No Essendon, no interest.
Even then, my interest level would be significantly higher if it wasn’t governed by the same slimy sh1ts that govern the men’s comp.
Come on… The AFL wants us to get excited so we should get excited.
Skills aren’t great, yet, but Jesus they go in just as hard. I actually enjoyed it. I hope it succeeds and grows
I didn’t think it was too bad, as a spectacle. There seemed to be some pretty interesting characters and some good athleticism. I haven’t really seen too much female full-contact sport previously, so it has me intrigued.
I only saw half a game on Friday night and another half on Saturday night… but the skills were pretty poor, so they would want to improve quickly. While the pace was frantic there weren’t anywhere near enough goals, and the misses from dead in front were really deflating.
You can tell the AFL are putting everything into stage-managing it all. The “sell-out” crowds, failure to mention the soccer-like scores, building them up as heroines before they’ve even played a game.
I’m not going to go out of my way to watch it, but if I’m flicking through channels and it’s on I will be happy to watch it for a bit.
It will be interesting to see what controversy emerges. Obviously the girls are hard at it on field, but it won’t be a good look if there are punches thrown and hair pulling, etc. Same with injuries. Showing a bloke with his blooded nose plastered across his face is pretty bad, but the networks might balk at showing women with the same injuries in the same detail.
Also, like all celebs in this day and age, some of these women will be prime targets for some 'less than reputable" photo shoots, if not now while under contract, then shortly after. This won’t look good for the AFL.
Its just another half azsed effort by the afl that can’t commit to anything unless their accountant futures say so. Gils going out at qtr time to speak to 20 people outside the ground saying how sorry he was they can’t get in What a toss! Betchya any money he only entered when he knew of the crowd numbers 10 minutes before bounce.
Big bash have near empty stadiums for women’s big bash, unless its big bash, no 1 watches state cricket anymore. How about next year switch venue deals (stick state cricket back to local parks and have alfw at the bigger venues) and just see how many number alfw can get or have cricket prepaid for their yearly losses? I’m also thinking summer league footy might be more successful for alfw.
It’s a bit rough complaining about skill level tbh.
Most of the players only started playing footy in the last year, a big percentage have been poached from basketball or soccer or other sports. It’s like having an entire side full of rookie b listed guys from Tanzania who’ve only just started playing the game, you don’t EXPECT polished skills.
They’ll improve, and probably pretty quickly, over the next couple of seasons. A lot of them already have serious athletic/sporting credentials, they know what’s required. I know they’re not full-time and won’t be getting a training intensity anything like what the men do until/unless that changes, but I still think we can expect to see a pretty significant improvement over time.
Interesting to see if more talent moves from other sports after year 1.
It’s great for the people playing, I’m glad they get to play in front of big crowds and while it’s clearly positive discrimination it will do plenty to get kids playing and having an ambition to play at a professional level - probably a leg up that needed to happen or nothing at all would have. But it also dawned on me with the prime time televising and the constant, obviously PR feed articles in all the rags, that the AFL have also just introduced footy another few weeks earlier in the year. The whole thing will pay for itself by that alone, the clever ■■■■■
I think it is fabulous. Just a shame EFC aren’t there. Intensity and passion was great.
Sure skills aren’t as good as they could be, but that’s not because they are women, it is because they don’t train 5 days per week with optimal coaching and training facilities.
And despite the men having optimal coaching and training facilities I have seen some very very boring low scoring men’s games with very questionable skills.
Good crowds but it was free to get in yeah?
I think they’ve timed it well, cos there is bugger all sport on free-to-air TV over the weekend, so I watched a bit just to watch something. I’m sure it will be a success and skill level etc will improve, but if the AFL is wanting me to spend my hard-earned on it, that won’t happen until there are Bombers in the comp.
I went to the Carlton/Collingwood game and watched the Bulldogs/Freo match on TV.
Disposal skills were generally pretty atrocious but that is to be expected with players who haven’t grown up with the game. There are some talented footballers amongst them though - for example: Brennan, Arnell, Vescio, Davey, Kearney, Chiocci and the Freo captain, whose name I forget, can play a bit too. They are all well worth watching and there will be plenty of new talent coming through with time. The competition should be a success as long as people don’t turn their backs on it because of some initial rough edges.
I think it is fabulous. Just a shame EFC aren't there. Intensity and passion was great. Sure skills aren't as good as they could be, but that's not because they are women, it is because they don't train 5 days per week with optimal coaching and training facilities. And despite the men having optimal coaching and training facilities I have seen some very very boring low scoring men's games with very questionable skills.
No one is saying the poor skills are because they are women. I think with the way our club has been treated by the AFL it’s only natural for us to be critical of what the AFL does.
In this case, they are making themselves out to be the white knight of equality for starting AFLW when really - at this stage at least - it’s just some “product” that the AFL are selling to try and improve their image and wrestle for a bigger slice of the sporting pie. If they were fair dinkum it would go for 23 rounds but really it’s just pre-season entertainment.
Obviously it has the potential to be a truly good competition if the skills improve so I guess we will just have to watch this space. I can’t really see girls dedicating their lives to a Sport that only pays for 8-10 weeks a year though.
Maybe also that gender equality in sport is in line with Fed and State government policies and prospective $$$$ from them, but I think that is too cynical. If it can be progressed through AFL, it helps.
I look forward to spending some Panic Dollars there in a few years though.
Haven’t read the rest of this thread so apologies if others have said this but this is a typical AFL effort to improve the brand and say they’re helping to make big changes in society.
Really they shut women out of the game for many years and are now trying to look good for giving them something many, many years after they should have.
The poorly paid women are being used as pawns and once again a compliant media are toeing the line.
Too little too late and no doubt the long overdue progress that has been made has nothing to do with the AFL - but that doesn’t stop them from taking the credit.
First the woman’s game is only 70% game time of the men’s game, second two of the games were played in inclement conditions - Third all teams seem to be play structured footy, some would say too structured - When you play structured footy there are two key features which will help achieve higher scoring - One is running power, especially from zone to zone, which will develop over time - Second is the inability to hit low flat kicks to break up zones, which will be more problematic to fix over time - The big thing I took out of the game is the traditional women’s sports need to be fearful of the future.
My niece played for the Dees and got 13 possies, you beauty Lily! Can’t wait for the Bombers to get our own team, I’ll get along and support them (then again I’d support an Essendon-branded fly crawling up a wall).
I was chatting to one of the AFLW pioneers a few weeks back (Emma Phillips - an absolute gun footballer - had a kick to kick with her once and she was consistently hitting me flush on the chest with fast low drop punts from 40 m away) who said that the original plan was to wait another year or two, even as late as 2020, to allow some more talent to come through. The worry was that punters would be turned off by the lack of quality/depth, but that there were quite a lot of good juniors in the system. So hopefully they can sustain the interest for a year or two until some more talent comes through.
For the record I was rapt at the turn out and the intensity of the play but not overly impressed with the foot skills. From what I’ve seen on the track most of these women can kick pretty well, so maybe it was nerves and maybe it was the extra pressure of match day.
Found it entertaining and a good placeholder until the Men start. I notice the women play much more of an oustide game, but their skills are shocking. theyre putting the effort in though and they will only get better. once the club gets the Bomberettes going, everyone will get far more involved. regardless of your views towards the AFL, its a positive thing to give women an opportunity to play the game at a higher level. lets hope Gill allows them to have a living wage so they can put food on the table.
My niece played for the Dees and got 13 possies, you beauty Lily! Can't wait for the Bombers to get our own team, I'll get along and support them (then again I'd support an Essendon-branded fly crawling up a wall).I was chatting to one of the AFLW pioneers a few weeks back (Emma Phillips - an absolute gun footballer - had a kick to kick with her once and she was consistently hitting me flush on the chest with fast low drop punts from 40 m away) who said that the original plan was to wait another year or two, even as late as 2020, to allow some more talent to come through. The worry was that punters would be turned off by the lack of quality/depth, but that there were quite a lot of good juniors in the system. So hopefully they can sustain the interest for a year or two until some more talent comes through.
For the record I was rapt at the turn out and the intensity of the play but not overly impressed with the foot skills. From what I’ve seen on the track most of these women can kick pretty well, so maybe it was nerves and maybe it was the extra pressure of match day.
The same thing happens at local level (guys) as well.
As with most things; the elite just do good things/make the good decisions more often. It’s what separates an Eddie Betts from a Kyle Reimers (with the implication the current women’s crop are closer to the Reimers end of the scale)
IMO (and not in direct relation to the women) being able to deal with pressure and nerves is the most desirable trait any athlete can have)
No 10 for Brisbane goes ok 