The thing is peeps that watch t20 don’t realise it sucks.
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Just wow, the mishandling of money at AFL HQ over the past few years is astounding. Gill is handing the new CEO a massive ■■■■ sandwich, they lost 60 million dollars in the last 2 years but they are expanding AFLW to 18 teams with a 94 percent pay rise despite it already being the competitions biggest financial liability. Madness.
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Did I get it right that the new AFLW season is with 18 teams and 10 rounds of competition? How does that work when you don’t play every opponent at least once ?
they’ve $250m in cash assets and bring in over $700m most years
their money handling is more than fine
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I know they’ve done some bastardised format with “conferences” in the past. Hoping for a 17 game season eventually!
Ideally, you’d have Essendon playing all the other “new” teams this season.
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Which will include Sydney in Sydney in the few weeks I’m in the country.
Good work, Marnie. I bet she had to leave explicit notes for the editor not to fark the below up. For a joke almost none of the readers will appreciate.
Many of the players in this VFLW squad will be part of the Essendon AFLW team, including co-captain Georgia Nanscawen, Joanna Doonan, Danielle Marshall, Jordan Zanchetta and Federica Frew. It’s hard to watch “Freds” bag goal after goal on the weekend and not daydream about what that is going to look like at AFLW level.
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It was previously but the last couple of years it’s been shithouse. More going out than coming in isn’t sustainable.
The expansion signing period will start on May 24, with the full Sign and Trade period to kick off on May 31.
The NAB AFLW Draft will be held on June 29, but pre-season will begin without the full complement of players, starting a few weeks prior on June 13.
Not clear if the expansion (POACHING) signing period ends before the normal Trade period.
So AFLW training is immediately after round one of the VFLW finals.
Well you’d better start your pre-pre seasoning training then!
Key dates
The one big problem I see with the different season is that all the decent grounds are out of action.
Crows for instance would have to host a GF at somewhere like Norwood Oval in front of 12-15k and I’m guessing the same in other states which is a pity if they are trying to grow the game. Maybe in a few years they will align it with the mens season?
And for that reason you’d think the VFLW* would be unlikely to follow them to late in the year, so there is no reserves comp to fall back to. In which case very few NAB Leaguers will get a chance to stretch themselves in the VFLW, because they’re being drafted shortly after their season ends. And then those year 12 kids are full-on training and perhaps playing during their final months of school.
*and “equivalent” in other states
(Essendon is one of the few clubs to have a dedicated ground. We got an extra home game last year because of that, and this year have played a lopsided HH-A-HH-AA-HHH-AAAA-H).
Sydney just poached Brooke Lochland from the Doggies.
She joins Huntington, Toogood and Marshall as former Doggies forwards who have fled Whitten Oval.
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Is there a limit to how many players are allowed to be poached from a single club?
The AFL will announce that rule after it is too late 
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QUICK PLUG:
As mentioned by Madam President @Catherine_Lio on Twitter last week, you can make a $50 contribution to the club’s AFLW program and get first access to the club’s AFLW Foundation Membership.
Details on the club website at:
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And the club are contacting any current members with the VFLW add on and asking if they want to be foundation members of ESS AFLW. They are offering game day access membership as well as a non access membership.