Dees_In_October

This doesn't get any easier... 6. Hanks 5. Zanker 4. Purcell 3. Pearce 2. Heath 1. McNamara

Highlights: - - Sister to sister goal for the Mackins and A.Mackin’s debut in general. So confident and clearly been given license to have a go, got more of the footy than her sister! - - Hanks with the don’t argue, pure - - Purcell doing the tough stuff - - Zanker’s 5-minute hat trick (career best goal return) - - McNamara’s comeback goal and celebration - - Pearce’s smother in the pocket - - That end-to-end goal in I forget which qtr - - The commentators calling for Sherriff to be shut down in the first qtr. She was doing well, but somehow I doubt that was really a priority for the Hawks! Lowlights: - - The sun Will be interesting to see how we fare against a stronger contender next week. We get away with overusing the footy a bit against teams like the Hawks. I wonder if our backline will rise to more of a challenge… On Birch, statistically she’s had a slow start but is building (intercepts for first 4 rounds: 0, 5, 8, 8; 2022B avg was 7.2). She’s getting less of the ball... she’s not really the player we want launching our rebound 50s though. Has less time on ground % this season by 10%, though across the board we’re sharing the load more. The queue of proven/known quantities outside the starting line-up is building (Gay, Fitzsimon, Colvin) which can only be a good thing.

That betting line makes me nervous! Some more about our debutant: Aimee earnt her a senior football (soccer) debut for Northern Ireland at 16, before she switched to focus on Gaelic and was voted best in the league in 2020. The 26-year-old arrived in Australia last month with a hamstring tear and was unavailable for the practice games but has earned her call-up after three weeks of full training. And the stats on the venue and oppo: It's Melbourne's first game against the Hawks and first game at Frankston. Hawthorn's Frankston win-loss record: 2-2 Hawthorn's 2023 formline: The Hawks have started the year with 2 losses and 1 win, with the latter coming against the Bulldogs in Round 2. Will probably be a bit of wind about. I won't know because, dedicated to this team as I am, Friday at 5pm in Frankston is a bridge too far!

I still don't think Blaithin got enough credit for locking down a position in the premiership team in her first season of the sport. We heard a lot about the cross coders in the early seasons, but considering the development of the league since then, her story is more impressive!

Haha, what an outrage! Extra incubation time for future parent-child selections?

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1435869/longer-seasons-more-pay-future-of-aflw-takes-shape-with-new-cba https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/news/1036864/longer-seasons-better-pay-future-of-aflw-takes-shape In summary: - The AFLW season will increase to 12 games in 2025, with the potential to increase to 14 matches by 2027 (dependent on crowd and TV metrics) - The average AFLW player pay rise to $60,000 for the 2023 season, up from $46,000. It will rise to $82,000 by 2027. (The average AFL player salary will be about $519,000 by 2027) - AFLW players will also now be able to sign multi-year contracts - AFLW players who move states to join a different team will now receive relocation and travel benefits equitable with the AFL competition - A world leading 12-month pregnancy policy will be introduced - The AFL and AFLPA will work together on executing an accelerated marketing plan designed to build greater support for the AFLW competition

Coming in late with this: Not sure who A.Mackin replaces (maybe suggests Banno is out?), but I'm excited. But also, you know, no pressure in your first game of Aussie Rules, pretty much ever?! Having said that, never forget that her sister came off the bench in her first ever game (a praccy match at the 'G) and kicked a goal with (I think?) her first kick. That was a pretty good start.

6. Hanks 5. Pearce 4. Hore 3. Gay 2. Harris 1. Mithen

The silverware:

My ramblings: Had big fears for Banno, so glad that it's seemingly minor. Recommend this article for a bit of insight into the young gun. I love it when a player's personality off-field is so different from how they play. An introvert who plays so extroverted. https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/news/1031694/poetry-perfection-and-those-celebrations-the-many-layers-of-alyssa-bannan Got to see lots of Zanker up close from behind the goals. She's super competitive and expects a really high standard from herself. Felt she was just a bit off with her reading of the footy and a touch slow to react at times out of the square. Loved that when Gay went forward to even up the numbers she managed to snag a couple of goals. Another versatile player that goes under the radar. Forward-midfield cohesion is great, especially when picking off leading targets, running it in, or when it hits the deck. More contested marks and it’s the complete picture. The spread of goalkickers is promising for the inevitable games when the goals don't come so easy. Backline is vulnerable to quick centre clearances and had some real lapses in concentration and intensity. Very hard to drop anyone from winning teams, but I think we've got to see how Colvin works in there. The Dogs thought they were in that game in the third and then... they just weren't. Shout out to the Demon Army! Noise level, chant variety and general vibes were top notch. You put every other AFLW cheer squad to shame!

Can't quite gather my thoughts on this game after arriving home from Casey to hear of the passing of a great. For now I'll pay tribute to Barassi's role in the Irish experiment, the fruits of which are close to our hearts as Dees fans, and that we still see today in our AFLW team, with Goldie and of course Mackin in that famous #31.

Pretty sure that if we win this game, Melbourne gains the record for the longest AFLW winning streak, surpassing Fremantle's 11-game streak during 2020-2021. Melbourne's Casey win-loss record: 21-5 WB's Casey win-loss record: 0-1 Melbourne's win-loss record against WB: 5-2 (9-4 including pre-AFLW) Last time they met in R7 2022B, it was a 64-point win to Melbourne WB's 2023 formline: The Bulldogs have started the season 0-2 and are coming off a 7-point loss to Hawthorn

Agree, though I wouldn't mind Colvin getting a go at some point. Tough team to break into.

I heard Bob Murphy on a podcast earlier this week and he was asked what's the one thing he'd add to the league. He said representative football, which I think would be a good way to do what you're getting at. Round 1 men's H&A, have a double header with a women's representative game with the top 42 players from around the country. Would get eyes on a good standard of footy, easier to fixture. I reckon there's plenty of people who tuned in during Season 1 of AFLW and never again. Agree that Casey is pretty inconvenient for most. Ikon is better, so I'm glad we're playing some home games there.

Can't speak for Katrina, but I know I get a bit twitchy at the idea of a women's game being a "curtain raiser" for the men's. I think that has a connotation of being less than though I know you don't mean it like that at all. Double headers for sure though. I really liked it when the AFLW practice matches last year were aligned with men's H&A games for double headers. I think every team should play one double-header early in the season. The problem is that the overlap is with finals so can't be fixtured in advance or to match up teams. And it seems they're (finally) set down this time of year for the season, so they'll want to stick with that for a while.

ROUND 3 TEAM IN: Paxman OUT: Wilson (omitted)

Great to hear! Thanks for speaking up on this. And I'm glad to hear the club fought for the fans. And that the AFL listened!

If this is to be the case, I hope it's well-communicated via all channels before the game. Nothing worse than having to cart your seats to one of the outer carparks while missing the entire first quarter. Well, except for missing the game entirely because you need your seat to attend). If this is true (and I suggest we all check in case it's overturned last minute), at least 2 of the people I was going with will now reconsider. EDIT: Just found this on the gameday guide. I know the deck chairs provided won't be suitable for all, but it's an option if you're a member or want to throw $30 at the problem.

Alright, last one and then I'm going to attempt to re-focus (not move on, never moving on). BRING THE HEAT PLAY WITH DIGNITY IF ALL ELSE FAILS ULTIMATE FRISBEE

Reckon we can slip this past the censors for the banner? Enough plausible deniability? Yeah, probably not. CLAYTON’S JUSTICE DEMON REVENGE HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE THE WRATH OF FRIENDS And yes, channelling white hot anger into poetry is very stereotypical MFC.

Just going to rant here for a second. Got to get it off my chest somewhere and this is it. One thing I keep coming back to is how often do you see a player leave the ground to smother in this fashion (vertically, with significant momentum behind them)? Rarely. Why is that the case? It's not from lack of ability, fear of physicality, psychological weakness or any such thing, as we know professional players have those covered. It's because it's a low percentage play. There's a high likelihood of infringement (head high contact). There's a strong possibility of injury to self and/or opposition. Balance those against the reward, the small possibility of a smother executed legally, and there's a clear reason why player don't do this often, why it's not a "football act" you see hundreds of times a game. Personally, I believe that once you choose to leave the ground, you know that split-second decisions in mid-air are likely and that you have less control over your body. There are football situations where this happens repeatedly and players choose to do so because it's a percentage play to win the ball, e.g. in a marking contest. In these situations that happen hundreds of times a game, players are on roughly equal footing in terms of spatial awareness of the players around them. More importantly, all players are expecting contact. They (should) expect that someone might come in from the side or from behind, etc. In those situations, there's a chance of a spoil going awry, a knee from the back or someone landing badly on top of you, with terrible consequences. There's typically no responsibility assigned to individual players so long as they act in a reasonable and expected way in the situation and within the rules. In this instance, the two players weren't on equal footing, so in my view, one had a duty of care to the other, in the same way that the tackling player has duty of care. Angus had his eyes forward and on the ball, with some awareness of a player coming at him. The reason he was so "open" to the contact, though, was that no player would reasonably expect that they'd be taken out high and with such force by a smothering player in this situation. Maynard's focus was on Angus. He knew exactly where he was because his focus was to smother the ball. I personally don't think he was intending to take Angus out, just that his actions were reckless in making that a likely outcome. This is not an approach to the ball carrier that we should want to see in our game. You'd think it would be hard to top the sickening nature of what unfolded, yet somehow the media response and that of some Collingwood fans has done so. I'll get no satisfaction from a suspension. Thinking of Angus and his family, teammates and all fans affected by witnessing this and the aftermath.

6 Hore 5 Hanks 4 Purcell 3 Lampard 2 Pearce 1 Bannan

That was good for the red and blue soul. Soothing. The Dees without Paxy and Daisy - once unthinkable, in this game, barely noticeable. Great team performance with a few standouts but very even contribution. Shout out to the likes of Lampard, Sherriff and Mithen who are often unheralded but contribute so much. Nice to see Chaplin back out there and a run for Wilson. Campbell again some promising signs. L.Pearce dominant and looked more mobile. I had the microscope on how we responded after losing the way a bit in the third and was very happy. It’s so important to maintain standards regardless of the scoreboard and they did that in ruthless style right til the final siren. As much as the AFL wanted to equalise the league by spreading top players around, and we’re seeing the fruits of that in other teams, I think these early games by the Dees this season are a great advertisement for what teams can and should become, in terms of cohesion, which is equally as important. Also how good do the blue shorts look?

IN: Chaplin OUT: Fitzsimon (back)