Dees_In_October

MFC leading vote winners: PURCELL 16 PAXMAN 7 HARRIS 7 WEST 6 HORE 5 L.PEARCE 2 HANKS 2 D.PEARCE 1 MITHEN 1 BANNAN 1

Final leaderboard. Congrats to Purcell AKA "The Purse" for an incredible season and to all our players who polled. A.ANDERSON (BRIS) 21 M.CONTI (RICH) 19 E.MARINOFF (ADEL) 18 M.PRESPAKIS (ESS) 17 O.PURCELL (MELB) 16 A.PARKER (GWS) 15 C.ROWBOTTOM (GC) 15

Leaderboard after Round 7

Mid-way through, 7 different vote-getters for the Dees.

Yep, can confirm what others have said. It felt strong enough in the stands and kept shifting. On the field after the game it as way worse. Bizarre how little is was mentioned in the broadcast considering you could see the ball being held up in the wind!

Our team will share the votes, so not much chance of us having the winner. Like this though:

Just gonna spew out my thoughts as usual! First of all, credit to North. They’re a better team than many recognise and but for some wasted chances could easily have taken this one. It was finals footy in a lot of ways: not necessarily champagne football, just two sides who happen to match up very well on each other. Absolutely critical for us was the straight set shot goalkicking of Fitzsimon and Sherriff at pivotal moments. They coolly took their opportunity when many others in this league would have faltered. Gay won some really crucial contests. Paxy did Paxy things (shout out to the guy yelling, “Go Karen!” throughout the game, much to my amusement). Big game from Hanks, just so clean and relentless in mopping up. Mackin also impressed with some beautiful long kicks and “right place, right time” marks, reflecting hard running. Mithen—these days, you know what you’ll get from her. Mistakes, yes, but always energy and hardness. After a shaky first half, Gillard didn’t put a foot wrong. That resilience is so good to see. Zanker was quiet then sacrificed her game and worked into it. Birch looked a bit off early and was a good barometer for how swirly the wind was, as even she was misjudging the ball drop! Some quieter games from a few of our big names and some uncharacteristic mistakes—but many lifted in the last. At times they tried to force chains of possession that just weren’t on and made some bad decisions with ball in hand. Our forwards connection was poor, and some structural difficulties due to Tayla being limited didn’t help. The kudos for this win, though, has to go to the defensive effort under an absolute onslaught in the third. Getting trapped like that in D50 is obviously not ideal, but sometimes you have to make do with what you have and then take your chances when they come—and to have retain the belief that you can make that happen. Which we did in the last. Of course, against the best opposition…the chances might simply never arrive. The enduring memory I’ll have from this game is seeing a player, midway through the last, turning through traffic and then snapping a wonderful, match-sealing goal. From the legends stand, I couldn’t quite make out who it was moving with such agility and executing such a classy finish. Hore maybe? Nope. Could it be…Daisy! Moving the best that she has in a while and with such a pure kick after missing so many targets throughout. Cue a standing ovation from a very pumped up crowd.

Some media for a couple of our rising stars. We've all become big fans of Mackin this season: https://www.womens.afl/news/114435/the-whirlwind-trip-that-brought-b-to-the-dees Mackin also on the podcast with Mithen, McNamara and West this week, a fun chat and lots of talk about her transition to Aussie Rules - the story about her first training is amazing: https://omny.fm/shows/lil-ben/lil-lize-s-blaithin-mackin Chaplin has been a solid contributor, persistence has really paid off: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1248221/two-years-in-one-chaplin-s-rise-in-the-red-and-blue Her talk about the VFLW season made me reflect on the opportunities for games our players have had this year, even those that haven't necessarily been in the AFLW team consistently. Big leap from previous years after Covid wiped so many VFLW games in particular. As much as I like the idea of having the seasons at the same time so one can feed into the other, this year's never-ending season has clearly worked to accelerate development for players like Chaplin, Gillard, even West.

An interview with our coach. Mick is his typical composed self and plays the straight bat as usual, but some interesting bits and pieces here: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/the-w-with-sharni-and-sam/episode-thirteen-mick-stinear/101652428 Interview starts 20:30 Topics include: - Tackling the week off - Mick's views on finals home ground advantage & North's performance vs. Richmond - Demon spirit (mentioned 1,000 times haha) - Harris's recruitment and integration into the team - GF location, the current state of the league - Is this Daisy's last season?

"arctic blasts and sideways rains" - sounds like home sweet home at Casey Fields 🤣

The disrespect shown to AFLW members by the AFL (and some clubs, not Melbourne) has been pretty bad of late. Like, there have definitely been many, many stuff-ups and ridiculous decisions over the seven years of this league, but for the most part (despite plenty of valid venting!), paid-up fans have been willing to put up with it and be patient, in the view that these are teething problems, etc., etc., and that the most important thing is to expose new audiences even if that means alienating the core. But at this point, I agree, there's almost a sense of resignation about the lack of vision. It's not even about people's individual ability to go to games, it's about decisions being made that clearly hold back the competition and the complete lack of transparency and communication about those decisions. Excuses are wearing thin. No one's asking for miracles (you know, like a season where everyone plays each other). Just the most basic planning. If they don't have a concrete policy that sets a reasonable standard for finals venues by next season, and the planning to back that up, well, we'll know where we really stand. Personally, I quite like the Grand Final going to the higher ranked team. I think it's fair and good for the game nationally. BUT the policy should be that if a club/league can't provide an adequate venue in their own city, then the club forfeits the right and Princes(s) Park is secured in advance as the back-up. Why they didn't have such a decision in place prior to or during this season given the many obvious clashes because of the change of timing, is just so baffling. Fans have been raising this potential problem since the timing change was announced, then every week as Brisbane sat atop the ladder, with zero response.

Got my tickets! Feeling a bit nervous...but if we bring our best, we can do it.

Also please vote for Purcell and Bannan in the AFLW Fan Awards: https://www.womens.afl/fan-awards Purcell - Most improved player Bannan - Match Winning moment

Training photos - West looks unhampered by the leg issue from Friday night, L.Pearce still has shoulder strapping but participated. Not related to finals, but something nice to see in our week off

So many of the best players in the league are under 22. It makes it less of an 'encouragement' award than in the men's, though obviously it will shift over time. I definitely looked up Zanker's DOB to check eligibility!