The official first day of Pre-Season for Season 2022 began yesterday
Given the season start was already pushed back to try to escape COVID delays it would be naive to think things will go smoothly in the lead in but hopefully the season still gets underway on January 6th.
New Arrivals:
Jasmyn Hewett (delisted free agent, Gold Coast)
Jasmine Simmons (rookie, basketball)
Abbie Ballard (West Adelaide)
Zoe Prowse (Sturt)
Brooke Tonon (Glenelg)
Players who need a big Pre-Season
Maddi Newman - 3rd year on list; Hard worker and beautifully skilled yet only 6 games in 2 years, including only 2 last year before being ridiculously harshly dropped and going on to injure her shoulder at SANFLW level. A natural half-back distributor with already a large amount of top SANFLW performances behind her in that role but has only been played there at AFLW level once with other times being given limited game time at half-forward, too talented to not grasp a role moving forward.
Danielle Ponter - 4th year on list; Yet another season with a few splashes of her ridiculous talent on display yet not enough of it, kicked 7 of her 9 goals for the season in 2 games. Threatened to have a game changing impact in matches especially in the finals but ultimately didn’t and arrived from the NT last year not looking like she’d put much work in. No doubt Essendon sniffing around as well having played for them in the VFL and also given her family connections.
Hannah Munyard - 2nd year on list; ridiculously gifted athlete that dominates at SANFLW level yet a combination of being played out of position and others rated above her led to only 3 games last season. Another question mark hanging over her will be whether her form will be at such a level that she deserves a game despite her inevitably departing for Port Power next season.
Deni Varnhagen - 6th year on list; That 2020 knee injury has seen her reduced to 7 games in 2 years, at times late last season she played well behind the ball but her movement looks to have been severely hampered and it certainly wasn’t the powerful running player she was prior to 2020, questions have to remain if she can overcome the injury and once again become that player to help out in defence but also move forward to generate attack.
Any key position tall; The team desperately requires key talls to stand up and take the next step whether it be Biddell, Gould, McKinnon, Hewett or first year players Simmons and Prowse.
Pre-Season preview
Coming off the back of the disappointing performance in the 2021 Grand Final it will be interesting to see how the players come back and go again, the 2021 playing group benefited hugely from the ‘been there done that’ experience they had developed over the premiership years but were found wanting in key areas and exposed dramatically on the final day of the season.
The team was able to dominate opposition when they had powerful performances from the midfield and were able to lock the ball in forward 50, positives from last year included new players Rachelle Martin, Teah Charlton and Ashleigh Woodland coming in and having an instant impact forward of the ball, the forward line setup and forward pressure thus improved dramatically from what was a poor performing area in 2020. Marinoff had a brilliant year and shouldered the load as usual with Hatchard still dominant as well and Sarah Allan held together a shaky defence for the majority of the year in what ultimately would prove to be too big a task for just one player.
Negatives were probably old problems from the previous season in 2020 again that got exposed in all of the teams 3 losses, they got exposed for speed and spread from contests, too many players sucked in trying to get the ball leaving outside opposition free, left way too much space for the opposition to thread their way through the zone with lead up marks and defenders were poor at defending one on one and exposed for pace.
Finding a number 1 ruck again a main issue this pre-season, while Metcalfe battled well and had a better season than I certainly expected her body and lack of game awareness did let her down at times but her departure still does leave a hole. Seems like it needs to be time to trust McKinnon as the number 1 ruck after she had a dominant SANFLW campaign, Gould just didn’t seem to improve at all when it came to her ruck work with all her improvements seeming to come when she was played as a forward, Hewett whilst coming in billed as a ruck is not physically strong enough to play the role at this level and Prowse too young and undersized.
Finding players to play key defensive posts alongside Allan will be another big need this pre-season as Rajcic looked cooked and Whiteley… let’s say struggled, whether Randall moves back there is also another question mark. The merry go round on trying to find a centre half forward and a centre half back in this team reminds me of the Crows men’s early days in the 90s, any of Biddell, Prowse, Hewett, Gould and Simmons might need to be tried over Pre-Season to see who excels in either role.
This season will again ultimately prove can they expand on not just having Marinoff, Hatchard, Phillips and Randall get all the ball and can others be brought in to have higher possession/impact. Randall may still be the most important player in the team for her leadership and ability to steady a position on-field but her injuries are stacking up and with Phillips in her last season and looking like the walking wounded at the end of 2021, the miraculous match saving Erin Philips like we saw against Brisbane in round 4 last season can’t really be expected of her anymore, this is where the loss of Scheer who was being groomed last season as that Phillips replacement in that midfield/forward role will hurt.
My Pre-Season best 21
B: Allan, Cox
HB: Gore, Randall, Allen
C: Button, Hatchard, Jones
HF: Phillips, Biddell, Martin
F: Woodland, Ponter
Foll: McKinnon, Marinoff, Charlton
I/C: Newman, Varnhagen, Mules, Thompson, Gould
EMG: Munyard, Hewett, Rajcic
Given the season start was already pushed back to try to escape COVID delays it would be naive to think things will go smoothly in the lead in but hopefully the season still gets underway on January 6th.
New Arrivals:
Jasmyn Hewett (delisted free agent, Gold Coast)
Jasmine Simmons (rookie, basketball)
Abbie Ballard (West Adelaide)
Zoe Prowse (Sturt)
Brooke Tonon (Glenelg)
Players who need a big Pre-Season
Maddi Newman - 3rd year on list; Hard worker and beautifully skilled yet only 6 games in 2 years, including only 2 last year before being ridiculously harshly dropped and going on to injure her shoulder at SANFLW level. A natural half-back distributor with already a large amount of top SANFLW performances behind her in that role but has only been played there at AFLW level once with other times being given limited game time at half-forward, too talented to not grasp a role moving forward.
Danielle Ponter - 4th year on list; Yet another season with a few splashes of her ridiculous talent on display yet not enough of it, kicked 7 of her 9 goals for the season in 2 games. Threatened to have a game changing impact in matches especially in the finals but ultimately didn’t and arrived from the NT last year not looking like she’d put much work in. No doubt Essendon sniffing around as well having played for them in the VFL and also given her family connections.
Hannah Munyard - 2nd year on list; ridiculously gifted athlete that dominates at SANFLW level yet a combination of being played out of position and others rated above her led to only 3 games last season. Another question mark hanging over her will be whether her form will be at such a level that she deserves a game despite her inevitably departing for Port Power next season.
Deni Varnhagen - 6th year on list; That 2020 knee injury has seen her reduced to 7 games in 2 years, at times late last season she played well behind the ball but her movement looks to have been severely hampered and it certainly wasn’t the powerful running player she was prior to 2020, questions have to remain if she can overcome the injury and once again become that player to help out in defence but also move forward to generate attack.
Any key position tall; The team desperately requires key talls to stand up and take the next step whether it be Biddell, Gould, McKinnon, Hewett or first year players Simmons and Prowse.
Pre-Season preview
Coming off the back of the disappointing performance in the 2021 Grand Final it will be interesting to see how the players come back and go again, the 2021 playing group benefited hugely from the ‘been there done that’ experience they had developed over the premiership years but were found wanting in key areas and exposed dramatically on the final day of the season.
The team was able to dominate opposition when they had powerful performances from the midfield and were able to lock the ball in forward 50, positives from last year included new players Rachelle Martin, Teah Charlton and Ashleigh Woodland coming in and having an instant impact forward of the ball, the forward line setup and forward pressure thus improved dramatically from what was a poor performing area in 2020. Marinoff had a brilliant year and shouldered the load as usual with Hatchard still dominant as well and Sarah Allan held together a shaky defence for the majority of the year in what ultimately would prove to be too big a task for just one player.
Negatives were probably old problems from the previous season in 2020 again that got exposed in all of the teams 3 losses, they got exposed for speed and spread from contests, too many players sucked in trying to get the ball leaving outside opposition free, left way too much space for the opposition to thread their way through the zone with lead up marks and defenders were poor at defending one on one and exposed for pace.
Finding a number 1 ruck again a main issue this pre-season, while Metcalfe battled well and had a better season than I certainly expected her body and lack of game awareness did let her down at times but her departure still does leave a hole. Seems like it needs to be time to trust McKinnon as the number 1 ruck after she had a dominant SANFLW campaign, Gould just didn’t seem to improve at all when it came to her ruck work with all her improvements seeming to come when she was played as a forward, Hewett whilst coming in billed as a ruck is not physically strong enough to play the role at this level and Prowse too young and undersized.
Finding players to play key defensive posts alongside Allan will be another big need this pre-season as Rajcic looked cooked and Whiteley… let’s say struggled, whether Randall moves back there is also another question mark. The merry go round on trying to find a centre half forward and a centre half back in this team reminds me of the Crows men’s early days in the 90s, any of Biddell, Prowse, Hewett, Gould and Simmons might need to be tried over Pre-Season to see who excels in either role.
This season will again ultimately prove can they expand on not just having Marinoff, Hatchard, Phillips and Randall get all the ball and can others be brought in to have higher possession/impact. Randall may still be the most important player in the team for her leadership and ability to steady a position on-field but her injuries are stacking up and with Phillips in her last season and looking like the walking wounded at the end of 2021, the miraculous match saving Erin Philips like we saw against Brisbane in round 4 last season can’t really be expected of her anymore, this is where the loss of Scheer who was being groomed last season as that Phillips replacement in that midfield/forward role will hurt.
My Pre-Season best 21
B: Allan, Cox
HB: Gore, Randall, Allen
C: Button, Hatchard, Jones
HF: Phillips, Biddell, Martin
F: Woodland, Ponter
Foll: McKinnon, Marinoff, Charlton
I/C: Newman, Varnhagen, Mules, Thompson, Gould
EMG: Munyard, Hewett, Rajcic
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