AFLW Player # 8: Bonnie Toogood (C) 🏅🏅🏅🏅 - 3rd in the W-low, AA CHF & Co-Captain, EFC B&F, re-signs for 4 years!

Oct 10, 2007
3,521
3,892
Melbourne
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
Port Melbourne (VFL)
08 - toogood-2.jpg

Contract Status: Out of contract 2023
My Girl Draft 2023: Pick 1, ghostdog
 
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Thinking she’ll be captain.

At the AFLW launch with Hep and some of the other M & W captains.
I was wondering about that too. But I think some of the other players that were there aren't necessarily captains so it's not specifically captains only 🤔

Bonnie Toogood, Maddy Prespakis and Georgia Nanscawen seem to have the major additional service agreement (ASA) contracts to represent the club so it might just have been whichever of the three are available.

Bonnie, Maddy or possibly someone like Cat Phillips would be our inaugural captain I think 🤔
 
Lifelong bomber supporter too :D



Interview with Gerard Whateley:

Article for the interview:

Bonnie’s Bomber dream Toogood to be true​

New AFLW recruit Bonnie Toogood is pinching herself about playing for her girlhood club.

All that stands between Essendon’s star recruit Bonnie Toogood living out her childhood dream of donning the Sash for the first time is 36 days.

The former Bulldog couldn't be more excited to kickstart an exciting inaugural chapter for the AFLW Bombers.

As the Bombers enter an already established competition in its seventh season, Toogood and the Dons are preparing to make their mark early.

And even more so, the lifelong Bombers supporter said she can’t wait to represent a guernsey she’s cherished all her life.

“I pinched myself a bit (after being recruited to Essendon),” Toogood told Whately on SEN.

“I feel really grateful. It’s such an honour to put it on and then represent it (the sash) later on in August”.

The process of bringing together a brand-new list may seem daunting to some, but Toogood has lauded her side’s ability to come together.

The 24-year-old praised the club’s facilities as a key cornerstone in helping achieve a sense of unity amongst the playing group.

“It’s been a really amazing experience, the facilities out at Tullamarine are beautiful and first class,” Toogood said.

“I’ve really enjoyed the process of bringing a new group of 30 players together and setting the foundation to springboard off for this season.”

The anticipation of AFLW season seven was realised even more on Thursday morning when all 36 AFL and AFLW sides joined forces at the MCG for an historic photoshoot.

Toogood lauded the significance of unifying all 18 clubs with their affiliates as a significant moment for the game.

“It’s an amazing feeling to be able to connect as two representatives from the male and female programs of each club,” Toogood said.

“I think that connection and storytelling from each players is really special.

“It’s great for our game to be represented and everyone can play our great game.”

Essendon’s AFLW side will open its 2022 season on Saturday, August 27th against the Hawks at Port Melbourne’s ETU Stadium from 7:10pm.

Become an inaugural AFLW member today and get behind our girls. More information on memberships can be found here.
 

Albertross

Club Legend
Feb 26, 2015
1,623
3,495
North of the border
AFL Club
Essendon
Lifelong bomber supporter too :D



Interview with Gerard Whateley:

Article for the interview:


What's up with the sash? That looks terrible! Why can't it just be like the men's sash?

Richmond do similar, but theirs finishes higher up than what ours does and looks better.
 
What's up with the sash? That looks terrible! Why can't it just be like the men's sash?

Richmond do similar, but theirs finishes higher up than what ours does and looks better.
It’s the pattern that cotton on uses with the yoke as one panel across the upper back and over both shoulders… so either the whole section is red or the whole section is black.

Richmond’s has the same design as ours (other than the colour obviously), with the sash only going to the top of the front panel. But their piping along the bottom edge of the shoulder panel (which seems to have to be the same on both shoulders) is yellow, which might give an optical illusion of a slightly longer sash?

CD0F78BE-B881-40BE-BF75-D6396892CF60.jpeg


The equivalent piping on our jumpers is black — you can make it out if you look closely at Bonnie’s jumper. If it was red then the armhole, the neckline and that piping would all be the same colour, they’d start to look a bit like Spiderman with red webs all over them 😝 But yeah it looks stupid either way imo. It’s a red sash, not a stripe. Probably why all the early promo photos were using the VFLW under armor guernseys with the logos photoshopped…

I guess HQ got a good deal by signing the entire league to one manufacturer.
 

Albertross

Club Legend
Feb 26, 2015
1,623
3,495
North of the border
AFL Club
Essendon
It’s the pattern that cotton on uses with the yoke as one panel across the upper back and over both shoulders… so either the whole section is red or the whole section is black.

Richmond’s has the same design as ours (other than the colour obviously), with the sash only going to the top of the front panel. But their piping along the bottom edge of the shoulder panel (which seems to have to be the same on both shoulders) is yellow, which might give an optical illusion of a slightly longer sash?

View attachment 1454543

The equivalent piping on our jumpers is black — you can make it out if you look closely at Bonnie’s jumper. If it was red then the armhole, the neckline and that piping would all be the same colour, they’d start to look a bit like Spiderman with red webs all over them 😝 But yeah it looks stupid either way imo. It’s a red sash, not a stripe. Probably why all the early promo photos were using the VFLW under armor guernseys with the logos photoshopped…

I guess HQ got a good deal by signing the entire league to one manufacturer.
Probably right. I was going off the below image, which appears different, and better.

Screenshot_20220724-003429_Opera.jpg

Anyway, it is what it is. I will still support them as loudly as what I do the Mens, if not more.
 

New interview on the afl website talking about her leadership role within the team as a senior player and building culture in a new team. Also a bit about why she decided to come to Essendon, which is perhaps slightly repetitive.

quotey bits:
9F59EEA9-F40B-4F3C-B93C-955C90C7F07A.jpeg


"It's been a challenge, I guess at the Dogs I had the likes of Ellie (Blackburn) and 'Lamby' (Kirsty Lamb) I could go to if I had questions," Toogood told womens.afl.

"Whereas this time around, I've had to go on the fly a bit more and trust and back myself in if I have an idea or something.

"It's been a different challenge in that space, but this will be my sixth season in the competition, so I guess that classifies me as an older player. So I'm just trying to bring the experience I have to those who haven't yet witnessed this level of competition, and trying to fast-track connections as fast as I can."

"A lot of what I like to do is I like to get to know my teammates, that's the most important thing," she said.
"Particularly in an expansion side, there are people I know only a little about or have never met. So for me, it's about getting around everyone, getting to know more about themselves off the field as well as how they like to function on the field and what their goals are and how I can play a part in helping them achieve that.

"At the end of the day, I want to be the best I can be, so I can help them support everyone else to be that themselves."
"My gut was screaming this was the right decision (to move to Essendon)," Toogood said.

"Natalie Wood, who was the midfield coach for the Bulldogs in the past two years, is now the head coach at Essendon, and I really liked how she went about her assistant coaching, and I thought in a head coaching role she'd really thrive. That was a big one for me, and I think she'll really help with my football development.

"Also just where I was in my career, the prospect of being part of an inaugural team, being really crucial in building the culture we want to set, the standards we want to live by, I love that stuff. I love getting in the thick of how teams work, how we get the best out of each other, and that was a great opportunity in front of me.

"They were a few factors, and I was an Essendon supporter growing up, still am an Essendon supporter, so it was a cherry on top to come back and actually live out a childhood dream and don the sash."
 
Player Values Award, player voted based on the 4 Cs (care, commit, compete, celebrate): Bonnie Toogood!

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