So what positions do people think we need to cover this draft period? You’d think a big bodied mid would be first on the shopping list. Chloe Bown is a 173cm mid from the Oakleigh Chargers who is expected to go at #1. If we can get enough draft capital from Freo for Zanker we could snaffle this pick from Gold Coast who need picks to cover the 4 academy players expected to go in the top 10.

Next I’d go another big bodied mid and then maybe a pressure forward who can kick goals?. Maggie Mahoney has come on but could probably do with a friend.

I suppose it depends if they think Harris, Gall, Campbell or Hose can take up slack from the departing Zanker.

Thoughts?

Reading that the Kangas are looking to further strengthen their dual premiership team by bringing in Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner from the Bulldogs. She was the 2023 number 1 draft pick. Not sure how the Kangas could best us when it comes to opportunity or draft picks to offer. If we lose Zanker (who’s contracted) we’d demand a hefty compensation. Weston-Turner is that tall (nearly 6ft) athletic type now seen in the AFLW as a running mid or forward. She can play both roles. I’m not saying we try to recruit her just to stop the Kangas, but she’s definitely got the talent to replace Zanker and add even more. Dees would have to mount an offer and beat out the Kangas. We can offer club and player more in my view than the Kangas.

On 28/11/2025 at 22:07, Ghostwriter said:

I’ve watched Liv at every session (she’s close to the boundary and it’s a pleasure to watch her). She’s inspirational to say the least. She follows every instruction from the physios. She does not stop. Her resolve to be back to her best is to be admired, and she’s so disciplined. As I said, she’s an absolute inspiration.

I know she’s been champing at the bit to be allowed to run, so this video is heartwarming and thank you SO much for posting it, DIO.

It is great, Liv is without a doubt my favourite Melbourne AFLW player. I can relate to her journey as I have been witnessing it with my daughter who did her ACL and torn meniscus in the second quarter of her Grand Final in 2024 missing all of this season. It’s a graft and inspirational to watch the journey. Both will come back physically stronger and more resilient for the experience.

19 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Reading that the Kangas are looking to further strengthen their dual premiership team by bringing in Kristie-Lee Weston-Turner from the Bulldogs. She was the 2023 number 1 draft pick. Not sure how the Kangas could best us when it comes to opportunity or draft picks to offer. If we lose Zanker (who’s contracted) we’d demand a hefty compensation. Weston-Turner is that tall (nearly 6ft) athletic type now seen in the AFLW as a running mid or forward. She can play both roles. I’m not saying we try to recruit her just to stop the Kangas, but she’s definitely got the talent to replace Zanker and add even more. Dees would have to mount an offer and beat out the Kangas. We can offer club and player more in my view than the Kangas.

A free Mazda will do it for North. Like all their other recruits.

Big mid for sure, but a very close second is a defender with really strong hands - a dependable interceptor.

46 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

A free Mazda will do it for North. Like all their other recruits.

I was just about to post the same thing. Also helps you keep the player once you've got them. Not many youngsters in their early twenties want to give up a free car.

can't we thrown in a free jag :)

Would you rather play and train at Arden Street or in Cranbourne?

4 hours ago, Dee Viney Intervention said:

It is great, Liv is without a doubt my favourite Melbourne AFLW player. I can relate to her journey as I have been witnessing it with my daughter who did her ACL and torn meniscus in the second quarter of her Grand Final in 2024 missing all of this season. It’s a graft and inspirational to watch the journey. Both will come back physically stronger and more resilient for the experience.

I hope your daughter recovers soon, and well.

I saw Liv at her first session back post -injury, which was at AIA (meaning she was very close to the boundary). I didn’t say anything to her because I didn’t want to bother her. She came over to me and I was blown away by her positivity. Her attitude alone was inspirational.

Since that session I’ve watched her go from strength to strength and I’ve had the privilege of being there for, as you say, her journey.

She gave me regular updates and was always happy to tell me the number of days left before she’d be given the green light to run. This is why the above video is so special.

Liv is such an important person at our club for many reasons, not least of all because the young players were also witnessing what I was and that’s what you want the 18/19yos to model themselves on.

22 hours ago, Craig T said:

I was just about to post the same thing. Also helps you keep the player once you've got them. Not many youngsters in their early twenties want to give up a free car.

Ah, so that's what (maybe?) Kate Hore was talking about a few years ago when she said Melbourne wasn't fancy and didn't tempt players with cars. I thought it might have been a reference to Sydney, as they'd just lured Chloe Molloy.

19 hours ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

Would you rather play and train at Arden Street or in Cranbourne?

Our women rarely train at Casey - mainly Gosch's.

On 29/11/2025 at 18:51, FarNorthernD said:

Livs I jury really showed us up for an I side bidSo what positions do people think we need to cover this draft period? You’d think a big bodied mid would be first on the shopping list. Chloe Bown is a 173cm mid from the Oakleigh Chargers who is expected to go at #1. If we can get enough draft capital from Freo for Zanker we could snaffle this pick from Gold Coast who need picks to cover the 4 academy players expected to go in the top 10.

Next I’d go another big bodied mid and then maybe a pressure forward who can kick goals?. Maggie Mahoney has come on but could probably do with a friend.

I suppose it depends if they think Harris, Gall, Campbell or Hose can take up slack from the departing Zanker.

Thoughts?

Liv's injury really showed us up for an inside mid, putting pretty much everything on Tyla's shoulders (except when Kate was there, but she's likely to spend more time forward if Zanker goes).

The perfect pickup would be Isla Wiencke, a big body midfielder, physical and a goal kicker - having a 50m penetrating kick in AFLW is also a real weapon.

I know she's from GWS academy, but as yet still hasn't nominated and therefore gettable.

The need for bigger-bodied mids has been evident for the past few years. If you remember in Eden Zanker's first couple of years they would throw her into the midfield for some added physical presence. When you watch our mids against the power teams like North, Brisbane, Adelaide and in the past, the Bulldogs, we always looked undersized. Both in height and weight. When I watched us against Adelaide it was really obvious. We look like a school team in comparison. North are big everywhere. Their talls are also extremely strong. Not just the mids. We have succeeded on the basis of excellent teamwork and fierce determination. This makes the work of our smaller mids like Hanksy, Heath, Fitzy, and Mcnamara even more impressive. They held up against bigger, stronger mids with desperation, skill and teamwork. Liv Purcell isn't tall but she is very strong and a great footballer. We really missed her this year.

I was super impressed with the development of Shelly Heath and Megan Fitzsimons. Both light bodies but super strong and skilled for their size.

Kate Hore is taller, stronger and a sublime footballer but we need to use her everywhere.

I believe the club has attempted to address this overall size discrepancy but the injuries to Purcell and Grace Beasley left a big hole. Beasley may be raw at this stage but I saw tremendous potential. She is strong, tough and although she wasn't able to show us many games, she seems to have good skill and a football brain. I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do next season.

Amelia Dethridge is another who appears to be big and strong but is earlier in her football development. Hopefully she persists and gets some opportunities next season.

Zanker will be very hard to replace. She owns the area in font of goals and is such a physical presence. We are lucky that we have Taylor Harris but she has also been fantastic when thrown in the middle.

North are the benchmark atm (captain obvious) and have size and skill to implement their game plan. We nearly got them but they were able to settle and do what had to be done last week. Their demolition of Brisbane in the granny was similar to Brisbane's demolition of the Cats in the men's. They were a cut above. It makes our performance against them even more impressive.

It will be very interesting to see how we recruit and trade over the next week. Mick seemed to believe in the skill and spirit of our smaller players but he and the recruiting team must have seen the writing on the wall. We need size, strength and skill.

I also hope that we continue to evolve our game plan to match and surpass that of North Melbourne. If a new coach comes in and goes back to the drawing board it could be a mistake. If it is Shae Sloane then I imagine she would retain and evolve Mick's plan.

Interesting times

Edited Sunday at 23:551 day by btdemon

1 hour ago, btdemon said:

The need for bigger-bodied mids has been evident for the past few years. If you remember in Eden Zanker's first couple of years they would throw her into the midfield for some added physical presence.

Yep, they definitely did - as a ruck and as an old fashioned ruck rover, if I remember right.

1 hour ago, btdemon said:

When you watch our mids against the power teams like North, Brisbane, Adelaide and in the past, the Bulldogs, we always looked undersized. Both in height and weight. When I watched us against Adelaide it was really obvious. We look like a school team in comparison. North are big everywhere. Their talls are also extremely strong. Not just the mids. We have succeeded on the basis of excellent teamwork and fierce determination. This makes the work of our smaller mids like Hanksy, Heath, Fitzy, and Mcnamara even more impressive. They held up against bigger, stronger mids with desperation, skill and teamwork. Liv Purcell isn't tall but she is very strong and a great footballer. We really missed her this year.

We punch above our weight, for sure. I've also thought for a while now that a couple of teams don't use their size advantage particularly well - they sometimes get into a second-to-the-ball groove, apparently confident that their tacking will lead to turnovers. Latter-day Adelaide teams, and Fremantle, spring immediately to mind.

1 hour ago, btdemon said:

I was super impressed with the development of Shelly Heath and Megan Fitzsimons. Both light bodies but super strong and skilled for their size.

Kate Hore is taller, stronger and a sublime footballer but we need to use her everywhere

I believe the club has attempted to address this overall size discrepancy but the injuries to Purcell and Grace Beasley left a big hole. Beasley may be raw at this stage but I saw tremendous potential. She is strong, tough and although she wasn't able to show us many games, she seems to have good skill and a football brain. I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do next season.

Amelia Dethridge is another who appears to be big and strong but is earlier in her football development. Hopefully she persists and gets some opportunities next season.

I like what I saw of Beasley, too, although I remember her skills being a bit rough.

I think this explains why they went for O'Hehir ahead of Fish, as well.

1 hour ago, btdemon said:

Zanker will be very hard to replace. She owns the area in font of goals and is such a physical presence. We are lucky that we have Taylor Harris but she has also been fantastic when thrown in the middle.

I wonder if a tiny consolation is that we can play Wotherspoon out of the goalsquare without worrying about cramping Zanker's style. Wotherspoon strikes me as the archetypal medium forward who can play tall. Her marking is superb and her kicking is beautiful.

1 hour ago, btdemon said:

North are the benchmark atm (captain obvious) and have size and skill to implement their game plan. We nearly got them but they were able to settle and do what had to be done last week. Their demolition of Brisbane in the granny was similar to Brisbane's demolition of the Cats in the men's. They were a cut above. It makes our performance against them even more impressive.

It will be very interesting to see how we recruit and trade over the next week. Mick seemed to believe in the skill and spirit of our smaller players but he and the recruiting team must have seen the writing on the wall. We need size, strength and skill.

I also hope that we continue to evolve our game plan to match and surpass that of North Melbourne. If a new coach comes in and goes back to the drawing board it could be a mistake. If it is Shae Sloane then I imagine she would retain and evolve Mick's plan.

Interesting times

This is a great post! Loved it.

On 30/11/2025 at 10:22, Craig T said:

I was just about to post the same thing. Also helps you keep the player once you've got them. Not many youngsters in their early twenties want to give up a free car.

Sure, but that has to be part of the salary cap though right?

6 hours ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

Ah, so that's what (maybe?) Kate Hore was talking about a few years ago when she said Melbourne wasn't fancy and didn't tempt players with cars. I thought it might have been a reference to Sydney, as they'd just lured Chloe Molloy.

Was actually Daisy, just after we won the flag if I recall correctly. The average person wouldn't have known exactly what she was referring to until Emma Kearney, unbidden, came out all defensive and criticized Daisy for making the comment.

3 hours ago, GS_1905 said:

Sure, but that has to be part of the salary cap though right?

In the men's game, yes. But not in the women's, apparently.

On 28/11/2025 at 19:58, WERRIDEE said:

Her last game was good, surprised to see her dropped and now axed.

Very much agree with this - she (Denby) was very good against Adelaide, and deserved to play against North ahead of Lampard and others.

Given that Colvin has retired, we are looking a little light on for defensive depth now.

On 29/11/2025 at 18:51, FarNorthernD said:

So what positions do people think we need to cover this draft period? You’d think a big bodied mid would be first on the shopping list. Chloe Bown is a 173cm mid from the Oakleigh Chargers who is expected to go at #1. If we can get enough draft capital from Freo for Zanker we could snaffle this pick from Gold Coast who need picks to cover the 4 academy players expected to go in the top 10.

In last year's draft were a lot of those 160cm type midfielders going around, but we really need that height to go along with strength over the ball.

Also like this from Chloe Bown's Rookie Me profile:

"...and unlike many other peers, can use both sides of her body. It is easy to think the right-footer is actually left-footed considering the natural look when she has to swing onto her opposite side."

5 hours ago, btdemon said:

I was super impressed with the development of Shelly Heath and Megan Fitzsimons. Both light bodies but super strong and skilled for their size.

So impressive. This is the silver lining, even though it has been frustrating to see our players out-muscled at times. Puts us in good stead.

6 minutes ago, poita said:

Given that Colvin has retired, we are looking a little light on for defensive depth now.

Agree, for talls only really Gillard, S.Taylor and Lampard, and the latter didn't have the greatest end to the season, albeit coming back from injury.

17 hours ago, Craig T said:

Was actually Daisy, just after we won the flag if I recall correctly. The average person wouldn't have known exactly what she was referring to until Emma Kearney, unbidden, came out all defensive and criticized Daisy for making the comment.

Oh god. Of course Kearney did.

I agree we need more midfield and defensive cover, but what I'd love is a forward who can pull goals out of thin air. We get the ball down there enough, but need more danger when the ball hits the ground. God knows what's going on with Pisano, who was a high draft pick and has a contract for another two years that couldn't get a game at the end of the year. Mahony looked good in the Adelaide final but is there any potential for pinching an experienced player from another side to slot in?

5 hours ago, FarNorthernD said:

So what positions do people think we need to cover this draft period? You’d think a big bodied mid would be first on the shopping list. Chloe Bown is a 173cm mid from the Oakleigh Chargers who is expected to go at #1. If we can get enough draft capital from Freo for Zanker we could snaffle this pick from Gold Coast who need picks to cover the 4 academy players expected to go in the top 10.

Next I’d go another big bodied mid and then maybe a pressure forward who can kick goals?. Maggie Mahoney has come on but could probably do with a friend.

I suppose it depends if they think Harris, Gall, Campbell or Hose can take up slack from the departing Zanker.

Thoughts?

I think a dangerous lively smallish forward with goal sense who can win her own ball.

A big bodied mid is important too. But I do think O'Hehir is destined for that role.

3 minutes ago, Supermercado said:

I agree we need more midfield and defensive cover, but what I'd love is a forward who can pull goals out of thin air. We get the ball down there enough, but need more danger when the ball hits the ground. God knows what's going on with Pisano, who was a high draft pick and has a contract for another two years that couldn't get a game at the end of the year. Mahony looked good in the Adelaide final but is there any potential for pinching an experienced player from another side to slot in?

With the lower scoring game in AFLW I do think that the type you described (create goals) are really valuable.

I suspect that's why we drafted Pisano: when it clicks she is great. But she doesn't seem to be able to get involved regularly to give her those opportunities.

On 01/12/2025 at 09:00, The Taciturn Demon said:

Ah, so that's what (maybe?) Kate Hore was talking about a few years ago when she said Melbourne wasn't fancy and didn't tempt players with cars. I thought it might have been a reference to Sydney, as they'd just lured Chloe Molloy.

It was actually Daisy who said that, and she was definitely referencing Norf.

Trade period starts tomorrow and we still have 10 out of contract players, including some big names.

22 minutes ago, deanox said:

Trade period starts tomorrow and we still have 10 out of contract players, including some big names.

Zanker

Goldrick

Mahony

O'Hehir

Dethridge

Johnson

A Mackin

Paxy

Rigoni

Anyone else?

Assuming Zanker is gone, Mahony would be my number one priority. Loved her first season.

If Dees get two 1st round picks for Zanker, then we bundle it up with our own pick … offer 3 x first round picks to GC suns. Dees need to strongly push to get the number 1 pick.

Fox Footy reports …

“consensus is that Oakleigh Chargers ball magnet Chloe Bown is the No. 1 open pool prospect. A consistent, reliable on-baller with an incredible work ethic and ability to kick well on both feet, Bown had a near perfect draft year. She was crowned the best and fairest player of 2025 national championships and selected as All-Australian captain after steering Victoria Metro to back-to-back title wins. Her season was book-ended by a best on ground medal when representing the Australia Under 18 team against the All Stars in April and the Coates Talent League best and fairest award in September after averaging 29 disposals and six tackles per game”.