Brownie

It's an interesting thread. I've never really enjoyed the game. Offside in soccer and NRL use to drive me crazy when playing it as a kid. Get rid of offside and Widen the goals and it would be a great game but still couldn't beat AFL. But that's just my opinion. Anyways, that's not the point of this thread. All sport can be enjoyed if it's skillful and two teams are giving it their all. There's a cultural problem with soccer at the moment but I wonder if part of the fuel for the problem is money. Money just compromises sports in so many ways. Selling off grand finals. Umpires and players betting. One long series of blaring ads at AFL games. Sport being sold off to pay tv rather than free to air. It's not an excuse for the behaviour on the weekend but the corporatisation of sport does nothing for growing the sport at grass roots level and looking after it's passionate supporters. If it feels like most major sporting organisations are just out to been their fans dry.

Love it. Lots of years growing up at suburban footy grounds. You gotta let em know we're with them when they're dead on their feet in the last QTR of the granny Hey!

Yep, she was up and in it all day jjc, good point. It wasn't just her ruck work but she contested around the ground really well all day.

Just finished watching a replay after being there on the day. My first premiership to see live for our club in my 50 odd years of supporting them. We sat with the demon army and it was great to sit with such passionate supporters when we were outnumbered but not out-voiced! Thanks to the DA for welcoming us in. The surface - yeah it was both pretty soft and also pretty lumpy. Kate Roffey is spot on, passionate supporters missed out on tickets and it's not good enough to host a granny in such a small stadium. We really were up against it in a number of aspects and it was great the way we just ground out the win. After all my bagging of it, Springfield was a pretty good facility and it reminded me of a good local footy ground when I was a kid in Brisbane. We used to get 7 to 10,000 people and grand finals back then which creates a great atmosphere. But for a national final, it's just not big enough and shouldn;t have been held there. Anyway's the game. The umpiring, summed up for me when one called a free kick and another play on and Banno ran in and tackled the lions player. Can't wait for 4 umps to be on the field next year hey. The best: This game was all about defense. Taylor Harris getting her cheek split open, getting up and then hitting the next contest even harder. She's so tough and competetive. Shelly Heath, knocked sideways in a bump on the far wing, stuck her hand out for a one handed tackle on her oponent. Tackle of the day. Kate Hore, didn't get many attacking opportunities but she laid some brilliant tackles and Mick's move to put her behind the ball in the last quarter paid off in spades. West and Hanks were just fantastic, but I don't think Purcell was far behind them. Paxy - She was off for a fair bit of the game towards the end but she was a great steadier for us too. Really hope she sticks with us next year. Banno - She also made some fantastic defensive efforts but even though she wasn't rewarded with a goal, she had some great fantastic offensive runs and set Mackin up for that first goal. She also had a certain goal if that run down tackle (with a correct disposal / kick) from Fitsimons wasn't paid against us. She actually had three chances for a goal in the last 60 seconds of play, the last being as the siren sounded. She was loose in front of goals and would have certainly got the goal if it hadn't sounded. Watching her screaming at us as the Demon army screamed back at her when the siren sounded is a moment I'll never forget. Eden Zanker - She really was cooked by the last quarter. She had the staggers. Harris was playing further up the ground and she became the key forward. I watched her just keep willing herself into lead after lead. The way she just kept leading and presenting for her team mates was just brilliant and summed up the way all of our players were not going to relent. My Bog - I know I know, midfielders right? but for me it was our defenders. Maddy Gay had an absolute cracker of a game. But it was watching an 18 year old Tahlia Gillard absolutely stich up the leading goal kicker in Jessie Wardlaw that blew me away. It was great to watch her live, her closing speed, her body work and the way she just kept getting those long arms through to spoil with impeccable timing. I think she was our most valuable player on the ground on the day in the way she shut down their most dangerous player. If Gabby Colvin is back into the defensive line next year, we could potentially have Gillard and Harris creating chaos through the ruck and into our forward line. I love the way Stinnear just swings the moves with freedom and we've got an incredible array of talent to do this with now. Go Dees

Just beautiful. I hope he's with our club (both men and women's) for a long time to come.

It's just a bit of fun Shaun. Maybe someone from news corp is helping with our social media?

Yep, watched the replay today, definitely came off her shin as she was driven forward. A dead set certain goal.

If it's any consolation Banno was well and truly loose and going to eat that ball up. Would have been a certain goal if there was another 10 seconds in the game I reckon.

Oh and unless you're out on a mad Monday with the actual person like WCW, here's the link to Daisy's wonderful interview with the age. https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub21ueWNvbnRlbnQuY29tL2QvcGxheWxpc3QvODhiNTY0ZWEtYTlhNi00NzUxLTkxMGEtYTVkODAwMDE5Mzk2LzkzOGU1Y2E1LTc3NzEtNGJjMi04NTJhLWFiODMwMDI3MmVhNC81MjQ5YjFiMi02MjI0LTRkNWEtYjFkMS1hYjgzMDAyNzJmMGEvcG9kY2FzdC5yc3M/episode/NjY0NmViN2QtZGM2My00NTA3LWJlODEtYWY1MDAxODJkOTFl?ep=14

Such a great post Webber. It's been fantastic watching them all season. Even before the game and in a grand final, they kinda had a crazy moshpit going amongst themselves firing each other up, fists in the fair yelling and laughing together. Such a tight passionate team. It shone through in the last ten minutes of the game.

Just got home from the game an hour ago. What an amazing day. My first Melbourne premiership witnessed live. We were right in the with Demon Army (they are wonderful) behind the goals and nah, it rolled away towards the boundary. It was pretty funny because we were screaming our lungs out at Banno as she charged after the ball and then she just stopped in her tracks and started screaming back at us. I didn't know what the hell happened as I didn't hear the siren. Hillarious. So proud of our club. A day I'll never forget. They looked dead on their feet in the first few minutes of the last quarter. Lions players seemed to be getting loose. Then the girls just seemed to dig deep. Zanker in particular looked absolutely shot but she just kept presenting with lead after lead to make those contests. Our team are just defensive beasts. Gotta say Tahlia Gillard absolutely slaughtered Wardlaw today. I think Wardlaw might have taken one mark? She was amazing to watch her just blanket her and she's an 18 year old kid! So incredibly happy for them all. A true gritty underdog win that reminded me of local footy grannies when I was a kid. It doesn't have to be pretty to be absolutely riveting. I gotta ask if there's any other AFL presidents that would spend a whole half of footy sitting with the fans week in week out. Kate Roffey has so much time for the supporters and seems genuinely appreciative of us. It was great to meet her for the first time today. I love this club. After so many years of disappointment, these chapters of success are so sweet. Oh, and we listened to The age podcast with Daisy on the way to the game. If you haven't listened to it yet, you just have to. A true leader.

Me too BDA. Gobbing my heart medications before heading off to the game shortly.

There is something about going to a game, being the underdog, being completely outnumbered in the crowd and then winning. Doing it in a grand final would be exquisite. Get it done girls, it's time.

Probably fits in with the age old Ipswich tradition of betting on dog fights. We're pumped for tomorrow. Just been to Logan and bought a tricked up twin turbo Hyundai excel. We've fitted a brand new set of retreads to the rear. We'll be lighting her up with some victory donughts in the Springfield shopping centre car park after we win. Booked in for a southern cross neck tatt this arvo. Go Dees

He'll be in a corporate box so no need to worry

Nice write up. There's a link through this article to a podcast interview with Daisy as well. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/so-much-more-than-that-daisy-pearce-on-finding-fulfilment-outside-flag-dream-20221115-p5byi3.html

After watching Paxy last week, I'm tipping her for BOG. She's looking so fierce. I hope she rocks the friendly fire head gear one more time. Dees by 3 points. I assume considering they didn't have goal posts a week or two ago the penultimate showcase AFLW game of the season will not have VTR goal line review technology in place.

I believe we're now getting a run Saturday arvo. The fifty metre arcs touch the centre square. Purpose built AFL stadium pffft. I think @kevmartin mentioned in the training run that the girls were focusing on pushing hard through the centre corridor / square which probably makes sense if the lions try to force us wide. If we can keep busting them through the centre corridor we're half way there. If Harris is also fit as reported, she can boot them from 45 out and could wreak some havoc from centre clearances kicking them deep into our forward line.

I threw a bit more on the Dees yesterday. You're right, our defensive game is fantastic. There's nothing between these sides apart from a home ground and crowd advantage. Hope the umps don't get sucked in as usual. How did Birch miss a spot in the AA? I reckon it's going to be a nail biter.

I really save my loathing for the likes of the pies and the cats but the lions are quickly catching up. A victory would be so bloody sweet. Apart from Macca being out all season, this is probably the fittest squad we've taken into a finals series. Can't wait.

I'm sure this will ready get the game flowing...like effluent

Spot on. Pretty much grossly unfair I'd suspect but we will probably never know. Anyways, everyone knows that the best way to grow the game is from the ground up...... By erecting corporate marquees. Then square the tickets away for their mates who don't really care about the game to come along and be fed finger food and cheap bubbles. They can chat about anything else but footy throughout the day. I hope our footy team sends them off to their Teslas before the final siren even sounds. Go Dees

How are the umps supposed to allocate the correct votes without a comprehensive betting market in place?

There's quite a lot here lacking any kind of transparency. Usually, the AFL are very clear about ticket allocations for a granny and how many tickets are allocated to each club, sponsors etc etc. Haven't really seen any details around this. Have the lions been given 7500 tickets perhaps? With a couple of hundred thrown to MFC? Have we been offered a chance to train on the ground or not? I hope Springfield Bunnings have got some goal posts in stock.

You'd want them having a run in the heat at the ground on Friday arvo I would have thought. It's always stinking hot out that way this time of year. It was a perfect opportunity for a 6.30pm local time kick off to hit prime time TV in the eastern states. But naaah Would have been better for players and spectators.