poita

North have gone under the radar this year due to their tough draw and low ladder position, but they are absolutely a top 4 side. Their only losses were to Melbourne (2 pts), Adelaide (14 pts) and Brisbane (7 pts). They've won 1 final on defense and 1 on attack, so they seem to be getting everything working at the right time of year. We are going to need to play well to win this one (and kick a lot straighter than we did in round 2).

Do the teams get to wear novelty jumpers and pocket some additional dollars selling related merchandise to impressionable toddlers, or are the gimmicks limited to the fixturing? I hope the theme songs are re-recorded by whichever flavour-of-the-month pop star is in the country at the time, and the umpires are all dressed like circus clowns.

A one year deal would suggest that neither party is overly confident of this comeback being a success. His conditioning was an issue before his retirement, and it is hard to think it has improved since. He will be coming from a long way back. Good luck to him though - it would be a great story.

Luke Tapscott and Luke Molan say hi.

Three times consecutive All Australian and top 2 in B&F - that is elite consistency.

He is a phenomenon - I just wish he'd back his kicking in more, particularly in the forward half.

Our AFLW list and player management has been phenomenal. It is only 3 years or so ago that we had Daisy & Paxy carrying this team, with Hickey & O'Dea on marquee contracts and doing very little. There really wasn't a lot of talent coming through, although players such as Lampard and Heath have really stepped up. Since then we have added serious talent every year, whilst other teams have been losing top players to the expansion sides. Our drafting has been superb, we've nabbed elite players from other sides and found a few diamonds in the rough as well. The coaching and development staff have been excellent, and it is clearly a great environment to be part of. I think this group realises that they can achieve something very special if they stay together and stay focused.

https://www.womens.afl/news/114399?_ga=2.159347065.231243073.1667858888-1696772815.1667858888 Hanks and Purcell in the squad. No room for Bannan!!??? McNamara, Heath, Hanks & Zanker were in the previous squad, Hanks & Heath made the final team. Zanker misses out on this season's squad because she turns 23 on Thursday.

Terrible decision. And if we do get to host the GF, I would be using this decision as a precedent to not play at the dump that is Marvel.

Not one defender named from the competition's statistically best defense? Birch and Heath should be both be in the squad. Harris, Hore and Purcell should all be certainties, but midfield spots are particularly tough to win. I would be highly surprised if Paxman makes it, although it would be a great story.

Jack had a fantastic season, but a pretty poor finals campaign, which will hopefully push him to greater heights in 2023.

My understanding is that kids still need a ticket to enter, but obviously don't need to pay for the privilege. That would be extremely poor if they sold/issued tickets in excess of the ground capacity.

The AFL is so good at being the forefront of popular causes. As such it is great to see them reducing their carbon footprint by unnecessarily flying the entire league (plus 1000s of hangers on) across the country for an event that nobody asked for. Imagine how much they could achieve by throwing this money at local leagues and clubs.

We do our most important player absolutely no favours by (a) playing him in meaningless mid season games when he is clearly injured and (b) kicking the ball on his head and letting him be smashed by ten blokes all day long. Max is clearly the best ruckman in the competition but we need him to be at his best in September, not May. If that means he plays 18 games next year and rests for four, so be it. PS. He is not a forward and probably never will be.

I'm not particularly impressed that this game starts at 7.10 on a Friday night, whereas the men's games start at 7.50. If 7.10 gives everyone enough time to travel in to the inner city, why are AFL games so late? Nevertheless, looking forward to a strong performance and a solid win. Go Dees!

https://aflcoaches.com.au/awards/aflw-champion-player-of-the-year-award/leaderboard/season-7/20230210 No doubt Jasmine Garner has had a great season and is a worthy winner, but I thought it was fascinating that none of the top three clubs had a player in the top 9 of this year's award. It shows that the AFLW teams who have taken the time to build lists with significant depth will almost always outperform those that have built their lists around 2 or 3 top players. In contrast, five of the top 10 in the 2022 AFL award were from the top 3 teams, so there seems to be a much better correlation in the men's game.

There are some horrifically bad numbers there, particularly for teams such as the Bulldogs and Freo, who have been in the competition since the outset. Even Collingwood's numbers are poor. I don't think some of the fixturing helps, eg putting games at venues such at Casey at 5pm on a Sunday. Thankfully we have a team that plays attractive football and is good to watch.

He's just a middling player in my mind. Does most things reasonably well, without having the standout quality that he needs to be a top player. He's the sort of player you're happy to have as a sub or as depth, because he can fill plenty of gaps, but I'm not sure that he's a best 18 player in a top team as we tried to make out this year.

Ed was outstanding in the first couple of months, then was below his best after the hit against North. This probably also coincided with him receiving more attention from defensive opponents. I'd like to see him run the edge of the centre square more, like Isaac Smith does, rather than playing along the boundary. If nothing else, it would reduce his tally of OOFs.

Any time, anywhere. We have been a far better side than Adelaide this year, and should win reasonably comfortably if we take our chances. Poor goalkicking is the number one threat to us winning a premiership this year, but playing away from Casey Fields show help our efficiency.

More than any player I have ever seen, Salem is a shadow of his best self as soon as he loses confidence in his body. His attack at the contest drops off markedly, and he reverts to safe, short kicks instead of taking the game on. The initial injury was hugely disappointing and costly for both player and team, but bringing him straight back in for round 12 was a mistake in hindsight. We should have given him a couple of weeks at Casey leading into the bye and then brought him back for the Brisbane game. With a bit of form and confidence, he should have been primed for a big second half of the year. More significantly, there is no way he ever should have played in either final. He was basically a passenger in both games, which was hugely costly in a couple of close contests. Hopefully he gets himself right in the break and has a big 2023, because his best football is excellent.

Fitness tests this week for Gay, Duffy & Ivey. It would be great to get a game into Maddy Gay before the finals. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1241545/aflw-injury-update-demons-to-face-tests The team will know exactly what is required when they take the field on Saturday afternoon. With a 50 point differential going into the final round, I'm assuming we'll need to win by close to 15 goals to get top spot. Difficult, but not completely impossible if we take our chances and get some favourable conditions.

Nothing wrong with a 4 man bench (or 3 man bench for that matter). It's a tough game - injuries happen - bad luck. Less players on the bench means that players need to be more versatile and coaches more innovative, which is a good thing in my eyes. The alternative is that we go to the extremes of the NFL and dress a player and his direct replacement every game.

The fundamental problem with Spargo is that he doesn't win his own football. If he's not taking a mark in acres of space, or getting a handball receive, he doesn't get his hands on the football. Averaged 0.4 goals a game and 0.6 goal assists a game this season per Footywire. That's just woeful for a permanent forward who barely tackles and is rarely accountable for an opponent. If he is anything other than depth next season, we are going nowhere.

Unfortunately the lack of efficiency against St Kilda and North Melbourne has really hurt us, particularly the St Kilda game. I'd back us in to make up a 5 goal difference against West Coast, but almost 10 goals will be a tough ask. Collingwood have been found lacking against quality teams, and I'd be surprised if they get within 5 goals of Brisbane. That means we need to win by 80 plus points. I think I'd rather get Adelaide in the QF and an easier preliminary final, than vice versa. Then hope that Adelaide can surprise Brisbane on the other side.