AFLW Round 1 - Melbourne V Brisbane

[Little Goffy 14,130]

Yeah, the Demon women are carrying on the great club tradition of being dumped to the least commercial and publicity valuable timeslots and opponents.

But we'll crush that problem by continuing to be the most active promoters of the game and of our women's team throughout the men's season, and by making the best facilities and coaching support available out of any of the women's teams.

When our women's team is winning everything in sight at the same time as our men's team is a regular contender, when we have as many members as clubs who claim to have three times as many 'supporters', and when the likes of Hogan, Gawn and Petracca are all among the most visible players in the game... then we will wreak a terrible vengeance upon all who opposed us... no wait... I mean, then we will get the recognition and profile we deserve.

[Little Goffy 14,130]

Quick reference point for expectations on the quality of skills;

Essendon district league has three divisions, with salary caps of $250k, $200k and $150k. So over those divisions, significantly more cash-for-talent is available at a local club nobody has heard of than for the women's AFL teams.

Now, recruit using that salary cap, but also with the condition that you can only recruit players who have never, ever, earned a football salary of any kind before, and most of them have never done a serious preseason with formal coaching or training.

 

By next year, this women's competition will be unrecognisable for the sheer improvement. Even with entirely the same playing lists.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,012]

20 hours ago, A F said:

Sorry, RM. I should have been more specific. I've heard the Melbourne v Brisbane game is a sellout.

I thought it was free entry. Didn't know they were selling tickets.

[Ethan Tremblay 30,394]

7 minutes ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

I thought it was free entry. Didn't know they were selling tickets.

Correct. Pre-purchased tickets are only required for "double header" matches, of which tomorrow's game isn't. It's first in best dressed at the round, someone is telling porkies. Although I don't doubt the ground will be full.

 

[RalphiusMaximus 6,012]

1 minute ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Correct. Pre-purchased tickets are only required for "double header" matches, of which tomorrow's game isn't. It's first in best dressed at the round, someone is telling porkies. Although I don't doubt the ground will be full.

 

Guess I'll get there early.

[Roost It 1,434]

10 hours ago, Redleg said:

Yes, for a positive I thought the girls went in generally very hard at the ball. I thought their short passing was good. I thought the crowd was massive.

I was surprised at how many girls can't get any distance, even with a smaller ball. I wasn't expecting 70 m torps, but I thought if a girl was having a shot from 30 m out they would make the distance and saw quite a few that didn't. I was surprised at how many easy marks were dropped. I was surprised at how many girls held onto the ball too long and got tackled and lost it. I was surprised at how poor the handball was. Given they played 16 a side, I thought it would be more free flowing than it was, especially with some of the quicker girls using their pace. I will admit I didn't watch every second of the game. Did anyone run and bounce the ball, I didn't see one bounce?

I don't mean to be disrespectful to the commitment of the girls yesterday, but if I gave an honest comment, which I did, so be it.

I don't disagree with you that it will get better, but that doesn't change what I saw yesterday.

I don't feel you need to say something is better than it was, just because it might/will improve in the future. If that was the case, you could never have a view on an event, as the next one might be better. 

I know I am probably a bit biased, as I am not really enthused about women's footy, but I watched yesterday to see how it would go and maybe get a little bit more involved. I will keep trying, but ATM I think of it more as a sidewhow and money raiser for the AFL.

As armstrong 35 said, I am happy for the girls. 

How about we call them woman as that's what they are

[Adam The God 29,655]

Thanks guys.

I knew it was unticketed, but they've no doubt got a legal license number that they cannot exceed.

First in best dressed makes sense.

[Ethan Tremblay 30,394]

42 minutes ago, Roost It said:

How about we call them woman as that's what they are

I've heard the men's players referred to as "boys" plenty of times. Let's not start looking for things to get all PC about. At half time the bulldogs captain referred to the players as girls, no need to feel offended for them. Should we not refer to the Bulldogs as "the boys from the west"?

Edited February 4, 2017 by Ethan Tremblay

[Dees_In_October 3,346]

I think the general vibe is 'women' when referring to the women's league, 'girls' or 'women' when referring to the players in plural, and 'girl' or 'woman' when referring to individual players, or a rule like holding the man/woman. As Ethan points out, 'boys' is thrown around in the AFL, as is 'men'.

[bing181 9,115]

23 hours ago, Redleg said:

I thought it was scrappy, congested, poor skill rubbish.

All over the country, people park their cars around the local footy ground to passionately support scrappy, congested, poor skill rubbish: local footy. Kids lie awake at night dreaming of playing scrappy, congested, poor skill rubbish with their mates.

Happy to watch it and support my team.

[beelzebub 23,242]

Anyone noticed how similar the three games scores are ? 

Hopefully it'll be Dees 49 lions 10

[darkhorse72 1,872]

At least the kids in the main sponsors add is wearing our new Guernsey...  Happy to see that on TV here in WA.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,012]

2 hours ago, beelzebub said:

Anyone noticed how similar the three games scores are ? 

Hopefully it'll be Dees 49 lions 10

It looks like everyone has responded to having two less mids the same way.  They are playing a five-woman forward line and putting the other HFF into the midfield.  This is creating five forwards against 6 backs, basically conceding the spare defender from the start.  With most sides having limited skills at this point, it makes hitting a forward target much harder.  It looks like every game had a really tight scrappy first quarter then one midfield got on top and started scoring.  Seems that with the extra back, it's really hard to score without that midfield control.  I do wonder if we'll see more even scorelines when the stronger sides play off or if the trend will continue. 

[John Crow Batty 8,823]

I was fascinated by the first two games I watched on TV. The enthusiasm and desire was impressive though skill levels were quite ordinary and impacted on efficient ball movement and consequently scoring ability. Not as good as the Melbourne/Bulldogs games of  last season. I guess this was expected with the dilution of available talent and new inexperienced teams.  Still I think with time I women league will be a great success. 

As with many I am  disapointed that the AFL went with the populist $$$'s first road by giving the marque clubs the opening game. An insult to the two clubs who were forefront in making all this happen. And to add further insult we get to play our debut game at the Sunday graveyard shift in the sticks with no FTA TV. Our game should have been played at the MCG or Etihad. 

Edited February 4, 2017 by america de cali

[praha 11,218]

It's been a very unimpressive start.

The coverage has been condescending -- "Look at these women play football! Filled stands! Bravo!" -- while few people outside of neutral fans have had the balls to call it as it is: of a very low quality.

Now the AFL is hyperventilating and considering changing venues: I guarantee the hype and excitement and romance of it all will die down VERY quickly, especially once the 100-point beltings start.

The AFL rushed into this. Extremely limited talent pool. They should have slowly added one team at a time, maybe every two years, and created a festival or round-robin tournament out of it.

8 weeks will kill these women. I am truly impressed by how dedicated and hard and fit some of them are, but the quality will only get worse from here.

Dare I say the AFL has killed Women's football before it even began. Why too optimistic.

 

[dpositive 1,661]

12 hours ago, beelzebub said:

Anyone noticed how similar the three games scores are ? 

Hopefully it'll be Dees 49 lions 10

Hopefully our women demons win a closely contested high scoring game through skill and effective game tactics. That the best player is a demon who shows all the best features of ball handling skill, spatial awareness, fitness and spectacular moments. That the first goal is kicked by a demon, the last match winning goal by a demon, in front of a maximum capacity crowd. That the AFL and its media cohorts are made to recognise that they have missed the best opportunity to show the skill and entertainment value of the sport.

No doubt Collingwood supporters would be lost to the game "it's not real footy"they will be saying after the loss to the blues.

This is a new development to sport that has morphed into entertainment. It is an industry and appropriate that women take an equal part in it. I hope women take this opportunity to invest in the game and grow the audience so that the returns are recognised and it becomes a serious career path for girls.

Would be good if there was a female coach to entrench the gender shift.

[Goodvibes 3,596]

1 hour ago, praha said:

It's been a very unimpressive start.

Dare I say the AFL has killed Women's football before it even began. Why too optimistic.

 

Have you picked up a newspaper or tuned into a sports report? Everyone is abuzz with how impressive the start has been. Even a trip to bigfooty (of all places) reveals a generally positive response. Most have acknowledged that the skills are down but most also acknowledge that those skills will improve and improve quickly. Yes, crowd numbers will drop and the hype will decrease but the opening weekend has shown that there is a massive groundswell of support for women and footy. You couldn't be more out of step with the vibe of the average footy fan.

[rjay 24,677]

1 minute ago, Goodvibes said:

Have you picked up a newspaper or tuned into a sports report? Everyone is abuzz with how impressive the start has been. Even a trip to bigfooty (of all places) reveals a generally positive response. Most have acknowledged that the skills are down but most also acknowledge that those skills will improve and improve quickly. Yes, crowd numbers will drop and the hype will decrease but the opening weekend has shown that there is a massive groundswell of support for women and footy. You couldn't be more out of step with the vibe of the average footy fan.

Too early to call 'Goodvibes'....

...way too many on the bandwagon at the moment, lets see who stays on.

Good numbers and support so far but very average football.

I'm with 'praha', the AFL went too early on this.

To me "The Emperor has no clothes"...couldn't care less to be out of step.

[Bluey's Dad 3,419]

Anyone know how to watch this game? Didn't notice that we were the only game to not be on FTA.

Wife even got me a new set of wireless headphones so I could watch on the big tv and not be disturbed by the kids.

Gutted.

[PartyTimeJohnny 533]

1 hour ago, praha said:

It's been a very unimpressive start.

The coverage has been condescending -- "Look at these women play football! Filled stands! Bravo!" -- while few people outside of neutral fans have had the balls to call it as it is: of a very low quality.

Now the AFL is hyperventilating and considering changing venues: I guarantee the hype and excitement and romance of it all will die down VERY quickly, especially once the 100-point beltings start.

The AFL rushed into this. Extremely limited talent pool. They should have slowly added one team at a time, maybe every two years, and created a festival or round-robin tournament out of it.

8 weeks will kill these women. I am truly impressed by how dedicated and hard and fit some of them are, but the quality will only get worse from here.

Dare I say the AFL has killed Women's football before it even began. Why too optimistic.

 

Real champion. That's what you are. 

[praha 11,218]

11 minutes ago, PartyTimeJohnny said:

Real champion. That's what you are. 

Sorry.

"YAY WELL DONE GIRLS WOOHOO YOU SHOW 'EM HOW IT'S DONE!"

[nedariks 22]

Never been to Casey before, was wondering about parking, much near the ground or short walk away?

[CBDees 3,165]

Let's hope that the Casey Demons and all their local supporters turn up enmasse, along with Demonlanders and help pack the ground to capacity!

Unfortunately I will be watching it on Foxtel from a pub in Geelong. Go Dees! ?

Edited February 5, 2017 by CBDees

[beelzebub 23,242]

Not FTA ? Thats $#@!!'d 

Paupers again fy #7

[Willmoy1947 3,973]

To be truthful i have only seen a couple of Coll/Car quarters, but at this stage am not warming to the spectacle.The game standard is fairly bog ordinary and it was as if my mind was being frustrated by the visual slowness in anticipation of the players movements like what we are used to.

However it obviously needs a lot of refinement. Personally i would change the uniforms and do somethings with the ground size and rules for the moment.