Dees_In_October

Tayla is in Melbourne at least - just seen on the broadcast of the Dons v Tigers.

Rhi Watt with her club debut and first game for 595 days, you love to see it! https://www.instagram.com/p/CyU8gnbhfEO/

Sunday 15th October, 5.05PM AEDT, Mineral Resources Park. Broadcast: Fox Footy, Kayo or live & free on the AFLW website It's a big chance to bounce back from the first loss of the season and the end of a 14-game winning streak. It's our first game at Mineral Resources Park, where West Coast have a 4-10 win-loss record. This is only our third encounter with the Eagles (we last played WC in R10 2022B, a 78-point win that we wish had been just 1 point more). The Eagles' only win for the 2023 season so far was against Port (14th) in R5. Their losses have come against 13th, 5th, 6th, 12th and 16th. Player spotlight: After Round 6, Tyla Hanks is 16th in league avg. disposals (23.2). The notable part is that she has a higher disposal efficiency (72.7%) than any player averaging more than 21.0. All other players in the 21+ category are around 65% or less, the only exception being A.McDonald (Geelong) on 24.2 at 70.3%. In R6, Hanks' DE dropped to a season-low 50%. How the team's ball use stacks up against the better pressure of top teams will have a big say going forward. We'll see what the Eagles can bring and expect a big lift from a lot of our players. Also congrats to Zanker who became the third Demon to kick 5 in an AFLW game, which rocketed her to the top of the league goal kickers and already past her S7 total tally of 14 goals. Injury list: I reckon there's a big chance we leave Pearce at home and give Campbell the main ruck duties - perhaps this was always the plan hence her week off for R6. Paxy misses again as she's still under concussion protocols after the incident with her dog (who has a lot to answer for and better be very cute!). Perhaps we spare A.Mackin the 30+ degree heat or give Chaplin a go if Goldrick's not 100%. This week is the first of two Indigenous Rounds and once again we'll be Narrm. You can read more about our 2023 indigenous jumper (also worn during the men's season) designed by proud Nyul Nyul Saltwater man, Lowell Hunter, here: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1449670/narrm-football-club-returns-for-aflw-indigenous-rounds

Anyone have Kate's email? Or know who else would be best to contact beyond the generic club email? It's definitely been a problem at other games. But this was just beyond ridiculous. The kids love the music and dance cam and all that (as do some of my friends), which is fine, but it was JUST SO LOUD. The rev ups, while passionate if repetitive, actually drowned out our cheer squad's great work that sets us apart as an AFLW supporter base. (Also 'Gimme Gimme Gimme a Man After Midnight' was a pretty bizarre choice for a kids-focused dance cam at an AFLW match but that's lower on my complaint list haha) Welcome and sorry 😂 Equal opportunity MFCSS. The day they both lose on the same day is going to be tough. I swear I used to be more resilient about losing when this club did it every week! To get us all back to positivity, for anyone who missed it, here's Lily's chat with the Mackin sisters. I guess we know who the talkative one is! Also, Lily really needs a lesson in geography/Irish political history.

6. Zanker 5. Gay 4. Goldrick 3. B.Mackin 2. McNamara 1. Hore

Players who step up in losses are the real ones. Let's vote!

Gah to be honest, I felt that one coming even aside from the usual pre-game paranoia! Hard to go from weeks of poor opposition to a proper outfit like the Crows. We just didn't go up the level and couldn't handle their pressure and physicality. Once they had it in their control, we couldn't find a way to possess it and win it back to our terms. Way too reactive during the middle portion of the game and too many players had a down day at the wrong time. It's almost a relief to have the streak(s) over, and maybe the players will feel that too on some level. We've seen what real opposition does to our game style, and will need to remember how to work through that (again!). Frustrating, though, that Adelaide won in exactly the way you'd have expected them to. It seems we wanted to back our game - next time we meet, we'll play it differently. Hopefully. I'm heading rapidly into 'loss we had to have' territory. Positives: That was the game we've known was coming for Zanker for five years now. She's had break-out games before but that was ultra impressive. Bodywork, positioning, clunking everything, kicking straight. The thing is, you just know she's kicking herself for the one she missed! The fight back. It's all you can ask for when a team digs itself a hole, but it doesn't always happen. They put it all on the line but it was too little too late. Kudos to Goldrick, Gay and B.Mackin for their four quarters. Matchday experience: Aside from the loss, it was great to see so many Dees fans out there, especially the young kids. Could have done without the constant crowd rev-ups and blaring music. There were people near me and my friends who went to hang out in the carpark at halftime because the music was too loud! We have the best cheersquad in the AFLW, just let them and the actual game happening create the atmosphere!!

Great speech by Jake.

Well deserved, Benny!

Agree and aside from physically, maybe a breather to process a huge amount of learning, ready for the back end of the season. So true and so far beyond what I was expecting even based on the growing positives last VFLW season. Will be interesting to see how we go without her as the chop out for Pearce tomorrow. But even aside from how she helps the team structurally, it's a relief just to have a legitimate future ruck prospect in the works again.

A little background to the game... Melbourne's win-loss record against Adelaide: 5-4 (After 3 straight losses between the 2021 PF and the 2022A GF, Melbourne beat Adelaide twice in 2022B) Adelaide's 2023 formline: Adelaide come into Round 6 undefeated, having beaten the currently 5th, 7th, 9th, 14th and 18th-ranked teams (this compares to Melbourne's wins against 6th, 11th, 15th, 17th and 18th) Average games experience for the selected teams: Melbourne 42.3, Adelaide 35.8. Players with 61+ games Melb: 5 Adel: 3 41-60 Melb: 8 Adel: 3 21-40 Melb: 6 Adel: 10 1-20 Melb 2 Adel: 5 At season mid-point, having a look at the individual stats leaderboards, Melbourne players aren't prominent but do dominate the avg. score involvements, with 6 of the top 10 being Demons: Hore (9.4), Hanks (7.2), Paxman (6.5), Purcell (6.0), Zanker (5.6) and Harris (5.5). Two Adelaide players feature, Hatchard in second place (7.2) and Marinoff (5.4) rounding out the top 10.

I had the same issue but found a workaround that I've already forgotten! I probably do need to clear out my attachments as WCW suggested. And then a player gets injured (thankfully in a minor way) playing with their dog! Classic mystery injury of the week stuff! Some good ins. Campbell will be back as match-ups requite, I'd imagine. Fitzy gets a good opportunity. Hopefully Harris is fresh and ready.

Hore received 10 coaches' votes for this game. The leaderboard at the mid-way point: 43 Jasmine Garner (NMFC) 38 Monique Conti (RICH) 36 Kate Hore (MELB) 33 Laura Gardiner (SYD) 32 Tyla Hanks (MELB)

This is a great point about the quality of our drafting and recruiting, often without access to high picks. It's partly the nature of expansion spreading the talent pool, but there really aren't too many ex-Demons who haven't locked down a regular spot elsewhere. The squad is 30 players (plus any inactive players). Outside last night's team we have: Harris (65 games), Fitzsimon (27), Chaplin (15) Ivey (36), Wilson (27), Watt (24) Johnson (4) Yet to debut - Fowler, Gall, Taylor

6. Hore 5. Hanks 4. Purcell 3. Paxman 2. Pearce 1. Zanker Apologies to...yeah pretty much the rest

From the article Timothy Reddan-Al’Blew posted earlier:

What a game! Felt like those first quarter goals were particularly telling somewhat against the flow and from there we just worked and worked our way in. And like others have mentioned, did it right til the end, no mercy. How good was Paxy? 372m gained and that classy goal. Loved Zanker’s hard work up the ground and then all the way to goal line. Purcell with 8 clearances and West with 10 tackles. Solid return from Colvin and stingy stuff from the backs overall. A.Mackin, just imagine when she gets some games under her belt!? In the post-match interview, Hore was focused on 4 goals – not the 4 she kicked but the 4 the Cats scored – and mentioned an emphasis in the last few weeks on team defence…before this game, Geelong was averaging 55 points for. Shout out to Maddi Gay for 50 reliable and versatile games, both traits on show in this one. Looked like a lively bunch of Dees fans along, including one particularly recognisable tall, bearded fellow enjoying this team as much as we do!

Shame about Tayla. We all know what happened last time she missed! Still, we've never been in a better position to try to cover her.

Love the DeeBrief AFLW, best in-depth look at AFLW Dees out there! They mentioned that the Dees Army are looking for kids for the Guard of Honour on Thursday night, as an FYI for anyone heading down with kids who'd like to take part. Thank for the inside word. Glad for Colvin - she was our best on in the S6 GF and I really hope she can recapture that form. It can be a tough injury to come back from. As for the outs, I've got a feeling that the 3-4 next cabs off the rank outside the starting line-up are going to prove crucial.

She really stands out in this league with her ability to pick the ball of the ground cleanly. Sounds simple, but it puts her ahead of many. She's so balanced with that low centre of gravity. Love how she steps back to find the space then kicks with vision, often into space at a leading player's advantage. A few years ago people often mistook her for a "Tayla". Not so many getting the "Tyla" wrong these days!

I reckon: The Dees boys did 17 in a row so go beat those wins in a row? Which Tayla has almost done on an individual level, pretty good!

I always look (and listen) for the Army when watching at home! Could definitely hear the chants at times. Agree it's really annoying when the crowd is on the non-broadcast side and they don't show it. Even at Casey where usually the crowd is in-camera, at the Dogs game everyone was bunched at the ends on the other side to get out of the sun, which probably didn't show up on camera. Watching a few other games this season, I have noticed that commentators are drawing attention to this more often and the cameras are showing the crowd on the non-broadcast side more at grounds like Ikon, GMHBA and Windy Hill.

Just saw in an email from the club there's an Open Training at Gosch's Paddock tomorrow (Tuesday) 3pm-4pm. Hope you get along and can bring us back some training news!