Dees_In_October

We're finally completing the set of 17 opponents, nearly four seasons after the last expansion! 🏳️‍🌈 And happy home Pride game! 🏳️‍🌈 Avg. games experience of teams as selected: Melbourne: 47.0 Sydney: 32.7 As selected, Sydney has a median age of 22 compared to Melbourne's 24. I know I'll have eyes on teen sensation Zippy Fish! 2025 form against same oppo: Melbourne: R3 Coll (+4), R4 Rich (+37), R7 GC (+87), R9 Freo (-5) Sydney: R1 Rich (+20), R2 GC (+82), R4 Freo (+25), R5 Coll (-26) 2025 form against current top 6: Melbourne: N/A (!) Sydney: Nth (-68), Adel (-2), Carl (+39) 2025 top goal scorers: Melbourne: Hore (15), Zanker (12), Harris (11), Bannan (7), Gall (6) Sydney: Molloy (19), Cooper (7), C.Hamilton (7), Ham (7), Kennedy (4) Barring any late outs, the 5 players not selected are the most we've had available outside the selected 21 all season. From Round 1 onwards: 3, 4, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 5

Yep Molloy out. Which is a shame because I'd like to see her play live, but then again, I'm not complaining 😉 Depending how all the tests went today, we might need all the help we can get! In the unlikely event that all those players under a cloud aren't available, we're actually down to 21 fit. But surely a few should be good to go.

This is easily the earliest we've known when the season will be, ever. A step in the right direction. I'm calling that a win, despite the season length remaining the same. The next thing is to release the fixture itself ASAP in 2026. Even locking in the first few rounds would be good for long-term marketing. And have the AFL men's grand final weekend as a floating round so that the corresponding teams to the ones competing can also play in Melbourne. Or just make it AFLW Gather Round in Melbourne (perhaps a stretch of resources?). I do also hope that they try to equalise the fixture better. One suggestion I've heard is to take into account a team's performance over two or three seasons, rather than just the previous year's result. That would have gotten us a harder fixture this season, true, but I think we can all agree that would be fairer from a bigger picture perspective! This would be so good for both competitions. It hasn't exactly been a problem for us this year, but a lot of other teams have 9 players trying to develop or find form in the cobbled together scratch matches, which is a tough ask.

Injury List Round 10 Tayla Harris — ribs / test Shelley Heath — finger / test Sarah Lampard — calf / test Saraid Taylor — hamstring / test Georgia Gall — ankle / TBC “Scans cleared her of any major damage, it’s unlikely she’ll be available for Round 10." Blaithin Mackin — calf / 1 week Grace Beasley — knee / 3 - 4 weeks Olivia Purcell — knee / Season Jacinta Hose — knee / Inactive Aimee Mackin — knee / Inactive Also of note is that Chloe Molloy is out for Sydney with back soreness.

Maybe we need to start having our players travel in lifts separately 😆 At the very least, not Kate AND Tyla. In fact, that particular group looked like our bench would three minutes to go and 50 points up in a prelim final!

Yay!

Absolutely, no excuses, but that does explain a lot. Those early stages were frustrating because I felt that it would have been an emphasis going into the game to really start well and get on top, so I was disappointed with that aspect. Adds a bit of context. Also forgot to commend Tayla and actually several of our players who really put it all on the line with the game in the balance and many out on their feet. We're going to start winning these close ones at some point!

Saturday 18th of October 1.05pm AEDT Casey Fields The tests keep coming as the Dees take on the resurgent Swans. Let's fight a bit of this: With a bit of this:

The above pretty much sums up my response to the game! I'll be honest and I'd bit my tongue because I hate to be a negatively nancy before a game, but I'll be that annoying person instead who says it after the fact: saw that coming a mile away. I know others felt the same. No Heater was a real blow against players like Bowers. Freo match up well on us and (despite the ladder) are exactly that level of team that can trouble us IF they come to play and play us smart. I guess what I'm thinking is, it's not just the best teams that are a problem for us in this way...which suggests something about where we're realistically at, regardless of ladder position. They bullied us around the ball to get that early lead, in exactly the fashion that we should have expected, so that was frustrating. And they have the class to take their chances. It's stating the obvious, but our defenders are used to us controlling the ball, so when we're not, they're tested. And I was crying out for Zanker to get in front as well... On the bright side, the fight back was impressive and it's exactly the type of grit this team needs more opportunities to practice and show - not that I'm saying we should give up three-goal leads every week! Also a shout-out to Wotherspoon who I thought played a great game. Anyway, I think this game was a very accurate reflection of where we're at as a "could be great" team in progress with some big tests ahead.

McNamara Goldrick Hanks Hore Wotherspoon Paxman

An interesting idea. I can't speak for others but if I had to guess, I'd say for the vast majority of Melbourne fans, they don't need to make a distinction because they're primarily fans of one team or the other, heavily weighted towards the men, obviously. In my household, we follow both equally, but there have been surprisingly few instances where there's been confusion. Even in the weeks where the seasons overlap (more of an issue if the men's make finals!), it's usually pretty clear from context to which team someone is referring. It's habitual just to add "in the W" or "in the men's" if needed. I can see an argument for "just for fun" or "to carve out a different identity" though. Personally, I actually love all the teams being the Demons, for the "one club" of it all. It's interesting, because although I love the W team as its own unique thing, with some different traditions, I also really like the consistent "branding" of the teams, for a sense of unity and, symbolically, equal value. That's just me though. It might be a funny one for @Ghostwriter to poll the players. I reckon asking "Would you prefer to be the 'Demonesses'?" might get some good mixed reactions 🤣

Avg. games experience of teams as selected: Melb: 45.0 Freo: 44.3 2025 Top 5 tacklers (total): Melb: Fitzsimon 66, Heath 51, Hanks 46, Hore 46, McNamara 43, Chaplin 37 Freo: Bowers 95, Newton 54, M.Strom 49, McCarthy 42, Kauffman 32 2025 Tackles i50 avg. Melb: 18.6 (1st) Freo: 14.4 (3rd) 🌈 And a happy Pride Round to all! 🌈

Well, we were all wrong! Fresh legs. FREMANTLE In: S.Verrier, A.Tighe Out: G.O'Sullivan (foot), H.Ifould (omitted) MELBOURNE In: J.Rigoni, D.Taylor, G.Campbell Out: S.Heath (finger), A.Pisano (omitted), M.Mahony (managed)

Thanks for the report! Sounds promising for the rehabbers. I think we're all keen on a selection squeeze at this point! Was Heater present? Hear she's been joined at the club by another Heath who can lay a big tackle. A little taller, I guess. We'll miss this kind of thing on the Sunday:

Imagine if I did that every month! The original meaning behind it doesn't really make sense since it was pre-AFLW or at least summer AFLW: to be thinking positively of the Dees in October rather than clutching hopelessly at straws in trade & draft (see other board 😅 ). The Dees W have solved that yucky October feeling nicely, most of the time! I'll be happy if it's Dingo but also excited if it's Dethridge, just to have had every active player play! "Really strong" is obviously what we need...

Sunday 11th of October 5.05pm AEDT Fremantle Oval The Dees are looking for their first interstate win of the season.

Coaches' votes: Melbourne v Essendon10 Maeve Chaplin MELB 7 Tayla Harris MELB 4 Eliza McNamara MELB 3 Georgia Nanscawen ESS 2 Megan Fitzsimon MELB 2 Kate Hore MELB 2 Madison Prespakis ESS Well deserved 10 for Chaplin!

Before we move on to next game, some comments from Sophie Welsh on the W Download podcast: “I watched from just behind the benches, and Mick Stinear appeared. He was coaching up in the box, but from, I think it was definitely the last quarter, he was on the bench [...] and I think the Dees thought they were a bit better than what they were dishing up on the park. He was quite animated in his instruction to the players, especially those who were coming off rotating. And then post game, Mick was quite strong, that it was barely a win almost for them. They scraped through that one. And I think reading between the lines, Melbourne think they're probably better than that sort of performance. And there's an element of frustration as they kind of track towards finals."

Kate is stalled on 95. Did I jinx it? Of course not. She wants that Casey Fields pitch invasion. Hope Heater is ok. Goldie as well?? Agree completely, just the kind of game we needed. Did our girls play their way through it to the level we’ll eventually need? Not there yet. Don’t think they’ll be sitting around patting each other on the back, though. “Lots to improve on” is the constant message from the players. And this is a nice reminder of the even bigger picture. How delightful! And just by the by, but I like to think Jimmy would have loved the Dees W. Would have loved Goldie. Sigh.

KATE HORE COUNTDOWN TO 100 GOALS Leaderboard: Hore 95 Garner 90 Houghton 88 Ponter 88 Brennan 79 Wardlaw 79 There are some challengers, but barring circumstances that don't bear thinking about, Kate will be the first Demon to 100 goals given she leads Harris on 70 goals (9th all-time) and Zanker on 66 (12th). Is it time to start planning a celebratory pitch invasion? A big game this week could get her there, but more likely would be away at Freo in Round 9 (disappointing) or at home at Casey in Round 10 (bring back the helicopter, fill with streamers, allow for wind, press the release button at the right moment). Or beyond?

Avg. games experience of teams as selected: Melbourne: 45.9 Essendon: 38.9 This is Melbourne's most experienced team since Round 2. 2025 available form against current top 12: Melbourne: 2-0 (9th StK +74, 8th WC +51) Essendon: 1-4 (8th WC +5; 10th Geel -31, 9th StK -52, 12th Freo -48, 1st Nth -30) Coming into their 8th games in Round 8, first-year players Ebert and Mahony surpass the length of the 2017 home and away season, while 7-gamer O'Hehir matches it, with 5 more opportunities still to play in 2025's H&A fixture. It's progress before our eyes, let's not forget to stop and smell the roses. As mentioned by Meggs in the match preview, congratulations to Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich, who becomes the first to notch up 100 games as coach in the AFLW. Mick is next in line, coaching the Dees for the 94th time on the weekend (of a possible 95 games).

ESSENDON In: M.Gay Out: A.Morcom (injured)

Pencilling in Radar's first AFLW goal as a boundary line dribbler, got it 😉

Just looked it up because what is time, and Hose is still only 20 (and in fact, only just turned last month). Plenty of time on her side and hopefully will be good timing for our ruck stocks, if she can get a good run at things now.

I was shocked that Paul Guerra's email the other day that ended with words to the effect of, "see you at Ikon Park for the game against Essendon" didn't have the addendum "who are dead to me". Great to see Liv amongst the team. The footy gods owe her, but I reckon she'll come back bigger and better without them. Blaithin any chance for Friday? Who was the best dribbler?