It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
Another year where we got younger, and fell in the deep cracks between being a standalone team and one whose result was propped up by AFLW players. We still pushed through to finals before being denied by something as random as the bounce of a ball.
We had four GREAT wins this year:
a pure VFLW and pure grit win over the defending and eventual repeat premiers;
a huge comeback down at Casey in challenging conditions;
a no-one-saw-that-coming demolition of the Hawks at Box Hill to restore a chance of finals;
and our biggest-ever last quarter comeback to actually guarantee those finals.
And then we had that stretch of five losses (one of which saw us score 0.11.11) in a row that made the last two of the above necessary.
As usual the AFL decided to non-strategically change things:
Sydney and GWS kicked out of the VFLW (yay)
AFLW season got an extra week
VFLW moved back a month, resulting in much more overlap
Many clubs decided to run many AFLW players through their VFLW games after AFLW pre-season started – we did not, with Brooker being our sole representative after round two (they were her first and second games of footy!). This most notably affected us when instead of facing a winless Casey we got whacked by a de facto Melbourne team including the likes of Zanker, Harris, and Bannan.
Ignoring AFLW-listed players, we kept 19 players (though Tay Hart-Aluni was perhaps always considered a non-playing member of the squad given her leg was broken during the NTFLW season). Below are the ins and outs this year.
Out from 2024
In for 2025
Amy Cariss-Brett
Lucy Thompson
Bailey Hunt
Abbey McDonald
Danielle Marshall
Bella Page
Ellie Huggard
Brooke Plummer
Emily Gallagher
Ella Brown
Gabby Drage
Eva Downie
Jaimee-Lee Morrow
Eva Harris
Kalani Scoullar
Freya Hibberd
Karly McNiece
Grace Azzopardi
Krystal Russell
Kayla Peake
Kyla Tracey
Layla Prince
Lavina Cox
Liv Lacy
Lily den Houting
Maddison Albrecht
Maddison Shaw
Madison Ibrahim
Madison Gray
Maggie O’Connell
Manaia Huta
Marli Klaumanns-Moller
Ruby Mahony
Meg Harrison
Ruby Murdoch
Megan Mifsud
Sarah Perkins
Mikalee Maroney
Tayla Crabtree
Molly Heymanson
Sam Johnston
Sophie McIntosh
Taylah Gilcrist
Particular changes to note include:
An almost complete lack of continuity in rucks (out Morrow + Russell + Gallagher + Scoullar, in Prince + Harris + Heymanson). The sole continuity was Sienna Hobbs, and she was a late inclusion after we lost everyone but under-sized Prince to injury during the pre-season.
Massive loss of seriously experienced players (even though some of them had not played many games): out Hunt, Marshall, Tracey, Shaw, and Perkins. In response we got… 29yo 14-game Peake?
But we did get two sacked AFLW Cats, and while McDonald and Plummer were both just 20yo when they joined us they had a collective 56 AFLW games between them.
We also raided the leadership of Jess Wuetschner’s Tassie juniors: Lucy Thompson, Eva Downie, and Meg Harrison.
Of course, the single biggest change was that the MORCS streak of EFC seasons stopped at nine. Now no one has played EVERY season, and no one ever will again.
In the end, we played 48 players this year, one less than the record set in both of the past two years.
Once again, we set a new record for youngest named team, and it wasn’t particularly close. The average age on game day was 22.49yo (35yo Bernardi was worth about half a year extra in that!)
29 players newly played for us (6 of those AFLW recruits), stretching the population of those to officially represent in VFLW seasons to 180 across seven years.
EDIT: Stats have now been done manually, but I’ve left part of my initial rant below.
The AwFuL stats are riddled with errors, including apparent multiple phantom games – e.g. the averages indicate most of the AFLW players played 3 or 2 games instead of their actual 2 or 1.
The AFL site provides many other stats for all games (including score involvements, disposal efficiency, contested and uncontested and intercept possessions) but their code monkeys can’t work out how to provide a season average for those…
Scores below are totals, everything else is an average or percentage. If you see a zero below (notably in the hit-out and clearance columns), it’s a rounded-down average – a true zero is shown by a dash.
Stats are split thematically into two columns because Discourse likes too-narrow columns.
Player
Fan
G
B
SI
K
H
Eff
M
T
C
HO
Adams
93
1
-
3
9
11
74%
2
9
5
-
Chaston
86
1
1
1
12
8
64%
4
5
3
0
McDonald
80
5
2
2
12
9
61%
3
4
5
-
Busch
75
-
3
3
14
3
53%
5
3
1
-
Gaylor
68
1
-
1
8
8
75%
4
3
4
-
Belloni
67
2
-
1
7
8
87%
4
2
4
-
Prince
67
1
-
1
4
6
73%
2
4
2
21
Plummer
64
6
4
1
11
4
59%
4
2
1
0
Chambers
64
-
-
2
8
6
93%
8
1
1
-
Melnikas
63
1
2
1
7
7
66%
1
7
3
-
Bernardi
60
13
6
1
8
3
59%
3
4
1
0
MFord
59
-
1
1
9
6
68%
4
2
0
-
Strong
58
-
-
2
9
4
77%
3
4
1
-
Thompson
56
3
8
2
7
5
50%
2
5
2
-
Albrecht
54
1
4
1
7
6
52%
2
5
1
-
Murphy
53
-
-
-
4
4
63%
1
4
2
19
Richardson
51
7
6
2
6
6
56%
3
2
1
4
Manfre
50
7
2
1
5
1
55%
3
4
0
-
Davidge
48
14
4
2
5
3
54%
3
3
1
-
Jordan
47
4
3
1
6
5
70%
1
3
1
-
Dyke
46
-
-
2
5
7
58%
3
2
2
6
Molan
45
-
-
0
8
4
70%
2
2
0
-
sFord
45
-
-
1
6
6
61%
2
3
3
-
Porter
42
-
1
0
7
4
59%
3
1
0
-
Ryan
40
-
1
1
5
6
69%
2
2
1
-
Orritt
40
1
-
1
7
2
46%
2
3
1
-
Mifsud
39
-
1
0
5
3
62%
1
4
2
-
Harrison
39
-
-
1
4
5
52%
1
4
1
-
O’Connell
38
1
3
2
5
3
61%
2
3
1
-
Azzopardi
38
-
-
0
6
3
67%
2
2
0
-
Gilcrist
38
-
-
-
5
3
65%
2
3
0
0
Bateman
36
-
-
1
5
2
79%
3
2
-
-
Robinson
35
-
-
0
6
3
75%
3
1
0
-
K-Moller
35
-
-
0
5
5
63%
2
1
1
-
van Dyke
35
-
-
1
3
6
89%
1
3
1
-
Peake
33
1
-
1
3
3
60%
1
5
1
-
Hobbs
32
2
2
2
3
2
78%
1
1
-
8
Ridewood
32
-
-
1
5
3
50%
2
1
1
-
Heymanson
31
-
-
-
3
3
64%
1
2
1
7
Ibrahim
29
-
2
0
5
2
33%
1
2
1
-
Johnston
28
2
4
1
4
1
41%
1
3
0
2
Brooker
27
-
1
1
3
2
44%
-
4
-
-
McIntosh
26
-
-
-
4
3
54%
2
1
1
-
Gough
24
1
-
-
4
-
100%
2
-
-
-
Harris
24
-
-
-
5
1
58%
-
2
1
3
Downie
22
-
-
1
3
2
69%
1
2
-
-
Tassiopoulos
22
-
3
2
3
2
53%
1
1
-
-
Lacy
20
-
-
1
1
5
83%
1
1
2
-
(Eff = Effective Disposals, CM = % of marks that were contested, CP = % of possessions that were contested)
There were conveniently 200 Centre “Bounce” Attendances in our season, so very easy to calculate that (for example) Layla Prince was there as ruck 72.5% of the time.
The replay for one game never went up, and five other attendances across two re-starts were missed by the existing broadcasts.
Emily Gough – kicked a goal in the first quarter, then did her ACL
Grace Belloni – two goals from the midfield, and goal assist of the year to Plummer
Holly Ridewood – modest impact; so far much better at AFLW level!
Taya Chambers – made it look pretty easy when she replaced both Molan and Bateman down back
Chloe Adams – BOG in our AFLWpalooza massacre of the Pies
Matilda Dyke – mix of wing and backup ruck
Sophie Strong – if we’re going to dodgily rely on small-sample stats, the third best clearance player of the year
Mia van Dyke – meh
Amy Gaylor – good, not worthy of a Radio 3DJR vote
Mia Busch – kicked 3 behinds in the one quarter she played forward!
Grace Brooker – her first two games of footy. If she continues to improve at this rate she will end up good! Work to do on her kicking to assure she actually can be damaging.
Courtney Murphy – OK-ish game round one, injured late
Madison Ibrahim – young “sticky fingers” primarily played wing. Missed round 14 to top-up for Melbourne AFLW
Maddison Ford – improved on her 2024 VFLW CHB of the year form. Primarily a read-the-ball-better player than an out-marker. For her height she is very evasive.
Olivia Manfre – came back home during US college holidays. Had a bad first game but was then as good as she has ever been. The sprint training for flag footy showed.
Layla Prince – had a nothing pre-season. Harris got injured and Hibberd re-injured, and the ex-basketballer subsequently became the #1 ruck all year. Did a very good job neutralising the increasing dinosaur fleet of rucks in the VFLW at the stoppages, and then murdered them on the outside. The coaches gave her many more votes than Radio 3DKR did.
Sarah Ford – mix of wing and inside mid. Was a fair bit down the pecking order of the mids, but very much was a leader.
Megan Mifsud – in and out of the team. Had a couple really good games as a mid. Also spent time back. I suspect a tick more fitness could really elevate her status as a mid.
Christina Bernardi – this old lady ain’t retiring any time soon. She has burst power, and her footy IQ is waaaaaaaay up there. And she is happy to settle at Essendon after many changes (not least because she has a role with our AFLW team, and I think is partnered with Ellyse Gamble).
Maddison Albrecht – firecracker! Great pace, great aggression, will take on anything and anyone despite her being a flyweight. Skills can be a bit flaky, but she makes things happen. Initially a FP, but as the season went on did some proper time as a mid.
Emily Tassiopoulos – just dwindled away after last year. Played for the VFA team in their match over in WA.
Eva Downie – medium defender. Not flashy, but reliable.
Drew Ryan – started the year horribly, just couldn’t find the ball. Eventually it came back and she once again became that smelly winger no one picks up, and she makes them pay for that.
Jayda Richardson – I feel like she never really grabbed a game by the throat before getting injured in round 9, but her base level of performance is so much higher than it used to be (with recognition of that in her VFLW squad, but not team, selection at the start of the year). We were lucky that her going out perfectly aligned with Manfre coming in, but they play different roles and together with Bernardi not many teams will keep up. Also worth noting that when she did become second ruck this year she was not a liability.
Abbey McDonald – I was sad when she never played for us as a Calder Cannons junior. But finally, the prodigal daughter returned and more than replaced Ruby Mahony. Played mid and fwd, no more back as was Geelong AFLW’s preference.
Meg Harrison – zippy and gritty Tasmanian winger. Keep and actually play her next year, please.
Mikalee Maroney – played pre-season only
Maggie O’Connell – must be easy being a FF in Queensland, less so here. Loved her aggression and cheer-leading the team on.
Brooke Plummer – Geelong AFLW are ■■■■■■■ morons. Brooke was bloody well built for the dimensions of Kardinia Park: big runner, big kicker. And aggressive as hell!
Chloe Prpic – injured all year, but at least #58 ran out for four games.
Taylah Gilcrist – the Strahmore/Calder junior came in late as our key defenders disappeared (Bateman, Molan, Robinson)
Liv Lacy – just the one game from the Bendigo Pioneers junior
Tayla Hart-Aluni – DNP. At the start of the year her broken leg was overtly still recovering. Spend much of the year as the headphones link from bench to coaches box
Bella Page – DNP
El Chaston – moved between mid and half-back but NEVER forward as repeatedly named. Can do it all. We have good choice in captains.
Ava Jordan – last year I really struggled to see how Mini (as very accurately tagged) could succeed beyond juniors where she could nudge lightweights around. This year, we saw why: amazingly efficient disposal made her legit dangerous.
Lily Bateman – lasted just two games before joining a long list of long-term-injureds.
Ashlea Melnikas – stepped up this year. Full-time mid, in the guts of the contests, and very often more greatly appreciated on the replays.
Ella Brown – DNP
Molly Heymanson – we rotated through a bunch of support acts for Layla, and “White Hat” was just a couple weeks of that.
Grace Azzopardi – half-back for the ex-Cannons captain. As long as she doesn’t get in a sprint contest is a very reliable option. Towards the end of the year she started taking more intercept marks.
Scarlett Orritt – played back, mid, and forward… and never quite quite clicked in any of them. Was interesting to see her NOT left back as we lost the likes of Bateman, and that was possibly due to…
Isabelle Porter – playing the bulk of the year in defence. The raw stats look alright but I will politely end my comments there, and wish her a happy retirement.
Kayla Peake – just a couple games at the end of the year
Freya Hibberd – DNP. Did eventually get unbroken enough to play some local footy.
Sophie Molan – named forward half the time, never played there and never scored. I wouldn’t call this her best year; a few too many unforced errors. The end of the season was injury-plagued, and I note her elbow/arm has been since seen back in a sling.
Lucy Thompson – the best of the Tasmanians. She is very close to being a (19yo) breakout star – just needs to know when to moderate her urges to take on the opposition with a fend-off, and to kick straighter than 3.8 (plus OOTFs).
Marli Klaumanns-Moller – barely played. We did bring in a handful of non-teenagers, and then for no-doubt varying reasons stuck with the kidz.
Eva Harris – OMG, I thought we had the next Paul Salmon in that pre-season game at Geelong. And then she did her MCL, and when she came back for two games they were not good. I hope that’s just a recovery thing, and we have the fully-operational version of her next year.
Tia Davidge – kicked 1 goal from 16 games in 2023, 8 goals from 15 in 2024, and 14 from 14 this year. Is just getting started. Is still on track to become the youngest player to reach 50 (post-AFLW) games in the VFLW, taking that record away from Tamsin Crook.
Sophie McIntosh – see Eva Downie comment!
Sam Johnston – was the second ruck in the run home. This spider monkey has undeniable physical traits… can she complete the package?
Marnie Robinson – missed a large chunk of the year with a hand/wrist injury. Was really good down back in her late-season return.
Sienna Hobbs – was not in our initial list, but was parachuted in when we lost three rucks to injury pre-season. Was the only real “lump of a” ruck we had, and kicked two goals in our defeat of Norf Werribee in round three.
The Radio 3DJR Player of the Year Awards assigned votes to six players each game.
Player
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
EF
Total
Ave
Chaston
6
-
6
-
6
6
3
-
4
1
5
6
4
5
2
54
3.6
McDonald
-
4
6
5
5
5
6
4
5
6
4
50
4.5
Plummer
-
-
3
4
4
-
6
3
6
6
3
-
3
4
-
42
2.8
Bernardi
5
-
-
-
-
5
6
3
-
3
3
25
2.3
MFord
4
-
5
-
-
-
4
-
-
4
4
2
-
-
-
23
1.5
Melnikas
-
-
-
2
-
5
3
-
2
-
6
-
1
19
1.5
Jordan
-
-
-
5
-
4
-
-
-
2
-
5
-
-
16
1.1
Albrecht
3
-
1
3
3
-
-
-
10
1.3
Thompson
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
1
1
-
6
9
0.8
Adams
2
6
8
4.0
Mifsud
5
-
-
-
3
-
-
8
1.1
Richardson
1
3
-
-
2
-
-
2
-
8
0.9
Davidge
-
-
2
1
3
-
-
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
8
0.6
Prince
-
2
2
1
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
2
-
8
0.5
Molan
-
-
-
-
-
-
2
-
5
-
-
-
-
-
7
0.5
Robinson
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
5
6
0.7
sFord
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
4
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
5
0.3
Belloni
4
4
4.0
Manfre
-
-
-
-
1
3
4
0.7
Azzopardi
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2
-
2
0.1
Johnston
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
0.1
Ibrahim
-
-
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
1
0.1
McDonald got a pretty nuts 4.5 votes per game, but missed four games. The only game she failed to score to be in our best three players was the one with 10 AFLW players.
Clearly defining this season is difficult – it was bifurcated. That stretch of losses in the middle of the year was deeply disappointing (but it would have only been three-in-a-row if Casey have not been swapped out for Melbourne).
Some of that was injury-related, both long-term (particularly to our spine, with Richardson, Bateman, and Robinson all out for 6+ weeks) and some of that was topical (there is no way we score 0.11 at Willy if Bernardi and McDonald were playing).
And then we had some of the best wins in our history: games that showed we can apply the pressure, get a clean kick-mark game going, and through grit make any team fold. The absence of parts of that at other times just becomes more painful, of course.
In the end it resulted in a percentage over 100% for only the third time in seven seasons, from our youngest team ever. Yes, we made finals the last two years with percentages of 98% and (!) 82%. We literally had three players of consequence above 24yo: Bernardi, Melnikas, and Sarah Ford.
Our captain was 23, our undersized and relatively-new-to-footy ruck was 22, our league-leading CHB was 21, our CHF was 21, our two new gun mids from the AFLW were 21 and 20, Davidge was 20 and now approaching 50 games, Thompson started the season at 18. And all of them are leaders. Keep them, and that is a hella base for years to come.
This was an unusual game in that the full squad had been announced 11 days earlier, so there was less (not none! some people wear wrong numbers!) of the “who is that?” game going on. Mind you, I had identified 34 of the 38 already (and it would have been 35 if I thought Hart-Aluni had any chance to play after her broken leg).
But we already had a 39th…
It took a few weeks for MaggieO to find a red-and-black headband:
Bernardi (5) and Richo (3) get votes from Radio 3DJR, and so do Prince and Robinson, so this is not just AFLW un-fairness (note that all but one of our AFLW players are at most 20yo).
At 3QT time:
Busch then moves herself to full-forward and kicks three goals behinds for the quarter!
