Dees_In_October

Love this. Looking forward to watching Kate develop further as our captain and to Tyla one day taking the helm. With a bit of upheaval coming, it's good to have steady leaders who you can tell are committed to improving themselves and others. As an aside, I hope we get similar detail about the contract lengths of all players signed on. With contracts becoming a bit more meaningful and less likely to be thrown out by expansion stuff, it's good to have transparency about it.

Alyce Parker is off the table! Seeing some of the highlights packages (usual disclaimers about the lower level etc.), the draft is exciting. It's nice to think that 2023's 18 year olds were 12 year olds when the league started, right at that age where a tough choice used to be made. I'm choosing to view this as evidence of brilliance 😆 Some more on Rigoni from Draft Central, where she's the top power ranking pick in a small pool of utilities: Jemma Rigoni (Oakleigh Chargers / Vic Metro) 04/06/2004 | 172cm | Victoria Rigoni is a talented over-ager with explosive speed and the confidence to break the lines. Tucking the ball under her arm, she takes off and has proven to be able to play forward, back and then off a wing, making her a versatile utility. She is good overhead and reads the play well, with some of her fundamentals in her kicking and execution being the next step in her development. She is tied to Melbourne through the father-daughter rule – dad Guy played 107 games for the Demons – and is tipped to head there in the second round. Our draft picks in the indicative order: 16, 35, 56, 74

From list manager Todd Patterson (more here): "It was a really disappointing end to the season, not just the last game but a series of games leading up to that. We've been thoroughly reviewing the program and the playing list, not just as that occurred, but for a period of time before that. ... Once we actually put the remaining players on the whiteboard and have a look at the nucleus, we're really comfortable with where we're at. What has been missing through the expansion periods, our retention, our success having us at the back of the draft, and concessions, is we've really missed out on getting some young talent through the door. That'll be a key focus for us, getting up the draft order as high as we can and really targeting that next wave coming through with our already established 22-25 year olds, who are some of the best players in the competition."

Wow, this kind of exodus has been such a long time coming that I'm almost (almost!) relieved the other shoe has finally dropped. Most upset about Gay, who I have in my "top 10 players to please, please let us keep". On the fringes of that, but still. The one consolation is there were definitely questions about her durability (always have to find a silver lining - we could lose Hanks and I'd still find something to nitpick to make myself feel better!). As for reasons for leaving, I agree the "stick-together-ness" after the premiership that had such huge buy-in was always going to have an abrupt expiration date on it. Even if we had gone back to back, I suspect this would have played out to some extent. And who know what kinds of expectations were set in exit interviews regarding what 2023 might look like for these players... Of course, pay is probably the big one. The next few seasons in particular the pay raises could be the difference for some between being a year-round full-time athlete and not. Faced with that decision, with the opportunity to fulfill what was likely previously a pipedream for many? Well, the day I begrudge an AFLW player for moving for money hasn't arrived yet. Getting closer though.

The umpiring standard is so poor that I don't even think about it anymore, as most of the time it affects teams fairly evenly by being an absolute lottery. I do think it's time for some more investment in that area, rather than the league being treated as a testing ground for new umpires, but I won't hold my breath. Clarity and consistency on the rules also required, but that's not exclusive to AFLW. People tune into a Grand Final and expect a display of the best a league has to offer because realistically it rarely is. And the AFLW at this stage is particularly susceptible to skills breaking down in games like that. Just last year we won a premiership using a highly defensive approach and had to claw our way through an absolute scrapfest to prevail. Enjoyable to us, not so much to neutrals. Taking my red and blue glasses, off the game yesterday had more genuine highlights, even beyond simply more goals being kicked. Unrelated to the quality of contests, but a point of interest anyway in terms of where the game's at, I had a look at scoring across the seasons, just to see how things have ebbed and flowed with expansion and so on. This season I've definitely enjoyed the greater opportunity for shifts in momentum due to the longer quarters, which often produce late goals, reward fitness and make it harder for mediocre teams to defensively suck time out of games to produce low-scoring wins. Hopefully the latter will see further evolution in game plans in 2024.

Jemma Rigoni highlights

She'll be 26 by start of season next year. She might have been a bit injured, but I can't help but feel this would be a move that will work well for all parties (including Libby, who I think has leadership ambitions that she might feel better able to fulfill elsewhere - that's just my speculation though). Agree and not just stronger and more muscular but taller. Hanks (157cm), West (162) and Purcell (161) compared to players like Hatchard (175) and Garner (175) and so on, the likes of which we really don't have an equivalent in terms of true midfielders. Even still, if Parker (164) is available, agree with @Craig T, we'd be crazy not to get her if possible despite not quite being the size we need. Big talent who would absolutely thrive with us. If only we had a crystal ball! I'd hope the recruiting team have a clear idea of our needs. They've brought in players successfully in the past to fill roles so I'm cautiously optimistic. It's an interesting task to balance between the experience of established players in the 23-26 age range and the ever-growing standard of (sometimes game-ready) 18 year olds coming through.

We're overdue to lose a bunch of players. We've made our luck in that regard, but it would be pretty strange and possibly not even desirable to keep that going another season. Have to hope we can be like Brisbane and weather those losses and improve our best 21 - there are opportunities. AFLW is interesting with regards to depth. Ours is shallow but so is everyone's. I can only see improvement coming in that area via new players surpassing previously best 21 regulars. I also see this offseason as perhaps our last best chance to cash in on the respect for our program before we lose that advantage as other clubs catch up. We rightfully didn't take that path for S7, but now's the time. Birch, West, Sherriff. The bright side is that none of these players would make my top 5 "must keep" list (though some are players I'd be sad to lose from a sentimental standpoint). Birch's relative youth (26 next season) plus experience is immensely valuable to teams like the Hawks, so I could see us parlaying that into a win for us. She was the guest on the W Show this week and talked a bit about our finals exit, if anyone wants to be an amateur body language analyst: https://youtu.be/OtoJcWSE0ws?t=1526 West also had a form slump, but as we saw in the QF, we really need that type of player. If we could attract/draft a similar player (or two!) with an upgrade on disposal though... I see Sherriff as a much more needed player than I would have even one season ago. She does a lot for our forward mix that, yes, maybe could be replaced, but I'd prefer our efforts to be focused on existing gaps. I wouldn't begrudge her the decision to go for some better coin though, as I imagine she's on a low-ish tier, and she's worked really hard to raise her stocks.

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1471643/aflw-best-and-fairest-the-contenders It's always interesting to see the club's perspective, with the insider knowledge of individual player's roles and KPIs. Who would we like to see take home the award? Hore would be a frontrunner to go back to back, alongside Demonland vote-winner Hanks. B.Mackin as a bit of a smokey?

First list change, with Georgina Fowler stepping away from football. All the best to her. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1471449/fowler-steps-away

And Kate was also awarded Best Captain by the Players Association and 4th in the AFLPA MVP. Heath finished 5th in the Most Courageous, while A.Mackin came 5th for the Best First Year Player.

Absolutely, well deserved. Meanwhile, Garner is left wondering once again. Hopefully she'll get the team success on Sunday.

MFC Final Votes Hanks 12 (2 1 3 3 3) Hore 12 (3 2 1 3 3) Paxman 6 (1 3 2) Zanker 6 (2 2 2) Bannan 5 (3 2) Pearce 2 West 2 Purcell 1

Winner: Monique Conti (Richmond) Final leaderboard: Conti 23 Am.McDonald 16 Molloy 16 Riddell 16 Whitfort 16

R10 v Brisbane 3 Conway (Bris) 2 Anderson (Bris) 1 O'Dwyer (Bris)

R9 v Fremantle 3 Hore (Melb) 2 West (Melb) 1 Strom (Freo)

R8 v North Melbourne 3 Hore (Melb) 2 Paxman (Melb) 1 Purcell (Melb)

R7 v West Coast 3 Hanks (Melb) 2 Bannan (Melb) 1 Hore (Melb)

R6 v Adelaide 3 Hatchard (Ade) 2 Zanker (Melb) 1 Marinoff (Ade)

Leaderboard after R5 Conti 13 Toogood 10 Hanks 9 Hatchard 8 Marinoff 8 B.Moody 8 Riddell 8

R5 v Geelong 3 Paxman (Melb) 2 Hore (Melb) 1 A.Moloney (Geel)

R4 v Hawthorn 3 Hanks (Melb) 2 Zanker (Melb) 1 Paxman (Melb)

R3 v Western Bulldogs 3 Hanks (Melb) 2 Zanker (Melb) 1 Blackburn (WB)

R2 v GWS 3 Hore (Melb) 2 Pearce (Melb) 1 Hanks (Melb)

B&F Voting R1 v Collingwood 3 Bannan (Melb) 2 Hanks (Melb) 1 Davey (Coll)