AFLW Round 1 of the 2023 AFL Women's season

[Teen Wolf]

Great to be here, alive and well to talk about football on this football forum. And this thread is about the BEST kind of football: Round 1 AFLW action, omg.

Channel 7 are covering the Friday night and Saturday night games, along with North Melb. v St Kilda and Brisbane v Richmond on Sunday arvo. As usual, viewers outside of Victoria will have a couple of those games subbed out from free-to-air TV in exchange for their local teams.

Sydney v GWS is probably the most intriguing match-up of Round 1 for mine (would've said "definitely" if not for the early-season absence of Montana Ham). Carlton v Gold Coast and Hawthorn v Essendon are also really crucial matches for the teams involved. I'm going to try to wait until the lineups come out on Thursday week before finalising my tips.

Some stuff from today's season launch:

AFL confirms equal prizemoney for men's and women's seasons

AFLW players will share in almost double the prizemoney after the AFL confirmed it would offer equal amounts for the men's and women's competitions

www.afl.com.au

 

[Teen Wolf]

And here's some stuff from tonight's season launch:

 

[Teen Wolf]

With ten days until round one, it is time to begin the countdown of the 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments.

Starting with numberrrrr tennnnnn:



When this bump happened, some extremely sensitive people complained: "does Hannah Scott need to be so aggressive??" And the umps be like: "uhh it's footy, be aggressive as you can as long as you play the ball".

Also, I think Jason Bennett mispronounced Nadia von Bertouch's name here because he was mimicking the noise her exploding body made: batooosh!

 

[CrowdedHouse]

Round 1 will also have radio coverage for every game.

Broadcasters this year include ABC, SEN, 3AW, MMM, 6PR, 5AA, 3WBC, Casey Radio and WARF Radio.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I think these are the biggest injury/availability questions heading into R1.

Adelaide: Sarah Allan hamstring
Brisbane: Dakota Davidson hamstring
Carlton:
Collingwood: Brazill coming back from netball and Davey coming back from ACL/hamstring
Essendon:
Fremantle: Ebony Antonio knee
Geelong: Rebecca Webster, Olivia Fuller, Shelley Scott
Gold Coast: Lauren Bella
GWS Giants: Georgia Garnett
Hawthorn: Charlotte Baskaran, Aileen Gilroy
Melbourne:
North Melb.:
Port Adelaide:
Richmond: Sarah Hosking hamstring
St Kilda: Georgia Patrikios knee
Sydney:
West Coast:
W. Bulldogs: Alice Edmonds

Most of them are reported as being expected to be right for R1, some of them I have no clue about.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Coming in at number nine on our traditional 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments countdown is Cranston fastbreaking bad:

 

[Teen Wolf]

For number eight on our traditional 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments countdown, let's go back to the eight-team comp. Could focus on Garner kicking the first goal or Vescio's night out, but if you really want a moment that portends the future, can't go past this one:



Inaugural captain Lauren Arnell setting the tone for the women's program. The club respected her, and in turn the players respected the club, resulting in a player retention rate which is the envy of the competition, and the reason why Carlton are now red-hot favourites to win another flag!

 

[Teen Wolf]

Adelaide: Sarah Allan hamstring

Well we've got our answer to this one. An 8-weeker, minimum.

AFLW Injury Update: Sarah Allan

The three-time All Australian defender had scans this week

www.afc.com.au

 

[cmndstab]

Well we've got our answer to this one. An 8-weeker, minimum.

AFLW Injury Update: Sarah Allan

The three-time All Australian defender had scans this week

www.afc.com.au

Enormous loss. A lot riding on the shoulders of Biddell and Prowse now.

Given that the likely remedy will be shuffling Randall back (which I prefer anyway) I guess this opens a spot up in our forward line. Makes it seem likely we will play all four of our ruck options in the side now, which again is my preference anyway.

Gould up forward, rotating with Jess Allan. Prowse down back, rotating with McKinnon. Allan and McKinnon to share ruck duties.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Some might expect number 7 on our traditional 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments countdown to be about famous no.7-wearer Tayla Harris. But come on, not everything has to be about Tayla Harris.

Let's be a little imaginative and travel back to R1 2018, when reigning premiers Adelaide lost to Brisbane, and Sabrina Frederick took 7 contested marks (an AFLW record which has since been equalled by... Tayla Harris). Feast your eyes on highlights from that game, which include a few of Sabrina's grabs:

 

[keepswimming]

Some might expect number 7 on our traditional 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments countdown to be about famous no.7-wearer Tayla Harris. But come on, not everything has to be about Tayla Harris.

Let's be a little imaginative and travel back to R1 2018, when reigning premiers Adelaide lost to Brisbane, and Sabrina Frederick took 7 contested marks (an AFLW record which has since been equalled by... Tayla Harris). Feast your eyes on highlights from that game, which include a few of Sabrina's grabs:

Sabrina would be lucky to take 7 in a season now. I would love for her to capture that sort of form again, however I feel she'll be squeezed out by others by rd 3 if not earlier. Game has gone well past her. Can't jump, run or defend a player in her area. I'll be happy if she runs amok and I,m proven wrong but no evidence of that happening.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Sabrina would be lucky to take 7 in a season now. I would love for her to capture that sort of form again, however I feel she'll be squeezed out by others by rd 3 if not earlier. Game has gone well past her. Can't jump, run or defend a player in her area. I'll be happy if she runs amok and I,m proven wrong but no evidence of that happening.

Her contested marking average was 1.8 in her 2 AA seasons, it's been 1.1 in the next 5 seasons which is still pretty good. Most of her stats have followed the same gentle downward trajectory, except goalkicking--went from a career tally of 14.11 at the end of 2018, to now having kicked 26.45.

Caitlin Greiser has had sub-5 disposals in 11 of her 34 games (including 5 last season), yet cops far less flak than Sabrina Frederick (sub-5 in 3 of her 59 games). I'm not sure why that is.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Flashing back to the start of Season 6 for the 6th spot on our traditional 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments countdown, here is some champagne football by the Tigers. A team that, 2 seasons earlier, didn't win a game. What a transformation.



Supposedly the reason for them being so poor in 2020 had something to do with Katie Brennan playing in the midfield, which meant she's selfish or whatever idk (I do know they scored 1 goal in the 9 quarters Brennan missed that season due to concussion). Seems like her midfield involvement was an integral part of the impressive teamwork in the above clip, don't it.

 

[Teen Wolf]

At number 5 on our traditional 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments countdown is another match involving Carlton and Collingwood--two teams who have each appeared in 5 season openers (including 4 H2H, with the ledger at 2-2).



Sheesh did people get worked up over this. Including the AFL. 3-week suspension, 2 with an early plea (article here, link in tweet is broken). A more severe punishment than numerous actual thuggish acts perpetrated in seven AFLW seasons, such as Jess Hosking's blatant snipe of GWS Giants' Alyce Parker (i.e. the best, and frankly fairest, player on the opposing team).

 

[Teen Wolf]

At number 4 on our traditional 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments countdown is a 2019 thriller: Fremantle upsetting Melbourne by 4 points. The 59-55 see-sawer was played in 53 degree heat, the Dockers led at half-time by 20, the Dees by 14 at 3QT. Highlights below.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Bec Goddard diving back into "bag o sand from Bunnings" territory, reminiscent of Danny Frawley "under the pump" hijinx. Sew me sides back together, real glass eye stuff!

Weather watch:

• 25 degrees in Brisbane on Sunday, adding another layer of difficulty for the Tigers.
• About 20 and mostly sunny for the derbies in WA, SA and NSW (chance of very light rain in Perth), pretty much perfect.
• No rain but only mid-teens on Friday and Saturday in Melbourne & Geelong. No game in Victoria on Sunday arvo looking like a blunder.
• Top of 18 in Hobart, where four thousand people turned up for the men's match last weekend.

Can't help kinda repeat it from the fixture thread: Round 1, AFL pre-finals bye, talk about maximising crowds in <10k-seat venues... and then we open with North v St Kilda at Bellerive. Crazy stuff. There may be a legitimate reason to not have NM's Hobart game at the very end of the season, but there's no way it needs to be R1.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Maybe you've been annoyed in recent months by Nathan Burke sticking his beak where it don't belong. But how can you not like this moment (number 3 on our traditional 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments countdown), how can you not like his daughter.

The footage:


The photo:

 

[The Educator]

Bec Goddard diving back into "bag o sand from Bunnings" territory, reminiscent of Danny Frawley "under the pump" hijinx. Sew me sides back together, real glass eye stuff!

Can you elaborate?

 

[Teen Wolf]

Can you elaborate?

Last year Hawthorn AFLW coach Bec Goddard poured a literal line of sand in her team's changerooms before their match vs Essendon, referencing the 2004 Line In The Sand Match. In her press conference yesterday, she suggested she might do it again this weekend.

Such theatrics remind me of Danny Frawley who used to coach Richmond and, after another bad loss late in his tenure, lifted a heavy air compressor over his head to literalise his figurative "under the pump" career while attempting to lighten the mood of his dispirited players. He then became a jocular media performer, often relying on peculiar expressions (such as "glass eye" meaning "could talk a glass eye to sleep" meaning "boring/unoriginal") to lampoon the same flavour of theatrics by others in the football world.

 

[The Educator]

Last year Hawthorn AFLW coach Bec Goddard poured a literal line of sand in her team's changerooms before their match vs Essendon, referencing the 2004 Line In The Sand Match. In her press conference yesterday, she suggested she might do it again this weekend.

Such theatrics remind me of Danny Frawley who used to coach Richmond and, after another bad loss late in his tenure, lifted a heavy air compressor over his head to literalise his figurative "under the pump" career while attempting to lighten the mood of his dispirited players. He then became a jocular media performer, often relying on peculiar expressions (such as "glass eye" meaning "could talk a glass eye to sleep" meaning "boring/unoriginal") to lampoon the same flavour of theatrics by others in the football world.

Horrendous!

A poor woman's Keven Sheedy

 

[Teen Wolf]

Horrendous!

A poor woman's Keven Sheedy

Somewhere between the lovable Spud and loathsome Sheeds, but she has a better premiership strike rate than both.

 

[cmndstab]

It was pretty obvious that Goddard enjoys theatrics after she quoted a John Farnham song during her premiership winning speech.

I imagine for a certain kind of player she would be brilliant, while other kinds of players would just roll their eyes.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Collingwood expecting Davey to play. No word about Brazill in the injury report, I'm interpreting that to mean she'll be available. So the biggest question for them now is probably Lauren Butler (foot soreness).

 

[Teen Wolf]

At number 2 on our traditional 10 Most Memorable Round 1 Moments countdown... another Rocky moment? Why not, R1 seems to be her time to shine... or get suspended, as she did for a near neck-breaking collision with Jamie Stanton in 2017. But this one comes from 2018, when Cranston broke GWS hearts bad, and knocked the socks (and/or hats) off of those around her.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Fremantle "hoping" Antonio will be fit to play.

For the match in Tassie, Bruton is out while no news about Patrikios is probably good news. So the Saints should at least not be getting blown out of the water.

Sydney have given a R4 return on Ham, which takes off a bit of pressure to get an early win against the Giants, knowing she'll be there for the string of winnable games against WC/Carl/PA/Haw. But then again, Scott Gowans delving into the theatrics himself has probably put the pressure back on his Swans today.

NSW Clubs After First 10 AFLW Games ​

	W	L	D	PF	PA	%	Pts
GWS Giants	2	7	1	253	413	61.3	10
Sydney	0	10	0	207	577	35.9	0