Pre-Season for the 2021 AFLW season starts this week, let’s hope it’s a better first day of Pre-Season than last year’s disaster when Chelsea Randall did her ACL, an injury which turned out to ruin the season before it even began with the club desperately missing her leadership and positive play out of the back half.
Returning from Injury
Speaking of injury as it was the biggest factor to the very poor shortened 2020 season with both Chelsea Randall and Hannah Button née Martin hopefully making their returns from their 2019 ACL injuries and fingers crossed Chloe Scheer also should make her return to the top level from her own 2019 Grand Final ACL with the club taking a conservative view and not playing her in 2020 with the only games under her belt since the injury being in the local amateurs.
May also be an interrupted start to Pre-Season for Deni Varnhagen who despite playing some games for Glenelg in the SANFLW was still troubled by that knee injury she suffered in the 2020 Pre-Season match that caused her to miss most of last season and the returning Jess Sedunary also may have yet another slow start to a AFLW season due to another lower leg injury this time coming off a fractured ankle she suffered late in the SANFLW season with the Eagles.
With Erin Phillips now being 19 months post ACL surgery hopefully she can complete a full pre-season that’s adjusted for her age that allows her to find some of the form that’s made her a superstar of the game. Last season she struggled on return with form and injury as she looked a quarter of the player she was and couldn’t string 2 games together, given her veteran status and the make up of the side her ability to compete more as a forward will be needed.
Improvement Needed
This Pre-Season is very important for the future of the club as a lot of this team’s improvement from last year has been placed on the youth on the list.
The loss of Jess Foley is still gigantic in the ruck as her craft in contests and around the ground is irreplaceable with the experienced midfield group finding it hard last season to adjust to the different style of Gould and McKinnon who are two inexperienced players that are more stand-off, mark around the ground rucks that don’t use their body well in ruck contests. Both young rucks need to find a way to have a better impact against taller, stronger more experienced rucks especially as the only alternative is Metcalfe who despite having a mature body does not really have the required football IQ or skills for this level anymore.
Too many times last season the Crows were simply blown away by stronger, faster and smarter midfield units who spread quickly and easily from stoppages and found too much space to work into the crows defensive 50 with the team’s 2019 team defence model breaking down. Finding ways that Hatchard and Marinoff can work together as ball hunting mids and who complements them as the 3rd mid is the problem they need to solve, more speed and defensive actions need to be a priority and as tough as it will be relying on young inexperienced players the South Adelaide trio of Munyard, Charlton and Gore need big pre-season’s as they probably need to be the ones stepping up to provide that point of difference in the midfield. A Crows side’s midfield needing speed and accountability who woulda thought!
Defensively the return of Randall would settle down the team’s most experienced line but one on one defending and match-ups need to be a priority, too many times last season players got lost rolling over onto opponents running into the 50 causing all sorts of mismatches and outnumbers. Movement out of the backline was poor especially early last season (that Brisbane game stands out) need to find better distribution to take some pressure off Allan and Rajcic like Jenna McCormick did so well in 2019, it’s a priority and hopefully the SANFLW half back kicking phenom Maddi Newman is finally played in that position.
The club showed last season it has the most enigmatic forward line in the entire league, it’s either chocolates or boiled lollies and when Ponter, Jones and Thompson were on like in 2019 you get great results but when they’re off they are invisible. The league’s defenders learnt and improved their structures and match-ups to stop the quick run on into space forward play that Stevie-Lee Thompson was so heavily reliant on and she can no longer be relied upon as the main one out forward she wants to be, tall marking options like Biddell who made big strides in the SANFLW this year are the way forward in AFLW and going through her while also hitting up targets by getting Jones, Scheer and Ponter, Gould and Phillips when they’re down there actually leading out at the ball. Woodland if she breaks into the side can also be a marking target. Less said about last season’s goal kicking the better too, they’ll know that has to improve.
Here’s my Best 21 all fit and available:
B: Rajcic, Allan
HB: Newman, Randall, Cox
C: Munyard, Phillips, Varnhagen
HF: Jones, Biddell, Charlton
F: Scheer, Ponter
Foll: Gould, Marinoff, Hatchard
I/C: Allen, Mules, A.Foley, McKinnon, Gore
Depth: Thompson, Metcalfe, Forth, Considine, Martin, Button, Sedunary, Whiteley, Woodland
Returning from Injury
Speaking of injury as it was the biggest factor to the very poor shortened 2020 season with both Chelsea Randall and Hannah Button née Martin hopefully making their returns from their 2019 ACL injuries and fingers crossed Chloe Scheer also should make her return to the top level from her own 2019 Grand Final ACL with the club taking a conservative view and not playing her in 2020 with the only games under her belt since the injury being in the local amateurs.
May also be an interrupted start to Pre-Season for Deni Varnhagen who despite playing some games for Glenelg in the SANFLW was still troubled by that knee injury she suffered in the 2020 Pre-Season match that caused her to miss most of last season and the returning Jess Sedunary also may have yet another slow start to a AFLW season due to another lower leg injury this time coming off a fractured ankle she suffered late in the SANFLW season with the Eagles.
With Erin Phillips now being 19 months post ACL surgery hopefully she can complete a full pre-season that’s adjusted for her age that allows her to find some of the form that’s made her a superstar of the game. Last season she struggled on return with form and injury as she looked a quarter of the player she was and couldn’t string 2 games together, given her veteran status and the make up of the side her ability to compete more as a forward will be needed.
Improvement Needed
This Pre-Season is very important for the future of the club as a lot of this team’s improvement from last year has been placed on the youth on the list.
The loss of Jess Foley is still gigantic in the ruck as her craft in contests and around the ground is irreplaceable with the experienced midfield group finding it hard last season to adjust to the different style of Gould and McKinnon who are two inexperienced players that are more stand-off, mark around the ground rucks that don’t use their body well in ruck contests. Both young rucks need to find a way to have a better impact against taller, stronger more experienced rucks especially as the only alternative is Metcalfe who despite having a mature body does not really have the required football IQ or skills for this level anymore.
Too many times last season the Crows were simply blown away by stronger, faster and smarter midfield units who spread quickly and easily from stoppages and found too much space to work into the crows defensive 50 with the team’s 2019 team defence model breaking down. Finding ways that Hatchard and Marinoff can work together as ball hunting mids and who complements them as the 3rd mid is the problem they need to solve, more speed and defensive actions need to be a priority and as tough as it will be relying on young inexperienced players the South Adelaide trio of Munyard, Charlton and Gore need big pre-season’s as they probably need to be the ones stepping up to provide that point of difference in the midfield. A Crows side’s midfield needing speed and accountability who woulda thought!
Defensively the return of Randall would settle down the team’s most experienced line but one on one defending and match-ups need to be a priority, too many times last season players got lost rolling over onto opponents running into the 50 causing all sorts of mismatches and outnumbers. Movement out of the backline was poor especially early last season (that Brisbane game stands out) need to find better distribution to take some pressure off Allan and Rajcic like Jenna McCormick did so well in 2019, it’s a priority and hopefully the SANFLW half back kicking phenom Maddi Newman is finally played in that position.
The club showed last season it has the most enigmatic forward line in the entire league, it’s either chocolates or boiled lollies and when Ponter, Jones and Thompson were on like in 2019 you get great results but when they’re off they are invisible. The league’s defenders learnt and improved their structures and match-ups to stop the quick run on into space forward play that Stevie-Lee Thompson was so heavily reliant on and she can no longer be relied upon as the main one out forward she wants to be, tall marking options like Biddell who made big strides in the SANFLW this year are the way forward in AFLW and going through her while also hitting up targets by getting Jones, Scheer and Ponter, Gould and Phillips when they’re down there actually leading out at the ball. Woodland if she breaks into the side can also be a marking target. Less said about last season’s goal kicking the better too, they’ll know that has to improve.
Here’s my Best 21 all fit and available:
B: Rajcic, Allan
HB: Newman, Randall, Cox
C: Munyard, Phillips, Varnhagen
HF: Jones, Biddell, Charlton
F: Scheer, Ponter
Foll: Gould, Marinoff, Hatchard
I/C: Allen, Mules, A.Foley, McKinnon, Gore
Depth: Thompson, Metcalfe, Forth, Considine, Martin, Button, Sedunary, Whiteley, Woodland
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