AFLW: Rd 3 vs St Kilda

[Leoncelli_36 2,264]

I’ve supported women’s footy and defended it since it started, but that was putrid. I won’t go again until the standard improves. There was no structure, umpiring was laughable girls can’t pick the ball up below their knees, the kicking is yuck, they need to learn to shepherd....its way off

[Meggs 569]

31 minutes ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

The worst standard of football I’ve ever seen. 

Yes it was terrible viewing this evening.   I always love watching our girls but we have so few that can both handball and kick under any sort of pressure.   There were big wraps on Birch in round 1 but all I have noticed so far is her inability to kick when pressured and with no pressure she has little penetration.  A first round draft pick is looking expensive!  Also we dropped so many easy marks tonight.
Speaking of dropped, let’s give Cunningham and Aliesha a week off, both ineffective last 3 weeks.   Goldrick has concussion and Guerrin a knee injury so expect it will be hard to find good replacements.  McEvoy looked lost out there too.  Lampard is fast but again mucked up her disposal.   I prefer the ball in the hands of Paxman, Pearce, Gay, Emonson, Hore or O’Dea.  Gee we could have pinched this game. Saints were really physical and tackled brilliantly all night.  They bullied us and we were not good enough.  Out couched too.  Oh well...there is always next week.   Go Dee Girls.

DIO I look forward to your thoughts..

[darkhorse72 1,718]

Poor performance at the pointy end of the field.  Disappointing as it was another 8 point game for our conference.

[Pennant St Dee 11,245]

Another game we shouldn't have lost, which will cost us as it has for the last 3 years

[Forest Demon 4,681]

Every year we drop a game like this against a lesser side that we dominate. And it has cost a finals spot every year. Very disappointing result.

[Dees_In_October 3,346]

On 2/21/2020 at 9:47 PM, Meggs said:

Yes it was terrible viewing this evening.   I always love watching our girls but we have so few that can both handball and kick under any sort of pressure.   There were big wraps on Birch in round 1 but all I have noticed so far is her inability to kick when pressured and with no pressure she has little penetration.  A first round draft pick is looking expensive!  Also we dropped so many easy marks tonight.
Speaking of dropped, let’s give Cunningham and Aliesha a week off, both ineffective last 3 weeks.   Goldrick has concussion and Guerrin a knee injury so expect it will be hard to find good replacements.  McEvoy looked lost out there too.  Lampard is fast but again mucked up her disposal.   I prefer the ball in the hands of Paxman, Pearce, Gay, Emonson, Hore or O’Dea.  Gee we could have pinched this game. Saints were really physical and tackled brilliantly all night.  They bullied us and we were not good enough.  Out couched too.  Oh well...there is always next week.   Go Dee Girls.

DIO I look forward to your thoughts..

My thoughts are mainly: WHAT A SHOCKER!

Yep, that classic danger game. When I said last week "watch out for Greiser", who knew it would come to such devastating fruition. What a kick though. Wish she was ours. Patrikios too. 18 years old! Scott's kick was pretty good too.

It seems like the conditions in the first few weeks really did disguise our flaws, the same ones since year 1: goalkicking and fwd 50 efficiency. And it felt like our ruck situation really started to have its toll. Cordner is 9th in the league hitouts, which is a good effort and all for a non-ruck but can't come close to the quality of L.Pearce. And there isn't a single Demon in the top 10 clearance players (Paxman and Gay are 13th).

Cunningham was MIA and needed to capitalise when she did get it, which she failed to do. Wasn't alone there, of course. What bothered me was the number of times a Saints player was able to touch set shots on the line, uncontested. Where were our talls? I actually thought Newman was quite lively, but she needs to hit the scoreboard soon. Still, we haven't got much choice in selections. Unless L.Pearce, Parry and Mithen are recovered, with Guerin out, we're at 22 players and need to select 21.

This was the kind of performance I'd actually expected in the first few rounds. To be honest, both North and the Bulldogs really failed advantage in the way they should have. The Saints played our weaknesses well. The way they'd pushed Adelaide the week before marked them as the expansion side with the most potential. Their defensive pressure was great and played a part in preventing us from getting the scrappy goals we've relied on in the first two rounds. We needed to put them away early or they were always going to put everything into getting that first win. Two players down didn't help, but we still should have been able to grind it out.

We won basically every stat except the one that matters, so none of this was through lack of effort. We had the top 5 fantasy point players (not always the most reliable of measures, but does say something). It was just the finishing. Daisy is 3rd in the comp in intercept possessions - but do we need her to be the one making more of those i50s? I appreciated the efforts of Paxman (26 disposals), Hore, Zanker (8 tackles) and Hanks (who led with 9 tackles) in particular. After our great marking performance in the wet, Hore seemed to the only one who brought her hands to this game!

As an aside, well done to the Saints who really pulled out all stops to make for a great atmosphere at Moorabbin. Even in the frustration of a defeat and a woeful attacking performance, I was pleased for their fans.

Next week? Who knows. The potential return of L.Pearce and Mithen could give us a much-needed shake-up. Do we persist with the likes of Cunningham and Newman? At Docklands...I lean towards yes but am by no means confident. Still, at the start of the season, all things considered, I would have seen 2-1 as a win.

[58er 5,593]

On 2/21/2020 at 7:20 PM, loges said:

Finding new ways to lose. Forward line terrible.

No it's not a new way.

Our Women's team have given up 3 possible years of Finals football by wasteful and haphazard forward line displays featuring inaccurate kicking like on Friday night.

Each previous season had featured us clearly the better team but being wasteful and clueless on how to knock goals.

Dame problem and if Mick  doesn't get it right the same result will happen ie We will finish with nearly enough wins or be out of the final 3 on our  Conference.

Over to you Mick and Ladies  fix it or fail!!

And if you don't you should fall on your own sword Mick.

[poita 3,573]

I went for the first time this year on Friday , and it was simply an atrocious game of football. One team spent the entire game trying to lose and the other spent the entire game sitting back and waiting for the ball to bounce its way. Coupled with the howler monkeys on the PA, it was a tough night.

Mick Stinear is a shocking coach and should have been replaced at the end of last year. He simply cannot find a way to structure the side so that players are taking set shots from inside 30m of goal. We have so many centre clearances and inside 50s each week for so little result. As with Goodwin, he is more worried about structuring rotations and managing game time that he forgets making positional changes to alter the course of the game.

Birch is the worst kick I have seen this side of an Auskick session - it is incredible that we would give up a first round pick for her when there are so many talented kids coming through the draft. That said, she has plenty of mates in the same boat. Thankfully Downie and Pearce can generally clean up her messes.

Cunningham and Newman provide nothing up forward - far better to move them out and create space for Zanker, Hore and Scott who at least contest. Perhaps push Hanks forward to provide some physical presence. If Cunningham is not fit enough to ruck I can't see how she can hold her spot. 

Paxman is a star, Gay has started strongly, but we desperately need O'Dea to find form. 

If we don't beat Collingwood this week I can't see how we play finals, and that is going to be a big ask with a massive injury list.