Dees_In_October

Saw this on the trade blog: "Essendon holds a strong interest in Gold Coast's Claudia Whitfort as well, with the midfielder still weighing up her options as Carlton and Melbourne also chase her signature." Whitfort (171cm, 26 yrs) played a few games for us back in 2018-2019 then went to the Suns via St Kilda. Has established herself as a solid midfielder though has has a few injury interrupted seasons of late. All-Australian and GC B&F in 2023.

In last year's draft were a lot of those 160cm type midfielders going around, but we really need that height to go along with strength over the ball. Also like this from Chloe Bown's Rookie Me profile: "...and unlike many other peers, can use both sides of her body. It is easy to think the right-footer is actually left-footed considering the natural look when she has to swing onto her opposite side." So impressive. This is the silver lining, even though it has been frustrating to see our players out-muscled at times. Puts us in good stead. Agree, for talls only really Gillard, S.Taylor and Lampard, and the latter didn't have the greatest end to the season, albeit coming back from injury.

Don't know where to post this, but as good a place as any for some good news! Good to see the team get together for Liv's first run in 97 days: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FRkM0uy98To

Had some really bad luck with injuries over the journey and just bad timing. But I'll always remember she was best on for us in the 2022A Grand Final and how much of a loss she was going into the premiership season. Seems like she's been a great person around the club as well.

Not trade related at such, but this is a little bit of progress for the comp, especially fringe players. Essentially 3 weeks of VFLW H&A overlap (and 3 more for finalists) for non-selected players to compete in. This season the overlap was only during VFLW finals. We haven't had a heap of players languishing in the scrimmages but hopefully next season we'll have a fit list, so these opportunities for non-selected players to play proper games will be beneficial early in the season. The League is also set to trial double-headers featuring VFLW and AFLW sides in next season's fixture as a result of the change. afl.com.au/aflwFringe players get a boost as reserves season shiftedAFLW players will have greater opportunity to push for selection in the reserves next year

Would hate to see EMac go. I want her to get that Demons premiership after missing out in 2022. Fingers crossed!

Happy to see Ebert get another year. We've definitely done well with turning injury replacement players into regulars over the years! Really tough for Denby though. I thought she made the most of her opportunities. That de-listing puts us at 29 players plus 2 "inactive".

Made this just to look at the list age profile as it would be at Round 1 2026 and current contract status Thanks to @red and blue forever for the contract info! Based on vibes, question marks over Zanker (big question marks!), Johnson (apparently going west), A.Mackin (hasn't played since 6 games in 2023), a few potential retirees, Ebert and D.Taylor unless we elevate them (probably depends on other moves; better the depth you know, etc.). Should be locking down Mahony if we haven't already. O'Hehir. Has Rigoni shown enough? Hopefully not too many surprises with others looking to move. Had the focus on the the draft last time. Maybe there are some quality wantaways we can get? We've lost a drawcard in Mick, but still plenty to recommend us, I would think!

Dees leaderboard: Hanks 18 Hore 11 Harris 8 Zanker 6 Chaplin 3 McNamara 2 Paxman 2 Pearce 2 Heath 1 Pisano 1

Final leaderboard: Riddell 23 G.Prespakis 20 Hanks 18 Roberts 17 Gardiner 15 Garner 15 Bowers 13 Nanscawen 13 M.Scholz 12 Congrats to Riddell, honestly could have polled higher. Biggest congrats to Tyla, who did some hard yards this year! Funnily enough, she's a better player with Liv in there too but would get fewer votes as a result - and wouldn't mind a bit I'm sure.

T.Hanks!

The AA team. I see you back there, Tyla! 🤣 Also credit to whichever player is the first to wear a black (navy?) outfit with green trim, presumptuously, to match the AA jacket.

Hosking with Mark of the Year, well deserved.

Plot twist: Zanker to Geelong (Kidding...well we'll see I guess!)

Ahh we saw it coming, but it's still sad. We owe so much to Mick for everything's he's done to set up our program in the early years. The foundation he has helped laid is incredible. And it certainly hasn't been without sacrifice on his part, yet he has been humble all the way while driving our players to succeed despite the tumult often involved in the fledgling league. The constant message from every player he has coached is that he is so invested in them as players and people. It's for the good of the sport that he continues to develop and takes his talents elsewhere. Much like Daisy, he is a true leader in the sense that leadership is not about a cult of personality, but through raising up those around him, and as such, much like Daisy did, I believe he has left the club in good hands. Our first premiership coach, I'm always and forever grateful to him!

This is only the second time in my history of watching football that I've condoned this. The other was Jack Viney's request to Goodwin to "come off the line" at the start of the 2021 GF, and that was pure desperation and a bit of left-over 2000 GF trauma on my part. Generally, I think such distractions rarely end well, but in both these cases, I just didn't care 😆 Yep. I think people in NSW and Qld (generally speaking) view Aussie Rules as the "weaker" option and are therefore more willing to allow their girls to play it, especially all the girls who want to play rugby. For both codes, you often hear from girls that what they like most (aside from the camaraderie of playing with a big group of friends) is the chance to tackle and test themselves physically. Hopefully the AFL are aware of the inroads they're making from an unexpected demographic.

I've been wondering about this for... 10 seasons at this point. I truly don't understand why this doesn't exist. Even just an "add-on" of a W game for every M membership option. Or the three-game membership is that, plus an option to "add-on" a W game. Considering that currently W memberships give access to all Victorian Melbourne games (including away games, and Home games not at Casey), I wouldn't think this is a stretch. Yes, it's not like our team has been cellar dwellers and we finally got it together this season. We dominated for years (admittedly without quite getting the ultimate result due to ~ factors ~ e.g., the "state" teams). Relative to the league we've always been one of the better teams to watch. I've very rarely seen W players representing us drop their heads or treat the jumper with anything other than respect and passion. And just on the annoyance with the turnout on Saturday, I will say that all I ever hear as an excuse for not coming to watch Dees W (aside from the ones that will just never be interested) is that people don't want to go to Casey. So I think that's why people are disappointed.

This is what I get for cut and pasting from the AFLW website! I shouldn't have trusted them to have it up to date...the day before the event. Sigh!

6 Gillard 5 S.Taylor 4 Hore 3 McNamara 2 Chaplin 1 Paxman Apologies to everyone

The event will be broadcast live on Fox Footy on Foxtel, Kayo Sports and Binge from 7.30pm AEDT. Live tracker and hub here: https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/awards Which awards will be announced on the night? AFLW All-Australian Team (Dees nominees: Chaplin, Hanks, Hore) BHP Community Coach of the Year Award AFLW Leading Goal Kicker Award AFLW Umpires Rising Star Award Telstra AFLW Rising Star 2024 AFLW Best and Fairest Virgin Australia AFLW Mark of the Year (Dees nominee: Harris) NAB AFLW Goal of the Year Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award

Key dates Trade period: Thursday, December 4 - Wednesday, December 10 National draft: Monday, December 15.

ALSO - Thanks to everyone who’s made the discussion here a joy to be part of this season. The track watchers especially, and everyone who has kept the contract info, injury lists, game threads, votes threads, nominations, etc., updated and ticking over.

Just finished the replay to supplement my live viewing (somewhat distracted by some exuberant young demons I attended with!), and gosh, we gave that a red hot go! I'll admit I had zero expectations for this game, at one point thinking, "If we can get within five goals, I'll be happy" which is exactly the kind of defeatist attitude that I'm glad our players don't have! The effort and intensity and mindset of our team in this game was so, so impressive. I shouldn't have expected anything less because they've so rarely let me down in this regard. I loved the physicality we brought early within the contest. And a little extra out of it (I'm crediting Edo on Birch to @Ghostwriter!!). The last quarter was tough against the fresh legs and North's finishing power, but our players left it all out there. Couldn't ask for much more. It's hard to take, but it was the QF that got us in the end and we weren't far off it there either. Still, playing finals in a short season has extra value. An extra 3 games each season adds up, especially against quality, and for those that don't make it or bounce in then out, it lengthens the development process. Well done to the Dees fans who got along and were rewarded with a real display of Demon spirit. I only wish our numbers could have matched our team's effort. A lot to think about there. We move on quickly with the trade period (Thursday, December 4 - Wednesday, December 10) and the national draft (Monday, December 15). So excited for 2026!

The dream!

This was very much my audible reaction! But, and I hate to say it, something about it rang true to me. And he's out of contract. After he hit 100, I was reflecting on the idea that at some point something would have to give (new challenge for him, new voice for our players), but was hoping for one more season so we can really hit our stride in this iteration of the team. Anyway, time will tell. All focus on tomorrow! Game result aside, very likely our last game in Melbourne so a last chance for many to send off some key figures in person. Not to retire or trade anyone early (I refuse to be wrong about Paxy for the millionth time)! I do wonder about the possibly of Chaplin as a late out... I really hope so. Good for continuity and she's highly rated. If there's going to be a vacancy, I hope we're able to jump early and get the best candidate (sound familiar?!). Hopefully the club is on the ball.