Look how far we’ve come - the 2021 VFLW season summary

[theDJR]

I am not intending to go as epic as I did in the 2019 equivalent of this thread (but probably will). The amount and breadth of comments elsewhere probably indicates I could write much more: the general VFLW thread had about 50 posts for 2018, 85 posts for 2019 (and the bulk of that was post-season, including some Grand Final commentary), 15 posts for 2020… and approaching 200 for 2021.

Part of that was me largely cutting my time used by the mens’ teams to a few hours of TV per week. But we also got exceptional coverage via Celie Hay at the club (photos and reports/articles that generally expressed more than would be seen by simply attending games).

Speaking of the club/RMIT intern angle… belatedly, ANNOUNCE VICTORIA RAPTIS OLYMPIC COVERAGE.

The game as a whole certainly got better coverage — thank you @PH_WARFRadio and Casey Radio, thank you DraftCentral, and many others including Alex Catalano at The Inner Sanctum.

The year started off with little respect from the AFL, with limited stats arriving by Tuesdays (despite detailed stats being collected live). Unlike the VFL, they just didn’t want to pay Champion Data the extra amount for live or near live data. Under pressure, the AFL gradually coughed up for improved coverage.

[theDJR]

This year’s summary being shorter is no reflection on what was achieved. One win in year one (and a percentage of 40%), six wins in year two (94%), eight H&A wins in year three (156%) leading to three finals. The thing is, they’ve had the same spirit every year, and if I haven’t convinced you of that by now then several thousand more words won’t succeed.

Let’s do a simple summary of scoring over those three years, because it tells so much of the story.

Year	For	Against
2018	21	52
2019	34	36
2021	34	25

We may not have had the cattle forward to really push through to a Grand Final and what at the start of the year was an extremely implausible premiership. But our improved midfield and epic backline can now throttle nearly anyone down, including quasi-AFLW teams.

Every game ever below: black dots are scores against, red dots are scores for.

[theDJR]

Here is the final team list for the year (age accurate as of the day of this post). Some funny buggers with the jumper numbers week-to-week!

NUMBER	PLAYER	AGE	HEIGHT	Games (EFC)	2019	2020	2021	Games (VFLW)
1	Courtney Ugle	25	160	38	13	8	17	38
2	Felicity Theodore	20	168	9	0	3	6	9
3	Monique DeMatteo	24	168	19	11	8	0	19
4	Mia-Rae Clifford	34	170	17	0	0	17	83
5	Georgia Nanscawen	29	162	28	0	13	15	28
6	Alex Quigley	24	168	23	10	8	5	50
7	Jessie Davies	25	170	17	0	0	17	17
8	Eloise Ashley-Cooper	21	165	30	0	13	17	30
9	Marianna Anthony	24	168	19	0	3	16	19
10	Eleanor Cornish	21	177	10	3	5	2	10
11	Alana Barba	19	165	21	0	4	17	21
12	Isabel Currenti	29	167	6	0	6	0	12
13	Elizabeth Hosking	26	168	23	0	9	14	23
14	Thomay Nicolaou	28	165	0	0	0	0	0
15	Lauren Caruso	21	161	24	14	3	7	24
16	Tamsin Crook	18	178	13	0	0	13	13
17	Federica Frew	25	167	17	0	8	9	17
18	Kendra Heil	33	166	44	13	14	17	44
19	Nicole Julian	29	168	5	0	0	5	20
20	Cecilia McIntosh	42	160	27	0	12	15	29
21	Alex Morcom	24	166	37	13	7	17	43
22	Natalie MacDonald	22	164	33	12	4	17	33
24	Tahlia Gillard	17	190	4	0	0	4	4
25	Lori Stepnell	25	174	27	0	14	13	27
26	Taylor Moss	27	178	1	0	0	1	1
27	Terira Fry	19	170	1	0	1	0	1
28	Emma Mackay	30	168	11	0	0	11	11
30	Simone Nalder	31	186	43	14	14	15	43
31	Eloise Gardner	23	175	10	0	0	10	10
33	Tara Slender	17	175	3	0	0	3	3
34	Kasey Lennox	18	174	7	0	0	7	7
39	Lauren Ahrens	29	182	16	0	11	5	16
41	Ruby Svarc	27	161	21	0	12	9	21
not 40	Laura Cocomello	18	173	0	0	0	0	0
40 not 47	Emilia Yassir	17	160	7	0	0	7	7
42	Elizabeth Snell	19	161	4	0	0	4	4
43 not 24	Georgie Prespakis	18	168	5	0	0	5	5
43 not 38	Neve Crowley	18	175	1	0	0	1	1
44	Grace Dicker	20	166	10	0	0	10	10
46	Gloria Elarmaly	20	173	0	0	0	0	0
47	Zali Friswell	17	165	8	0	0	8	8
47	Jemma Finning	19	165	1	0	0	1	1
-	Shelby Meyers	19	161	0	0	0	0	0

[theDJR]

You can easily see the stats of almost all of our players at (a couple aren’t listed with us, including Gillard):

Essendon VFLW - Aussie Rules Draft Central

As that will likely get wiped come next season, I’ve copied it in here and converted it to averages, and sorted it by DraftCentral points (I have not bothered to work out what formula they use). Main advantage of the original source is you can sort by columns. Don’t take the inside or rebound fifty stats there seriously — they’re clearly wrong and/or from a limited number of rounds.

It clearly demonstrates the dominant role of our captain, and how the big bodies of Ahrens and Prespakis were influential late in the season.

Player	Games	DC	Kicks	Handballs	Disposals	Marks	Hit-outs	Tackles	Goals	Clearances
Georgia Nanscawen	15	96	15.9	7.6	23.5	1.7	0	10.5	0.07	6.2
Lauren Ahrens	5	69	11.8	7.4	19.4	2.8	0	4.4	0.20	0.6
Georgie Prespakis	5	69	8.2	9	17.2	0.4	0	10.2	0.20	6.2
Alana Barba	17	67	8.9	7.6	16.5	1.2	0	7.3	0.59	3.9
Federica Frew	9	62	12.6	1.2	13.8	2	0	3.8	1.22	1.0
Courtney Ugle	17	55	7.5	6.7	14.2	1.9	0	4.6	0.00	2.8
Cecilia McIntosh	15	51	9.5	3.5	13	2.7	0	2.5	0.07	0.4
Emma Mackay	11	49	9.1	3.3	12.4	2.6	0	2.5	0.09	0.9
Simone Nalder	15	49	4.1	2.7	6.7	1.3	20.9	1.7	0.07	1.1
Elizabeth Snell	4	49	7.8	5	12.8	2	0	8	0.00	1.8
Marianna Anthony	16	47	9.2	2.3	11.4	1.7	0	4.4	0.06	0.9
Eloise Ashley-Cooper	17	46	6.6	5.9	12.5	1.5	0	5.5	0.00	1.7
Alex Quigley	5	45	7.2	2.4	9.6	3.4	0	4.2	0.40	0.4
Natalie MacDonald	17	44	6	5.4	11.4	3.1	0	4.6	0.35	0.5
Lori Stepnell	13	44	5.6	4.4	10	1.2	4.2	3.7	0.15	2.2
Mia-Rae Clifford	17	43	6.9	1.9	8.8	3.2	0	3.1	0.94	0.2
Kendra Heil	17	40	8.2	2.5	10.7	1.8	0	3.3	0.06	0.4
Eloise Gardner	10	39	7.7	2.7	10.4	2	0	1.3	0.00	0.1
Ruby Svarc	9	39	6.9	3.8	10.7	0.6	0	3.2	0.22	1.2
Tahlia Gillard	4	37	3.8	1.3	5	1.3	15.5	5	0.00	0.8
Nicole Julian	5	37	6.4	4.4	10.8	1.2	0	4.4	0.00	0.8
Grace Dicker	10	36	7	2.2	9.2	1.6	0	4.9	0.10	0.4
Alex Morcom	17	33	5.6	3.4	9	1.2	0	2.2	0.06	0.8
Emelia Yassir	7	33	3.6	5.4	9	1	0	3.9	0.00	1.6
Jessie Davies	17	32	5.2	3.1	8.3	1.5	0.1	3.6	0.41	0.2
Neve Crowley	1	30	4	3	7	3	0	2	0.00	1.0
Kasey Lennox	7	29	5.4	1.3	6.7	1.6	0.1	2.7	0.00	0.6
Felicity Theodore	6	29	3.8	2.8	6.7	1	0	2.7	0.83	0.3
Eleanor Cornish	2	27	4	2.5	6.5	1	2.5	1.5	0.00	1.0
Elisabeth Hosking	14	27	4.4	3.7	8.1	1.1	0.1	4.5	0.07	0.1
Jemma Finning	1	26	4	1	5	2	0	5	0.00	0.0
Lauren Caruso	7	25	4.9	2.7	7.6	0.3	0	3.6	0.00	0.6
Zali Friswell	8	24	3.4	3.3	6.6	1	0	4.9	0.38	0.0
Tamsin Crook	13	23	4.3	1.6	5.9	1.2	0	1.7	0.15	0.3
Tara Slender	3	15	2.7	0.7	3.3	1	0	2	0.33	0.3
Taylor Moss	1	6	0	0	0	0	4	4	0.00	0.0

[theDJR]

Below is some of our top stats-getters (top 12 only, so nominally there should be one player per team). Source is:

VFLW - Aussie Rules Draft Central

and it was collected after the preliminary final (so there might yet be a little bouncing around of the Cats and Pies stats).

Both totals and averages are deceptive. At the time of writing only Geelong have played as many games as us. On the other hand, the averages are padded by players who only showed up briefly.

In doing this I noticed we played 35 players this year and the other teams averaged 46. This is mostly due to other teams bringing in many AFLW players as the year went on — I think Darebin were the only team to match our tally of just 2 existing AFLW players.

Kicks
Nanscawen — 2nd total, 5th average

Handballs
Barba — 3rd total, 34th average
Nanscawen — 5th total, 35th average
Ugle — 6th total, 54th average
Ashley-Cooper — 9th total, 80th average

Disposals
Nanscawen — 1st total, 5th average
Barba — 5th total, 59th average
Ugle — 11th total, 101st average

Marks
Clifford — 5th total, 60th average
MacDonald — 10th total, 63rd average

Tackles
Nanscawen — 2nd total, 4th average
Barba — 5th total, 22nd average
Prespakis – 71st total, 5th average

Hit-outs
Nalder — 3rd total, 9th average

Goals
Clifford — 5th total, 45th average
Frew — equal 9th total, 20th average
Barba — equal 9th total, 57th average

Clearances (The Georgie and Georgia Show)
Nanscawen — 1st total, 2nd average
Barba — 3rd total, 26th average
Prespakis — 33rd total, 3rd average
Ugle — 11th total, 62nd average

[theDJR]

Here’s some brief thoughts on all of our players.

1. Courtney Ugle — all 17 games in 2021, now EFC total of 38 games (3rd overall) — Courtney missed the second half of 2019 with a broken leg, which might lead watchers to conclude this tiny stick figure might not last. In 2019 she was mostly wing with a smidgen of half-back, and arguably her game had gone backwards from 2018 (despite being upgraded to captain). She had the luck to be in QLD during 2020 and was therefore one of the few players who got to play throughout that year, and it showed as she was greatly improved. This year she mostly played as a defensive inside mid, and was just as hard as Nanscawen there. When she did get it outside her kicking was amongst our most accurate. She very obviously continued to play a major leadership role as vice-captain, and was invariably the first in to defend or support her team mates. And she’s the face of the club and as equally awesome outside of footy as (in particular but not only) an indigenous leader. Just so much

2. Felicity Theodore — 6 games, EFC 9 — Felicity was vice-captain of the Calder Cannons in 2019 and played three late games for us as a small forward. It wasn’t until career game five before she actually kicked a goal though, and in what seemed like a break-out month she kicked 1+1+2+1 goals. She really should have kicked a few more: her range and accuracy of kicking are weak spots and there were a few incredible misses within 15 metres (the worst saw her trying to chip it rather than kicking normally). She was dropped after 5 rounds, and only came back for round 8 (but was featured regularly on the emergencies list). She still ended the season third for us in goals/game.

3. Monique DeMatteo — 0 games, EFC 19 — Monique featured regularly in the early weeks as an emergency, and regularly attended games, but even after Quigley dropped out was never brought in to add some size to our forward line. This made me sad as I like to call DeMatteoooooooooooo when she goals

4. Mia-Rae Clifford — all 17 games, EFC 17 — I don’t know how many VWFL games McIntosh played, but let’s put Mia-Rae as either the most or second-most experienced player in our team (VFLW 83 and AFLW 18). For much of the year she played as our sole large-ish forward (she’s only 170cm, so eclipsed nowadays), and ended fifth for the league for goals (16.14 for the year; I’m amazed she missed that many, as she’s very deliberate in her set shots). Now 34, she’s slow but leads hard and even if she fails to get a gap on her opponent remains a great contested beast at ground level. She went straight into the leadership group of five and anyone who saw her play also clearly heard her guiding and encouraging the forward line. She’s indicated she is actually happy here after fleeting through four other clubs in the past four years (3 AFLW, 1 VFLW), and wants to play on.

5. Georgia Nanscawen — 14 games, EFC 27 — Despite effectively missing 3 of the 14 H&A games due to a calf injury, she has got to be a hot favourite for the Lambert-Pearce medal this year (unless CBomb stole too many early votes). In 80-minute games she averaged 24 disposals, 10 tackles, and 6 clearances. Chose to not nominate for the AFLW draft, stay exclusively with us, and presumably re-enter the AFLW when we do. She’s not the complete player (only got around to kicking her first goal last month, and that via a fifty metre penalty) but on the basis of just over 30 games of footy ever the Honey Badger is going to win back-to-back B&Fs with us and be in the league team of the year, and as a long-term international athlete has driven our team to better training standards and a never-say-die attitude on the field.

6. Alex Quigley — 5 games, EFC 23 — Quigley played the first five games of the year as the second tall-ish forward before a foot injury took her out for the season (more on that from her at Login • Instagram — support her!). She kicked two goals in the first game (in a minute!) and then spent much of her remaining games further from goal than Clifford. That saw zero further goals kicked — and to be honest she had two shocking games in those five — but at the time she went out she was equal with Clifford for marks (and there were some decent leading contested clunks in that, reminiscent of her childhood hero Matthew Lloyd) to be in the top ten of the league. Her last game this year was her 50th VFLW game.

7. Jessie Davies — all 17 games in her debut year with us —came to us from Footscray AFLW/VFLW (but never played in the former), and I was harsh on her early. One-on-one contests were exposing her as sloooooooow. But… after the first month or so, speed no longer seemed a problem, and she displayed a fair amount of tricks. That culminated in the game versus Darebin where she kicked three goals and showed she could clunk as well as she could evade. In the final game of the year she spent at least some time as a one-out full-forward.

8. Eloise Ashley-Cooper — all 17 games, EFC 30 — entered the leadership group at age 20. Started and ended the year as a defender, spent time in the midfield in-between (notably while Nanscawen was out and we needed a bigger body in there).

9. Marianna Anthony — 16 games in her debut year with us — missed the first final with concussion (I imagine the coach’s PhD paper was relevant there), but otherwise was a regular on a wing. Had the 15th most kicks in the VFLW.

10. Eleanor Cornish — 2 games, EFC 7 — only played the two games when we didn’t have Simone Nalder. She and Stepnell are not really rucks but did a great job in our (first) win against Casey by entirely negating their AFLW-listed ruck.

11. Alana Barba — all 17 games, 21 EFC — on the day we released our squad this year, I listed Barba as the top upside to improve us and wrote “if she could move into the midfield I think she could do a lot of damage”. I’ll stick by that after she went top ten for disposals, tackles, and (perhaps) clearances in the league. There were only 11 players ahead of her on goals, too. Haven’t seen confirmation she got post-draft picked up by Gold Coast yet?

12. Isabel Currenti — did not play, 6 EFC — didn’t even get listed on the club website

13. Elizabeth Hosking — 9 games, 23 EFC — very much the utility player. Started the year mostly down back and ended the year mostly up forward

14. Thomay Nicolaou — did not play — the mysterious 28yo on the development list! Was in the bests 5 of the 6 games she played at West Brunswick in the VAFA Premier league

15. Lauren Caruso — 7 games, 10 EFC — the “other” utility player. Did her ankle (?) at Willy in Round 13 to end her season.

16. Tamsin Crook — 13 games in her debut year with us — did not get drafted last year, and when this 178cm beanpole turned up as a key defender for us I admit I was a tad worried. But she’s very composed, can pick the ball off the ground far better than you might expect, reads the ball well, and did a pretty good job on whatever monsters were thrown her way.

17. Federica Frew — 11 games, EFC 14 — I had her on the short list to boost us in that pre-season review, and she certainly did (albeit more forward than mid). She’s barely started playing footy but she has “it” (had previously studied in the USA on a soccer scholarship). She appropriately works almost entirely by foot (10th in the league, on averages) and when she went out with a back injury late in the season it really hurt us. Kicked more goals/game than anyone else in our team, in between cameos on the ball.

18. Kendra Heil — 17 games, EFC 44 — our games leader (missed the first game, then played every game since) and second only to Courtney as face of the club. She got a bit of a release this year by typically playing as the third tall defender rather than second (she’s only 166cm). She’s still plenty zippy for 33yo and two ACLs down… and now I am totally distracted from these comments by seeing she is/was paired with coach Brendan Major. Like how I was slow to pick up the Ash Brown-Lisa Williams connection previously… at this level, everyone knows everyone? At least I picked up Clifford and Julian were likely a two-for-one deal early on!

19. Speaking of which, Nicole Julian — 5 games in her debut year with us — started the season late due to injury, played five in a row, and out with injury again. I wasn’t all that impressed with her midfield work but then she got sent to the backline and was a star there versus Collingwood, with her veteran nous on display.

20. Cecilia McIntosh —15 games, EFC 27 — I almost had McIntosh as over the hill when she debuted for us at 40yo in 2019. I had a vague (correct?) memory of first seeing her playing at full-back versus Moana Hope at Footscray; in the end she lost out to her much bigger opponent, but was heroic in doing so. The umps reckoned she was the third-best player in the VFLW in 2019 (they were wrong) so I see her as the primary threat to Nanscawen winning the Lambert-Pearce Medal this year… because CBomb was AMAZING early this year. In 2019 she played mostly forward and wing, but this year we sent her back and she dominated. A hamstring ping took her out for a couple of weeks but she was no less zippy when she returned.

21. Alex Morcom — all 17 games, EFC 37 — won’t get as many lines as her fellow small defender above, but just does her job very well. Getting more of it than in previous seasons, too.

22. Natalie MacDonald — all 17 games, EFC 33 — a small forward who forgot she was one after round four (when she had kicked 2 goals in successive weeks). Kicked one point in the last 8 rounds. The thing is: she doesn’t spend much time forward, rather burning off her opponent, taking marks in the midfield, and delivering to the likes of Frew and Clifford.

23. n/a

24. Tahlia Gillard — 4 games in her debut year with us — if you look at the raw stats you might not rate her, but she’s 190cm, relatively new to the ruck, and is one of those cursed December babies who won’t reach 18yo for another four months. The sky is the limit… and she might just reach up and pluck it down. We gave her pretty even time with Nalder in the last month, including letting her start games. Taken at #42 in the AFLW draft.

25. Lori Stepnell — 13 games, EFC 27 — this will be the first of two rather negative reviews. In 2021 Lori improved almost all of her stats, absolutely competed hard at ground level, and I had time for her in 2019 as a long-kicking forward. BUT… the stat that went backwards was scoring. She didn’t kick a goal till round 9, and while you can say she improved her ruck backup, that was from 2.7 to 4.2 hit-outs per game. Good rucks would murder her and that resulted in goals; in low-scoring games it was brutal how momentum could swing when Stepnell replaced Nalder in the ruck.

26. Taylor Moss — 1 game, EFC 1 — but Lori was better than Taylor. She played in the first game vs St Kilda, got slaughtered, and was never seen again.

27. Terira Fry — no games, EFC 1 — started the year in EDFL Division 2 at Sunbury, was too good for that and kicked 16 goals in 4 games, moved to Division 1 and was in the bests 6 of 7 games while kicking 6 more

28. Emma Mackay — 11 games in her debut year with us — 30yo ex-Footscray player who made a wing her own for the first 11 games, and then disappeared. She was remarkably steady: in 9 of the first 10 weeks she had between 13 and 15 disposals. Then she had a 5 and I can’t say if injury took her away. Must have been smellier than Caracella as she got free in space so often, typically going for a run and bombing it forward.

29. n/a

30. Simone Nalder — 15 games, EFC 43 — the season was brought forward this year and her wedding won out for the first two weeks of the season; without that, she’d be the only player to participate in all of our games. She’s still a relatively recent convert to footy (netball until 2017) and her taps are rarely that nuanced… but she very rarely gets beaten (#1 for hit-outs last year, and with 3 finals cancelling out her 2 missed games, crept up to #3 this year). A few of our forwards could learn from her occasional forays forward: fast decisive leads and clunks.

31. Eloise Gardner — 10 games in her debut year for us — came in from the Falcons and replaced Kirby Hicks at full-back. Till Ahrens arrived she was the only substantially-sized key defender we had (unless you wanted to swing Clifford back — we never did that) and a decent contested mark. Cooked her foot in that Ahrens re-introduction versus Geelong, and despite a few COVID delays to the season could not get back in time.

32. n/a

33. Tara Slender — 3 games in her debut year for us — Tara was NOT on our list so it was a surprise when she turned up in round 13. She was from the Bendigo Pioneers, though, so there may be affiliation rules that explain that. Injury meant she only played a few NAB League games this year. For us she played as a key forward — she has also played as a defender and a big midfielder at junior levels. I loved her aggression in the first game (still not sure if she got suspended for one week) but she was quiet in the first two finals and was not selected for the Prelim. Taken at #19 in the AFLW draft.

34. Kasey Lennox — 7 games in her debut year for us — was the first, along with Friswell, of the Calder girls to play with us. As a 17yo she generally showed a stack of composure and she wasn’t losing many contested marks.

35. n/a

36. n/a

37. n/a

38. n/a

39. Lauren Ahrens — 5 games, 16 EFC — massive credit to this QLD teacher managing to get down to us as much as she did. Won the Gold Coast B&F this year. Size-wise we are a very small team, and getting back this legit monster was, well, huge for us. She started with a pretty poor first half vs Geelong in the midfield, then went back to her normal CHB and starred for the rest of the season (including slipping forward to kick the winning goal in the Elimination Final).

40. Emilia Yassir — 7 games in her debut year for us — taken at #16 in the AFLW draft. We largely wasted her as a small forward; with her best game unsurprisingly being against Darebin in round 14 where she spend three quarters in the midfield. She was our (equal) smallest player at 160cm but is hard as.

41. Laura Cocomello — did not play — six games at Strathmore Division 1. Bit of a surprise give she was the Cannons captain.

42. Ruby Svarc — 9 games, 21 EFC — the other AFLW player who returned to us after playing with us in 2019. She hasn’t actually played an AFLW game with the Bears, and was cut at the end of the season before being restored to the list. Her highlight was easily winning the AFLW Grand Final Sprint — I laughed when I saw her line up because that result was so inevitable. She is soooo fast… and so un-skilled. It’s infuriating. She went on two huge sprints down the wing in the semi-final versus Collingwood that very easily could have resulted in us proceeding directly to the Grand Final: at the end of the first run she kicked it directly to the Pie defender, and in the second run she kicked it out of bounds (not on the full, but effectively so given the VFLW rules). Aaaaaaaaargh.

43. Elizabeth Snell — 4 games in her debut year for us — drafted to the AFLW at #27, she got her games in with us earlier in the year. Lightweight fast midfielder from Bendigo Pioneers who regardless is a keen tackler; can play inside and outside.

44. Neve Crowley — 1 game in her debut year with us — before ceding her number to the next-listed player, she played a reasonable game as a key defender.

45. Georgie Prespakis — 5 games in her debut year for us — drafted to the AFLW at #2, may have been #1 if a Victorian team had that pick. Is there anything I haven’t said about her yet? She was the big-bodied midfielder we needed and during parts of all three finals she DOMINATED.

46. Grace Dicker - 10 games in her debut year for us — mostly played alternate weeks to Snell, and more outside. Didn’t get as much of the ball, but had a decent impact with it when she did. Her hair game was .

47. n/a

48. Gloria Elarmaly – two seasons in, yet to debut. Is present so… I dunno.

49. Zali Friswell — 8 games in her debut year with us — drafted at #7 in the AFLW draft, played mostly wing and HF for us. Is very fast and has tidy skills.

50. Jemma Finning — 1 game in her debut year with us — this Bendigo Pioneer is very brave, and that may be why she got concussed vs Geelong. Was one of our few successful forwards that day before that.

Never given a number: Shelby Meyers (played 9 games at Doutta Stars Division 1, 14 goals and 4 times in the bests)

[theDJR]

Round #1

VFLW - Round 1 vs Saints @ The Hangar, 10:30am Sunday 28 February 2021 - free entry

This is a Radio 3DJR exclusive game. (@PH_WARFRadio is doing the dog doodoo match instead.) [image] Fans will be able to attend the game free, but will need to follow the COVID-19 protocols in place below. Please note that the match will be played on the MCG Oval at the NEC Hangar (ground closest to the building). Free street parking will be available on Melrose Drive, while public toilets will be set up for general public use. COVID-19 PROTOCOLS: All s…

Early on I was very worried. We didn’t apply enough pressure and we trailed the much bigger Saints 4-34 at half-time! Then what we would come to expect turned up, and we doubled their score in the second half but couldn’t catch up (29-47)

Round #2

VFLW - Round 2 vs Casey @ Casey Fields, 1PM Saturday 6 March 2021

This thread added early because the date and time hadn’t been confirmed until just now, due to the WA government freaking out that we had a COVID case a few weeks ago. [image]

Casey won comfortably in round one, and we were off to their hell hole (it actually was quite a pleasant day weather wise!)

We didn’t have a ruck, we lost the hit-outs 52-4, and it didn’t matter. A hard fought 31-22 win was the blueprint for the year.

Round #3

VFLW - Round 3 vs Hawks @ The Hangar, 11AM Saturday 13 March 2021

Looking at the other scheduled games, if we win this game we are an excellent chance to enter the top six for the first time in our history. The Hawks have easily beaten us in our three previous matches (21-60, 14-41, and 20-56) but appear to be on the slide. They went from premiers in 2018 to missing the finals in 2019. They lost their captain (Jessica “No Longer #1” Trend, who played with us in 2018) to an ACL injury in round one, and last week the returning-to-footy Abbey Holmes was “managed…

Just a casual 55-27 win.

A detour to watch the Calder Cannons

Calder Cannons v Western Jets - a look at some EFC VFLW-listed players

So out at Crazyburn for Cannons v Jets. Crowley just marked forty out. Fell short but Prespakis roves and hooks a goal over her shoulder. [image]

It was after this stage I started saying BRING THEM IN.

Round #4

VFLW - Round 4 vs Darebin @ The Hangar, 10:30AM Sunday 21 March 2021

This is a Radio 3DJR exclusive match (no WARF Radio and we are not one of the four games being video-streamed). [image] In: Dicker, Julian (debut with us) Out: Snell, Hosking Hmmm. Based on performance, Snell >>>>>> Dicker. Not sure if their Elarmaly is related to our Elarmaly.

70-3!

Round #5

VFLW - Round 5 vs Port Melbourne @ The Hangar, 10:30AM Sunday 28 March 2021 - video stream from 10:25

We’re on @PH_WARFRadio next week. Surely the 1v4 (us) and the 2v3 (Pies v Casey) matches get video-streamed?

At this stage Port was THE team of the league. We lost 27-38, but it was the first time I really thought we would be finals-worthy.

Round #6

VFLW - Round 6 vs Hawks @ Box Hill City Oval, 10AM Saturday 10 April 2021

Yes, again. If we beat them again, we’re likely to go to third place because Geelong (3rd) and Casey (4th) are playing each other, and percentage-wise they’re both basically a single goal ahead of us. Elsewhere, it’s likely Fark Carlton will get kicked out of the six (Pies beat them, Saints beat Willy). Good riddance.

The draw was rigged so that non-AFLW teams played each other a lot early.

We kicked one goal in the first three very wet quarters at Box Hill… and then we finished rope-a-doping, and ran all over them 29-16. They kicked 1.10!

Round #7

VFLW - Round 7 vs Willy @ The Hangar, 11AM Saturday 17 April 2021

Just putting this up now as the time (and changed location) hasn’t been announced yet. Thanks to La Presidenta for the info. Looks like I will get a chance to search for Conor’s car after all. Willy lost 25-35 to St Kilda today.

We squeezed the life out of Willy to win 45-15.

Round #8

VFLW - Round 8 vs Pies @ The Hangar, 11AM Sunday 25 April 2021

Radio 3DJR @PH_WARFRadio Probable video stream Two good teams Match of the Daaaaaaaay.

Collingwood were now top of the ladder. We led for more than half the game, but lost 28-38.

Round #9

VFLW - Round 9 vs Fark Carlton @ Windy Hill, 11AM Saturday 1 May 2021

Yes, Windy Hill! Also gets used by the men the next day. @PH_WARFRadio will be present, I will be interstate. These are the games you have to win, and win well to keep ahead of Geelong and Casey. P.S. Fark Carlton.

Fark Carlton rocked up with AFLW top-ups, and we destroyed them 72-19. Had to watch on the stream because Mum was rude enough to turn 70.

Round #10

VFLW - Round 10 vs Geelong @ Deakin Uni, 1PM Saturday 8 May 2021

Geelong are coming off their highest ever score and margin (versus Footscray), and knowing that a win this weekend would very likely secure them (at least) third on the ladder come finals. If we beat them it’ll be a smidgen of percentage between us. Previous results: 2018: a late-season 14-59 loss at a cold wet Kardinia Park, with very few highlights (Bullas with 17 tackles, and Dematteoooooooooo with a 60 metre one-on-one race to goal) 2019: a slow start and differing accuracy stops us claim…

This was when it became clear to me that Geelong were the best team in the league. Their midfield was epic, and we lost 16-39 when they put on a late spurt of goals after we lost numerous players to injury (CBomb, Gardner, Finning).

Round #11

VFLW - Round 11 vs Footscray @ Windy Hill, 11AM Saturday 15 May 2021

This was originally “confirmed” as starting at 11am but the club report for the Geelong game states it will start at 10am. Article above has since been fixed. Footscray are currently in seventh place two wins behind us and with less than half our percentage. The next three teams are three games and similarly huge percentage (>60%) behind us. Therefore winning next week essentially gets us to the finals. Conveniently, the two of us have played Fark Carlton and Geelong the past two weeks. The w…

We were much more competitive against the next quasi-AFLW team in the middle, but our forward line was a huge worry at this time. We lose 10-27.

Round #12

VFLW - Round 12 vs North @ Windy Hill, 10AM Saturday 22 May 2021

In round 10 North Melbourne came from behind to beat Hawthorn to retain a slim hope of reaching finals (they are one game and lots of percentage out, but will get to play the current sixth-placed Saints so have a smidgen of control over their destiny). They did that with just 3 AFLW players (who played 10, 1, and 0 AFLW games this year). The previous two weeks they got smashed by Casey and the Pies. Not sure if Frew or Ahrens could be inclusions for us… that would certainly help us!

North presented an AFLW and Tassie player stacked team, and we should have murdered them. But instead we tried clever things like bombing high and long to Yassir versus two talls, and lost 3.7.25 to 4.5.29

Round #13

VFLW - Round 13 vs Willy @ Willy, 1PM Saturday 19 June 2021 - with YouTube stream

Early forecast is not much rain and not much wind. As if. Game is being video-streamed by Willy: [VFLW Round 13 livestream: Williamstown v Essendon]

After yet another COVID break, no crowds are allowed but you are allowed to leave home and I join a very few people looking over the fence. We spiflicate Willy and win 4.11.35 to 2.2.14

Round #14

VFLW - Round 14 vs Darebin @ Bill Lawry Oval, 12noon Saturday 26 June 2021

Only posting this in advance because the date and time has been confirmed. If you go by the Lucy Watkins article also recently posted on the AFL site… we’re playing “Darwin”

In a mudpit we win 7.10.52 to 0.2.2. Convert one more chance and we would have had a final at Windy Hill.

Elimination Final

VFLW - FIRST EVER FINAL - vs Casey @ Casey - 12noon Saturday 3 July 2021 - YouTube, CaseyRadio, 3DJR

Casey lost to Footscray 40-28, but they kicked a very late point to beat us by 0.009% on the ladder and claim the home final [2021 REBEL VFLW FINALS - CASEY DEMONS V ESSENDON]

We controlled the first quarter, as Prespakis is sent into the midfield for all of a game foe the first time. Casey come back in a rush in a wind-assisted third quarter and continue their momentum to get in front in the last. We steady and win 35-32. Oh what a bloody relief! The next day the Saints beat Port and we are catapulted into a double-chance semi-final.

Semi-Final

VFLW - semi-final vs Pies @ Victoria Park - Saturday 10 July 2021 at 12noon

When this game occurs it will have been a full week since Essendon last won a final. I think that’s waaaaaay too long. Thanks to the 6th-place Sainters beating the 3rd-place Port, this game is a double-chancer. Winner proceeds to the Grand Final, loser to the Preliminary. [image]

The Pies may be undefeated since 2019 but they barely fall over the line versus us 18-11. The awful thing about this is that somehow Collingwood have beaten Geelong three times this year, and if we’d got through here we might have been favourite for the premiership!

Preliminary Final

VFLW - Preliminary final vs Cats @ Windy Hill - 12noon Saturday 31 July 2021 - NO ENTRY

Cats beat the Saints by 7 points. Pies smugly await the winner*. *of both the prelim and the grand final.

This is a no-entry game and unlike Willy there is no good spot to watch from outside. At half time it is 14-14 due to The Georgie and Georgia Show. We had lots of opportunities to lead at half-time. In the second half the best team in the league gets the sway in the middle and end up winning 45-17.

[theDJR]

Various clips from Round 1 are included in:

The Road to 2021 | Building the Culture

[theDJR]

Lots of first-time-winners in the middle after beating Casey at Casey (the first time!)

Essendon VFLW

[theDJR]

Below is an extraordinarily beautiful sequence from round three: Nanscawen tackle, Ugle tackle, Nanscawen tackle, Heil feeds it out to Morcom who kicks long and Frew is on the sprint; takes it with one hand, lays that ball down sideways onto her boot, and slots it through the big sticks.

VFLW Round 3 - Essendon v Hawthorn

[theDJR]

Poor Darebin.

Combine the two games to get EFC 17.20.122 over Darebin 0.5.5

[theDJR]

Bloody paparazzi!

@theDJR

@Catherine_Lio

You up on bullant hill radio djr? Grainy pap pic included

The girls just said you are really loud and they could hear you from level 2 last week (said in awe)

Ha. Everyone in the suburb could hear me urging Frew onwards during her run from the wing to the goals in the last quarter.

[theDJR]

Suffer Dawks!

The first two Calder girls to join us are in the middle.

Essendon VFLW

[Koala]

thanks for these summaries and all of your updates this year

[theDJR]

@theDJR

Dicker! Your goal!

She cut through the middle with a sprint and a long kick to Hosking. Hosking played on quickly, and put it to the goal square for Frew to run on to.

25-8

Photo by @karmabomber:

Cued up:

VFLW RD7 -ESSENDON V WILLIAMSTOWN

[theDJR]

Snell’s game versus Collingwood in round 8.

[theDJR]

FARK CARLTON!

Ye olde 12-point turnaround!

CBomb smothers the shot on goal. Caruso dodges trouble, does a one-two with Stepnell, and goes long to the wing. Frew shepherds Hosking and gets the ball back from her. Long kick is over the top but Clifford can’t make it work. A Fark Carltoner collects the ball but is smashed by a Snell tackle: the ball spills free, and Svarc may not have a left boot but she has enough pace to allow her to use the right. GOAL.

VFLW RD 9 - Essendon v Carlton

[theDJR]

We lose Frew to injury before Round 10 against Geelong, and three more during the game.

The day is “highlighted” by Grace Dicker’s amazingly clean-cut blonde-one-side and black-the-other hair, and me locking myself out of my car 100km from home.

Photo below is a few weeks later:

[theDJR]

Is this not the happiest team you’ve ever seen?

[theDJR]

The investigation into the writing on Alana’s taped wrists escalates.

(It’s COMPOSURE and JUST PLAY FOOTY)