Women's Footy Crows AFLW Season 2023 Off Season Discussion

[Scorpus]

I'm struggling to make the numbers add up here. There are six departures (Woodland, Considine, Cox, Rajcic, Simmons, Hewett) and only three additions (Levy, Goodwin, Allan). Hewett was replaced by Waterhouse last season anyway, so count her as an addition. So that's six departures and four additions. Aren't we two players short? And that's not even counting Button moving to the LTI list.

I'm guessing that maybe Simmons doesn't "count" because she was a rookie listed player? Although in that case, why should Levy count?

I'm assuming we will have our pick after Port have finished all of their picks. It would be in the fourth round?

Edit: Of course, Varnhagen coming back as an active player is the one I was missing. I guess I just tried to forget

Should be

Woodland -> Goodwin
Considine -> Levy
Rajcic -> Allan
Simmons -> Varnhagen (returns from inactive)
Hewett -> Waterhouse
Button (inactive) -> LIST SPOT

Cox and Varnhagen were already on the inactive list prior to last season, so Cox departing has no list impact, and Varnhagen coming back on has to take up a spot

 

[Firewalker]

Should be

Woodland -> Goodwin
Considine -> Levy
Rajcic -> Allan
Simmons -> Varnhagen (returns from inactive)
Hewett -> Waterhouse
Button (inactive) -> LIST SPOT

Cox and Varnhagen were already on the inactive list prior to last season, so Cox departing has no list impact, and Varnhagen coming back on has to take up a spot

Semantics yes but it’s Levy replacing Simmons on the rookie list and the other 5 departures and 4 replacements on the main list is where the main list spot opens up.

 

[cmndstab]

afc.com.au/news/1300391/aflw-goodwin-opens-up-on-the-surreal-moment-of-joining-the-crows

“The opportunity (to make the move) came up and being a Crows supporter my whole life and coming up through the NGA Academy, I just thought this was the right time to make the move.”

Lol at that quote... I just thought that the first possible opportunity I had to move was probably the right time to move

 

[cmndstab]

Nice little article about Taylah Levy on the AFC website. Apparently we were keen to draft her back in 2019 but she chose basketball instead. Probably would have meant we wouldn't have taken Biddell, so for the best in retrospect!

AFLW: Persistence pays off for Taylah Levy

She said the skills she picked up both on and off the court in the US would put her in great stead moving into this next chapter.

“My experiences over in the US will be huge for me, people don’t actually realise how much a professional environment can set you up not just on the field or court but for life,” Levy said.

“I picked up so many skills and qualities over in America, you are 36 hours from home over there so I quickly learned about facing adversity and how to handle that.

“In the college Basketball environment you learn a lot about what makes you successful as an athlete and although there is still more to come, I am set up well for this next chapter.”

 

[Firewalker]

Nice little article about Taylah Levy on the AFC website. Apparently we were keen to draft her back in 2019 but she chose basketball instead. Probably would have meant we wouldn't have taken Biddell, so for the best in retrospect!

AFLW: Persistence pays off for Taylah Levy

Another game in the bests for South Adelaide today by Levy in their big win over Westies, has gone 18 disposals, 19 disposals and 20 disposals in her 3 games since she made a comeback to football, might be a sneaky chance to make her way into the starting 21 as the Crows did certainly lack second rotation options/quality in the middle last season.

 

[cmndstab]

Anyone know what happened with Goodwin? She got 27 touches and then 33 touches in rounds 4 and 5, then only 8 touches in round 6 and hasn't played since. Did she get injured?

 

[Firewalker]

Anyone know what happened with Goodwin? She got 27 touches and then 33 touches in rounds 4 and 5, then only 8 touches in round 6 and hasn't played since. Did she get injured?

She could be but it looks like the few Crows listed players that wanted to/were allowed to play SANFLW are having the amount of games they play severely monitored by the club where as Port are allowing/wanting their players who have made themselves available to play.

Kustermann hasn’t played recently either, same with Najwa Allen, Amber Ward was missing this week as well. Jess Allan and Levy seem to be the only ones that played this week.

 

[Crow54]

A potential mother son/daughter coming the Crows way?

 

[cmndstab]

Congrats to Randall and Rajcic! That's beautiful

Meanwhile, we finally have confirmation that the season will begin during the pre-finals bye (first week in September) as expected. Amazingly, we still don't even know how many rounds the girls will actually play, but hey, what's the rush? The season is only around 4 months away after all.

 

[speccy]

Anyone know what happened with Goodwin? She got 27 touches and then 33 touches in rounds 4 and 5, then only 8 touches in round 6 and hasn't played since. Did she get injured?

Goodwin rolled ankle in first qtr v south adelaide in in round 6. was leading posession winner on ground with 8 to that point. Was on target for another 30 posession game. Missed 3 games for glenelg due to injury. I see she played for glenelg v centrals on weekend in rd 10 and was glenelgs highest posession winner with 20 in a low possesion game. Solid performance after not playing for 4 weeks and playing soley across half back.

 

[Firewalker]

Another game in the bests for South Adelaide today by Levy in their big win over Westies, has gone 18 disposals, 19 disposals and 20 disposals in her 3 games since she made a comeback to football, might be a sneaky chance to make her way into the starting 21 as the Crows did certainly lack second rotation options/quality in the middle last season.

Here’s some footage of Taylah Levy from a few games ago…



Like you see with most of those from a basketball background the game seems to slowdown for her when she’s in possession, also technically the kicking and handball skills look good and the vision of what she wants to do next with the ball a standout already.

Also checked out a podcast she was on recently where she outlined she has previously done 2 ACL’s one in 2017 which made her choose basketball over footy then another one when at US college in 2021, a few other interesting tidbits were also where she said she was asked by the Crows if she would come back to football when she was in college and said she would come back but only after graduating, but then said she was the one who had to call them up when she returned to ask if they could find a position for her.

Also is still playing NBL1 concurrently with SANFLW and it sounded like basketball was still the main goal and she might not be with footy for too long.

 

[Firewalker]

That information from Levy that she was the one contacting the Crows also again sent me a few red flags with the AFLW recruiting department at the club led by Phil Harper, where the 3 new players brought into the squad (Goodwin, Levy and Bonner) have either personally contacted the club or had their representatives contact the club to get them a spot on the list. The list management department seems pretty thread bare and more or less is not making decisions to fix or improve areas on the list more waiting for list decisions to fall into their lap.

 

[cmndstab]

That information from Levy that she was the one contacting the Crows also again sent me a few red flags with the AFLW recruiting department at the club led by Phil Harper, where the 3 new players brought into the squad (Goodwin, Levy and Bonner) have either personally contacted the club or had their representatives contact the club to get them a spot on the list. The list management department seems pretty thread bare and more or less is not making decisions to fix or improve areas on the list more waiting for list decisions to fall into their lap.

I hadn't heard that about Goodwin and Bonner. It's definitely concerning with Goodwin. We should have been in her ear as often as it took, along with the likes of Ewings, Dowrick, etc. Bonner is a bit of an outside one, no reason for us to assume she'd be interested in a move without her telling us first.

Based on that podcast link with Levy it doesn't sound too bad though. They were contacting her asking if she would be back and she said she'll be back when she graduated, and then she came home and called them. I'm assuming it was a case of "let us know when you're in town" and she did.

If she does end up going back to basketball exclusively, fair enough. Contracts in AFLW are short-term anyway so if we can get a couple of good years out of her away from her main sport ala Jenna McCormick then good for us.

 

[Firewalker]

I hadn't heard that about Goodwin and Bonner. It's definitely concerning with Goodwin. We should have been in her ear as often as it took, along with the likes of Ewings, Dowrick, etc. Bonner is a bit of an outside one, no reason for us to assume she'd be interested in a move without her telling us first.

Based on that podcast link with Levy it doesn't sound too bad though. They were contacting her asking if she would be back and she said she'll be back when she graduated, and then she came home and called them. I'm assuming it was a case of "let us know when you're in town" and she did.

I think the main reason it has become a gripe for me is I think it’s a residual effect of the “good for the girls to have a league” type thinking like list management is just an afterthought in this non-professional league, like they don’t have to actually be tough, proactive or go out of their way to seek out anyone.

That whole department has not made one tough decision in years as the only player that’s left the squad that’s actually been delisted in the last 2 seasons has been Considine who made it easy for them, Cox was work related, Metcalfe work related, Varnhagen vaccine then pregnancy related, Hewett work related, Button inactive due to injury but wasn’t going to be cut even though she should’ve been, Racjic was allowed to play a season too long & have severe doubts unless she pulled the pin she might’ve been retained. Not forgetting they lost Woodland and Gore who they didn’t want to lose who were both targeted by other clubs in this time as well.

The only piece of good management was when they got lucky with Simmons as she would’ve been delisted but was able to be included in the Goodwin trade which is again more due to Goodwin then anything done by the club.

If you look at the recruitment of Niamh Kelly and Amber Ward last season again both sort out the club for the move.

Next year they’ll have at least 2 of Young, Goody, Window, Grigg or Brooksby fall into their lap through the draft so again they’ll get lucky as the creative planning and recruitment targeting probably won’t be needed to be there again.

 

[cmndstab]

I think the main reason it has become a gripe for me is I think it’s a residual effect of the “good for the girls to have a league” type thinking like list management is just an afterthought in this non-professional league, like they don’t have to actually be tough, proactive or go out of their way to seek out anyone.

That whole department has not made one tough decision in years as the only player that’s left the squad that’s actually been delisted in the last 2 seasons has been Considine who made it easy for them, Cox was work related, Metcalfe work related, Varnhagen vaccine then pregnancy related, Hewett work related, Button inactive due to injury but wasn’t going to be cut even though she should’ve been, Racjic was allowed to play a season too long & have severe doubts unless she pulled the pin she might’ve been retained. Not forgetting they lost Woodland and Gore who they didn’t want to lose who were both targeted by other clubs in this time as well.

The only piece of good management was when they got lucky with Simmons as she would’ve been delisted but was able to be included in the Goodwin trade which is again more due to Goodwin then anything done by the club.

If you look at the recruitment of Niamh Kelly and Amber Ward last season again both sort out the club for the move.

Next year they’ll have at least 2 of Young, Goody, Window, Grigg or Brooksby fall into their lap through the draft so again they’ll get lucky as the creative planning and recruitment targeting probably won’t be needed to be there again.

I wonder how much of this is the residual effect of being the only SA club in the league for so long. You don't have to do much work when players who want to play in SA can only choose you, and players that don't are off-limits anyway.

Even so, I'm not sure how concerned we need to be that the likes of Kelly and Ward sought us out. I imagine it's as simple as us periodically saying "we're 100% interested if you ever decide to come home" and then leaving it with them. They might have made the phone calls, but we probably did leg work in advance letting them know the door was open.

All of this is speculation, of course. I have no idea what actually happens behind closed doors. Just saying that players seeking us out isn't necessarily an issue.

On the other hand, I fully agree that we've been too slow in the past to cut (and even stop selecting) players who have demonstrated that are either no longer up to it, or never were. We've coasted by on the strength of our squad at times, carrying players who shouldn't be in an AFLW side.

 

[Caputo]

I am hoping Port go better as I would hate to see them get early or extra compensation picks and get both Young & Goody. Hoping we get 2, 4 & 6 in the SA bit of the Draft.

 

[cmndstab]

I am hoping Port go better as I would hate to see them get early or extra compensation picks and get both Young & Goody. Hoping we get 2, 4 & 6 in the SA bit of the Draft.

I'm pretty much resigned to them getting at least the first two SA picks.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Niamh Kelly was in talks with North Melbourne, and her not-as-good sister was already headed to St Kilda. It definitely took a concerted effort on Adelaide's part to land her.

 

[Firewalker]

Niamh Kelly was in talks with North Melbourne, and her not-as-good sister was already headed to St Kilda. It definitely took a concerted effort on Adelaide's part to land her.

It was certainly known at the time the Crows had/still do have a good relationship with cross coders which is the mob that helped Irish players come over originally mostly due to Ailish Considine being one of the first over and through that relationship the Club then helped out both Kelly sisters when they were stuck in Adelaide due to COVID reasons and apparently at the time some relationships were formed and those connections were what were used when their management first reached out and said they wanted to leave West Coast, Adelaide was definitely first preference.

Crows had no/limited list spots available but were interested enough in Niamh once they were contacted, so there was a long hold up on that trade which led to the subsequent North interest but once Nikki Gore was traded to Freo on the 7/06/22 Niamh was traded in the next day.

 

[speccy]

I think the main reason it has become a gripe for me is I think it’s a residual effect of the “good for the girls to have a league” type thinking like list management is just an afterthought in this non-professional league, like they don’t have to actually be tough, proactive or go out of their way to seek out anyone.

That whole department has not made one tough decision in years as the only player that’s left the squad that’s actually been delisted in the last 2 seasons has been Considine who made it easy for them, Cox was work related, Metcalfe work related, Varnhagen vaccine then pregnancy related, Hewett work related, Button inactive due to injury but wasn’t going to be cut even though she should’ve been, Racjic was allowed to play a season too long & have severe doubts unless she pulled the pin she might’ve been retained. Not forgetting they lost Woodland and Gore who they didn’t want to lose who were both targeted by other clubs in this time as well.

The only piece of good management was when they got lucky with Simmons as she would’ve been delisted but was able to be included in the Goodwin trade which is again more due to Goodwin then anything done by the club.

If you look at the recruitment of Niamh Kelly and Amber Ward last season again both sort out the club for the move.

Next year they’ll have at least 2 of Young, Goody, Window, Grigg or Brooksby fall into their lap through the draft so again they’ll get lucky as the creative planning and recruitment targeting probably won’t be needed to be there again.

A lot of work is done in the background by the list managers that we dont see. My understanding is that Port approached Simmons and offered her 2 yr contract, thinking she could walk under the PSP concessions, but she didnt meet the 3 yr service requirement and a trade needed to be done. The crows seized the opportunity to approach Goodwin who they regard very highly and couldnt understand why port didnt give her more game time. I understand the crows list manager had built a good relationship with Goodwin leading up to last years draft. No doubt Goodwins decision to move was influenced by the relationship and trust the crows list manager had developed.

 

[cmndstab]

In some random Crows-adjacent news, 2017 premiership player Talia Radan (and also former Crows player Scott Stevens

Scott Stevens

Age

42

Ht

195cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.1

3star

K

9.0

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

5.5

5star

T

1.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

4.8

1star

K

3.6

2star

HB

1.2

2star

M

2.0

3star

T

0.4

3star

) has been appointed as a member of the AFL/AFLW tribunal panel. (Also Jordan Bannister

Jordan Bannister

Age

41

Ht

190cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.6

3star

K

5.9

2star

HB

4.7

3star

M

3.7

4star

T

2.0

4star

No current season stats available

D

6.0

2star

K

1.6

1star

HB

4.4

4star

M

1.6

2star

T

0.8

3star

and Darren Gaspar

Darren Gaspar

Age

47

Ht

192cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

11.4

3star

K

6.3

2star

HB

5.1

4star

M

3.2

3star

T

1.3

3star

No current season stats available

D

10.8

3star

K

6.2

3star

HB

4.6

4star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.0

4star

).

Four new panel members join AFL and AFLW Tribunal

 

[Dirty Bird]

Interesting
I did not know Radan and Stevens were trained in law.

 

[cmndstab]

Interesting
I did not know Radan and Stevens were trained in law.

Radan finished her law degree long before she played AFLW. She's been a government adviser for a number of years.

 

[cmndstab]

Sarah Black has recently started a new side series of podcasts, Passing the Torch, where she has around a 30 minute interview with a player. There have been a few episodes so far, but this week she interviewed Eloise Jones.

Credit to the Girls Podcast

It's interesting without having massive insights in it. Eloise talks a bit about how she initially struggled with leadership but has grown into the role, about how she has learned to ask for time off when she needs it, and a bit about her own form. If you're looking to fill half an hour you might enjoy listening to it!

 

[Rocket72]

So much talent in the SANFL, but I'm surprised that Zoe Venning hasn't been picked up by an AFLW club. Absolutely smashing it this year for West Adelaide.