Dees_In_October

I think it's another example of something that plagues the marketing of AFLW in general. The AFL and clubs (especially Victorian ones) are used to a very enthusiastic and almost captive market that's willing to put up with a lot. Like, I'm sure we can all list many things that annoy us about the management of the men's league, from umpiring to fixturing and so on. The difference is that, the support is so established, that fans are willing to ignore quite significant issues because they're so wedded to their team/the league, so many will turn up to even poorly planned events. For AFLW, they're in the very early days comparatively of building a fanbase, and yet they often do things that would work in the men's, seemingly without thinking about how they might not translate. I won't hold my breath on the AFL admin getting it together, but hopefully the club at least learns from what hasn't worked with events like this. I would say that there have been some successes in this regard, particularly the match-day experience at Casey (facilities, "activations" - helicopter aside) has gone up another level this season, once you're actually there.

Yeah, I can understand they want to build a vibe around finals. But it seems like a strange choice to put resources (mostly aimed at kids?) into a weekday training during term time. That is, if the aim is fan engagement. And if you want numbers for that, it requires more lead-time than a few days, which obviously can't be done for a finals event unless finals are locked in early. If it's to reward those who always turn up, well that's nice and deserved, but I suspect they don't need the bells and whistles! What would make sense to me for the kind of "family day" open training that's meant to build members and engagement, is to have it on a weekday mid-season during the school holidays, ideally close to a few home games. It's very possible that I missed such an event earlier in the season.

Squad announced: afl.com.au/aflwAFLW AA SQUAD: Roos dominate, star goalkickers miss, youn...After an unbeaten home and away season, the Kangaroos dominate the AFLW All-Australian squad of 42 playersSquad members by club6 - North Melbourne 4 - Brisbane 3 - Carlton, Fremantle, Geelong, Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Sydney 2 - Adelaide, Greater Western Sydney, Hawthorn, St Kilda 1 - Collingwood, Essendon, Gold Coast, Richmond, West Coast, Western Bulldogs Melbourne DemonsMaeve Chaplin Tyla Hanks Kate Hore

And just named in the AA squad.

This is especially annoying when they've advertised the pre-final training in emails and made a push for people to come along.

It'd be a tough call. Who'd you bring in? (Sincere question, not having a go!)

It's true re: the negativity. I know for myself, at some point I became a much harsher marker - it's partly trying to compensate for the soft fixture and partly because I do have high hopes for what this team can achieve in the next few years. But it's a good reminder to keep celebrating the good stuff! I've drifted from "refusing to think about it" mode into "what can we get for her" mode, which is a sure sign that I'm in deep denial about how much this would upset me haha. It's a really pointless defense mechanism 😆

Ticketing info: The member pre-sale period for Week 1 of the 2025 NAB AFLW Finals Series is on Monday 3 November 12pm. General public tickets will go on sale at 2pm.

So good. And lots of 100s coming up with Mick's 100th the game after and some 100 game milestones hopefully in the next few years. Actually, if anyone's looking to handcraft a sign, "100" has some good upcoming re-use value!

And she isn't as quick as she was. Or perhaps, players in general have become quicker. A bit of both probably. She also used to be able to capitalise against the weaker teams' lesser defenders in marking contests. Less able now. To be fair, she is somehow only still 23, so plenty of opportunity to reinvent herself or be used differently. I do wonder how the coaches see her role.

Happy 100th MFC AFLW game! Go Dees!

It's stuff like this that makes me excited for what she could be. I felt she lacked a little aggression and confidence coming at the ball last night, but she generally makes smart decisions like this when she has it and I'm always surprised by some of her neat field kicking. Weather forecast looks a little dicey so we might get Casey conditions regardless 🤣 If Banno hasn't learnt to tackle yet I doubt she ever will haha. It was definitely easier to let slide previously because of her other attributes and X-factor. I was surprised to see that statistically (not the be all and end all, of course), she's about on par with last season. The difference is fewer marks and goals (12 compared to 8 total) but more goal assists. But agree, you never know when she'll light it up and historically has been a player that loves finals.

6 Hanks 5 Zanker 4 Harris 3 Heath 2 Hore 1 Gillard

To borrow the words of others, this sums it up for me! I felt that our players' marking ability pretty much deserted them, which cost us down the line. I also thought we were really shaky with ball in hand - and struggled to GET it in hand - at times. And there were some diabolical turnovers by foot. Prespakis is a jet (and the umpires love her). I'm glad our final match-up was against a real midfield though. The weaknesses are obvious and honestly probably difficult to rectify at this point... But if you'd told me we'd finish top 2 at the start of this season, even with the easy fixture factored in, I'd have been happy with that (especially considering, yes it's no excuse, but injuries). If we'd played every team, I think we'd be placed around 5th-8th. Though I think we'd have worked into a longer season... From here it's about winning. Doesn't have to be pretty. One of the positives was that we were on the right side of scoring accuracy for once, thanks particularly to Zank's 4.0. At halftime there were some players who really needed to lift. Hanksy was one and responded in a big way. She'll need some friends in the next few weeks. Relatedly, was it a mirage or was that Purcell I saw getting up to a light jog across the field back to the coaches box at one point? If true, a long way to go, of course, but good to see for 2026! I also loved Gillard's goal. All the Dees fans were positioned behind her and very aware that the handpass from Fitzy was on, so there was a great buildup. And a big cheer off for her soon after. We've had Rigoni, Chaplin and Gillard break through in the last three weeks, so who's next (just to distract us from that other goalkicking milestone 😅)? For those playing at home, the listed Dees without a goal are: Colvin, Dethridge, Ebert, Hose, Mahony, O'Hehir, D.Taylor, S.Taylor...I think that's it.

Thanks! He's a pretty cool customer 😁

Just saw that former Demon Shelley Scott has announced her retirement. She won't be playing this weekend, but hopefully gets a send off from some former teammates at Kardinia Park, alongside other Geelong retirees captain Meg McDonald and Kate Darby.

It suddenly occurs to me, what does Mick do for that other 5 or so months? I'm assuming he's full time during the pre-season and season, but I imagine not the off-season? I know there's a lot that happens unofficially during the off-season that isn't "counted" since players don't have contracted hours during that time, but does he have another job?

It goes back to there being a stronger onus than before on the kicker to try to keep the ball in play, regardless of what players positioned 30m away do. Agree there's a grey area with that though. Still, the idea of the rule is that it's on the kicker to be better with their disposal to avoid the situation arising where the opposition can do that. Harsh perhaps. And I guess the AFL believe it's easier to adjudicate because it takes away more (not all, as you've pointed out) of the judging about intent as compared to deliberate out of bounce (time will tell).

The way I interpret the rule as stated for SANFL, a player kicks the ball, it bounces and then goes out of bounds without being touched and an opposition player elects not to pick up the ball themself when they could have, instead shepherding it over the line in an attempt to win a last disposal call against the kicker. In that instance, it wouldn't be paid as a last disposal free kick against the kicker, nor would the shepherding player be penalised, it would just be a boundary throw-in. They "played" for a free kick and failed (plus lost the advantage of taking possession of the ball, so a bad option to take all round). Insufficient intent can only be applied to a player in possession of the ball who fails to sufficiently attempt to keep it in, not one without it?

Avg. games experience of teams as selected: Melbourne: 50.7 Geelong: 43.0 Selected players averaging 15+ disposals at 65%+ disp. eff. in 2025: Melbourne: Hanks (24.0, 66.7%), Hore (21.2, 65.2%), Chaplin (18.9, 72.6%), Paxman (16.7, 65.%), Heath (16.0, 66.9%) Geelong: Bowen (20.8, 69.4%), A.McDonald (19.8, 72.4%), Webster (15.5, 69.4%) Played all 12 H&A games for the Dees in 2025: 11 players: Bannan, Chaplin, Ebert, Fitzsimon, Hanks, Harris, Hore, McNamara, Paxman, Pearce, Zanker In 2024 we had 9 players (from 11 H&A games); 2023 13 (10); 2022B 14 (10). Fun fact: The clash between Hawthorn v. North Melbourne is the last remaining match-up to feature in the AFLW, so soon the set will be complete. Until the Devils show up in...TBA.

Her luck has turned! Hopefully nothing too serious for Molly though... Geelong v Melbourne at GMHBA Stadium, 7.15pm AEDT GEELONG In: Nil Out: Nil MELBOURNE In: D.Taylor, G.Gall Out: J.Rigoni (omitted), M.O'Hehir (injured)

Photographic evidence and all! I like that we get to celebrate MFC's 100th W game and Mick's 100th in two different weeks.

It's those one percenters that make the difference! 😁

Good point. I've definitely seen it paid that way...but also the other way. Consistency 🙄

The rule states: "It will operate similar to SANFL in the sense that if a player blocks an opponent or doesn't play the ball before it crosses the line, a normal boundary throw-in will occur instead of a last disposal free kick." I'd think that includes shepherding instead of playing the ball.