8 hours ago, faultydet said:

We are the better side, and our midfielders are miles better than theirs, but you wont win by kicking soccer scores.

Simply must find a way to the goals.

 

The overhead marking has been impressive, but a negative is Cranston. A wasted spot in the team. Just does not provide a contest for a girl of her size.

Daisy has been poor also.

Where are the celebrations being held in Moranbah and for how long ?

7 hours ago, fndee said:

The commentary at the start of the game said Mifsud was apparently concussed last week. 

I understand the concern about Mifsud’s absence for us but what I really want to know is why Scully wasn’t playing for them!

4 hours ago, hardtack said:

Oops! ??

 

 

11 hours ago, faultydet said:

Typical. I bag Cranston, and she now has 2

Last one was a ripper.

Had to happen as soon as I bagged her.

She was garbage in the first half, but talk about turning a game around. Fantastic in the second half.

I enjoyed the game. It was light years ahead of the Colonwood/Carlton game.

3 hours ago, puntkick said:

Where are the celebrations being held in Moranbah and for how long ?

Busy staggering around town searching for any lost AFL supporters who want to get on it at the local boozer, followed by throwing a pineapple at the pokies.

Might then hang out at Coles for a while, and enjoy the aircon, and see whats on special.

I was a little worried about the pattern of wastefulness that the team seemed to be getting into (which was also replicated by the men last year as well).

As like last year’s opening AFLW game and also in its other defeat, we dominated the kicks, handballs, marks, hit outs, inside 50’s and yet were behind on the scoreboard. Fortunately, we got our act together just at the right time. 

Took my oldest demon tragic daughter (4.5years) down to the game yesterday and had a great time. Took us 36mins from Vermont and parked a stones throw from the ground. Walked into the ground and within 10mins she had her face painted, sunscreened up (dad forgot to bring some! thanks Chemist Warehouse stall ?), photo taken with Daisy mascot, got a free bag of stuff including another footy, got some thunder sticks and she wandered onto the ground and joined in with the pre game kids activity. Great start to the day ?

Sat behind the goals at the car park end once the girls came out onto the field I watched my girl run around furiously trying to get the balls that were kicked over the fence in goal kicking practice (seriously 30+ yo males behind the goals, let the kids get the ball occasionally!). After she was bowled over a couple of times by 80-100kg blokes she gave up and sat with me in a huff for a while. Before a Melbourne bloke with a lanyard wandered over and handed us and a few kids around us with a demon flag! That made my little ones day and from then on my eyes and those of the people around us were not safe as she waved her flag furiously at any sign of action on the field. Free kick, wave the flag, mark, wave the flag, someone near us says go dees, wave the flag, goal, go absolutely troppo with the flag!!!

After the game we raced out to the middle and were one of the first few there, which resulted in a cartwheel celebration from her followed by a rowsing game of run away from dad with the footy as fast as you can as he runs along behind like a packhorse weighed down with all the free gear scored during the day. After bumping into a few people we knew we headed to the car for the journey home. Seriously though, WHO DESIGNED THE CARPARK!!! Who ever did, should have their engineering qualifications jammed up their a r s e! Fortunately I have a large 4WD (not a range rover) and was able to drive over a couple of kerbs and then down the wrong way on a one way street to get to freedom without waiting the 30-40mins to get out ?

Overall it was a great day and a perfect way to brainwash the kids into being died in the wool demon supporters! We will be back on Friday, Go Dees!!!

2 hours ago, faultydet said:

Busy staggering around town searching for any lost AFL supporters who want to get on it at the local boozer, followed by throwing a pineapple at the pokies.

Might then hang out at Coles for a while, and enjoy the aircon, and see whats on special.

That is gold Faulty...I am off to Winton for a couple of weeks in mid march.  Sounds like Ricky could be describing our lifestyle!!

 

2 hours ago, faultydet said:

Busy staggering around town searching for any lost AFL supporters who want to get on it at the local boozer, followed by throwing a pineapple at the pokies.

Might then hang out at Coles for a while, and enjoy the aircon, and see whats on special.

The bad old days of Pineapple abuse are well and truly over thank you very much !!!

33 minutes ago, Salems Lot said:

That is gold Faulty...I am off to Winton for a couple of weeks in mid march.  Sounds like Ricky could be describing our lifestyle!!

 

Good timing.

The daily average temp would have plummeted to the mid 40's by then.

 

10 hours ago, Skuit said:

Un-dee like? We've moved on from the days of lingerie football Old Dee.

Have you forgotten August 2017 already?

16 hours ago, Demon_spurs said:

I've seen the men play worse

Often 

Especially that game against the Suns in 2016

What got me about the game was the commitment to tackling. Thats from both sides. I thaught O'Dea ,Pearce,Cranston and Mithen were standout players when it mattered. Cunningham looks quite good as well. Our kicking was dreadful though and losing our best player Paxman in the 1st quater was ablow. I hope she will be okay.

Hoare is an incredible talent in the ruck

Wish I was her ruck coach then I could bath in her reflected glory

I am anyway in own mind

KNOCK OUT by Ruby Tuesday 

Melbourne overcame a sloppy start to its AFLW season with six straight last half goals including a late snap from Richelle (“Rocky”) Cranston which knocked Greater Western Sydney out of the contest and gave her team the win by six points.

The Demons, with midfielder Karen Paxman in great early form with nine possessions, dominated proceedings in the first quarter but their poor disposal and the Giants’ ability to score goals on rare forays up forward, saw them trailing by four points at quarter time. By then, Paxman was off with a back injury (later diagnosed as “back spasms”) and things were not looking good for the Dees when their opponents scored their third goal early in the second term. At the main break they were down by 9 points.

However, with skipper Daisy Pearce, the strong and reliable Elise O'Dea and the new look Richelle Cranston all lifting, the Demons willed themselves back into the game after half time. It took just three minutes for them to snatch the lead for the first time and by the 10 minute mark, they were in front themselves by 9 points. But GWS were not to be denied. They fought back against the run of the game with two goals to go into the last break with a 5-point lead. It was still anybody’s game.

As it was, the lead changed hands early in the final term with goals from Cranston and Shelley Scott but the Giants were undeterred and fought back to level the scores. Then followed a tense five minutes until Rocky’s snap gave the home side the lead and the win. After the game, Cranston said,

“I had no idea how that goal went in – I just heard Daisy say ‘get it on the boot’ and lucky it went through.”

Other players who stood out were Meg Downie across half-back, Lily Mithen up forward and newcomers Bianca Jakobsson from Carlton and 194 cm recruit Erin Hoare who had 20 hit-outs in the ruck.

The Demons are at home again next week with a clash against reigning premiers Adelaide, smarting from their first up loss last night to Brisbane.

Melbourne 1.2.8 1.3.9 4.3.27 7.3.45 

GWS Giants 2.0.12 3.0.18 5.2.32 6.3.39 

Goals 

Melbourne Cranston 3 Scott 2 Hore Cunningham 

GWS Giants McWilliams 3 Barclay 2 Staunton 

Best 

Melbourne D Pearce O'Dea Downie Cranston Scott Mithen

GWS Giants McWilliams Farrugia Barclay Staunton   

Injuries 

Melbourne Paxman (back)

GWS Giants Nil

Reports Nil

Umpires Gibson Johansen Curtis

Official crowd 5,100 at Casey Fields

13 hours ago, picket fence said:

Yep!! but the "Politically Correct" and "Greens" would portray this as "Alice in Wonderland" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" all rolled into one  Beautiful thing! Over and out!

Trust PF to bring his usual boring politics into everything. 

Personally I'm in two minds about it.  The standard is abysmal. That may be understandable at this stage, but it is painful to watch.  Some seem to find the uncertainty of endless fumbling exciting, I can't see why.   I doubt they'd watch such a low standard match if it wasn't for the novelty of women playing.  Great if it gives females encouragement etc to play and support football, but fortunately it's not compulsory to watch.

The fact that it is a MFC team is the only point of interest to me.  I watched perhaps 70% of the match whereas I only lasted 5 minutes watching the Carlton v Collingwood match.  As a compulsive watcher of AFL matches regardless of who is playing, that says it all.

It was just nice to get the papers and read about a dees win. Enjoyed the double page spread in the herald sun. 

18 hours ago, picket fence said:

Sheeit we are lauding one highlight in a "Blamange competition" give me a break!

Indeed I am, I also enjoyed it when Howe won MOTY in 2012 when the men played like tripe.

was the whole march a spectacle? Hell no, especially around the packs, but there were a few glimpses of decent transition and ball movement in there, I felt the marking had improved, and there were less absolute clangers in there.

I've only seen the highlights, but most of our goalscoring moves seemed to be initiated by Elise O'Dea.

4 hours ago, sue said:

Trust PF to bring his usual boring politics into everything. 

Personally I'm in two minds about it.  The standard is abysmal. That may be understandable at this stage, but it is painful to watch.  Some seem to find the uncertainty of endless fumbling exciting, I can't see why.   I doubt they'd watch such a low standard match if it wasn't for the novelty of women playing.  Great if it gives females encouragement etc to play and support football, but fortunately it's not compulsory to watch.

The fact that it is a MFC team is the only point of interest to me.  I watched perhaps 70% of the match whereas I only lasted 5 minutes watching the Carlton v Collingwood match.  As a compulsive watcher of AFL matches regardless of who is playing, that says it all.

For me the worst part is listening to the screeching of the "Grand Old Flag" at the end of the game. 

Gives me tinnitus.

 

The fumbling drives me crazy also, but they are Dees, just like the blokes, and they certainly seem happy about it. 

I'm sure many of the girls would know about the supporter websites, and venture on for a look to see what the fans think.

Good win girls. Gutsy.

Proud of you.

I'm really glad AFLW is back.... Like a new GOT series, sometimes folk are disappointed with the first episode, but the final quarter was magnificent! Those that continue to express the need to compare it to the men's game are lost in a time warp! The whole competition is crammed full of inspiring young women;  at the summit sits Daisy... a wonderful role model, for all genders! Go Dees

36 minutes ago, Akum said:

I've only seen the highlights, but most of our goalscoring moves seemed to be initiated by Elise O'Dea.

I agree and like most of the team O’Dea was much better after half time. She also has about the purist of kicking actions in a comp not known for silky skills. I thought Mithen continued on from where she left off last year and Tegan Cunningham is a good pick up for the team. Hoare, the new ruck, did pretty well and should go even better when on smaller opponents. Another first gamer for the club, Jakobsson, was one of the best too. We have recruited well. 

Im not sure what Mel Hickey offers the team aside from tackling (9 for the game) but a midfielder she ain’t at this stage. 

Hopefully Paxman will come up next week as well as Mifsud. 

Honestly I was unsure if I could get fired up after the novelty factor of last year had worn off but for me the timing is perfect - it’s been 5 months since last seeing a red and blue jumper run around. And then when those cheating maggots paid GWS 3 free kicks directly in front of goal well i wasn’t worrying about the standard of the game!

The first couple of games highlight the mistake the AFL have made in expanding the comp so quickly.  I am a fan because of what AFLW represents as much as enjoying seeing my club in the vanguard of change.  But the standard is ordinary with a couple of exceptions.  Having said that the Dees did seriously lifted in the second half and I would suggest that with 2 howler frees to GWS in front of goal the scoreline flattered them.

As a side note, my son plays cricket with a girl who has switched from soccer to AFLW because she wants to play at the highest level.  She is good enough and will be in the draft in another 12 months.  Seeing her change her direction is exciting and she is one of many who are doing the same thing.  I am still concerned however that the extra teams will really stretch the talent base.

Go Dees!

23 hours ago, fndee said:

The commentary at the start of the game said Mifsud was apparently concussed last week. 

The Crows will be hard after getting beaten tonight at home. Another loss and they can kiss their premiership defence goodbye. Hopefully Phillips will be missing for them again next week which would balance if Paxman misses for us. 

Ah thanks, that explains it re Mifsud. Hopefully is right for next week.

5 hours ago, fndee said:

I agree and like most of the team O’Dea was much better after half time. She also has about the purist of kicking actions in a comp not known for silky skills. I thought Mithen continued on from where she left off last year and Tegan Cunningham is a good pick up for the team. Hoare, the new ruck, did pretty well and should go even better when on smaller opponents. Another first gamer for the club, Jakobsson, was one of the best too. We have recruited well. 

Im not sure what Mel Hickey offers the team aside from tackling (9 for the game) but a midfielder she ain’t at this stage. 

Hopefully Paxman will come up next week as well as Mifsud. 

Honestly I was unsure if I could get fired up after the novelty factor of last year had worn off but for me the timing is perfect - it’s been 5 months since last seeing a red and blue jumper run around. And then when those cheating maggots paid GWS 3 free kicks directly in front of goal well i wasn’t worrying about the standard of the game!

O'Dea's great, just moves like a natural footballer. There'll be a lot more young players like her coming through in a couple of years who've had the benefits of keeping the ball in hand throughout their teens.

I agree Hickey's frustrating. Obviously strong in the contest but her disposal is really questionable - it was apparent last year off the back line. Not sold on her as a midfielder at all.

One I was surprised by was Downie. I guess my overriding memory of her last year was that unfortunate hamstring then KO but I don't remember her being so prominent before that. Competed really well - perhaps sucked into the contest at times at ground level but overall really impressive.

lily mithen is a jet and if she does go to geelong it will be a blow

has there been any update on paxman's injury?