Toast Round 7 Carlton v Collingwood, Ikon Park Sunday 15 Oct. 3.05

[Maggie5]

Watch on Ch7, Kayo, AFL site.​

We will be Carlton's toughest opponent for the year thus far, we will be riding high after an upset win over Brisbane. A win would set the Blues up nicely for a shock finals appearance after an off-season review, whilst we need to keep adding to our points to stay in touch with the chasing pack with only three more matches after this game.

Sadly we will be missing Stacey Livingstone and Selena Karlson due to suspension. Bonnicci wil be a test as injured her ribs last week.

CARLTON

In: K.Peterson, M.Hendrie, I.Milford
Out: Nil

COLLINGWOOD

In: S.Sansonetti, E.Smith, T.Brown, I.Evans, C.Blair
Out: S.Livingstone (suspension), S.Karlson (suspension)

Milestone: 50 games – Sarah Rowe (Collingwood)

 

[keepswimming]

Big game, lose and we are pretty much done. Let's hope Schleicher although mayby underdone returns this week to help replace Livingston and Carlson.
Bonnicci will be crucial as well.
Go Pies

 

[TradeDraft]

I am going to this Game on Sunday

 

[Maggie5]

Congratulations to 50 games – Sarah Rowe (Collingwood)

 

[Jen2310]

Congratulations to 50 games – Sarah Rowe (Collingwood)

Thats flown by. Sheridan would be close too in that case.

 

[Maggie5]

Thats flown by. Sheridan would be close too in that case.

Got it from here.

Also profile on Pies site states she is on 49 games.

 

[Maggie5]

WHEN Sarah Rowe first arrived in Melbourne in 2018, she gave herself 12 months.

"I actually came out with the intention of being like, 'Well, I'll just do a year and see how I go," the Irishwoman tells AFL.com.au of her first pre-season at Collingwood.

"'It's a different sport, I have so much to learn, who knows how long I'll be here?'."
Fast forward to 2023 and that one year has turned into five.

On Sunday, Rowe will become just the second Irishwoman to play 50 AFLW games, following retired Giant Cora Staunton, a milestone that wasn't even a consideration when first she arrived in the country all those years ago.

It's a remarkable achievement for a woman who has also played two other football codes at senior level. But her stint at Collingwood could well have been very different. As her best friend and teammate Ruby Schleicher says, "It could have gone pear-shaped, really".

A chance meeting during Rowe's first visit to the Magpies in 2018, where a teenage Schleicher just happened to be in the gym (and soon after happened to have a spare room at her house for Rowe to move into) led to one of the tightest friendships at the Pies.

"We talk about it a lot ... how lucky are we that you find your best friend, the person that you connect with the most on earth, within the matter of 10 minutes? We've lived together ever since," Schleicher says, before quickly adding, "it's pretty lucky neither of us are psychopaths".

"There's a real sisterly bond between Ruby and I," Rowe says. "We support each other so much, we also challenge each other and when things aren't going our way, we call each other out. But we'd equally have a laugh about everything in the process."

"We have a perfect balance between working hard and playing hard, and she's been such a massive part of my journey.

"I can't imagine my life in Australia without Ruby."

It's not just Schleicher who has been drawn to Rowe, however, with the former sharing that her best mate has a knack of "making men fall in love with her".

"One time a man baked banana bread and dropped it into the club in front of all the girls," Schleicher remembers with glee.

"Well, he gave it to a trainer to drop into the club for all the girls – and that was the end of Banana Bread Boy.

"That story gets a lot of mileage."

While Rowe and Banana Bread Boy are no longer an item, both she and Schleicher want one important fact to be known – it was exceptional banana bread.

The story is an example of one of Rowe's two sides, according to her best friend.

"You've got the joking Sarah, who is the one that I live with. Really easy to be around, my best mate who I can talk to about anything," Schleicher says.

"Then you've got the athlete Sarah, who is meticulous in absolutely everything she does."
And it is that meticulous, hard-working athlete who is having a career-best season this year, leading the Pies for intercepts and metres gained and sitting second at the club for disposals.

It took a sojourn back to Ireland playing soccer after a tough 2022, which led her to question her career in Australia, to find that form.

"Last year was a really interesting one, because I've never felt that around sport," Rowe says. "I've never lost the interest or the willingness and want to win. I did feel like I lost a part of myself in that, and it was no-one's fault, other than I just wasn't enjoying the game."

"When you're so far away from home, sometimes I think you're like, 'I'm actually just missing a part of myself,' which is my family.

"Sometimes you've got to have separation from something to remember how much you love it and how much you miss it. So, in my head, I kind of broke up with Australia and Collingwood because I needed to find that love again.
Support from the club in her want to switch codes – and countries – during the off-season was important in getting the best out of her this season.

"I was really grateful for the club in letting me go ... they knew me as an individual that (I was saying), 'I promise you, if you let me go and do this, I'll come back and I'll give you everything'. And that's what I feel like I'm trying to do now," she says.

Returning to Ireland and playing soccer hasn't just allowed Rowe to find the separation from footy that she so desperately needed. It has changed her mindset about the Australian game for the better.

"Soccer and Gaelic football are perfectionist games; you want the ball to go from A to B and if it doesn't, you're angry," she says. "Whereas AFL, it's a chaotic game. It's organised chaos essentially ... so I've changed my mindset around what looks good in AFL and what looks good in soccer and Gaelic are two different things."

Another addition to Rowe's game this year has been an increased physicality, which has been noticed by her teammates.

"It's no secret that she's playing the best year of football that she's ever played since coming into the League," Schleicher says.

"The aggression that she's brought into her football this year, she's flipped a switch in her brain. I don't know if it's because of playing soccer or what, but she has brought this aggression into her sport. She's like, 'No, enough is enough. I'm not okay with our team not making it anymore, I'm not okay with us losing'."
Rowe has always had a competitive nature and was considered a physical player in both round-ball games, but that hadn't quite translated to the Australian game until this year.

"When I look back at myself as a kid, I was kind of always this way. I remember my parents having to pull me off because I used to get red cards all the time in Gaelic football for acting out," she says.

"I remember my mum being like to me, 'Sarah you can't behave like that. Sometimes you've just got to lose'."

But losing is still not something Rowe is okay with, so she is doing everything in her power this year to reap team success. A huge step towards that was last week's surprise win over Brisbane, which brought the Pies to the fringe of the top eight ahead of Sunday's clash with Carlton.

And in true Sarah Rowe fashion, her 50th career game and the celebrations that will come with it on Sunday are secondary to what is most important – another Collingwood win.

 

[Jen2310]

 

[Maggie5]

AFL Site review of game:

In the eighth edition of Carlton v Collingwood, the Blues will be out to break a four-game losing streak against the Pies, and this is their best opportunity to do so in a few seasons. With tall Collingwood defenders Selena Karlson and Stacey Livingstone both suspended for this one, Carlton's quartet of tall options in the front half can take the game by the scruff of the neck if their side plays it smartly. Mia Austin, Phoebe McWilliams, and one of Breann Moody or Jess Good, depending on who is in the ruck, can really dominate the game should Carlton force an aerial game.

Collingwood is already conceding 7.5 marks inside 50 this year – with Karlson and Livingstone in the side – so there is real potential for this to blow out, so it needs to force a contested, running game and limit any unpressured forward entries from the Blues. They cannot allow Carlton to play a front-half game. Both sides are poor in last quarters, so this is another game reliant on who can go the distance on the timeclock.

Tip: This is the Blues' chance, and they're going to take it. Carlton by three points.

 

[Jen2310]

COLLINGWOOD v CARLTON
B	Sophie Casey	Lauren Butler
HB	Jordyn Allen	Sarah Sansonetti	Lauren Brazzale
C	Tarni White	Mikala Cann	Sarah Rowe
HF	Eliza James	Nell Morris-Dalton	Ashleigh Brazill
F		Eleri Morris	Alana Porter
R	Sabrina Fredrick	Brianna Davey	Aishling Sheridan
INT	Erica Fowler	Brittany Bonnici	Joanna Lin
	Grace Campbell	Emily Smith
EMG	Tarni Brown	Imogen Evans	Charlotte Blair

 

[Jen2310]

Three games left after this, we'll want to keep the winning going, otherwise our season could be over soon. Ruby may never make it back..

 

[TradeDraft]

 

[mblack42]

I know it's a Carlton home game today, but just once I'd love us to play the scum at Vic Park. Everytime I come to this dump I'm reminded how much I hate it.

 

[DinoSoar]

View attachment 1831625

Love the hoodie, TD.

 

[Mkcaptain]

Great start!

 

[VinnieB]

Davey is like the Dangerfield in AFLW. Just a brilliant player.

 

[Mkcaptain]

Dominating the contested game so far. Frederick is doing well in the ruck.

 

[DinoSoar]

Pretty short 50 there.

 

[TradeDraft]

Love the hoodie, TD.

Thanks DinoSoar

 

[Piesinmyeyes]

Dominating, should be 5 goals up at half time.

 

[Piesinmyeyes]

Ash Sheridan playing well today.

 

[Piesinmyeyes]

Sansonetti been excellent in defence

 

[Piesinmyeyes]

Well done girls, solid win
Davey, Bonnici fantastic.
Sansonetti, Sheridan, Frederick and Rowe also good.

 

[Maggie5]

I don't mind being wrong so I must say that Fredrick's ruck work has been so much better this season.

 

[Piesinmyeyes]

I don't mind being wrong so I must say that Fredrick's ruck work has been so much better this season.

I think she looks a bit fitter this season, getting around the ground better