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AFLW Practice Match v Hawthorn 12pm at IKON Park Sunday August 3

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Yeah, she looks big and strong looks a real athlete. And conscientious.
My concerns are still the same Grieser playing second fiddle and our ability to generate enough score from our forwards.
Again and obviously we are building around KB, I just don’t know we’ve see the best of Grieser. Last season she kicked a couple of bags of three without KB on the ground it’s a few opportunistic moments in the last against Geel and in the final against Port age hit the scoreboard but she doesn’t seem to be hungry for the ball when KB is playing.
Watching Scott play, she looks a fwd prowling the 50.
Grieser doesn’t seem to have that edge but like I said, I think there’s more in her for being a threat but for whatever reason looks ok with playing second fiddle or to try and stay outve KB’s way.
Agreed, though I think Grieser settles into a game rather than challenges it. Needs to be pushed out of her comfort zone.
 
Did Tess lavey play
Not that I noticed, nor did I see Shelby Knoll even though she was on for what must have been limited minutes (was hoping for more as I have hopes for her contribution).

 
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Not that I noticed, nor did I see Shelby Knoll even though she was on for what must have been limited minutes (was hoping for more as I have hopes for her contribution).

Gee wiz highlights were light on , could Scotty play higher up the ground or lacks the motor , looks like she knows how to play the game
 

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Gee wiz highlights were light on , could Scotty play higher up the ground or lacks the motor , looks like she knows how to play the game

Other than our main players remaining injury free throughout preseason I thought Scott was the biggest positive coming out of the two games. When on, very hard to stop.
 
Gee wiz highlights were light on , could Scotty play higher up the ground or lacks the motor , looks like she knows how to play the game
Scott was very good, she has that footy brain and gets to good spots, a participant! She has a zest for the contest. Shevlin was good, McKenzie had her flashes of brilliance, Demps was around her minimum standard and still OK. As some the Hawthorn highlights indicate, our backs were under pressure a lot and whilst not overwhelmed, they struggled to find system and were a bit too fluky. In racing parlance, one hopes we'll be better for the run!
 
Ford's second half was better than her first half - she was better than I expected tbh. And while sound enough, I did hope for a bit more from Isabel Bacon. Still finding her feet in the role, understanding the timing around stoppages of cracking in with other quality players around her. Think she looks good in moments though.

I think the big plus for Bacon is that she has a pretty strong engine. Add to that her bit of dash and her 172cm frame and you have the makings of a decent big bodied midfield prospect. She was pretty raw when she came into the Talent League Girls program so she has a bit to learn. I hope she can add to our midfield but if not we will still have a pretty handy player at half back.
 
I see Grace Baba was suspended for striking Laura McClelland.

Laura is not someone I would want to mess with. White line fever stuff. To be continued somewhere down the track.
 
To be fair Ellie McK is a pretty high bar. I reckon very few high draftees after that 2020 draft at any club have been anywhere as good but I see where you are going with it. 2021 and 2022 drafts were very ordinary for us. These are players entering their prime. A lot of players we drafted from those drafts are no longer with us. Not a single mid either.

Sheerin absence will hurt us in the middle. Had her faults but crash/bash, contested possession and 40+ kick giving us territory was invaluable to us. Cover was never going to come from our existing list or the draft so if we didn't recruit one, our midfield was always going to be running on 5 cylinders never mind 8. So here we are a couple of quality mids down in 2025.

I think Sierra Grieves will be a player but we need to let her find her way in AFLW this year, not put too much expectation on her. Her time will come.

Regarding the ladder, you can split it into thirds. Top six, middle six and bottom six. I would rate us somewhere in the middle 6 given our two games and how everyone else is going.

Our backline can be solid and our forward line reasonably potent if they get supply but if we can't sort out our midfield woes I can see us beating up on the bottom 6 but the top six will be a stretch.
I also believe we have to do whatever we can to fix our midfield, it's the weakest line for sure now Sheerin's not there. I also believe Grace Egan didn't play on Sunday?, so any outs expose a lack of depth, but also a shortage of a couple of quality mids is a problem. We can't rely on upside of a couple of our youth getting better short term. Will take a year or two.

We have tried to address bringing mids in the trade/draft space, but there are only a few top quality mids each year that come on the market that you think would really help our midfield, and any number of clubs in the comp in same position as us also trying to fix midfields, so we end up in getting next tier down, solid players but not well rounded and not damaging.

The Hawks in 2024 easily accounted for us, and narrowly went down in their finals, however Hawks are a top 4 quality team regardless. If we do end up this year as another middle six finish, and not winning finals, then it will be hard to not have major change as we've now had a few good years to find a way to bridge that gap to the top teams. Hopefully this list, and coach, can prove to everyone that they have it in them to go the next step, as running out of time otherwise.
 
Gee wiz highlights were light on , could Scotty play higher up the ground or lacks the motor , looks like she knows how to play the game

In the Carlton praccy match Scotty worked from deep forward to wings and looks really fit. Worth giving midfield time for sure, even if not able to have the motor like mon, as permanent mid, can definitely see Scotty as an impact mid when needed.
 

Hawks' forwards fire in 37-point rout of Tigers​

- Gemma Bastiani

LAST year's McClelland Trophy winner Hawthorn did plenty of damage on the scoreboard against Richmond on Sunday, posting a 37-point win in their final practice match.

The Hawks were impressive in their ball movement, both from stoppage and the back half, and dominated clearances 27-17.

Captain Emily Bates (23 disposals, seven inside 50s) was an impressive connector from the midfield, as was Tilly Lucas-Rodd (19 disposals, five inside 50s) coming from the back half.

Jasmine Fleming (19 disposals, 10 handball receives) moved well from the contest, as did 2024 Hawthorn best and fairest winner Eliza West (22 disposals, three clearances), but unfortunately Casey Sherriff copped a head knock in the second term and was ruled out for the remainder of the game as a precaution.

Young gun Hayley McLaughlin (14 disposals, one goal) looked dangerous teaming up with Greta Bodey (12 disposals, two goals) in the front half, and last year's leading goalkicker Aine McDonagh got busy with three goals.

The Tigers lived dangerously down back for much of the game, trying to use short kicks to exit defence but too often succumbing to Hawthorn's forward pressure.

Katie Brennan dobbed a goal before being put on ice, with the club managing the captain's minutes, and it was when Mon Conti (15 disposals, four clearances) and Ellie McKenzie (seven disposals, one goal) got involved that Richmond looked at its most dangerous.

Laura McClelland (13 disposals, seven rebounds) and Libby Graham (10 disposals, three rebounds) were handy behind the ball, and Katelyn Cox was important in her return from an ACL injury.

Recruit Paige Scott also looks set to offer a sense of physicality across half forward for the Tigers.

FINAL SCORE
Richmond
1.0 4.1 5.1 6.2 (38)
Hawthorn 4.5 6.6 7.9 10.15 (75)

GOALS
Richmond:
Conti, Dempsey, Scott, Shevlin, McKenzie, Brennan
Hawthorn: McDonagh 3, Bodey 2, Lucas-Rodd, Eardley, Ashmore, McLaughlin, Wales

LEADING DISPOSALS (top five)
Richmond:
Conti 15, McClelland 13, Seymour 11, Beruldsen 10, Greiser 10, Graham 10
Hawthorn: Bates 23, West 22, Lucas-Ross 19, Fleming 19, Kemp 17

NOTABLE ABSENCES
Richmond:
Lavey (hamstring), Hosking (hamstring), Lynch (shoulder)
Hawthorn: Gilroy, Richardson
 
I see Grace Baba was suspended for striking Laura McClelland.

Laura is not someone I would want to mess with. White line fever stuff. To be continued somewhere down the track.
It was a great "tangle" initiated by Laura, probably accidentally, but Baba took offence and there you go, the retaliator always gets pinged.
 

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In the Carlton praccy match Scotty worked from deep forward to wings and looks really fit. Worth giving midfield time for sure, even if not able to have the motor like mon, as permanent mid, can definitely see Scotty as an impact mid when needed.
That’s good was pretty plsd to get her to tigerland , maybe she can fill the sheerin breech in some part
 
A round 1 pick now is much better prepared having come through local football and the development leagues.

Love Ellie but the guns that are coming now are a class above

Ellie was, in fact, one of the better prepared footballers that you speak of.

She started as a 10 year old and has played over 100 games of junior football and played rep footy before playing for the Knights in the NAB League.

Ellie is a gun. Whoever you think is better, have a look at the rest of the midfield they play with and then think about our midfield. Look at the last game. Put Bates, Fleming, West and Lucas-Ross around Ellie and how do you think she'd fare?
Stats also sometimes lie. She might not have had many possessions but she mostly made them count. She did ok.
 
Ellie was, in fact, one of the better prepared footballers that you speak of.

She started as a 10 year old and has played over 100 games of junior football and played rep footy before playing for the Knights in the NAB League.

Ellie is a gun. Whoever you think is better, have a look at the rest of the midfield they play with and then think about our midfield. Look at the last game. Put Bates, Fleming, West and Lucas-Ross around Ellie and how do you think she'd fare?
Stats also sometimes lie. She might not have had many possessions but she mostly made them count. She did ok.
Ellie is a jet.
Hawks fell in a heap in finals last season but when they’re up and going well they looked the best midfield last year I thought.
The outside the stoppage stuff, we need to improve on.

I know Sheerin is hard at it and is hard to stop but she didn’t make us any better at that part of the game, from inside to outside with the ball changing lanes.
We really need to be better at that than what we came up with against Hawthorn.
 

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Ellie is a jet.
Hawks fell in a heap in finals last season but when they’re up and going well they looked the best midfield last year I thought.
The outside the stoppage stuff, we need to improve on.

I know Sheerin is hard at it and is hard to stop but she didn’t make us any better at that part of the game, from inside to outside with the ball changing lanes.
We really need to be better at that than what we came up with against Hawthorn

Sheerin's one wood has been that she would crash and bash her way through stoppages winning clearances have a run and kick it 40+ giving us territory. In AFLW, gaining territory has been gold.

I agree 100% . She hasn't done a lot of feeding to our outside runners in Conti and McKenzie.
 
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Stats from Hawthorn practice match.


Richmond v Hawthorn​

RICHMONDScoreKHDMFFFATHOGB
M.Conti67
10​
5​
15​
3​
1​
2​
4​
1​
1​
G.Seymour59
8​
3​
11​
2​
2​
1​
6​
L.McClelland51
7​
6​
13​
5​
1​
2​
2​
E.Graham49
6​
4​
10​
3​
1​
1​
4​
M.Beruldsen43
6​
4​
10​
1​
1​
3​
1​
A.Dallaway43
4​
5​
9​
1​
5​
K.Cox43
2​
3​
5​
2​
1​
7​
P.Scott41
6​
3​
9​
4​
3​
2​
1​
C.Greiser40
6​
4​
10​
3​
1​
1​
4​
M.Shevlin39
4​
3​
7​
4​
1​
2​
2​
1​
E.McKenzie35
4​
3​
7​
2​
1​
2​
1​
K.Dempsey33
8​
1​
9​
1​
1​
1​
S.Grieves31
5​
1​
6​
2​
3​
L.Beatty28
5​
3​
8​
1​
1​
P.Kelly27
1​
2​
3​
1​
1​
2​
14​
R.Miller26
6​
2​
8​
1​
3​
3​
K.Brennan23
3​
1​
4​
3​
1​
1​
C.Wicksteed21
2​
3​
5​
1​
3​
J.Hicks20
5​
2​
7​
1​
1​
I.Bacon20
3​
1​
4​
1​
2​
3​
L.Brazzale19
1​
1​
4​
M.Ford17
2​
1​
3​
1​
2​
E.Yassir16
1​
2​
3​
1​
3​
S.Knoll8
1​
4​
 
Here are our R1 opponent, Sydney's, stats in their practice game against Brisbane. They had 77 more disposals.

SYDNEYScoreKHDMFFFATHOGB
L.Gardiner114
13​
22​
35​
4​
1​
2​
6​
L.McEvoy66
10​
8​
18​
2​
2​
1​
Z.Fish77
14​
4​
18​
3​
2​
4​
L.Pullar64
12​
6​
18​
5​
1​
M.Ham66
9​
7​
16​
2​
1​
3​
1​
T.Kennedy30
5​
9​
14​
1​
2​
S.Hurley50
10​
4​
14​
2​
1​
1​
1​
J.Grierson41
8​
3​
11​
2​
1​
1​
B.Tarrant35
5​
5​
10​
2​
1​
A.Morphett58
6​
4​
10​
3​
1​
4​
10​
C.Reid29
3​
7​
10​
1​
1​
1​
5​
L.Hausegger28
5​
4​
9​
2​
2​
1​
D.Moloney27
4​
5​
9​
1​
2​
H.Cooper60
3​
6​
9​
2​
3​
6​
1​
R.Privitelli53
7​
1​
8​
2​
2​
4​
1​
A.Martin44
4​
3​
7​
1​
1​
4​
1​
P.McCarthy30
3​
3​
6​
1​
3​
C.Molloy15
4​
1​
5​
1​
A.Mitchell12
3​
1​
4​
1​
1​
A.Hamilton24
3​
1​
4​
1​
2​
3​
3​
1​
G.Davies32
2​
2​
4​
2​
1​
3​
2​
1​
A.Van Loon15
1​
2​
3​
2​
J.O'Sullivan6
2​
2​
 

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AFLW Practice Match v Hawthorn 12pm at IKON Park Sunday August 3

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