GAMEDAY: AFLW Rd 07 vs Brisbane Lions

[rpfc 28,048]

Daisy probably thought her days of doing that much work as the smartest player in the team (which is who you put as loose woman in defence) - but that was a reminder of how good a player she is and was. At 33 to do that - amazing. 

Tayla Harris is a gem and I loved how in the post match she corrected the interviewer when she said “the girls were calling you Superman;” Tayla replied; “they were calling me Superwoman.”

And @Kick_It_To_Pickett - can you cool your jets when you call out the league as a a whole based on the officiating? It’s not helpful and is disrespectful to what they have built - which is amazing in 6 years. It isn’t diminished by the officiating. 

Imagine what a mess the VFL was in 1903…

[Webber 10,433]

10 hours ago, Deeoldfart said:

Tayla Harris, just wow!  Right up there with the most influential game I’ve s seen from any player in the AFLW.

18 contested marks in the competition this year. Next best = 9. She’s a star, and proof (as if it was needed) that a happy footballer is a better footballer. 

Edited February 21, 2022 by Webber

[Webber 10,433]

My testament to Tayla….

[Clintosaurus 7,551]

Thought Goldy was good again. I do like her playing further up the ground where breaking the lines has more impact.

Now for Eden Zanker to find her best form.

[BDA 22,275]

14 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

Now for Eden Zanker to find her best form.

And Kate Hore. We need them both in form if we're to win this comp

[Fork 'em 6,940]

Building a season.
Go the Demons.

[Dees2014 2,377]

10 hours ago, Dees_In_October said:

Yeah you can see in her post-match interviews that she's been given a really clear message about her role and it's given her confidence just to do her thing.

Obviously loves the Demons after having a couple of unhappy experiences in her two other clubs. Interesting the way highly talented but quirky individuals are so settled at the dees when they weren’t at other clubs (eg Ben Brown, Jake Lever) and therefore allows them to play great footy. Says a lot about the sophistication of our management practices - all credit to them and just adds to our credibility as an elite performance organisation. Ms Roffy - take a bow. 

[demon3165 2,569]

39 minutes ago, Webber said:

My testament to Tayla….

I think she needs to put on a bit of weight?

[Dees2014 2,377]

10 hours ago, Brownie said:

I reckon the whole season so far is very similar to the blokes last year.

We're playing well for half a game most weeks and just getting the job done without being great.

You can see Daisy, Paxman, Bannon, Lauren Pearce, West etc just building into the season and slowly gaining confidence. We could find another gear yet. 

Time for Zanker to switch on.

Harris, what a set of hands she has and just hard at it.

Loved Bannons running goal. Two Lions players stopped to watch if it would bounce through. She just kept running into the goal square to make sure it went through.

Great win (and a stupid free at the end)

Go Dees

I agree. We seem to be building nicely. Will be great to get revenge over those two very annoying clubs Adelaide and Brisbane. We owe both of them premiership revenge, just as we did the Hawks and Eagles with the blokes. It is going to be an exciting climax to the season.

as a footnote:

l think Bannon is potentially one of our most exciting and influential players on either our Mens’ or Womens’ lists. I know she is still young and inexperienced, but it would be great to see her use her speed more to break open packs particularly around goals. She has done it a few time and is truly spectacular and game changing. Perhaps it will come with more experience, but a very exciting prospect with Pettraca-like potential to win games and flags for the Dees. 

Edited February 21, 2022 by Dees2014

[binman 41,948]

1 hour ago, Clintosaurus said:

Thought Goldy was good again. 

I do like her playing further up the ground where breaking the lines has more impact.

She is such a fantastic player to watch. 

What she lacks in skills and finesse she makes up 10 fold with her intensity and attack on the ball. In that sense she reminds me a lot of Viney.

And she reads the play so well and times her attack her on the ball and when to zone off brilliantly. I'm guessing that is part natural ability but also large part her experience of playing Gaelic footy all her life and playing that sport at the elite level.

I wonder if that that is perhaps the most transferable skill from Gaelic footy? I also wonder if Goldy playing further up the ground might negate that skill a bit as at half back she has more time to watch the ball coming at her. 

[binman 41,948]

25 minutes ago, Dees2014 said:

l think Bannon is potentially one of our most exciting and influential players on either our Mens’ or Womens’ lists. I know she is still young and inexperienced, but it would be great to see her use her speed more to break open packs particularly around goals. She has done it a few time and is truly spectacular and game changing. Perhaps it will come with more experience, but a very exciting prospect with Pettraca-like potential to win games and flags for the Dees. 

Agree on bolded bit (and the rest actually). She is such a clever footballer - exhibit A was her decision to play on immediately after marking about 45 out, running to 30 and kicking the goal. She would never have made it from 45 and gave them no time to cover the line.

Also loved how she kept running towards goal on the off chance the ball stopped before crossing the line. That is a smart footy brain at work

Speaking of smart, it was a good move putting her forward i thought as she is natural footballer, like Tayla, and as such reads the ball in flight super well, which gives her a big advantage over lots of defenders, many of who it seems me struggle one on one against such players.

Libby Birch stands out becuase she is one defender that reads the ball so well. I'm starting to think she is up there in our top 2-3 most important players. 

[BDA 22,275]

I’ve been critical of quality this year but the games between the top teams have been pretty good. The Crows and Doggies game last week was excellent and this game was very good also. Saturdays game against North should be a ripper as well. Unfortunately too much of a divide between the top and bottom teams resulting in too many uncompetitive fixtures

[Pates 9,625]

Harris is on another level to the competition. Her used of her body in marking contests, her hands, her kicking; there isn't anyone I can think of that matches her in AFLW. She could be the difference at the pointy end of the season.

Massive win for them, genuine contenders.

[Fat Tony 5,074]

The team looked much better with Bannon partnering Harris inside 50. Bannon's pace means we have pressure when the ball hits the deck and gives us the chance to get goals over the back.

Daisy needs to go onto the ball and play a negating role at stoppages and then drop off to play as a quasi loose man behind ball. Her pace is a big problem but she is still valuable because of her skill level.

West lacks the skills required for the level.

[Brownie 5,863]

18 minutes ago, binman said:

Agree on bolded bit (and the rest actually). She is such a clever footballer - exhibit A was her decision to play on immediately after marking about 45 out, running to 30 and kicking the goal. She would never have made it from 45 and gave them no time to cover the line.

Also loved how she kept running towards goal on the off chance the ball stopped before crossing the line. That is a smart footy brain at work

Speaking of smart, it was a good move putting her forward i thought as she is natural footballer, like Tayla, and as such reads the ball in flight super well, which gives her a big advantage over lots of defenders, many of who it seems me struggle one on one against such players.

Libby Birch stands out becuase she is one defender that reads the ball so well. I'm starting to think she is up there in our top 2-3 most important players. 

Spot on @binman loved watching both Bannon and Goldy take on the game. I had the feeling if we just kept on running hard, we could tire them out last night.
The chip game works well at a windy Casey, but we were exposed early with the Lions until we started running hard. I really liked the way the Lions would just hack the ball forward at any contest just to keep momentum going their way. I reckon we learnt and adjusted really well thorugh out the game.

With Bannon going forward, it gave us great flexibility to drop Daisy back to steady the ship. I noticed a couple of times, she was encouraging Gillard along as well at stoppages. A pretty full on intro for the youngster.
It's nice to have a skipper that's so versatile forward or back.
 

[Brownie 5,863]

3 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

The team looked much better with Bannon partnering Harris inside 50. Bannon's pace means we have pressure when the ball hits the deck and gives us the chance to get goals over the back.

Daisy needs to go onto the ball and play a negating role at stoppages and then drop off to play as a quasi loose man behind ball. Her pace is a big problem but she is still valuable because of her skill level.

West lacks the skills required for the level.

Tend to agree about West but she is really improving in the guts now.

It was great to see her kick a goal last night even though it was a wobbly kick.
Maybe some more time with Chocco and his magic stripes?

She's fantastic around the packs and is super tough with her body work. It's hard to see her getting dropped.
I think she's is getting better but yeah, she looked to dish it off last night rather than kick when getting close to goal. 
If she can clean up that akward kicking, she'll be a great player for us.
 

[Dees2014 2,377]

42 minutes ago, binman said:

Agree on bolded bit (and the rest actually). She is such a clever footballer - exhibit A was her decision to play on immediately after marking about 45 out, running to 30 and kicking the goal. She would never have made it from 45 and gave them no time to cover the line.

Also loved how she kept running towards goal on the off chance the ball stopped before crossing the line. That is a smart footy brain at work

Speaking of smart, it was a good move putting her forward i thought as she is natural footballer, like Tayla, and as such reads the ball in flight super well, which gives her a big advantage over lots of defenders, many of who it seems me struggle one on one against such players.

Libby Birch stands out becuase she is one defender that reads the ball so well. I'm starting to think she is up there in our top 2-3 most important players. 

Agree. Libby is such a smart footballer and has real leadership skills. An obvious replacement as Captain when Daisy retires and then presumably takes over the coaching job. Hope so anyway.

Edited February 21, 2022 by Dees2014

[Deeoldfart 7,993]

1 hour ago, binman said:

She is such a fantastic player to watch. 

What she lacks in skills and finesse she makes up 10 fold with her intensity and attack on the ball. In that sense she reminds me a lot of Viney.

And she reads the play so well and times her attack her on the ball and when to zone off brilliantly. I'm guessing that is part natural ability but also large part her experience of playing Gaelic footy all her life and playing that sport at the elite level.

I wonder if that that is perhaps the most transferable skill from Gaelic footy? I also wonder if Goldy playing further up the ground might negate that skill a bit as at half back she has more time to watch the ball coming at her. 

I agree with all that bin, but I reckon a comparison with the late and great Sean Wight is even more valid, including the Gaelic footy connection.

[Rod Grinter Riot Squad 5,654]

1 hour ago, BDA said:

I’ve been critical of quality this year but the games between the top teams have been pretty good. The Crows and Doggies game last week was excellent and this game was very good also. Saturdays game against North should be a ripper as well. Unfortunately too much of a divide between the top and bottom teams resulting in too many uncompetitive fixtures

This is the tragedy of the competition. It has been expanded too quickly, if the AFL weren’t so greedy and beholden to certain clubs it would still be a 10 team competition, maybe expanding to 12 after this year. If that was the case, each team would play each other once, the standard would be consistently high. Sadly they expanded too quickly and we are left with games like this weekend where teams failed to score a single goal.

[binman 41,948]

1 hour ago, BDA said:

Unfortunately too much of a divide between the top and bottom teams resulting in too many uncompetitive fixtures

To be fair, the same could be said of the AFL

Edited February 22, 2022 by binman

[Wrecker46 2,863]

5 minutes ago, binman said:

To be fair, the same could be said of the AFL

I don't know. The dees only lost to the bottom sides and belted the suitcase out of the top ones.

[binman 41,948]

1 hour ago, Pates said:

Harris is on another level to the competition. Her used of her body in marking contests, her hands, her kicking; there isn't anyone I can think of that matches her in AFLW. She could be the difference at the pointy end of the season.

Massive win for them, genuine contenders.

Absolutely.

She has a height and reach advantage over many of her opponents, but as you say it is her natural marking skills (eg use of the body, reading the flight of the ball, aggression. marking technique, smarts etc etc) that means she is on another level.

And becuase she is on another level we get other benefits, even when she doesn't make it. Opposition temas are too focused on her, as is often the case with such key players - but it means their defensive system is often out of shape. Westy's goal was good example - three Lions players up to spoil Harris and no one the ground. She draws frees too, as often opposition players panic in their attempts to stop her. 

I went to the Dogs game and was a bit critical of her second efforts. But she has improved immensely since then in that regard, no doubt because she has got fitter in the last few weeks. 

Taylah was the difference last night - there is simply no way we win that game if she is not in the side. With scores being comparatively low, one player can make a bigger difference in terms of influencing a result than is the case in the AFL.

Which as you correctly note, means she could well be the difference at the pointy end of the season.

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by binman

[binman 41,948]

49 minutes ago, Deeoldfart said:

I agree with all that bin, but I reckon a comparison with the late and great Sean Wight is even more valid, including the Gaelic footy connection.

Yep, a very good comparison. 

Sean is one of my all time favorite players and i love Goldy for many of the same reasons. 

[DubDee 24,354]

what a win!  going into half time with 0.0 and then to win!

Great our fwd line is good enough we don't need Daisy up there anymore, she is much better behind the ball

2 really tough games remain but we are looking strong and every kid we bring in looks good, great recruiting

[BDA 22,275]

Big games coming up and then finals. Life is good

Competitive teams in each comps and both play with plenty of guts and ticker. What a time to be a Dees supporter.