AFLW AFLW Season 7, Mega Thread

[terry_bright]

You would think player retention and the ability to recruit players has vastly improved in 2022.
The team is heading in the right direction, but most importantly we seem to have gotten things right off the field.
The first few seasons were a bit of a cluster**** in that department.

 

[rocker_oz33]

Very good season from cats girls .
Will only get better...

But very dumb footy just bombing it in hope .
Time and time again .

And missed chances .

 

[rocker_oz33]

AFLW rules team need to pay more HTFB ....s.

 

[Turbocat]

Well that's a bit of an unedifying end to AFLW7 for us - shame, as we can take a lot away from this year.

Loved Emonson's game tonight, although she seemed to run out of ideas a bit toward the end there.

A beleaguered Amy McDonald and hobbled Georgie Prespakis tried their guts out, but we just couldn't get any fluency into our game despite our ascendancy.

Georgie Rankin, Nina and Claudia Gunjaca all put in commendable efforts under the Finals spotlight. The skipper was pretty good too, and Bowen had a great 2nd half. Bel Johnson was fearless. Zali Friswell was gutsy and hard at it.

But others found the pace and pressure too much.

Jackie Parry was barely sighted, Laura Gardiner tackled well but lacked composure with ball in hand, and Becky Webster looked completely bereft of confidence and form.

Bragg was ok in her 2nd game.

Overall it's been great to watch this team grow and improve from seemingly nowhere throughout AFLW7.

Chloe Scheer is an excitement machine, Georgie Prespakis is one of the best mids in the comp at just 19 years old.

Claudia Gunjaca made herself indispensable.

Darcy Moloney and Zali Friswell had some quiet games here and there but their best is excellent and they're still just kids, too.

A couple of points here and there in our favour and we'd have locked down a double chance; wasn't to be but hopefully we can keep the bulk of this group together in 2023 and they can learn from and improve upon what they produced in 2022.

Nice word. Perhaps it was .


Id say more like elucidating. I watched a couple of the W games where there style to move the ball quickly to over come their weakness worked well. Higher scoring. The Swans game to North game was a big contrast. Not sure if that was an ideal lead in ..as the difference in pressure seemed obvious. Just handpassing the ball around was not enough.Often the handpass was not to advanatge and put the next girl under pressure. The bigger bodies of North really put those near the ball under pressure creating turnovers. ... yet they were close to making it work.

A couple of weeks of this type of footy , might have been a better lead in.

GP ..was she fit? She seemed way off but maybe it was the pressure.


Unfortunate too was that when you have a game like this (similar in a way to our Pies quali final) you simply must make the most of chance. You cant afford to miss from 15 Metres out.


Overall id say it been a big turn around, the program looks better than it did a while ago.. and I doubt anyone will leave because they are sick of losing which is the way it sort of looked a short time ago. All those that played should take some pride in their season.

 

[cats_09]

Nice word. Perhaps it was .


Id say more like elucidating. I watched a couple of the W games where there style to move the ball quickly to over come their weakness worked well. Higher scoring. The Swans game to North game was a big contrast. Not sure if that was an ideal lead in ..as the difference in pressure seemed obvious. Just handpassing the ball around was not enough.Often the handpass was not to advanatge and put the next girl under pressure. The bigger bodies of North really put those near the ball under pressure creating turnovers. ... yet they were close to making it work.

A couple of weeks of this type of footy , might have been a better lead in.

GP ..was she fit? She seemed way off but maybe it was the pressure.


Unfortunate too was that when you have a game like this (similar in a way to our Pies quali final) you simply must make the most of chance. You cant afford to miss from 15 Metres out.


Overall id say it been a big turn around, the program looks better than it did a while ago.. and I doubt anyone will leave because they are sick of losing which is the way it sort of looked a short time ago. All those that played should take some pride in their season.

Clearly not 100% - didn't have the explosiveness over the first few steps that we've seen this year and she was limping after the match

Her least impactful match for the season, and I have no doubt that if last night was a H&A match she would have missed, just as we likely don't risk playing her if it wasn't one of a Morrison, Pres or A. Mac carrying the same injury - some players you risk hoping it'll work out in important games but others you'd put a line through

I'm not sure we necessarily get more from another player on our list if they play instead of Pres, but she's showed this season she's an in the guts & around the contest player, and she just wasn't able to impact the match last night as she had in her previous 8 games this season

 

[thejester]

Nice word. Perhaps it was .


Id say more like elucidating. I watched a couple of the W games where there style to move the ball quickly to over come their weakness worked well. Higher scoring. The Swans game to North game was a big contrast. Not sure if that was an ideal lead in ..as the difference in pressure seemed obvious. Just handpassing the ball around was not enough.Often the handpass was not to advanatge and put the next girl under pressure. The bigger bodies of North really put those near the ball under pressure creating turnovers. ... yet they were close to making it work.

Probably shows that that ability to create around goals - kick from difficult angles and in congestion - is one of the most underrated things in footy.

Clearly not 100% - didn't have the explosiveness over the first few steps that we've seen this year and she was limping after the match

Her least impactful match for the season, and I have no doubt that if last night was a H&A match she would have missed, just as we likely don't risk playing her if it was one of Morrison, Pres or A. Mac carrying the same injury - some players you risk hoping it'll work out in important games but others you'd put a line through

I'm not sure we necessarily get more from another player on our list if they play instead of Pres, but she's showed this season she's an in the guts & around the contest player, and she just wasn't able to impact the match last night as she had in her previous 8 games this season

Was apparently really upset postgame...but the drop off from her to the next up would be massive. And ultimately we spent 75% of the game camped inside our 50 - wasn't lost in the guts.

 

[Turbocat]

Probably shows that that ability to create around goals - kick from difficult angles and in congestion - is one of the most underrated things in footy.

Some of that might be related to not being fully professional but yes they generally lack touch. Id say the player who missed the goal from so close ..as an example. Hawkins in that situation probably gos around his body and its lay down misere. Some of it seems to be strength too but over all I feel most games I have seen they are trying to move the ball more quickly compensate for that lack of power in congestion. North were very good at preventing that flow.

 

[rocker_oz33]

The 3rd Q .
10 plus I 50s .
Missed a sitter .
No reward for effort .

 

[cats_09]

Love it

 

[AM]

Kudos to the coach and new game plan. The players did us proud.

Much better than Norf on the day. Poor forward delivery and execution cost us.

Fingers crossed we can hold on to the essence of the team and add a bit of talent too.

Hope the club uses Daisy a bit in 2023 as a mentor for some of the girls.

 

[jim boy]

Ironic that we would still be alive if North had kicked one point more - the week before

 

[Finknottle]

Geelong dominated around the ground and had a massive inside 50 differential. However it all broke down because they kept bombing it in where NM seemed to have an extra defender. At the 3/4 time huddle the players were told to slow down if necessary to find a target or at least give some time for some players to get forward to even up the contest. That must have been the message at half time as well but it didn't get through. The effort from the Geelong players was fantastic and they were unlucky to lose. It has still been a successful year and I've really enjoyed following their progress.

 

[cats_09]

 

[goyoucatters]

The whole forward 'system' (yes, I'm using the term loosely) was absolutely abysmal. North had a simple plan (big bodies back, and Dimma's '75,000' milling around) to counter our approach, and we just never deviated from the dumb footy in F50 for the entire game.

Having said that, Kate's miss was inexplicable and ended up deciding the game. Which only goes to prove how ridiculous the game was, really. One missed shot on goal should never be so easily isolated as the entire difference in the match. But that is definitely how it seemed to me.

Ironically, though, I'd blame the majority of the group for their ball use going inside F50 far more than Darby's blunder in front of goal. Our dominance of so much of the game should have seen us strolling home by the time Kate failed to convert. And that's before you consider Georgie's subdued influence and its effect on the outcome. I feel certain that a fit and firing #41 would have got us home in this game.

Anyway, fantastic season overall from the girls. Absolutely obliterated my expectations, and sees us with a really promising and youthful core to take us forward from here. The forward line is still the glaring issue, though, so it will be fascinating to see how they approach addressing the imbalance down there. It's really Chloe, Shelley (who's now in the veteran category), and not much else of note.

Jackie is such a 'nearly' player down there at this point. Gets her hands to so many balls in the air but doesn't end up holding them. Taking some of those marks or having our nimbler players capitalise when the ball hits the ground could make such a difference to how potent we can be against the better defensive units.

If Maddy does come back, could they look at swinging Claudia forward again? I know she was magnificent down back this season. But I wonder whether the confidence she's built could lead her to being dangerous as a marking option in F50 in the future.

Very disappointed to bow out at this point, when we beat ourselves by matching a really great intensity for the game with some really dumb footy when it was ours for the taking. But absolutely stoked with how the team came on in this latest season, and we really do have some solid grounds for optimism as we look to season 2023.

Great job from Dan and his team. And extremely proud of our girls and the improvement we were able to witness this time around. Made the games so much more enjoyable to watch. So it's onwards and upwards from here for a hugely promising group. Already looking forward to next season...

 

[cats_09]

 

[OzeSparky]

great recruiting, made a huge difference to the team

 

[Turbocat]

Id love to hear what Caro Wilson says about this.. lock out ..with capacity at 2800

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/aflw/richmond-chooses-home-ground-advantage-over-a-big-crowd-for-aflw-semifinal/news-story/ef9b8a385a2442d37d584ee1dfe5e86f

Richmond chooses home ground advantage over a big crowd for AFLW semi-final​

Richmond’s AFLW semi-final sold out in minutes but CEO Brendon Gale has defended the decision to host the game at 2800-capacity Punt Rd Oval.

Richmond has put the lure of a semi-final victory ahead of fans, backing in a 2800-capacity Punt Road Oval as the venue for Saturday’s semi-final against North Melbourne.
Tickets for the clash were sold out minutes after going on sale on Monday afternoon.

Tigers chief executive Brendon Gale said on Monday that discussions had been held with the league about where to host the game – with Ikon Park and Marvel Stadium both available this weekend, along with nearby ground Victoria Park – but that the home ground advantage had won out.

Kangaroos skipper Emma Kearney told the Herald Sun she would prefer the game was played at Ikon Park.

“When it’s a crucial game, you want to be able to try to get as many fans into the game as possible,” Kearney said.

Another AFLW player told the Herald Sun on Monday: “It’s just pathetic. I thought we wanted to grow the game? How can we when people are being shut out?”
But Gale maintained that on-field advantage was a priority for the home team.

“We had some discussions with the AFL regarding the venue for this weekend’s game, but ultimately we decided our AFLW team had earned the right to play a home final,” Gale said.

“Our players and coaching staff have worked incredibly hard for this opportunity and are very excited to be playing at the Swinburne Centre.

“While we understand some fans will be disappointed given the capacity of the venue, we owe it to our players to give them the best chance of winning.
“This discussion underlines the significance of our planned redevelopment at Punt Road Oval which will grow our capacity to almost 8000 – a project we are fully committed to delivering.”

The game will be the first-ever final at Punt Road Oval. This season marks Richmond’s finals debut, having finished fourth on the ladder.

 

[Whiskers]

Seriously get stuffed Gale and the AFL you massive hypocrites.
If your a fan of the men’s game we will get you in despite any integrity around the competition as they are important.
Fans of the womens game, who cares? Oh ok it’s about integrity now, stuff the fans.
Good to see where Gale really stands, does not care for the fans at all.

 

[cats_09]

 

[cats_09]

 

[cats_09]

 

[PzBlinky]

Wow, I thought Meg was solid (and much improved after a bit of a shaky S6) but great to see her get the nod. It would've been a complete farce if the other 3 didn't get in though.

 

[goyoucatters]

Seriously get stuffed Gale and the AFL you massive hypocrites.
If your a fan of the men’s game we will get you in despite any integrity around the competition as they are important.
Fans of the womens game, who cares? Oh ok it’s about integrity now, stuff the fans.
Good to see where Gale really stands, does not care for the fans at all.

As always with the AFL, it's entirely about the dollar. Just not that much cash to be gained from moving the game in this circumstance, so the 'integrity' of home-ground advantage can be maintained instead.

It's surely time to start terming AFL H.Q. as the 'Green Goblin Grotto'. Because they are nothing if not pathetically predictable.

 

[winty]

Quartet of Young Guns Make 22under22 Squad

Four of Geelong’s young stars have been named in the initial AFLPA 22under22 squad

www.geelongcats.com.au

 

[cats_09]

Quartet of Young Guns Make 22under22 Squad

Four of Geelong’s young stars have been named in the initial AFLPA 22under22 squad

www.geelongcats.com.au

Johnson being recognised in that squad is my favourite of all the 8 nominations we've seen between this and the AA squad

Players like A Mac, Prespakis and Scheer get a lot of attention from both they media and fans - at times the fan vote seems to just default to one of them regardless of what we've seen from others during the match

Johnson is one of those who didn't look out of place when she debuted last season and I genuinely felt we missed her after she went down injured, so it was great when she returned for round 1 this season & picked to where she left off

It just feels that she gets somewhat overlooked for her season as she's not as flashy as a few teammates, instead she's just super reliable & gets the job done each week. This is great recognition and hopefully from next season people start to take a bit more notice of what she has to offer