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Took my oldest demon tragic daughter (4.5years) down to the game yesterday and had a great time. Took us 36mins from Vermont and parked a stones throw from the ground. Walked into the ground and within 10mins she had her face painted, sunscreened up (dad forgot to bring some! thanks Chemist Warehouse stall ?), photo taken with Daisy mascot, got a free bag of stuff including another footy, got some thunder sticks and she wandered onto the ground and joined in with the pre game kids activity. Great start to the day ? Sat behind the goals at the car park end once the girls came out onto the field I watched my girl run around furiously trying to get the balls that were kicked over the fence in goal kicking practice (seriously 30+ yo males behind the goals, let the kids get the ball occasionally!). After she was bowled over a couple of times by 80-100kg blokes she gave up and sat with me in a huff for a while. Before a Melbourne bloke with a lanyard wandered over and handed us and a few kids around us with a demon flag! That made my little ones day and from then on my eyes and those of the people around us were not safe as she waved her flag furiously at any sign of action on the field. Free kick, wave the flag, mark, wave the flag, someone near us says go dees, wave the flag, goal, go absolutely troppo with the flag!!! After the game we raced out to the middle and were one of the first few there, which resulted in a cartwheel celebration from her followed by a rowsing game of run away from dad with the footy as fast as you can as he runs along behind like a packhorse weighed down with all the free gear scored during the day. After bumping into a few people we knew we headed to the car for the journey home. Seriously though, WHO DESIGNED THE CARPARK!!! Who ever did, should have their engineering qualifications jammed up their a r s e! Fortunately I have a large 4WD (not a range rover) and was able to drive over a couple of kerbs and then down the wrong way on a one way street to get to freedom without waiting the 30-40mins to get out ? Overall it was a great day and a perfect way to brainwash the kids into being died in the wool demon supporters! We will be back on Friday, Go Dees!!!

Had to happen as soon as I bagged her. She was garbage in the first half, but talk about turning a game around. Fantastic in the second half. I enjoyed the game. It was light years ahead of the Colonwood/Carlton game.

Please be doing your nails or something then. No one cares you don't care.

I'm really glad AFLW is back.... Like a new GOT series, sometimes folk are disappointed with the first episode, but the final quarter was magnificent! Those that continue to express the need to compare it to the men's game are lost in a time warp! The whole competition is crammed full of inspiring young women; at the summit sits Daisy... a wonderful role model, for all genders! Go Dees

You brought up a thread almost 4 months old just to post that?

Dave (Dr. Who) shovels money ? at any project and it just works perfectly...

The Dogs won in 2016 without being flush with cash!

Oops! ??

Un-dee like? We've moved on from the days of lingerie football Old Dee.

The commentary at the start of the game said Mifsud was apparently concussed last week. The Crows will be hard after getting beaten tonight at home. Another loss and they can kiss their premiership defence goodbye. Hopefully Phillips will be missing for them again next week which would balance if Paxman misses for us.

If you're not interested PF, now would be a good time to stay inside and work on your spelling. It's blancmange, not blamange.

I love watching the AFLW - comparing it to the men’s game is not comparing apples with apples. Yes, the skill levels might not yet be up to the (full-time) men’s game but, to me, that just adds to the excitement. Today’s game was super exciting as a Dees fan in fact the effort and heart from both teams was incredible - they were out on their feet at the end of the game. Long may it continue!

Typical. I bag Cranston, and she now has 2 Last one was a ripper.

Must admit, I absolutely hated the first game I watched. The skill level reminded me of primary school football. I was embarrassed to watch it. But as more games were played, I could see not just the rapidly improving skills, but the physicality and commitment of the players. In fact, the Women were playing the type of physical football that I wished our men had played during the 40+ years I have been watching. If you can see past the gender thing with its obvious differences, and view it through the Red & Blue of the Guernsey, you might just get some enjoyment out of it. Ask the players how they feel about it. I'm confident they would say they are not simply Women Footballers, but they play for the Melbourne Demons. Pride in the jumper, total effort, and respect for the clubs history is all I ask from them. The fact we have a side that is fun to watch is a nice bonus. I'm a fan.

And another courtesy of 'The Count': Checked out a bit of the rehab group ... - Viney was very clean when they had the footys out. - Joel Smith has put on a really good amount of size - Harmes started there, then moved over to the main oval and ran a few laps before joining in with the main group towards the end. He's really matured in his body shape I think. - Jeffy and Johnstone also moved to the main oval and ran a few laps together, and Weid ran a few of his own as well, has put on a little bit of size, but still has a ways to go Viney and J.Smith were running some sprints and then some 400's together, Smith was smashing him, tho I believe is a fair way ahead in terms of running. - vandenBerg did his own session up at the rooms under cover, did a fair bit of boxing and battle rope stuff, but its very clear that he's been off leg for some time, huge upper body, tiny pegs. As for the main group, as Jack said, the conditions meant that you can take absolutely nothing away from a skill perspective, but it at least looked like they were training to them, in the full ground drills, the long kicks down the line were kicked to space to the advantage of the man, rather than trying to hit a target. - Agree on Hogan, one of the better performers in the conditions, and looked hungry. One of the drills in the positional groups, Hogan had to tackle TMac while Pedo tried to shepherd him, and TMac avoid being tackled by him. Pedo was doing a good job, and it got pretty heated between the two for a second, and Hoges just concentrated on getting rid of Pedo, which he did, before getting back to TMac and tackling him to ground. - Trac is still sublime to watch, even in the rain. Was with the mids all session, and was covering the ground well. - I was impressed with Tyson, and I'm a critic. Was moving really well, noticeably better than last season. - Nobody told Oliver it was wet ... ridiculous what he can do. He walked past me afterwards as well, deceivingly tall. - Hibberd kicked in from a behind during some of the heaviest rain, and it would have gone 60+ - Fritsch took a few nice grab, needs to smash the hamburgers tho - Get on board the Ginga Ninja, I've seen plenty of him in full flight in the NEAFL, and he looked like he was fitting in really well.

Lifted from BF with a big thank you to Captain Jack: As noted earlier conditions were awful this morning. It’s hardly rained in months in some parts of QLD yet there we were in weather ranging from light drizzle to heavy rain.As such skills and structures were not great/hard to make out.The first part that I saw was a full-ground drill that was mostly about ball movement and started from loose balls in various parts of the ground. The players had to run hard and cover plenty of territory as a new ball would be released a long way from the previous contest.Towards the end the players split into four groups based on size/role - talls, smalls, midfielders, wingers/flankers - to do various contested drills and one-on-one or two-on-two scenarios.I missed the first hour of the session (likely a lot of warming up anyway) but here are my thoughts organized by player:Rehab/touch group included Harmes, Viney, J Smith, Garlett, Johnstone, Weideman (who looks a good size)Hunt watched on - no obvious issues but he was dressed for training and didn’t take any part at all.Vandenberg also watching - didn’t look like he was training at all.Hogan good hands overhead in wet was a highlight of the session. Others battled with the heavy ball. Good 1/1 win v Lever in the only contest I saw between the two. Ferocious in tackling drill v Pedo/Gawn - looks fit and hungry.In the full-ground stuff Hogan and McDonald were lined up at opposite ends the whole time, which I found odd. Would have thought they need to get some chemistry together. Then again it was good weather for ducks, not key forwards, so not a big deal.Jetta seemed to be matching up on bigger opponents including Hogan - I think an interview with him mentioned this as a focus (good move given how many times he gets hung out to dry by his teammates).Lever vocal from boundary during rests - will be in the leadership group surely. Didn’t quite do the full session - watched on in the second half with lower back iced. Maybe just copped a knock there.Gawn taped up right thigh - cork? Looks huge otherwise. I am concerned that wth Spencer gone he doesn’t have another mature ruckman to test himself against but he looks in amazing condition as has been reported. As for King and Filipovic, both look to have filled out a bit but the latter in particular is very raw still. Trouble if Gawn goes down.Petracca clearly trained as a midfielder today and was encouraged to use his better fitness to work on his two-way running. Not something he’d be too used to, I imagine, as a highly talented junior. Other than that his clean hands with the wet ball were a highlight. Gee I’m excited about what he can bring this year.Tyson showed good skills and moved freely.Melksham played deep forward mostly. Used his kicking skills to good effect going inside 50. Given that Garlett was running laps they might be prepping the Snake for a deeper role early in the season along with Bugg, who did the whole main group session.An amusing quote from Goodwin: “mids standing around doing **** all, get forward to help Hoges!”Our new Cult Hero “Sideshow Bob” Baker looks a likely sort - good size, good confidence in tight situations - still learning the team ‘rule’s though and may have got carried away once or twice when he should have handballed out of trouble.In general goal kicking was no good in the wet but oh well.Wagner’s kicking skills still a worry - looks risky and flukey. I will continue to not really rate him as a player for now.Hibberd bombed a few long torps from kickouts.Balic looks ok in contests - bit of size about him. Hard to see where he would get a game round 1, behind a number of similar wing/HFF types but is somewhat AFL-ready.Oscar looks bigger but still was matched up against Keilty/Filipovic in tackling - would like to see him against the big dogs. Given Frost’s size and reportedly better positioning skills as a defender I would hope he can take the biggest forward because Oscar is still building up his body.Spargo slight and struggling with fitness by the end - expected. Battled manfully in the tackling despite giving up plenty of size even to the likes of ANB. Don’t think we will see much of him this year.Fritsch is also very very slight - bordering on Frail Cale Morton size. I think he’d need to take Hannan’s spot, with the latter offering plenty more physicality and grunt at this stage.Brayshaw a slight concern - did most of the work but was not in with the main mids. In the tackling/contested work he was with the second-string group of flankers and young kids. Might be kept out of the real contested stuff for a while as he builds confidence.Jones + Vince were out there as playing coaches at times - as veterans they would need a lower volume of training. They mostly skipped the physical/tackling aspects which is fair enough. Earlier Vince and Lewis both trained in the back line as we know - but I struggle to see a spot for both of them in the same team.Stretch, Salem + JKH training with Tyson, Oliver, Petracca - those six along with Jones and Viney (and Maynard) would make up the bulk of our midfield rotations you’d think.Please ask for clarification if I was rambling incoherently above.

The first couple of games highlight the mistake the AFL have made in expanding the comp so quickly. I am a fan because of what AFLW represents as much as enjoying seeing my club in the vanguard of change. But the standard is ordinary with a couple of exceptions. Having said that the Dees did seriously lifted in the second half and I would suggest that with 2 howler frees to GWS in front of goal the scoreline flattered them. As a side note, my son plays cricket with a girl who has switched from soccer to AFLW because she wants to play at the highest level. She is good enough and will be in the draft in another 12 months. Seeing her change her direction is exciting and she is one of many who are doing the same thing. I am still concerned however that the extra teams will really stretch the talent base. Go Dees!

I agree and like most of the team O’Dea was much better after half time. She also has about the purist of kicking actions in a comp not known for silky skills. I thought Mithen continued on from where she left off last year and Tegan Cunningham is a good pick up for the team. Hoare, the new ruck, did pretty well and should go even better when on smaller opponents. Another first gamer for the club, Jakobsson, was one of the best too. We have recruited well. Im not sure what Mel Hickey offers the team aside from tackling (9 for the game) but a midfielder she ain’t at this stage. Hopefully Paxman will come up next week as well as Mifsud. Honestly I was unsure if I could get fired up after the novelty factor of last year had worn off but for me the timing is perfect - it’s been 5 months since last seeing a red and blue jumper run around. And then when those cheating maggots paid GWS 3 free kicks directly in front of goal well i wasn’t worrying about the standard of the game!

Have a look in the nearest mirror, and check for droopy face. You may be having a stroke.

Trust PF to bring his usual boring politics into everything. Personally I'm in two minds about it. The standard is abysmal. That may be understandable at this stage, but it is painful to watch. Some seem to find the uncertainty of endless fumbling exciting, I can't see why. I doubt they'd watch such a low standard match if it wasn't for the novelty of women playing. Great if it gives females encouragement etc to play and support football, but fortunately it's not compulsory to watch. The fact that it is a MFC team is the only point of interest to me. I watched perhaps 70% of the match whereas I only lasted 5 minutes watching the Carlton v Collingwood match. As a compulsive watcher of AFL matches regardless of who is playing, that says it all.

KNOCK OUT by Ruby Tuesday Melbourne overcame a sloppy start to its AFLW season with six straight last half goals including a late snap from Richelle (“Rocky”) Cranston which knocked Greater Western Sydney out of the contest and gave her team the win by six points. The Demons, with midfielder Karen Paxman in great early form with nine possessions, dominated proceedings in the first quarter but their poor disposal and the Giants’ ability to score goals on rare forays up forward, saw them trailing by four points at quarter time. By then, Paxman was off with a back injury (later diagnosed as “back spasms”) and things were not looking good for the Dees when their opponents scored their third goal early in the second term. At the main break they were down by 9 points. However, with skipper Daisy Pearce, the strong and reliable Elise O'Dea and the new look Richelle Cranston all lifting, the Demons willed themselves back into the game after half time. It took just three minutes for them to snatch the lead for the first time and by the 10 minute mark, they were in front themselves by 9 points. But GWS were not to be denied. They fought back against the run of the game with two goals to go into the last break with a 5-point lead. It was still anybody’s game. As it was, the lead changed hands early in the final term with goals from Cranston and Shelley Scott but the Giants were undeterred and fought back to level the scores. Then followed a tense five minutes until Rocky’s snap gave the home side the lead and the win. After the game, Cranston said, “I had no idea how that goal went in – I just heard Daisy say ‘get it on the boot’ and lucky it went through.” Other players who stood out were Meg Downie across half-back, Lily Mithen up forward and newcomers Bianca Jakobsson from Carlton and 194 cm recruit Erin Hoare who had 20 hit-outs in the ruck. The Demons are at home again next week with a clash against reigning premiers Adelaide, smarting from their first up loss last night to Brisbane. Melbourne 1.2.8 1.3.9 4.3.27 7.3.45 GWS Giants 2.0.12 3.0.18 5.2.32 6.3.39 Goals Melbourne Cranston 3 Scott 2 Hore Cunningham GWS Giants McWilliams 3 Barclay 2 Staunton Best Melbourne D Pearce O'Dea Downie Cranston Scott Mithen GWS Giants McWilliams Farrugia Barclay Staunton Injuries Melbourne Paxman (back) GWS Giants Nil Reports Nil Umpires Gibson Johansen Curtis Official crowd 5,100 at Casey Fields

Thanks Wadda. It was a terrific return for Ace High I thought. I see he's in the 4th line of betting for the Chipping Norton at $26 behind Winx of course but from the above I'm not tempted to have an early go at those odds.

From the trainer: Ace High will go to the Hobartville stakes next then the Randwick Guineas and The Rosehill Guineas. We then decide whether to run him in the (Australian) Derby or the Queen Elizabeth Stakes there are a week apart so I don’t think we would run in both if Winks isn’t running in the Queen Elizabeth then we will target that but otherwise it will be the Derby.

Sha Tin tomorrow for the Centenary Vase (race 3) Only 7 runners but a very competitive race at first glance. The prizemoney on offer up there never ceases to surprise - 500k for a Group 3! Even a number of their handicaps have prize pools of 200k - 300k. It's any wonder a number of Australian jockeys make camp there.

Great summary DiO. Cunningham won the ball when it mattered. But wow, there's a foot on the end of her left leg she doesn't know is there yet. .

I'm sensing some toxic masculinity here Picket. I think you need examine your privilege and apologise.

Always good to see the Dees show some heart. I can understand why some people don't see the appeal and don't appreciate the bigger picture. Luckily it's not compulsory to watch or comment. Left the ground wondering what happened to Paxy as she's always in everything. A fair excuse not being on the ground, I guess! Missed the injury completely as didn't have the best vantage point. I thought Cunningham showed a lot and Hoare is an actual Giant. Am a bit bemused by the lack of Mifsud. Maybe just a balance thing, but she was one of our best last season and obviously goals are gold. Having said that, much like last year I think our forwards will build as the season goes on. The Crows will come out hard next week...

Because it directly appeals to a huge portion of the population. Women and girls get to see people just like them doing something that that may now aspire to do. They, in turn, buy jumpers, membership and merchandise; they attend matches and join local teams; they get more involved in the men’s game when winter comes along. The AFL isn’t doing this out of the goodness of their heart- they’re going to make a lot of money out of this brand of football. On top of that, this was a great match and we have a really good win! Get on board!

You not suggesting they have a short attention span are you??

Damn Daisy is good!

Cracking game! Daisy is a star!

Hi Brendan. I strolled down for a few hours this morning. It was a little bit wet which was annoying because I’d just bought a new pair of suede loafers that I was looking forward to breaking in. I think they look nice with white slacks which are cuffed at the bottom. I caught up with a Goody almost straight away. I noticed he was wearing the same polo shirt as he wore on the flight up. I asked if he only brought the one shirt on the trip, he just got up and walked away. He’s a bit of a jokester like that. The team split into two groups in preparation for a non-contact match simulation. Apparently Tyson forgot the bibs so they were deciding on how to differentiate between the teams, I yelled out that the team with Petracca should just go shirtless. After the game the players headed inside to the gym. I asked who could bench press the most, apparently Pedo and Frost are tied. Their max bench is about my weight so I said I’d be happy to have a bit of a competition between the two and see who could bench me. Unfortunately it was a closed door session so I had to leave.

They don't differentiate between midfielders I don't believe, I think the categories are key forward, medium forward, midfielder, medium back, key back - ruckman may also be split off from mids as their own category. So Johanneson is ranked in top 10% of medium defenders while Bont is ranked at around the 60tg percentile for mids (I think) which is probably right considering he wasn't that great in 2017.

I understand the concern about Mifsud’s absence for us but what I really want to know is why Scully wasn’t playing for them!

Just be thankful you slipped ( Balls ) through RG !

Tomate Tomata

Me too. The natural improvement we will see, and we need for the games to flow better, will be completely nullified by further diluting the talent.

Great win girls! 4 goals from free kicks to the orange mob. I see the AFL love fest is alive at all levels of footy.

Apologies if the following link has been posted elsewhere. Four elite players at Melbourne. https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/01/31/champion-data-ranks-your-club's-list-for-2018/

Agreed ... unless we win.

We're being monstered? So monster them back. I think we also have to take into account the forward line as a defensive measure, we now have TMac & Hogan forward with Pedo or Gawn popping up fwd. And all of them can drop back into defence. We should monster a few (most) teams and out-shoot (net benefit) whatever defensive weaknesses we have that are being exploited. Judging by last year, Goodie has this mindset, but didnt have the cattle.

Fact is in 2017 we were: 18th in defensive one on ones 18th in opposition scoring from 50m entries. We were also monstered by guys like Brown, Hawkins, Daniher etc. Our defence is very vulnerable. The club knows this and Lever is clearly there to help us improve on this. There will be a multitude of strategies to deal with improving our defence including improving individual performances. Hibberd and jetta are not infallible but are AA quality. So is Lever. Frost and OMAC are the clear weak links that oppositions try to exploit. How the coaching staff manage/improve these two will go a long way to to ensuring our game style is fit for finals.

Yeah I still have a soft spot for Bruce, he's such a passionate lover of all sports, a rare talent in Australia's media, and in my mind, totally unbiased and generally sticks to the topic of the day. Cometti, Bruce and Whateley are our best, although I think Cometti has since retired.

Make no mistake, this was a big get for us.

Blight can pull his head in - Lever was not quoted as saying anything remotely offensive or egotistical in the article. I love the bloke already. Hope he’s in the Leadership Group this year. And for the next 12 years after that.

completely agree. I was having a go at the AFL not the sydney clubs. The AFL should 100% run and pay for these academies it's an unfair advantage imo. Heeney and Mills are both worthy picks 1s and should have gone to struggling teams

That's the AFL's fault. Out of the $1bill plus tv rights they've had over the past 10 years they won't allocate money to identify and develop young talent in the non AFL States. They leave it entirely to the teams there even though with the expansion there is more need to find more players. The Swans have spent over $1mill per year on their Academy for about 8-10 years now. They seek out every junior athlete initially in the whole of NSW and since GWS in their allocated areas. They have around 500-600 players a year going through it, that's thousands and thousands of players over the period. Out of that massive investment, so far they have Heeney and Mills. That's it. Brandon Jack was the only other player to make it to the list and he didn't make it. Heeney was a rugby league player in Newcastle who would never have been discovered without the Swans Academy work in finding him. I was involved in Junior AFL in Sydney for over ten years and know how incredibly hard the landscape is up here for AFL. The Swans Academy is a big deal to all the kids up here who aspire to getting picked in it. I've watched its impact on Junior Clubs like ours since it started and its significant. The only way to solve this is for the AFL to set up AFL Academies not Club Academies.

Its a disgrace that Sydney get propped out with equivalent no.1 draft picks when in the top 4 through the acadamies The two sydney teams will be hard to beat over the next 5 years

Good to see that we're not going down the path of trying to recycle mediocre footballers. We have four vacancies - give the youngsters a go.