Melbourne v Bulldogs All-Stars Women's match

[pineapple dee 2,892]

Geez our no. 26 reminds me of Ross Dillon !!!!!!  Great mover !

[Pates 9,697]

Can someone provide a little bit of an update on what's happening in the game? Given the womens league is going to be starting next year AND this was billed as a part of the bye weeks festivities the AFL website has very little info on the game (similar to the Legends match as well).

[Little Goffy 14,984]

Melbourne mostly playing well, but stuffing it up with shots on goal.

Moana Hope at full forward for the Dogs is ripping it apart, we're down 5 goals.

[45HG 1,559]

Hope just put on an absolute clinic that quarter.

[PartyTimeJohnny 537]

1 minute ago, 45HG said:

Hope just put on an absolute clinic that quarter.

And she's playing for the filth nexy year isn't she......?!

Far Canal

 

[hemingway 7,633]

Taylor Harris for Hogan, Daisy Pearce for one of our midfield. 

[Chris 2,892]

We seriously suck at sending off coaches with a win!

[3Dee 1,153]

This game alone Tayla Harris has taken more overhead marks than Dawes this year. 

[whers_jacka_now 97]

I think I am in love with Kaitlyn Ashmore. I ended spending half the game googling her and missed most of the last 2 quarters. No wonder women love watching the AFL. A whole new slant on the game.

[Grapeviney 9,931]

14 minutes ago, 3Dee said:

This game alone Tayla Harris has taken more overhead marks than Dawes this year. 

We're going to miss her when the real comp starts, as we missed Ellie Blackburn tonight. 

[beelzebub 23,392]

1 hour ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Does anyone know if the 16 a side will be how the competition is next year for the woman's league?

Yes

[hemingway 7,633]

1 hour ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

I am watching it too and enjoying it.

The women certainly put to bed the notion that it takes years to learn a game plan. 

Exiting, attacking footy which will only improve when the league takes off next year and games become more regular.

Also no one has played for a free/ducked their head yet....

Spot on mate

[Earl Hood 6,167]

I loved watching the second half, the girls really have a dip and go in for the ball with out fear for their safety. Great game although we didn't win but overall let's be honest the skills were suburban level for much of the time, great endeavour but dropped chest marks, fumbles when clear etc. However the skills will improve with the new league. 

[daisycutter 30,027]

1 minute ago, Earl Hood said:

I loved watching the second half, the girls really have a dip and go in for the ball with out fear for their safety. Great game although we didn't win but overall let's be honest the skills were suburban level for much of the time, great endeavour but dropped chest marks, fumbles when clear etc. However the skills will improve with the new league. 

yes, they'll undoubtedly improve with an elite league. earl

on the other hand tonight you saw the best talent in the country. when the league starts that same talent will be dispersed to all the new clubs diluting the talent

until the broader talent builds up, as it will, i expect the better girls will really dominate in the new league  

[RalphiusMaximus 6,112]

1 hour ago, pineapple dee said:

Geez our no. 26 reminds me of Ross Dillon !!!!!!  Great mover !

Chelsie Randall.  She's awesome and sadly already signed with Adelaide. 

As people have said, Moana Hope looks like an absolute ripper as well, and Bri Davey (ex Matildas Goalkeeper) has improved as a FB too. 

I honestly think that Melbourne have completely stuffed up their Marquee signings though.  We were always going to take Daisy Pearce, but we should have picked up a younger player with our second one.  Hickey is experienced and capable, but she's not a star.  Tonight showed us the sort of talent that the other clubs have collected and she's not at that level.  Compare her to Hope dominating the forward line or Brennan charging around the midfield in the second half.  We're also hearing that some teams will get priority picks at the start of the draft or have already been given extra players to sign beyond the two marquees.  We needed to get the absolute best bang for buck out of the two we had and I don't think we have. 

[SaberFang 7,151]

I have to say, at 31 years old, Hickey was a perplexing "marquee" signing. Clearly the club knows something I don't, because I agree it seems like a mindboggling waste of 1 of our 2 selections.

[hemingway 7,633]

22 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

I loved watching the second half, the girls really have a dip and go in for the ball with out fear for their safety. Great game although we didn't win but overall let's be honest the skills were suburban level for much of the time, great endeavour but dropped chest marks, fumbles when clear etc. However the skills will improve with the new league. 

Earl with the greatest respect I saw the game completely differently. What amazed me was how few dropped marks there were and how clean the ball use and skills were. There were players that read the play and knew instinctively what to do. Bear in mind that most of these women are exceptional athletes and excelled in other sports.         The AFL will take credit for organising and promoting the game. However, really one might ask why it has taken so long. From the inception of the game in Yarra Park, women have made up a significant part of the spectator base, something that makes the game unique in the sporting world. Girls have been playing footy in the park forever. Go to any country game, and the netball girls are seen having a kick of the footy at half time and after the game. For me it's really a case of why has it taken so  long for the women's game to be introduced? It's a breath of fresh air.  The game has been held back by prejudice and a view that women should not or can't play footy. They clearly can and the men's game could learn some lessons from the way the women played tonight without the histrionics of the men's game. All power to the women in particular the pioneers of women's footy not the Fitzpatricks and McLaughlins who have jumped the bandwagon and want to take the kudos. In the future perhaps the men could play the warm up game in the grand final to the women. Now that would be something.

[Timothy Reddan-A'Blew 5,691]

Ernest, the women's game has clearly been around a "long" time, as you noted, and with healthy participation numbers (the 'Australian Story' on Moanna Hope and Susan Alberti giving us a good (and moving) insight on these aspects), but what has taken "so" long, I think, from the AFL's point of view, has been the development to a stage that the 'product' could stand alongside the mens' game. That's been achieved now, I reckon, thanks to the Dees and the Dogs (indeed it was there at that first two Dees-Dogs games, which I went to). The risk now - well taken by the AFL, I also reckon - is that the other 150-odd players needed to make up 8 teams will deliver a comparable product. I can't quite agree with you about the marking and ball use tonight, but this might partly be because my expectations have increased following the earlier Dees-Dogs games (and also because I felt there was more riding on tonight for the players vying for spots in the new teams). Anyway, I'm SO looking forward to watching another Dees team, as a foundation member.

[Fork 'em 7,067]

I don't think the skills will improve for the next few years.
What we watched tonight was the elite in the country.
Next year those same players will be spread among what ..... 6 teams?
Those teams will be padded out with those not so skilled.
FWIW though, I've thoroughly enjoyed watching the womens footy over the last couple years.
Fast, exciting footy with no beg pardons.
Woulda been great if one or two of those speccies attempted were ripped down.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,112]

A quick shout out to the three girls who took Football Victoria to court and forced them to start a Girls' league.  It's barely over a decade later and we're about to see national league start up. 

[Pates 9,697]

Just saw Harris's long range goal, will be sad to see her in other colours next year. 

Dogs got that one but the record still stands at 5-1! I like the look of a Friday night match at a VFL size venue for the womens games, I'd be curious to know what the AFL will be expecting in terms of crowds. Might be a better look to have them at smaller venues with it packed.

[45HG 1,559]

1 hour ago, Pates said:

Just saw Harris's long range goal, will be sad to see her in other colours next year. 

Dogs got that one but the record still stands at 5-1! I like the look of a Friday night match at a VFL size venue for the womens games, I'd be curious to know what the AFL will be expecting in terms of crowds. Might be a better look to have them at smaller venues with it packed.

Hope for it to take off and will definitely give it time but expectations should certainly be tempered.

6000 for an "all star" game with free entry should be kept in mind.

Those saying that that's the best talent in the land, however,  are forgetting how many potential stars there are out there that haven't entered the fray for whatever reason. Many more skilled girls will pop up soon.

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,335]

Really enjoyed watching the game, I thought the skills and hardness at the ball was super impressive. Never thought I`d be a fan but last night sold me! That was far more entertaining than the majority of the games the Dees played between 2012-2014!

 

[Satyriconhome 10,880]

10 hours ago, SaberFang said:

I have to say, at 31 years old, Hickey was a perplexing "marquee" signing. Clearly the club knows something I don't, because I agree it seems like a mindboggling waste of 1 of our 2 selections.

Self assessment, how refreshing.

How about leadership on the field, when you have 2 marquee selections and then the rest, which will probably be a lot of young girls coming from suburban footy, leadership, let me think, constant bemoaning on Demonland about the lack of

[John Crow Batty 8,895]

Leadership on the field?  Poach that gal for the men's team.