We didn’t play the Western Bulldogs.
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It’s not fair that WCE get to play Footscray this year, and we don’t.
The fixture is rigged!
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I see that you didn’t quite get what I was saying.
I’ll try again…
Pick one or two if your negatives and try to suggest a way for the team to improve.
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Play more quicker and direct. many times we got the ball and didn’t move it quickly
Bonnie and Maddy then daylight
Amber Clarke and Paige i like apart from those four we don’t much
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Perhaps the positive is the loss wakes us up to where the side is really at?
A win would have given us a shot at a Top 4 spot, and false belief we are a genuine Top 4 team.
Looking back at our wins so far, they have been against weak and/or inconsistent teams - and out of those wins, none have we truly blown the opposition off the park (like what the Suns did to the Eagles or the Swans to the Dogs).
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That, young man, is what I was shouting at the tv yesterday.
It is a most admirable suggestion.
Edit: the above comments refer to the original post before you added the extra lines
In typical Essendon style, we will fall apart when it counts.
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Blew a golden opportunity to get a top 4 spot and a home final hmmm sounds familiar haha
It is true that they have never really blown anyone out.
Some of that is slow starts. The first quarters have been terrible most of the season. Not just that but first minutes of first quarters. There’s been a lot of very early conceded goals.
Do you have any idea of how behind the top 4 teams we are on percentage?
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I think some one asked Nat post game about our starts and how we don’t blow teams away.
Yes i’m aware we had a good chance to make up some of that % by belting WC and we didn’t
We were over 60% behind 4th…we were never going to make that up.
We are not a too 4 standard team (yet) and should!!! be proud of the team being in solid contention for playing finals in their 2nd season.
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The goal should be aiming to win a final imo. the girls said they don’t want to be labled as a second year team they are in it to win it
That’s quite reasonable and something the team is still in with a good chance to achieve
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One thing I did overhear post-game, from a to be unnamed player, was the lack of talk out on the field (especially for the mids).
It was actually quite possible for us to get into the 4 if we won our last 3. We would’ve been the very obvious odd one out, with Brisbane sitting 5th and 50+ percentage points ahead, but it was genuinely possible as Brisbane still might only finish on 7 wins
Top 4 is not for us.
We’re not ready for that and we’re not built for it. We beat Richmond and Geelong but if we were honest, we would have expected to win one of those games at best.
We can still miss out on finals and I wouldn’t be surprised if we do.
We aren’t a high scoring team. Again, the list isn’t built for it. We play a heavily contested style of footy which keeps teams close to us but also we stay within reach of the opposition. We do not have much outside run and our best runner (Gee) is more of a long distance runner than a burst of speed runner and is currently injured. Again, the teams with the crazy percentages that smashed teams were the top 4 teams that have had multiple preseasons to build their team and set fitness standards. We don’t have the capability 80 points like the better teams. We’re more suited to the 40 to 50 range.
In order to play well as a team, you can’t just smack players onto a board and hope that they all know their roles and instinctively work well together within the group. They still have day jobs to go to and experience normal everyday issues that we deal with.
Even pre-season training wasn’t as full on as men’s pre-season training. Some players would join in on VFLW training sessions but not everyone could do that. The team chemistry takes time and practise to build.
We came into this comp with Sydney, Hawthorn and Port Adelaide. All of which look average at best.
Gold Coast, St Kilda, Richmond and West Coast got in the year before us and also look average at best.
Look at the top 4 teams. Melbourne, Adelaide, North Melbourne and Brisbane. They were all in the inaugural season of AFLW.
We are tracking well given this is our second season. And do have a decidedly younger group of players coming through. Unless the list size changes, we’re going to have to delist players. I’d assume most of the players would be given any opportunity to go elsewhere if they feel they’ll get a greater opportunity. Assuming everyone wants to stay with the club, I’d guess Dani Marshall, Jo Doonan and maybe one more player won’t make the cut for next season. Other teams don’t have list spots to hold onto players who barely get games when the majority are fit so I think they’ll be replaced with draftees.
Given how close most of the playing group is, I’d expect whoever gets delisted will get onto our VFLW team pretty quickly if they don’t get on to other AFLW teams.
I think our biggest problems are outside run through the middle and run out of the backline. Our backline talls are really good. They work hard for positioning and their skills are half decent.
Knowing our luck though, the rest of the comp will focus on strength and it’ll become a heavily contested game whilst we transition towards and finesse and outside running style of game.
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Coach votes
10 Emma Swanson (WCE) = 5+5
6 Sophie McDonald (WCE) = 4+2 or 3+3*
6 Madison Prespakis (ESS) = 4+2 or 3+3*
4 Ella Roberts (WCE) = 3+1 or 4
3 Aisling McCarthy (WCE) = 3 or 2+1
1 Georgia Nanscawen (ESS) = 1
*obviously can only be one 3+3; could be 4+2 AND 4+2, or could be 4+2 AND 3+3
The 17 tackles by G was the equal-highest for all 2023 AFLW games.
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