AFLW Round 3 - 2023 AFLW season

[Teen Wolf]

Seven are doing Melb-WB on Saturday, then StK-PA and WCE-Carl on Sunday. Swap outs for local teams outside of Victoria.

Other than that Dees vs Dogs game, it's set up to be quite an intriguing round. Even the Lions vs Swans & the Crows vs Bombers should at least provide some answers about where those newer teams are really at.

GWS are staring down an 0-5 start (they've got Adelaide and NM in rounds 4 & 5), really need to make up for R1's capitulation by knocking off the Tigers like in pre-season. They do have a good run home so an 0-5 start wouldn't be as bad as it looks on paper, but then again Sunday's loss wasn't as bad as it looks on paper either and that hasn't stopped the knives coming out.

So far it has been hard to tell how/if Geelong are playing any differently to last season (personnel aside), for a few reasons. But you'd think this Friday against North at Kardinia Park will lead to clarity, with it being the same match-up as last year's Elimination Final.

Big stakes for both St Kilda and Port, winner goes 1-2 and loser goes 0-3. They play Collingwood and Geelong in R4 respectively.

 

[cmndstab]

Four of the five undefeated teams are playing each other this round which will help to distinguish the winners on the ladder a bit. North vs Geelong and Adelaide vs Essendon.

 

[CrowdedHouse]

Four of the five undefeated teams are playing each other this round which will help to distinguish the winners on the ladder a bit. North vs Geelong and Adelaide vs Essendon.

Crows will beat us by an easy five goals plus this weekend.

From what I saw on TV of my Bombers against the Hawks, and then in person against the Saints, we have a section of the game where we would look as good as any side in the Top 4, but we can't follow through with it for a full four quarters (let alone a half).

The Saints looked very ordinary on Sunday, and the fact we couldn't put them away when we had them down early, has me questioning if we are now even a shot of making eighth.

Might end up with a chance of making 8th, but get rolled by Gold Coast in Round 10 to keep us out.

 

[Teen Wolf]

I would prefer to beat Hawthorn and St Kilda in a bit of an arm wrestle, rather than smash West Coast after losing to Carlton. Essendon should get to 6 wins based on the opening fortnight. There isn't a 9th team in the competition to say that about, considering how dull and uninspired Fremantle have looked.

My tips:
NM by 9
Rich by 12
Adel by 24
Melb by 50
Haw by 1
StK by 3
WCE by 6
Coll by 18
BL by 30

The pre-season impression I got about Hannah Ewings has certainly manifested in the early parts of the season proper. Pretty hard to tip Port on the road without confidence in their Rising Star. Reasonable to have more faith in the Saints at home, while Patrikios and Smith seem to at least be tracking in the right direction.

I'm going to tip West Coast because their main focus will be pressure on the ball carrier after last week. That alone shouldn't be enough reason, until you consider what we've seen of Carlton so far (3 quarters looking good against a no-effort Suns, 5 quarters of nothing handballs when under the pump).

Carlton R1 vs Gold Coast
Mimi Hill: 7 kicks, 9 handballs
Abbie McKay: 8 kicks, 8 handballs
Jess Good: 4 kicks, 5 handballs

Carlton R2 vs North Melb.
Mimi Hill: 7 kicks, 24 handballs
Abbie McKay: 8 kicks, 17 handballs
Jess Good: 3 kicks, 12 handballs

 

[Teen Wolf]

Weather alert!

It looks like we will have the first AFLW game played in 30 degree weather since the move to the Aug/Sep start last year. Blacktown forecast of around 32°C between 1 and 3pm on Saturday.

Warm and sunny in Melbourne and Adelaide. Fine for the games in Geelong, Perth and Springfield.

 

[BallaratBulldog]

Geelong for the flag

 

[Shai]

Watching the Cats v Roos game, Claude has been fantastic in defence and so have the rest of the backline.

The tackling/defensive play from the Cats in general has really gone up a notch this season.

The rucks have been very good, Hoare is growing into her potential and Fuller is very competitive.

Cream rises to the top, the class of Morrison and Prespakis just works so well together and the supporting cast in the mid are no slouches either.

Possibly the best game I've seen from Bowen.

Chloe has mostly been tag teamed but Parry is providing a nice marking option and Kate is bringing it to ground.

 

[Shai]

The bigger and more mature bodies made a difference here.

Having Beck back will help but maybe something for the draft/trade period.

All in all, nice game from the girls and improvement on view from younger members of the team.

 

[Liam Boy]

The bigger and more mature bodies made a difference here.

Having Beck back will help but maybe something for the draft/trade period.

All in all, nice game from the girls and improvement on view from younger members of the team.

oversimplification. I felt that the lift came from Gatt, O'Shea, King, and O'Loughlin providing a lot of run. Cats put a lot of work into Riddell, she had a quiet one and the younger players really stood up. Commentators really tried to make this a story of young vs. old but North's young players are really potent, Ferguson looked really dominant at full back and Eddey is growing as a forward. Randall good as always but didn't hit the scoreboard as much today

 

[Teen Wolf]

It was mostly played on North Melbourne's terms start to finish, unlike last year's final. But a real lack of killer instinct from the forwards threatened to waste the upperhand.

Eddey had the kind of good game Ashmore used to play for them--definitely chipped in with some key moments, stats look ok, but in reality should've kicked 5 and NM wouldn't have had to come from behind to win. O'Loughlin had the kind of bad game Ashmore used to play for them (but with more tackling).

Geelong's match awareness in the 2nd half sucked. Not just the lack of intent with 5 mins left to play, needing 2 goals to win. But also near the end of Q3, Parry got on the end of a nice rebound/fast break play. 45m out, instead of getting up quickly to hit up an easy short pass 30m out, just chewed up time and took a set shot that she had no chance of converting.

 

[DEVO]

I thought North were pretty poor in the first quarter, they looked a little slow and allowed Geelong to run the ball out of defense comfortably while struggling to get it out of their own. North improved defensively in the second quarter but were wasteful entering their forward 50. The second half was different, North looked the quicker team, using the quick handball to open their forward 50 and convert enough of their opportunities to win the game by 9. I don't think they would be happy with their performance but they will be happy to get the win off a 5 day break and against one of the better teams in the league.

I think I predicted Geelong to finish the regular season in 5th, but I think they have the potential to finish in the top 4 if they can win their games against the likes of Collingwood, Fremantle and Richmond who are perhaps just a rung or two below them, and Brisbane struggle a little more than I expect after their departures last season. I think the Cats have built a very solid team with quality on every line and a real star in Prespakis in the middle, still need a few more pieces to contend, but they are looking like a solid team that will cause problems for the 'Big 4' this season.

 

[Teen Wolf]

There is no way Brisbane should be finishing ahead of Geelong, given the differences in fixture difficulty, plus the fact the Lions have already dropped one to the Tigers.

 

[Liam Boy]

You would think Brisbane will drop at least two of the Adelaide, North Melbourne and Melbourne games. i think Richmond could lose to Geelong and still finish above them if they just perform consistently and win against teams they should beat, their fixture's pretty easy from here, they don't play Melbourne or North and have already played Adelaide.

 

[Teen Wolf]

Richmond still without McKenzie, while Huntington makes her GWS debut. Kinda setting up the fairytale Giants win, but can't justify tipping them in the heat given their problems going the distance in the first 2 games.

St Kilda's selections were noteworthy, with both Alice Burke and Ella Friend dropped. Neither laid a tackle last week. However, Maddie Boyd and Darcy Guttridge didn't lay a tackle either, and both evaded the axe. So I think it's fair to say that's Dal Santo putting the onus on the younger players (albeit Richards had 0 tackles too, but isn't blue collar like the others).

Ham back for Sydney, giving her a week to find her feet before the Swans go on their month-long charity fixture tour.

 

[HTPunter]

Richmond should flog GWS if their rise is serious.

 

[Biggie]

 

[jimmytigs]

27 minute delay due to a snake,geez i just wanna watch 10-15 minutes of beeson and brennan before the playing standard drove me away to find something else to do

 

[Jatz]

Very warm day down here at Blacktown.

 

[Jatz]

Ground announcer with the funnies.

“GWS have won the toss and they’ll be kicking to the opposite end of the snake”

 

[NonPhixion]

View attachment 1804591

Very warm day down here at Blacktown.

not sure why or how 2 Giants players are wearing long sleaves, that must be so uncomfortable

 

[Saints2001]

3 with the long sleeves I think!

 

[HTPunter]

not sure why or how 2 Giants players are wearing long sleaves, that must be so uncomfortable

SunSmart at least. I’m assuming it’s quite thin material.

 

[HTPunter]

Monique Conti
Daylight
Every other player on the field

Fantastic to watch.

 

[Jatz]

not sure why or how 2 Giants players are wearing long sleaves, that must be so uncomfortable

Doesn’t make sense to me, im slowly cooking and I’m in shorts and a shirt in the shade haha.

Been a pretty scrappy game. Richmond have been on top but haven’t capitalised at all.

 

[Munga]

Talking about the explosion of hair ribbons. Obviously Kelli completely missed Raso at the Women's World Cup!