55 minutes ago, Dees_In_October said:

From @binman's post, it's clear what most people will choose - as the people who are mainly men's fans wouldn't forgo the men's to support the women, even in the situation where the women's is much more convenient to home, and even in a situation where the men aren't in finals contention. That isn't a dig at you, binman, it's just illustrative of something the AFL STILL somehow fails to understand when scheduling the W Demons - that many won't go to Casey, so Away fixtures at other Melbourne venues should be scheduled with an eye to picking up that audience. Rather than the approach taken in this case, which I think is, "It's a Bulldogs home game, so the timing with the Dees men's game doesn't matter" as long as it doesn't overlap for TV. It just boils to the same old lack of foresight that has been consistent for 10 seasons now.

Hopefully when the men's is over, aside from Casey games, people will look to these more conveniently located matches:

Round 3 v Collingwood at Vic Park

Round 8 v Essendon at Ikon Park

Back to the positives:

I'll def go to both of those games.

And hopefully finals will be played at Ikon.

And I might get to at least one Casey game (it's a three hour round trip by car so I'll probably combine with visiting friends on the 'ninch).

But they have to get out of Casey - it's just too far away for most fans, not to mention the wind makes games so scrappy

I haven't fully ruled out going on Sat night, but given I can get home and watch on the box on kayo and not miss any of the game it's unlikely.

So stupid. If for example they played the men's game at 1:15 they would get a much bigger crowd, which makes for better TV and helps counteract the frustrating criticisms of AFLW that surface every season, one being that it's not as popular as it was.

23 hours ago, Dees_In_October said:

Might have to wait for what I’m calling “The Helicopter Game” at Casey in Round 2, which has some real "elephant at Arden Street" and "batmobile at the Grand Final" energy.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1851810/aflw-round-2-details

What could go wrong?

1 hour ago, Dees_In_October said:

From @binman's post, it's clear what most people will choose - as the people who are mainly men's fans wouldn't forgo the men's to support the women, even in the situation where the women's is much more convenient to home, and even in a situation where the men aren't in finals contention. That isn't a dig at you, binman, it's just illustrative of something the AFL STILL somehow fails to understand when scheduling the W Demons - that many won't go to Casey, so Away fixtures at other Melbourne venues should be scheduled with an eye to picking up that audience. Rather than the approach taken in this case, which I think is, "It's a Bulldogs home game, so the timing with the Dees men's game doesn't matter" as long as it doesn't overlap for TV. It just boils to the same old lack of foresight that has been consistent for 10 seasons now.

Hopefully when the men's is over, aside from Casey games, people will look to these more conveniently located matches:

Round 3 v Collingwood at Vic Park

Round 8 v Essendon at Ikon Park

Back to the positives:

The overt promotion of 'Let's make it a sell-out' will provide a test of that, DIO.

No disrespect, only respect for the organisation: I hope that test is well passed.

16 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

The overt promotion of 'Let's make it a sell-out' will provide a test of that, DIO.

No disrespect, only respect for the organisation: I hope that test is well passed.

Of course, let's hope so. And I do appreciate that there's some real effort being made to put that game on people's radar (so to speak). Is two weeks enough time to build momentum? We'll see...

I find the girls' view of themselves and the game, and their openness in expressing these things really refreshing (despite the odd inevitable footy cliché!😄) 'Twould be nice if the boys could head more in this direction.

Don't lose it, girls!...

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1860134/triple-debut-young-guns-bolster-demons

20 hours ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

What could go wrong?

My question is how high is the chopper going to be when they release the balls? If they are high enough, with Casey's wind, I'd be concerned about just how likely they will be to hit the playing surface. We could end up with the balls being blown off course and sconing hundreds of people in the crowd with a hail of footballs. 😮

1 hour ago, Craig T said:

My question is how high is the chopper going to be when they release the balls? If they are high enough, with Casey's wind, I'd be concerned about just how likely they will be to hit the playing surface. We could end up with the balls being blown off course and sconing hundreds of people in the crowd with a hail of footballs. 😮

Knowing the Casey wind, the balls will probably swirl around and change directions a few times on the way down. Good chance of scoring a free footy or yeah, getting sconed.

Western Bulldogs v Melbourne at Mission Whitten Oval, 7.35pm AEST

WESTERN BULLDOGS

B: I.Grant 3 L.Ahrens 27  
HB: E.Georgostathis 17 K.Kimber 28 B.Gutknecht 18
C: R.Wilcox 37 J.Fitzgerald 23 J.Smith 10
HF: S.Hartwig 15 E.McDonald 9 E.Blackburn - C 2
F: L.Stephenson 14 H.Woodley 19
Foll: A.Edmonds 33 D.Carruthers 8 I.Pritchard 4
I/C: C.Buttifant 20 E.Grigg 5 E.Gavalas 25 S.Poustie 1 E.Bennetts 11  

Emerg: B.Barwick 12 K.Hardingham 24 A.McKee 26

MELBOURNE

B: L.Ebert 19 S.Taylor 28  
HB: M.O'Hehir 11 S.Lampard 8 M.Chaplin 13
C: P.Paxman 4 T.Hanks 5 E.McNamara 22
HF: M.Mahony 20 A.Bannan 6 E.Zanker 29
F: K.Hore - C 10 T.Harris 7
Foll: L.Pearce 15 O.Purcell 2 S.Heath 30
I/C: B.Mackin 31 G.Campbell 1 L.Johnson 33 M.Fitzsimon 24 A.Pisano 3  

Emerg: R.Wotherspoon 12 A.Dethridge 14 S.Goldrick 23

Be weird not to see mithen run around in the red & blue this season

Watching this season opener and at halftime they showed Darcy Moore and Patrick Cripps handing out mini footballs to fans in the crowd. Isn’t that good of them! I’m sure Max would do the same if the men’s and women’s weren’t scheduled on the same friggin’ day. 🤬

Geez it’s great seeing Collingwood get beaten

no improvement in the standard of umpiring

Wow, this was well done.

On 13/08/2025 at 17:24, binman said:

Fair dinkum, for all manner of reasons I'm so over the AFL.

They are supposed to be the stewards of the game.

They are ruining the men's game, for example refusing to address the appalling standard od umpiring and the joke they call the fix ture.

And their management of the AFLW is even worse. It's a bloody joke.

I live in the West and was super keen to go to this game, one of the few ill be able to make, because it's at Whitten Oval. Twenty minute drive from my place, watch a great game of footy then back home in 20 minutes. Perfect.

But I'm not sure if it's feasible given the men start at 4:15 meaning it won't finish until 7pm.

I'll be on PT so no chance of getting to Whitten Oval from the G By 7:30, and even if I could it's a big ask to expect fans to go to both games - for me it would mean leaving home at 3pm and nor getting home till near midnight (Whitten Oval is in a tricky spot for me PR wise and buses are replacing trains on my line after dark).

It's just flat out pathetic. Do they wNtbthe AFLW to succeed or not?

I guess it's pretty obvious it's all about viewers not fans attending games anymore

It's rubbish. It's lazy. It's ignorant. It's idiotic.

Almost like they're setting the women up to fail.

I love watching the girls play even though the game is played differently.

The AFL keep treating football as a product to sell

Edited yesterday at 11:581 day by Brownie

43 minutes ago, Dees_In_October said:

Wow, this was well done.

Yeah, that was a great watch

1 hour ago, Dees_In_October said:

Wow, this was well done.

So good!

The Todd Patterson call about Molly being a magic person is an interesting observation. It will be interesting to see how she goes not only on Saturday but the next few years

10 hours ago, Brownie said:

The AFL keep treating football as a product to sell

Exactly. And the women's 'product' must be constantly compared to the men's 'product'.

It's incredibly stupid. The dumbest marketing orthodoxy.

i know i've requested this before, but can further thought be given to moving all the aflw content into the main board @Demonland?

i often forget this board is here, and like many i am just as keen to chat about our women's program as our men's

17 hours ago, Dees_In_October said:

Emerg: R.Wotherspoon 12 A.Dethridge 14 S.Goldrick 23

if goldrick isn't in our best side then we're going okay, i think

no gillard is a real concern - she's one of the best key defenders in the competition

3 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

if goldrick isn't in our best side then we're going okay, i think

no gillard is a real concern - she's one of the best key defenders in the competition

I think Goldie is just being eased back in after the Gaelic season - per your previous comment, you might have missed the chat here about that!

Of course, if others end up ahead of her, that's a good sign overall.

Some numbers on Round 1 and the team, for those playing at home...

Compared to the last round of 2024

Out: Gall, Gillard, Mithen, Watt, Wotherspoon

In: Ebert, Harris, Mahony, O'Hehir, Paxman

Avg. games experience

Melbourne's S9 R1 team: 41.8

North Melbourne's S9 premiership team: 47.7

Melbourne's S10 R1 team: 41.9

Progression of Melbourne's Round 1 team games experience total

2017: 0 games

2018: 109

2019: 174

2020: 246

2021: 336

2022A: 481

2022B: 638

2023: 839

2024: 878

2025: 880

[The 2023 SF team had 1,018 games experience, likely our most experienced fielded]

Our 2025 Round 1 team, as named, is the youngest (and not surprisingly, shortest!) we've fielded in Round 1 since Season 5 (2021), though the margins between some seasons are fairly minor.

Half of our Round 1 team is aged 23 or under, including of course, the three debutant teenagers in Ebert, Mahony and O'Hehir.

Hampson-Hardeman Cup

Round 1 marks the 15th meeting of the Dees and Dogs for the Hampson-Hardeman Cup, named in honour of women's football pioneers Barb Hampson and Lisa Hardeman, who developed the first women's championships in 1992.

The two clubs vied for the Cup in four exhibition matches running from 2013-2016, before continuing the tradition in the inaugural AFLW season in 2017.

The Hampson-Hardeman Cup win-loss record for Melbourne is 10-4. The Bulldogs' 4 wins came in two exhibition matches and then in 2018 and 2021, respectively. Melbourne currently retain the cup from its victory in 2023, as the teams did not meet in 2024.