Dees_In_October

Always good to have a stepladder around with Fritsch lurking!

We've come out of this pretty well, especially if the rules mean we can't have anyone else poached? Rocky is a big loss but it was always going to be someone. To be honest I'd prefer to keep Mithen and she's done well with a hard decision. Hickey, as much as I respect what she's done in our team (I reckon she would have been the difference in the last round), at this stage I think we're well placed to cover that with someone younger. As for the AFL's machinations, I won't even get started, but their apparent disinterest in doing what it takes to keep the best coach in the league around speaks volumes... Anyway, what does everyone think we should be looking for by trade or draft? I think the forward line's the main issue.

I don't worry about Clayton. In the scheme of things, he's due some delayed 'second year blues'. Any downturn from him learning to deal with the extra attention, either due to his performance last year or the absence of other players, is just part of the process.

Here's where our 2018 listed players will be for the VFLW season at least, starting this weekend. Casey Demons Newman, Jakobsson, Hore, Duryea, Smith, Scott, Grierson, Whitfort, Cordner, Shevlin, Zanker, Phillips Darebin Paxman, Guerin, Patterson, O’Dea, L. Pearce Geelong Cranston, Hoare, Teague Western Bulldogs Guest, Mifsud Not VFLW listed/Doing something else this winter? Humphries, Downie, Cunningham, Lampard, Kemp Daisy and Mithen are taking VFLW off, Hickey injured

Always gives a consistent effort, regardless of form. He's come a long way. Of all the players of the really bad times, you wouldn't necessarily have expected that he'd be one of the survivors. But he ended up out-lasting some much more skilled players just through his tenacity.

1. Going up a gear and getting the job done when we had to. 2. Hogan's epic tackle. 3. Fritsch's hands.

Well done to the 'Big 3' but especially well done by Downie. Showed great improvement from last season, and even within this season itself. Also Daisy was again named Best Captain at the MVP awards, with Paxman taking 2nd place behind Gum for the MVP.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-03-21/aflw-pies-and-dees-dominate-aa-squad We have 7 players in the 40-player long list, which will be whittled down to 21 at the W awards on Tuesday. Melbourne Meg Downie Bianca Jakobsson Richelle Cranston Tegan Cunningham Karen Paxman Daisy Pearce Elise O'Dea

That'll keep us guessing longer. No need for silhouettes!

It looks amazing! Really livens the page up. I love how Oliver's in his trademark handball pose! Makes me wonder what next year's banner could be? Surrealist? Post-modern? Heidelburg School of Australian Impressionism?

I don't quite get his thinking, putting it off to attend training. Why not get it done and dusted ASAP to recover better for round 1? Hope his recovery is as speedy as he thought it would be!

Round 7 Team of the Week Smith in the backline. Paxman in the midfield. Our players who featured most regularly in the Team of the Week in 2018 were: O'Dea, Paxman (4), Cunningham, Daisy (3). Coaches Association Votes Carlton v Melbourne, Sunday March 11 10 Elise O'Dea (Melb) 7 Lauren Pearce (Melb) 6 Shelley Scott (Melb) 5 Tegan Cunningham (Melb) 2 Kate Hore (Melb) Western Bulldogs v Melbourne, Saturday March 17 10 Emma Kearney (WB) 8 Karen Paxman (Melb) 5 Jenna Burton (WB) 4 Lauren Spark (WB) 3 Daisy Pearce (Melb) Final Leaderboard 42 Emma Kearney (WB) 42 Chelsea Randall (Adel) 35 Ellie Blackburn (WB) 34 Kate Lutkins (BL) 32 Dana Hooker (Frem) 31 Daisy Pearce (Melb) 30 Courtney Gum (GWS) 26 Kara Donnellan (Frem) 26 Elise O’Dea (Melb) 24 Ebony Antonio (Frem)

I don't agree with the seeming rigidity within our game plan. It's all well and good to 'stick to the process' because our best is very good, but there must be some flexibility to respond to conditions, match ups, the general vibe of the day. Arguably sticking to the game plan is good for player and team development but short games and a short season don't always lend themselves to long-term thinking. The idea that our weaknesses are somehow a 'Melbourne' trait though is questionable ... is it something in the water because the teams seem quite separate entities, except I guess Garland. Not saying similar problems aren't there, just that they're unhappy coincidences. It'll be a very different competition next season and onwards - more time for form fluctuations and building team synergy within seasons. We'll look back at these first two as ones that got away and it won't get easier from here. And now the teams go their separate ways for another, what, 8-9 months? Then back to square one. I definitely felt that some of what we'd built by the last round of 2017 understandably didn't carry over into 2018. Same boat as all teams though. We'll lose some good players to expansion, but that's inevitable and I think the players going would have mostly decided anyway. As part-timers, being close to family support and having continuity with VFLW are among the biggest selling points. On a positive, some of the 18-year-olds who've come in this year for other teams have been very impressive, so (dare I say it!) I hope we look to the draft for some more natural footballers - in the style of Katherine Smith, who I thought played a great game last night.

Heartbreaking. I called it a few weeks back but I always hoped we could steal it. The weaknesses we've had all season were the reason we lost tonight. Can't fault our effort though. No one can say we didn't put up a fight. One day they'll stop using the AFLW to 'develop' umpires but for now, it's just part of the evolution of the competition. Still hurts though and makes a mockery of the players' efforts. Thanks everyone, by the way, for the discussion here this season. It's nice to have a place to talk constructively (mostly!) about AFLW with other Demons.

Round 6 Team of the Week Midfield: Elise O'Dea Forward: Tegan Cunningham Coaches Association Votes If anyone can find them, please post! Potentially they're on lockdown to create suspense for the final award... Stats (season avg.) after Round 6. Highest ranking Dees and Dogs players: Disposals: 1st Kearney, 2nd Daisy, 3rd O'Dea, 5th Blackburn. Metres Gained: 1st Kearney, 2nd O'Dea, 3rd Blackburn. Cont. Poss.: 2nd Daisy, 9th Kearney, 10th Paxman. Uncont. Poss.: 1st O'Dea, 2nd Kearney, 5th Blackburn. Clearances: 2nd Daisy, 3rd Kearney. Marks: 1st Lochland, 3rd Kearney, 6th O'Dea, 9th Blackburn, 10th Conti. Marks50: 1st Huntington (inj.), 2nd Lochland, 3rd Brennan, 4th Cunningham, 5th Scott (Dees). Cont. Marks: 3rd Cunningham, =10th Toogood and Conti. Kicks: 1st Kearney, 3rd Blackburn, 4th O'Dea, 5th Pearce, 10th Paxman Tackles: 6th Gogos, 7th O'Dea, =10th Daisy and Kearney. Intercept Poss.: 4th Scott (Dogs), 5th Downie, 10th Jakobsson. Goals: 1st Lochland (11), 2nd Cunningham (9), =6th Hore, Toogood, Brennan (5). Score Involvs. 1st Lochland, 2nd Cunningham, =3rd Scott (Dees), Blackburn, 4th Kearney, 5th Hore. Handballs: 2nd Mithen, 6th Gogos, 7th Jakobsson, =8th Daisy, Hore, Paxman. Hitouts: 7th Hoare, 8th L.Pearce, 9th O'Connor, 11th Earnst.

What better way to celebrate?

As feared, it's an ACL for Hickey. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-03-12/hickey-suffers-acl-injury

Great win, did what we had to before the Blues went into lock down mode. Absolutely devastating for Mel - I've been a critic at times but more in terms her role. You could never doubt her spirit and commitment to the contest and she's clearly a well-liked and respected teammate. We've been comparatively lucky with injuries, but this is a cruel blow if it's as bad as it seems. I guess either Jakobsson or Duryea comes in? Would love if our crumbers could get to Cunningham's feet more often. Having said that, her second and third efforts are top notch. Might have to move her into my profile's 'favourite players' if she goes on like this and Humphries continues not to be played! It's going to be a big ask but at least there's only one scoreboard we have to pay attention to next week.

Mark my words, this will end in heartbreak. But I'm so glad we're still in the hunt for it!

Round 5 Team of the Week Paxman, Daisy and O'Dea in the midfield. #thebig3 Coaches Association Votes Melbourne v Brisbane, Friday March 2 10 Daisy Pearce (Melb) 7 Kate Lutkins (BL) 5 Elise O'Dea (Melb) 5 Karen Paxman (Melb) 3 Sabrina Frederick-Traub (BL) LEADERBOARD 35 – Chelsea Randall (Adel) 30 – Ellie Blackburn (WB) 29 – Kate Lutkins (BL) 28 – Emma Kearney (WB) 28 – Daisy Pearce (Melb) 20 – Courtney Gum (GWS) Melbourne’s season stats after Round 5: Kicks 4th, Hballs 1st, Disposals 1st, Cont. Poss. 1st, Uncont. Poss. 1st, Disp. Eff. % 3rd Clangers 3rd, Marks 3rd, Cont. Marks 1st, Marks50 =1st Hitouts 6th, Clearances 6th, Centre Clr. 1st, Stoppages =7th, Rebound50 8th O’Dea leads the comp in metres gained (and clangers), Newman leads in bounces.

I reckon GWS could push the Lions. Might be wishful thinking though.

My belated thoughts on the game... Great response from our leaders and actually every player gave something, which is all you can ask. I thought Zanker had some 'get up and go' about her, which hopefully can be built on. I didn't like the look of our backline before the game (no Downie, no Duryea) but they held up ok and kept a pretty good structure. It was dicey at the end, but that was everyone. 'The Big 3' showed their intensity and led from the front. I've officially removed Hickey from this group as she should forever more be started off half-back. I love O'Dea's quick kicks round the body into 50, on either foot. Even if it doesn't come off (ala the Moloney-esque bomb forward) it stops the rot, which is important for us. Enjoyed Newman's forward pressure and L.Pearce's work around the ground - gave off some attacking handballs. Scott and Smith are two players who don't get talked about much but are consistent contributors. I hope we can fit Humphries back in at some point. According the the app, she's our only player in the top 10 for disposal efficiency. Admittently she may not get much of the ball but she hits targets. I may be biased because she's a favourite of mine! Also can we just kick straight next week. That would be helpful.

I rarely get there early enough to see it anyway. But when I do, opposite to other comments above, I don't look for indications that we are 'on'. Instead, I like to make sure the players are getting their 'bad kicks' out of the way. Although possibly that (used to be) more of a reflection of our skill level... The four emergencies makes sense. Surprising.

Slim pickings this week of course, but for the sake of posterity: Round 4 Team of the Week: Downie in the backline Coaches Association Votes: Melbourne v Collingwood, Saturday, February 24 8 Stephanie Chiocci (Coll) 6 Caitlyn Edwards (Coll) 5 Christina Bernardi (Coll) 5 Jaimee Lambert (Coll) 4 Chloe Molloy (Coll) 2 Elise O'Dea (Melb) LEADERBOARD 26 - Chelsea Randall (Adel) 24 - Emma Kearney (WB) 22 - Kate Lutkins (BL) 20 - Ellie Blackburn (WB) 18 - Kara Donnellan (Frem) 18 - Alicia Eva (GWS) 18 - Daisy Pearce (Melb)

It's not over til it's over ... but I think it might be over. I guess it's a good thing we have so much experience with this situation as Dees fans?