Dees_In_October

Timelines are vague at this stage, but reading between the lines, it's something like: Gillard (10-12 weeks) MCL Colvin (no timeline given, but will miss early season) Lower grade MCL Beasley (mid-season) ACL Harris (2-4 weeks) Ankle B.Mackin (TBA but sounds optimistic?) Hamstring D.Taylor (Possibly available for Round 1) Foot Campbell (Symptoms pending, likely available R1) Concussion L.Pearce (Available) Head/neck Goldrick (TBA) May be delayed due to wild celebrations :) So at this stage we're minimum 4 players down for Round 1 (including Beasley, which was known) plus possibly B.Mackin and Goldrick. In terms of having a replacement spot for Gillard, I'm not sure how that works if the injury only just rules her out for the H&A season length. I guess they'll wait for more on the injury to get a clearer timeline. All the best to Tahlia; at least she won't be alone in rehab (clutching at straws here!). It's a credit to her that she's such a loss to us for a young player.

Yeah not ideal. At the very least, if Gillard's injury is season ending (hopefully not), I think we qualify for a replacement because it has happened in preseason. S.Taylor also comes into the mix. Beyond that, there's not much depth in the tall defenders, though I guess Harris could go back when recovered or some other shuffling from the forward line.

Injury updates from the AFLW website with a somewhat misleading headline. Harris under an injury cloud, ruck enters concussion protocols– Sarah Black MELBOURNE is hopeful Tayla Harris has escaped serious damage to her ankle, but the jury is still out on Tahlia Gillard’s knee after an eventful match sim against Hawthorn. An official update is due on Tuesday after the pair had scans on Sunday. Harris is currently in a moonboot, but the expectation is that she has escaped with a rolled ankle. Key back Gillard is on crutches, and while the extent of her knee injury is unknown, it is believed to be more serious than Harris’. Tall Georgia Campbell will sit out this weekend’s practice match against Adelaide with concussion, while ruck Lauren Pearce has dodged the concussion protocols after a head knock, and is set to play. The Dees have a number of players already sidelined, including Gab Colvin (MCL), Blaithin Mackin (hamstring), Denby Taylor (foot) and Grace Beasley (ACL), while Sinead Goldrick is still in Ireland, with Dublin playing in the Gaelic football Grand Final.

Don't like the sound of that for Tayla. It would be tough to lose Gillard on top of Colvin being out. Fingers crossed for all!

Fingers crossed for whoever it was! Watched this in case anything mentioned, but no. Paxy happy with the hit out though. Hopefully a match report to come later. You wouldn't know from the AFLW website that games were even happening today.

Great news! Just looked it up, the championship match is the 4th of August, 1.15am our time. We'll dream of victory for Sinead. Up the Dubs!

Some more mildly interesting trivia, this time looking at our 2022B (S7) list and team. - 26 of the 33 listed players (including inactive) are still on an AFLW list for S9, 19 of them at the Demons. - 15 of the 21 premiership players remain (the outs being Birch, Gay, Mithen, D.Pearce, Sherriff, West). And just out of interest, I've compared this with the men's premiership team (I've included the medi-sub) and how the outs went. Remaining in 2025: M = 16/23, W = 15 of 21 Traded: M = 4, W = 5 Retired: M = 3, W = 1

No worries, was a little surprised by the quick progression! Hopefully she gets some games in later on in the season if ready.

I love this after we all prematurely retired her for about the third time! Fingers crossed. Would have to be our second most important player... Good signs for Beasley to be playing only about 10 months post ACL. Probably a bit off the pace. Watching a VFLW game a few weeks back I was constantly confusing them! Glad it's not just me. Also good to hear. We really had to test our depth last season and hopefully that exposure has fast tracked some development. Silver lining. I wonder how we'll approach the praccy matches in terms of selection; try some things out or go full strength or what.

Also of interest to AFLW fans may be this article by Jason Lassey at SportsIndustryAU, which provides a deeper look into how the AFLW is faring in the lead-up to the 10th season. It covers attendance numbers, as well as TV audiences, impact on participation and the finances of the league. https://footyindustry.com/index.php/2025/07/08/the-aflw-endures-despite-the-same-old-critics-and-criticisms/

In the lead-up to Season 10, I've been looking back over the 10 seasons and how our list has evolved since those early seasons and how our 2025 list shapes up. As we know, in 2025, three players (Lampard, Paxman and Pearce) remain at the Dees from the inaugural 2017 S1 Melbourne list of 28 (list size expanded to 30 for S2 onwards). After a lot of turnover initially, the number of original Dees players has remained fairly stable: S2 (20 inaugural players), S3 (14), S4 (11), S5 (6), S6 (5), S7 (5), S8 (4), S9 (4), S10 (3). Who will be the last one standing? Outside of the Demons, there are about 20 additional inaugural players still playing for their original AFLW team in 2025. There are also 11 inaugural Demons still on other AFLW lists. The average retention of active listed players between seasons has been 23 players. The retention of players between S9 and S10 (26 players) is our second-most behind the 27 players retained between S7 and S8. On our 2025 list, all but four players were originally drafted or signed to the Dees, the exceptions being Harris (Brisbane), Purcell (Geelong), Johnson (Port) and D.Taylor (Geelong). Including inactive players, on our list we have 24 Victorians, 3 Irishwomen, 2 Queenslanders, 1 South Australian, 1 Tasmanian and 1 Western Australian.

Yes, was just coming to post these. I like how, rather than getting them to speak about themselves, which usually is difficult for people and can end up in kind of boring responses because no one wants to talk themself up, they've got others to explain why these players have been voted in, which gives us all a much better insight into what the group feels (the emotions!) and values.

Thanks for your thoughts on Dethridge. I feel like we've had a pretty high success rate with cross-coders making quick progress, so nothing would surprise me! I'm looking forward to some more debuts this season (hopefully not forced by injury). It'd be special to see Jemma get a go, after some bad luck with timing last season - and for sentimental reasons for Dees fans, of course.

There's one or two relegation games left in the LGFA for Blaithin and Aimee (who has just returned to play). So Blaithin will presumably be back in a month or so. Not sure what happens after the All-Ireland season for Aimee but hopefully her recovery continues well.