Do you think it will help inspire the women? That we went one more than they did (well two more, technically.)

Will it dull the interest in the women’s competition for you or will it make you hope that they too can achieve this greatness.

My friend at work has no interest in the women’s despite his team winning one. Some suggest that some teams are so desperate for success, they’ll take any kind of premiership they can get. I don’t subscribe to this, but what does everyone else think. Just the truth. No need to be rude but be honest.

Hopefully it'll inspire them. The recruitment of Tayla Harris adds profile, and the annual growth in the skills on display has been super rapid, so I for one am excited to see what our womens' team can produce. A premiership for womens' team is part of our club plan, so hopefully we can tick it off.

 

I think the Melbourne Demons AFLW side is a good chance of winning the Premiership this coming season. Tayla Harris is a fantastic recruit for us to get! I genuinely hope they can be inspired by the men's AFL side!

However, I do feel that AFLW is a bit of a novelty for the majority of Australians. Just like women's cricket. Whether those attitudes change remains to be seen.

Our form last season was excellent. We were stitched up with the fixture playing more of the top teams than any other team while Adelaide played easy beats and racked up percentage which got them home advantage in finals

We have 2 absolute champions in Daisy and Paxman. Zanker, Hanks, Bannon and McNarama will be a year older. Lauren Pearce, Goldrick and Hore are excellent players. We've added boom recruit Tayla Harris to kick the goals and Olivia Purcell, a Geelong B&F winner and high draft. We have the list to do it and will be favorites. 

I'm really looking forward to the AFLW season. Can;t wait for it to start

I've been invested in our women's team from the start. After the way the men responded to our 2018 prelim thrashing in 2019 I was hugely dissapointed but my passion for the women's team only grew stronger. The way the men played this year brought me back to these forums for the first time since 2018. Proud to be a demon. I'm still desperate, maybe more so, for our women to win the flag. I couldn't imagine anything better than us being the first club to be reigning premiers in both the men and the women's game. I can't wait for the next season to begin. And I hope Mithin gets to kick a few more goals!

Well, I think the regulars on this board know my feelings about this.

Let's just say the spirit the women played with at the back end of last season had a vibe that's become familiar in the rest of 2021. In fact, there's been a recognisable attitude across all four teams this year at AFL and VFL level - 3 made finals and the Casey men would have if not for Covid).

Fans might not feel like we're 'one club' and maybe not even all the players do. But there are certainly connections across the teams. Success fuels success fuels success.

I really hope our fans deprived of attending the footy can (all going well) get behind the women's team in person come January, more than ever before. No one can complain about the trip out to Casey when we've been stuck in 5kms for months!

Could also be our last chance to see Daisy take the field. Every Demon fan should see that once so they can say in 10, 30, 50 years, "I saw Daisy play".

With the recruitment of Harris and Purcell and the talent being spread due to the expansion. The woman's team would have to be favorites even before the mens team won the premiership. Expectations will be huge.

I have to admit that I love the men's team more than the woman's team but I'm still excited to see the woman's team play. Hopefully covid doesn't stuff the whole competition up.

1 hour ago, WERRIDEE said:

With the recruitment of Harris and Purcell and the talent being spread due to the expansion. The woman's team would have to be favorites even before the mens team won the premiership. Expectations will be huge.

I have to admit that I love the men's team more than the woman's team but I'm still excited to see the woman's team play. Hopefully covid doesn't stuff the whole competition up.

Absolutely!

Harris and Purcell will be huge additions, while players like Bannon, Hanks and McNamara will only be better.  We have gone for the Doctor to get the Premiership this year, while Daisy and Karen are still playing.  Harris solves the problem up forward, and Lauren Pearce is the best ruck in the AFLW. 

Now is the time, and since the competition has been put back a month, the COVID situation should improve. I do feel for the girls though if they have to play games in Brisbane and ( heaven forbid) Alice Springs in summer!

I would urge anyone that hasn’t done so (or is sceptical) to get out to Casey, Covid permitting, and watch the women play. Absolutely fierce and an opportunity to get close up to the action. 

I imagine it will be Daisy's last year. Go out with a bang and have the best on ground in the AFLW named the Daisy Pearce medal. Like the Norm Smith in the men's belongs to the dees.

 

On 9/29/2021 at 7:19 PM, Cassiew said:

Do you think it will help inspire the women? That we went one more than they did (well two more, technically.)

Will it dull the interest in the women’s competition for you or will it make you hope that they too can achieve this greatness.

My friend at work has no interest in the women’s despite his team winning one. Some suggest that some teams are so desperate for success, they’ll take any kind of premiership they can get. I don’t subscribe to this, but what does everyone else think. Just the truth. No need to be rude but be honest.

Thanks for the opportunity to reflect, Cassie.

I went to the exhibition games Melbourne won (should have made it to the other?!) and I went to the first because it was free, the red and blue were in it, I was curious, and the 'Melbourne' team had a good loading of Darebin success, I think? It was a bit hit and miss and clumsy but it exceeded my expectations. That, and the win, and the performance of some of the stars (Daisy and Tayla stand out) brought me back. I think there was an element of wanting it all to lead to something but, in the main, it was the case for me that going to any games I could expect the red and blue to win was the main motivation.

The loss in the last exhibition game annoyed me, as later did the drafting arrangements for the new comp, that saw Tayla go elsewhere, and I see that annoyance now as me becoming 'invested'. Then I was chuffed Melbourne (deservingly but never apparently certainly, and it was a nervous wait) became a founding team, and I became a Foundation Member. Regular access to Melbourne team playing home games at Casey (Casey mens were not yet fully Melbourne) added to the attraction (though it was an inglorious start!)

Now the team is building a catalogue of 'moments' and somewhat of a heartache story of its own. So I think I can now say that I follow it on its merits, and that I follow it undulled by the men's success. Indeed, my following is burnished - selfishly, I want another dose of fulfilment and I can't wait 12 months!

I thought it was really wonderful how the Melbourne Demons President Kate Roffey took the new 2021 AFL Premiership cup that the men had won down to AFLW Pre-Season training and let the women hold onto the cup. I thought that was a fantastic initiative and I hope it inspires the AFLW team to want to win a Premiership too!

Edited October 12, 20213 yr by Supreme_Demon

I’ll do the troll comment 😉

Since the girls weren’t wearing a mask I guess we don’t have to.

I go to all our home games at casey and yes they are a real chance this comming season. 

Check out Lauren Magee's day in quarantine on the club's website.

Enjoy the insight, Lauren? Sure did! Dedication, good humour, and remarkable tolerance to lukewarm styrofoamed sustenance. Looking forward to you smashing it this season, Lauren (our women's Jake Bowey!)

Edited October 25, 20213 yr by Timothy Reddan-A'Blew

These girls are hungry, and have been hungry for a few seasons now.  They were bitterly disappointed in losing the prelim and are desperate to do better.  I have no doubt they will aim to go better and win the premiership.  If the address from Kate Roffey during the preseason training wasn't going to give them inspiration, and give the message the club is 100% behind them, nothing will!  

On 9/29/2021 at 7:44 PM, Supreme_Demon said:

 

I think the Melbourne Demons AFLW side is a good chance of winning the Premiership this coming season. Tayla Harris is a fantastic recruit for us to get! I genuinely hope they can be inspired by the men's AFL side!

However, I do feel that AFLW is a bit of a novelty for the majority of Australians. Just like women's cricket. Whether those attitudes change remains to be seen.

I cannot disagree more than with the comment the AFLW is seen as a novelty to the majority of Australians.  Since AFLW has started, it has grown, and participation of women in football at community, club and school level has seen the biggest growth of any other aspect to do with football. In fact in many cases having women's teams have saved some clubs from going under.  If you yourself are seeing it as a novelty, you're choosing to do so.  But don't feel you can speak for others, who are extremely passionate about women's footy.  Oh, and 84,000 who attended the MCG for the final of the women's world cup cricket match certainly disagree with you.

Edited November 16, 20213 yr by Katrina Dee Fan

5 hours ago, Katrina Dee Fan said:

I cannot disagree more than with the comment the AFLW is seen as a novelty to the majority of Australians.  Since AFLW has started, it has grown, and participation of women in football at community, club and school level has seen the biggest growth of any other aspect to do with football. In fact in many cases having women's teams have saved some clubs from going under.  If you yourself are seeing it as a novelty, you're choosing to do so.  But don't feel you can speak for others, who are extremely passionate about women's footy.  Oh, and 84,000 who attended the MCG for the final of the women's world cup cricket match certainly disagree with you.

Well said.

I was one of those 84,000, plus I watched the Dees women smash West Coast the same day. Was great to have a comfortable lead because I didn't feel so bad about leaving early to make it to the MCG in time for the first ball. Interestingly, saw a bunch of other people doing the same - like me, switching from red & blue to green & gold in the Casey Fields car park! Including Meg Hutchins who I think was commentating, so not sure how that worked out. Then the Aussies smashed it too. One of my favourite days watching sport ever.

On 11/17/2021 at 3:41 PM, Dees_In_October said:

Well said.

I was one of those 84,000, plus I watched the Dees women smash West Coast the same day. Was great to have a comfortable lead because I didn't feel so bad about leaving early to make it to the MCG in time for the first ball. Interestingly, saw a bunch of other people doing the same - like me, switching from red & blue to green & gold in the Casey Fields car park! Including Meg Hutchins who I think was commentating, so not sure how that worked out. Then the Aussies smashed it too. One of my favourite days watching sport ever.

I wish I had've gone to the world cup match that day!  I was at Casey with my elderly mother and my two nephews, so I couldn't really abandon them.  What an amazing day for women's sport that day, which also happened to be International Women's Day, too!

 

I reckon the ladies will be inspired by what the men managed and will bring home the AFLW flag this year. They are definitely good enough to do it.

What odds we win both mens and womens flags in 2022. We'd be the first club to do it. That would be amazing