Preview Round 2 v North Melbourne @ Coopers Stadium (Norwood)

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Apr 29, 2008
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Well...neutral ground.

While it would be fun to run up the scoreboard at home against West Coast, we're just as likely to do that next week anyway.

Yes, and we can save the home ground advantage for a stronger side. Mind you, West Coast will be hurting and looking to prove a point... but if we play to our ability we should get it done reasonably well.

It's certainly helped being able to face two of the stronger sides at home.
 

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Apr 29, 2008
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Us Melbourne Freo and Collingwood already look a cut above the rest.

Melbourne is the one I'm worried about. They look pretty damn potent, and we haven't always played well against them (last year's final aside!)

I still think Freo are desperately unlucky to not have a flag. If the 2020 season had been allowed to finish I think they would have walked it in.
 
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Injury update for Gould and Randall: https://www.afc.com.au/news/1047912/aflw-injury-update-round-two


Caitlin Gould
Caitlin Gould landed awkwardly during an attempted mark in the final quarter and took no further part in the match. Gould will now enter the AFL’s 12-day concussion protocol.

Chelsea Randall

Randall suffered a suspected low-grade hamstring injury during the game and will be assessed in the coming days.


I'm not sure whether the comment re: Gould means she is now definitely out for 12 days, or if she will be assessed to see if she needs to be out for 12 days.
 

dplggr47

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Didn't Woodland use to play for Melbourne and they didn't want her any more?? Seems like a fantastic pick up for us
I think she was extremely homesick and left the AFLW in general so she could come home to SA. Maybe there wasn't a spot for her at the Crows at the time and had to play SANFLW before Crows could pick her up. She's been amazing up forward. Doesn't seem overly fast, but has good goal sense, makes good positioning and can kick a set shot well. Even up the ground she looked really good. The main problem for the Crows will be when the opposition start double teaming her like they did Phillips (when she played up forward). Who will kick the goals for the Crows then? The team needs more scoring options.

Not good news on Gould. Means McKinnon will have to play more ruck and who's our backup ruck? Simmons?
Simmons is so raw, I don't know if she should even be in the team. Is she just there because she's tall?

What was up with Marinoff's shot on goal? Was it because she knew she couldn't make the distance. Her kicking can be so atrocious at times.

In regards to that final goal that the Crows kicked, it was so nice just seeing the ball in the hands of players like Jones, Charlton, Hatchard, etc. These select few just have natural talent. Erin too, had a nice non-preferred left foot pass into the forward line to Mules. Too many of the other players have difficulty hitting targets, kicking quickly enough (dropping the ball too slowly), or have really high arching kicks.
 
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Apr 29, 2008
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If Gould misses (I'm still not sure how to read that injury report) then presumably Jasmyn Hewett will take her spot. If we're to take Clarke at his word, she was stiff to miss out in the first two rounds anyway with all three rucks performing well over preseason. Apparently she put on a bunch of size and worked hard on her fitness... but that kind of talk is cheap, especially when you're opting not to play someone.

Hard to know how she'll go if she gets the gig. She only played a couple of games for us in the ruck back in 2018 and was servicable at best. I didn't really watch her at Gold Coast but her numbers are nothing to write home about, she was clearly the backup option to Lauren Bella.

On Marinoff's set shot, somebody here mentioned it was because the umpire didn't get her on her line, and she was trying to adjust as she came in. That could be it. I just think set shots aren't really her thing. There's a reason someone who gets as much ball as her has kicked so few goals in her career.

Agreed that Jones, Charlton and Hatchard are all special talents. I know we're only two games in, but Hatchard is putting together a super season so far. Second in the league for disposals (55, behind Riddell on 62), first for kicks, first for marks (21, second place has 13), first for contested marks, equal second for score involvements. Meanwhile Jones has started the year off well, I love her on the wing, and Charlton spending more time in the middle is good too. Those two, along with Martin and Button have added a new dimension to our standard midfield combo of Marinoff/Hatchard/Phillips/Ruck that was great at the contested stuff but could often be a bit one-paced.

I'm yet to be convinced on Munyard - she looks like she's got talent and every now and then she'll do something special, but those moments just seem so few and far between. Wouldn't be surprised to see someone like Newman get a shot at her expense.
 
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dplggr47

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We drafted Zoe Prowse from Sturt who did some ruckwork for them but I just checked and she's 177cm :oops:
That's still pretty tall. Maybe she has a high vertical leap? I think Hewett will get the call up though. It just means Simmons keeps her spot, which I don't think she deserves.

Munyard was terrible in game 1, but seemed okay in game 2. Did some nice things and some not so nice, but she wasn't the only one. Looking at the rest of the unpicked players, there's not many to choose from. The rest are quite untried (except Considine).
 
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Prowse has been pretty upfront that she doesn't expect to play ruck at AFLW level. Maybe pinch-hitting, but she's more there as a very athletic tall with good skills.

Munyard was almost non-existent in the first half of today's game as well, but had a good second quarter. I'm happy to stick with her unless someone else is knocking the door down, but she'd want to start making more of her game soon. There is definitely talent there, just about putting it all together.
 
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Thats roughly the size of our rucks.

Unfortunately that's not really the case. Gould is 182cm, McKinnon is 183cm, and they're both regularly jumped over in the ruck. Hewett is 184cm, Metcalfe was 185cm, Jess Foley was 183cm. You really need to be 6 feet tall to play ruck at AFLW level.

Prowse is actually shorter than Sarah Allan and Chelsea Biddell. She credits her success in the ruck at SANFLW level to timing and technique, but it's hard to imagine that transferring over to AFLW where she'll face the likes of Emma King or Erin McKinnon who will dwarf her. At best, she might pinch-hit occasionally from wherever else she plays.
 

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Shaunbkk

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Not talking to each other is seeing them getting caught.
They have NO awareness - they mark the ball with opposition players by their side and then start loping off slowly as those no one will catch them, get tackled holding the ball - so many times - Matthew Clark never mentioned this so it will happen all season.
 

hey shorty

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They have NO awareness - they mark the ball with opposition players by their side and then start loping off slowly as those no one will catch them, get tackled holding the ball - so many times - Matthew Clark never mentioned this so it will happen all season.
Happens all through the league, takes more than a couple of seasons for players to gain that awareness, especially when you play 10 games a year.
 
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They have NO awareness - they mark the ball with opposition players by their side and then start loping off slowly as those no one will catch them, get tackled holding the ball - so many times - Matthew Clark never mentioned this so it will happen all season.
To be fair, that happened maybe twice for the whole match. I remember it happening to Munyard in the first half, any others?

The bigger issue in my eyes is not kicking to any kind of advantage when going forward. The few times we actually did turned into goals!
 
To be fair, that happened maybe twice for the whole match. I remember it happening to Munyard in the first half, any others?

The bigger issue in my eyes is not kicking to any kind of advantage when going forward. The few times we actually did turned into goals!
Also, I think the mark and play on is a strategy.
 
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Looks like the coaches agreed on the top 5 players but not the split:

10 Anne Hatchard (ADEL)
7 Ashleigh Woodland (ADEL)
5 Ashleigh Riddell (NMFC)
4 Erin Phillips (ADEL)
4 Emma Kearney (NMFC)


So that's:

5 Hatchard
4 Woodland
3 Phillips
2 Kearney
1 Riddell

5 Hatchard
4 Riddell
3 Woodland
2 Kearney
1 Phillips


I'm guessing the top one of those was Clarke. Riddell had a high quality game but imagine putting her ahead of Woodland. She earned three of those four goals (had one gimme) and also set up our only other goal.
 

dplggr47

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Looks like the coaches agreed on the top 5 players but not the split:

10 Anne Hatchard (ADEL)
7 Ashleigh Woodland (ADEL)
5 Ashleigh Riddell (NMFC)
4 Erin Phillips (ADEL)
4 Emma Kearney (NMFC)


So that's:

5 Hatchard
4 Woodland
3 Phillips
2 Kearney
1 Riddell

5 Hatchard
4 Riddell
3 Woodland
2 Kearney
1 Phillips


I'm guessing the top one of those was Clarke. Riddell had a high quality game but imagine putting her ahead of Woodland. She earned three of those four goals (had one gimme) and also set up our only other goal.
Woodland doesn't get enough credit. Considering how few goals are actually scored during a game and she's scored all but one, which she had the goal assist for, she deserves the 4 if not 5 votes.
 
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Two of her goals came from quality marks, one was a great contested mark and the other was just her reading the play better than several opponents around her. Another goal came from an accurate snap after the ball had bobbled between around a dozen players with nobody else managing to handle it cleanly (she did a similar snap last week as well). And the goal she set up to SLT was an absolutely perfect kick to advantage, probably 40m in flight. She did a similar kick to Phillips late in the game as well when we were under pressure.

Even the "easy" goal she kicked came from gut running, albeit most of the credit there must go to Hatchard.

I don't mind Hatchard getting the 5 votes, she was outstanding. But it's line ball, Woodland wouldn't have been a crazy option for 5 votes, and nobody else was even close to those two players.


Edit: I'll correct myself, I went back and checked out Woodland's last goal and it was Ponter who did the gut running, ran about 70m to get involved in the chain and send it over to Woodland who had stayed deep forward.

While I'm at it, I went back and checked out the Kangaroo's last goal when the mark wasn't paid to Najwa Allen, what on earth was that? It's not like there was a flurry of hands, she was clearly the only one who touched it, juggled it a bit but there were no hands in there at all. What a terrible decision.
 
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