing near stationary, the GWS player tried to pick up the ball and used her head (probably accidently) as a battering ram into Ebony.

There was zero intent from Marinoff.

With Allen she actually had some sort of intent (even if just a sheapard).

The annoying thing about all of this is that under the rules, the punishment is probably fair. It's the rules which need to be challenged. And I'm not sure 1 simple appeal will change that. We probably need to accept this as a symptom of a flawed system. Let this ride. But challenge the system so it doesn't happen again.

If the AFL wasn't run by a bunch of complete cowards, they would just come out and ban the bump altogether. The only difference between a bump that causes a concussion and one that doesn't is luck, plain and simple. If we want to do whatever possible to eliminate the risks of concussion while still maintaining a contact sport, then bumps should be a thing of the past.

But the AFL doesn't want to deal with a bunch of people complaining that the game has gone soft, so instead they hand out enormous penalties for bumps that result in concussions in the hopes that players and coaches will just choose themselves to stop doing them. Turning the responsibility for good governance onto the players rather than themselves.

The idea that Allen's bump gets three weeks while identical bumps occur every single week without even being cited is absurd on its face.
 
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McLeod has a history of concussions, so one can't help but feel the impact of prior injuries has played a part in this suspension.

 
McLeod has a history of concussions, so one can't help but feel the impact of prior injuries has played a part in this suspension.


I mean, practically speaking, it should have actually contributed to the defence. A player with a history of concussions requires a less severe force to suffer another one.
 
I even have doubts that there’s even a realistic appeal mechanism offered in the AFLW, my conspiracy theory is they are just told that’s what it is, it needs to be accepted, now just go on playing in your little competition.

The AFL's "algorithm" for appeals is pretty transparent. They ask themselves the question "will we receive significant media blowback if this suspension is upheld?" and if the answer is no, then the suspension is upheld.

I'll leave it up to others to discern which factors external to the incident itself might lead to a more or less significant media blowback...
 
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The AFL's "algorithm" for appeals is pretty transparent. They ask themselves the question "will we receive significant media blowback if this suspension is upheld?" and if the answer is no, then the suspension is upheld.

I'll leave it up to others to discern which factors external to the incident itself might lead to a more or less significant media blowback...
And by 'media', you mean Victorian media only.
 

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