2023 List

Rucks
Pearce 184cm, 30yo, 57 games, Premiership Player *
Watt 186, 35, 24
Harris 177, 25, 61 *
——
Zanker 183, 23, 52 *

Mids
Purcell 161, 22, 38 *
Hanks 157, 22, 49 *
West 162, 25, 25 *
Mithen 159, 24, 59 *
——
Heath 160, 22, 41 *
Paxman 170, 34, 64 *

Wing/Fwd/Back
Heath
McNamara 166, 20, 22
Bannon 177, 20, 36 *
B Mackin 170, 23, 10 *
Paxman

Forwards (tall)
Harris 
Zanker 
Ivey 175, 30, 36
Campbell 184, 19, 1 

Forwards (small/med)
Hore 170, 27, 54 *
Fitzsimmons 169, 20, 26 *
A Mackin 170, 26, 0
Fowler 167, 19, 2

Backs (tall)
Birch 175, 25, 65 *
Gillard 190, 19, 16 *
Sherriff 174, 24, 38 *
Colvin 175, 31, 25
Wilson 177, 22, 26
Gall 183, 18, 0
Taylor 183, 24, 0
Johnson 175, 30, 4 (non playing ‘23)

Backs (small/med)
Heath
Lampard 170, 25, 53 *
Gay 166, 26, 46 *
Goldrick 168, 32, 31 *
Chaplin 167, 20, 12 *

Strengths 1
Good luck getting a gig in that backline. Easily our strongest line and the most miserly in the comp having conceded a smidge over 18 points a game. 
We have the best small defender in Shelley Heath who kept Courtney Hodder, one of the best small forwards, to just 2 kicks (0 points) in the Grand Final. 
We also have the best young. developing tall, Tahlia Gillard, who held the competitions highest goal scorer scoreless in the same game. A dream pick at draft #42 Tahlia has a 15/1 winning record
Add Birch, Goldie, Gay, Chaplin, Lampard et al and you are going to win a lot more games than you’ll lose. 

Strengths 2
We have amazing flexibility within the team. Zanker, Harris, Hore, Gay, Bannon, Lampard, Fitzsimmons, Paxman and Heath can all play multiple positions across the ground. 

Strength 3
This is what separates us, Brisbane and Adelaide from everyone else - depth. Every team has good players. In fact our top end talent possibly isn’t as good as some others but no one is going to match our bottom dozen players. 

Strength 4
I’ll be honest, the first time I heard the words Demon Spirit uttered I thought they were wankie leadership course buzzwords that had been enthusiastically co-opted by the marketing department. How wrong was I. 
It was endlessly talked about in every interview with the girls. They believed that not only every woman in the side, but every woman on that list had buy in with the group. From the outside looking in it looked like they had total belief in one another. And in a sign of how deep that shared sense of belonging and loyalty was, the Demon Spirit award was won by Rhi Watt, who was injured and didn’t play a single minute of game time. 

Weakness 1
Our forward line could do with a quick and skilful quality goal sneak. Perhaps Aimee Mackin has been recruited for this role? 

Weakness 2
Our first choice mids are all between 157-162 (5’2”-5’4” in the old) and whilst that didn’t hurt us last year it would be great if we could develop a couple of bigger body mids

Opportunities 1
Our flag side featured four players 19-21yo and ten in the all important 22-26yo bracket - in other words there is still room for significant improvement 

Opportunity 2
There was no proper draft at the end of last season. For the first and last time that will mean the the other teams don’t have the chance to bring in new, young talent. There is bit of a status quo about the lists

To counter this the AFL (in their infinite wisdom) and to even the talent pool across the league, let the weaker raid the stronger clubs. Brisbane, in particular, have been weakened but so have Adelaide who are both our major competitors. In a testament to the unity and Demon Spirit of this list we did not lose a player to another club. If anything this has left us relatively stronger which was probably not what the AFL had in mind. Smiley face here

Threat 1
Post Daisy. We will probably only know about half way through the season how significant of a loss her absence is. Let’s face it she is irreplaceable 

Threat 2
Post flag. Will complacency creep in? 

Summary 
We will start the season as deserved flag favourites. We are brilliantly coached, have a deep and talented list and a united club. Other clubs will rise to challenge us - North? Bulldogs? - and there are so many variables, both known and unknown, that it is impossible to be overly confident 
At the very least we can all be pretty bloody excited by the upcoming season. I am!!
Go Demons!!
 

That was a pleasant Sunday morning read, @FarNorthernD - dare I say it; 'That's the Spirit!'

I'm excited!

To the Weakness bloc, perhaps could be added Ruck stocks/age? (though I'm unclear as to the structural importance (yet) of rucks in the womens game). Watt's age speaks for itself, Pearce is closing in on that stage, with leg issues, and Harris in full-ground ruck mode is a bit 'robbing Peta to pay Paula'. Ditto, though less so, Zanker.

I'll be interested in others' responses on all this, FND. Thanks again! 👏

 

Edited June 24, 20231 yr by Timothy Reddan-A'Blew
Rucks

Can you do one for the demons afl side?

8 minutes ago, Kent said:

Can you do one for the demons afl side?

See 10,000 posts in 500 other threads 😉

On 6/25/2023 at 9:34 AM, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

See 10,000 posts in 500 other threads 😉

Haha this is what I always feel when commenting on the men's - it's been said before by the time I get there. Hence why I comment here a lot more!

On 6/25/2023 at 9:03 AM, FarNorthernD said:

Strengths 1

Good luck getting a gig in that backline.

Absolutely, and it's easy to forget how important a player Colvin was in Season 6 (2022A) before the rise of Gillard. She was our best player in the losing Grand Final. If she can recapture that form, there'll be selection headaches.

On 6/25/2023 at 9:03 AM, FarNorthernD said:

Weakness 1

Our forward line could do with a quick and skilful quality goal sneak. Perhaps Aimee Mackin has been recruited for this role?

 

This is probably the one role that we've never filled successfully on a consistent basis. I'd hoped Duffy was the answer. Perhaps Fitzsimon will find more scoring opportunities. I've got high hopes for A.Mackin too, but obviously it's a big ask - I think we still underestimate how huge her sister's achievements were last season, breaking into the premiership side from another sport.

Aimee is building back from injury nicely in the LGAA though:

On 6/25/2023 at 9:03 AM, FarNorthernD said:

Weakness 2

Our first choice mids are all between 157-162 (5’2”-5’4” in the old) and whilst that didn’t hurt us last year it would be great if we could develop a couple of bigger body mids

Although I prefer her forward, we could go back to Zanker in there occasionally to mix it up... I'd like Goldrick in there just for chaos, but that's true of pretty much every position on the ground for me!

Other teams will be focused on breaking down our ball movement through the middle. We were able to weather that pretty well last season by sticking to the plan and wearing teams down. So it's a matter of if we can improve on that further to counter the improvement of other teams.

On 6/25/2023 at 9:03 AM, FarNorthernD said:

Threat 1

Post Daisy. We will probably only know about half way through the season how significant of a loss her absence is. Let’s face it she is irreplaceable 

Threat 2
Post flag. Will complacency creep in?
 

These are the big ones aside from injuries. I'm less concerned about #1 because I think Daisy was never a "cult of personality" type leader. I'm confident she's planted the seeds for others to step up. The process has been noticeable for a few seasons now, but last season it really felt like Hore was co-captain in all but title.

Great read. On a slightly different subject is Hore going to be captain next year ?

7 minutes ago, dl4e said:

Great read. On a slightly different subject is Hore going to be captain next year ?

I think they've always done it as a player vote. From memory, it's often announced around photo day.

Hore would have to be the front runner. Paxman has stepped away from formal leadership. Birch? Gay?

 

great read @Dees_In_October.

I don't think we have a great weakness in the middle, simply because of lack of height.  What we do have is strength, particularly Purcell ( how did we ever get her from Geelong?) and West.  They never lose their feet and have that core body strength so critical in the middle.  Hanks is building a similar strong core, and is able to find the ball at will....another critical skill in the middle.  The return of McNamara is only a further positive to the mids. 

Lily is ferocious, but I fear as the AFLW body shapes move progressively to the more solid types, that she will struggle physically. 

It will be interesting with our rucks.  Pearce can barely run out a game and will not be able to do so for the whole season, as we have seen in past years.  However, when she is on the field she simply cannot be moved. 

Watt post injury will also be interesting.  The age factor is probably not as great as the mens game, since the girls haven't been battered and bruised as much when they hit the 30+ mark. But if she can provide the "cut out" for Pearce that will be all that is needed.  I don't like Harris rucking, simply because it takes her away from the forward line, but it does keep her in the game more, and boy is she scary when she attacks the ball.  Likewise Zanker can only be a fill in, she is just too light to be hitting bodies in the ruck role.  Better suited to other areas. 

What we really need is another younger tall for 2024 and beyond.  I was wondering if Saraid Taylor could fill the role@ 183cm, nearly the same as Pearce.  Losing Maggie Caris to netball again,  at 190cm and only from the 2020 draft was a big loss.

5 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

great read @Dees_In_October.

I don't think we have a great weakness in the middle, simply because of lack of height.  What we do have is strength, particularly Purcell ( how did we ever get her from Geelong?) and West.  They never lose their feet and have that core body strength so critical in the middle.  Hanks is building a similar strong core, and is able to find the ball at will....another critical skill in the middle.  The return of McNamara is only a further positive to the mids. 

Lily is ferocious, but I fear as the AFLW body shapes move progressively to the more solid types, that she will struggle physically. 

It will be interesting with our rucks.  Pearce can barely run out a game and will not be able to do so for the whole season, as we have seen in past years.  However, when she is on the field she simply cannot be moved. 

Watt post injury will also be interesting.  The age factor is probably not as great as the mens game, since the girls haven't been battered and bruised as much when they hit the 30+ mark. But if she can provide the "cut out" for Pearce that will be all that is needed.  I don't like Harris rucking, simply because it takes her away from the forward line, but it does keep her in the game more, and boy is she scary when she attacks the ball.  Likewise Zanker can only be a fill in, she is just too light to be hitting bodies in the ruck role.  Better suited to other areas. 

What we really need is another younger tall for 2024 and beyond.  I was wondering if Saraid Taylor could fill the role@ 183cm, nearly the same as Pearce.  Losing Maggie Caris to netball again,  at 190cm and only from the 2020 draft was a big loss.

I'm so happy for McNamara!

Yeah, the ruck's always been a worry if L.Pearce goes down. Gillard?

Or maybe we should just trade in another All-Australian ruck, seems like it's the done thing haha.

4 hours ago, Dees_In_October said:

I'm so happy for McNamara!

Going by the pix I've seen she looks to be a fair bit stronger???

On 7/4/2023 at 7:01 PM, Dees_In_October said:

I'm so happy for McNamara!

Yeah, the ruck's always been a worry if L.Pearce goes down. Gillard?

Or maybe we should just trade in another All-Australian ruck, seems like it's the done thing haha.

Tayla Harris is very handy in the ruck, she proved that last season when Lozza missed a couple of games.

4 hours ago, Katrina Dee Fan said:

Tayla Harris is very handy in the ruck, she proved that last season when Lozza missed a couple of games.

For sure. But it'd be nice to have another full-time ruck option developing in case of a long-term injury. Cover all the bases!