Dees_In_October

How good is the word "unfurl"? Never had cause to use it so much before!

If only that's all she had to concentrate on. What a luxury that would be!

No surprises, another MOTY contender from Tayla: Vote here: https://www.womens.afl/markoftheyear And just rounding out the round, loved this new tradition created by Krstel Petrevski and Matthew Whelan, the JoogBoo Birlirre (hunt and spirit) award for indigenous round, awarded to Paxman: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1068925/paxman-receives-inaugural-joogboo-birlirre-award

5 Paxman 4 Harris 3 Mithen 2 L Pearce 1 Heath

ROUND 3 No stream this week - and to be honest, completely forgot about this game (men's praccy, AFLW, VFLW; it's all happening!). In the first of the VFLW/AFLW double-header at "the Fields", Casey had a third-straight win. Looking at the players listed below, we had all fit players on our main list involved at either VFLW/AFLW level today. A successful day for our women's program. CASEY 2.2.14 3.3.21 6.5.41 6.8.44 NORTH 1.0.6 2.1.13 3.3.21 3.6.24 Casey goalkickers: Caris, Chaplin, Fitzsimon, Johnson, McCrossan, Tarrant VFLW standouts: McCrossan - 1 goal, 17 disposals, 3 tackles Dowler - 16 disposals Hogg - 16 disposals, 6 tackles Fellows - 14 disposals, 3 marks AFLW-listed players: Caris - 1 goal, 14 hit outs, 3 clearances Fitzsimon - 1 goal, 19 disposals, 3 marks, 5 clearances Tarrant - 1 goal, 18 disposals, 6 tackles Brown - 14 disposals, 5 tackles Campbell - 4 disposals, 2 tackles, 5 hit outs Magee - 13 disposals, 6 tackles Petrevski - 15 disposals, 4 tackles

Getting the job done, yep, that about sums up this game up for me. Every player did some small or big part to get us over the line and all seemed very aware and focused on what needed to be done, even if it didn't always come off. I think I wrote in a match report a few weeks' back (or maybe I had to cut for brevity's sake!) that Heath is so clearly a player that loves to have a really defined task and just dig into it. So I loved her role in this one: stop Kearney. And she sure did. If only she'd kicked that goal, it would have been so well deserved!

I read/heard Max say that it was something to do with a music festival they'd both attended. Something to the effect of "This is so much better than XYZ festival." But that could just as easily have been Max making stuff up. Whatever it was, it certainly tickled Fritta.

On the umpiring, yes, the quality is not ideal but it matches where the competition's at. For the most part, I'm pretty sure these are developing umpires working on their craft. So I agree, while it's frustrating, it's just where things are for the league. Goldie as a Viney type is spot on! Attack of the footy, occasionally tries to do too much, but brings a great hunger. Agree and interesting point. Tayla's been through more in terms of media stuff - both positive and negative, a double-edged sword for anyone, particularly a young person - than any other AFLW player. People who know nothing about AFLW see her as an over-hyped player who got an undeserving statue. I agree she comes across as someone who marches to their own drum, and to some extent the pressure/commentary she's received comes with the territory of being a face of the game (not the sexist stuff, obviously that's just not on). Doesn't make it easier to deal with though and still just 24 years old. She comes across a bit defensive about certain aspects of her game in interviews and chooses her words carefully because she knows they will be thrown back at her. So good to see her happy though - that's what fans should want for all players. Agree completely (no big surprise there!). Like a lot of players in the league at this stage, she can get away with having one poor aspect of her game because she's got a couple of very good attributes. Her kicking likely won't improve in-season, but her college basketball background means she'll hopefully be very coachable in this regard. And pretty sure this is her second season of footy, full stop. It's the same reason cross-coders in general will continue to get a run for a while yet - brings a certain standard of fitness and training habits, ability to implement a game plan at least in theory, and the transferable skills ideally cover the potentially costly downsides (like 50-metre penalties due to lack of game awareness or an unsuccessful running bounce attempt, etc.) I keep repeating myself, but more players like West will be extremely important in the next expansion phase.

5 Harris 4 Hanks 3 Bannan 2 McNamara 1 D.Pearce Apologies to Paxman and L.Pearce in particular.

Yeah you can see in her post-match interviews that she's been given a really clear message about her role and it's given her confidence just to do her thing.

Have just posted the VOTES thread on the AFLW board. Lots of opinions in this thread, please give your 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 over there and have your say!

Get your votes in here!

Yep, I hadn't caught up with the Round 10 release. From memory, I'd heard they were going to keep the last round unfixtured for flexibility. I'm just interested because it's a quirk in the fixture that we've never played Geelong in four seasons. No big deal.

I was also a member of that club! But I should have remembered that our girls don't give up that easy.

Carn the mighty Dees! Never in doubt 😉

I'm nervous! Brisbane are good on every line and when they're on, they're on. A win would be massive, a loss probably means we're just making up the numbers. Regardless of the outcome, I hope we can show our best, which we simply haven't yet this season. A good start is on top of my wish list. Best of luck to Purcell and Gillard for their first games as Demons.

Yep. Surely we'll play Geelong next season... could even still be in 2022!

Ha, I can't take the credit there since I also said I doubted she'd be up for a debut off the back of one game! More than anything, recruits like West give me confidence in our club's ability to continue to recruit some left-field / "free" players who will fill gaps and become contributors in the expansion years - going to be super important. (Also, she not he 😉) TBH she still gives me a heart attack every time she disposes of the ball, but her strengths now make up for that! RE: Gillard. I thought they'd want to give her a few more games at VFLW level to build, but they must be confident. I guess it might have been a toss-up with Brown, and maybe her two games in one day lat week tipped the balance. Regardless of how she goes in her debut, Gillard has heaps to offer in the long-term, so it will be good experience all round. Good to have Lampard back, too.

Just to add on from WJ, My plan to check out this game on catch-up was thwarted when only the third quarter was available for streaming, so this is just what I've scraped together from that and the stats. According to the commentary, Tarrant and Fellows were the best on ground in the first half. Another interesting point in the commentary – apparently last VFLW season, when Casey won, they did so by the highest average margin in the league, of 40 points. Based on my third quarter viewing, as the scoreline suggests, Casey was well in control of the game, with some good overlap run, and working hard defensively. I especially liked our players' willingness to keep the ball moving forward with clever taps and punches. No Petrevski, Purcell (as expected), Brown or Gillard, while Caris did play. So definitely some players held in reserve for AFLW or rested. VFLW-listed stand outs: Fellows - 3 goals, 18 disposals, 6 tackles Grant - 25 disposals, 4 marks, 3 tackles AFLW-listed players: Tarrant - 20 disposals Chaplin - 18 disposals Campbell - 16 disposals, 11 hit outs Caris - 4 disposals, 5 tackles, 8 hit outs

Yep, no Petresvski, Brown, Magee or Gillard for Casey. Meanwhile, Caris did play for Casey yesterday, so we're either going one ruck or Gillard's getting a go.

I wouldn't pull the trigger off one game re: Gillard. Should have the chance to build for a bit and then push for selection. We'll need physicality and clean hands at the contest. So definitely Purcell (although talk about being thrown in the deep end!). Brisbane's speed worries me, but I don't think we've got much to add in that regard.

5 Mithen 4 Hanks 3 West 2 Paxman 1 Harris Would have liked to sneak Goldie in there. Top three could have raffled it.

Petrevski had a great game for Casey and could really add another element.

Yep, she's moving well, and I'm really glad we've been able to bring her back via VFLW since she's been out of the game for a while.