The Reboot - the 2023 VFLW season summary

theDJR · July 31, 2023, 11:44am

ROUND 2 vs the Saints

And then

Two days out from the “oldies” AFLW draft, and Sutton plays for the Cannons. Boo.

Manfre is a late omission due to illness, and Tay Hart-Aluni debuts in her place.

Crappy scheduling after the VFLM game (don’t ask, that game was awful) means we don’t get to warm up properly. I blame the loss here on that.

Casey would go on to set the VFLW highest score record (130).

Tierney gets smashed early, first in the head and then in the ankle. That ends her day.

Sargent kicks our first two goals.

We dominate the third quarter, but fail to convert.

Ugle gets a 41m penalty (from 56 out to 15m out – how can you get that wrong?!?) and rushes her kick. She misses, there is an 11-point turnaround, we trail 16-22, and we never get control back again. The Saints get on a roll in the last ten minutes, and roll us 17-42. Helped by some ridiculous umpiring, including one where Crook knocks the ball forward a metre and a Saint “marks” it to goal.

Barba applauds a Dicker/Hart-Aluni tackle. Alana needed a lot more midfield help in this game.

But I give lots of love to Bella Clarke for bashing the Saint’s biggest player (who afterwards is too scared to watch the play rather than Bella) and their smallest. Equal opportunity white-line-fever.

theDJR · July 31, 2023, 12:15pm

ROUND 3 vs FCFC

Marianna Anthony gets oldie-drafted to FCFC, but doesn’t play in this game against us.

Sophie Molan and Chloe Prpic debut for us.

Mia Busch is out of the game, injured, in the opening minutes.

We hold a dominant FCFC to 0-3 in the first quarter, and brawl with them on the siren. Dicker pulls the entire pack over.

@PH_WARFRadio thinks I’m an ■■■■■■■■, but I’ll stand by this one:

Sheep girl is having her VFLW debut for us (she played for Geelong the previous season as an U18, and from that I knew enough to simply post “GUN” when we drafted her).

Kodi Jacques (also her VFLW debut with us) is leading the clearances at half-time, but the FCFC mids are running all over us outside the packs. Luckily Molan is taking saving marks at CHB.

it’s 1.2.8 trailing 3.8.26 at the final break, and is about to become much worse.

Doonan has plenty of centre clearances and also kicks our second goal.

Scott is caught trying to sell candy.

FCFC FF Christina Bernardi is hurt late in the game – she will be out for ages, and then return and drag those losers into finals.

We are 0-1-2 after three rounds, and only ahead of Darebin on the ladder.

Now, a palette cleanser:

theDJR · July 31, 2023, 1:02pm

ROUND 4 vs Casey

We react appropriately, by dropping Annabel Strahan (and 7 others!)

The INs include vanLoon, Radford, and El Chaston (the latter playing her first game with us).

Sargent is here but not playing. The next game she plays will be for the spit Pies.

We kick the first 5 points of the game (Paige Scott the worst offender). Then she becomes Great, marks, and goals ten minutes into the game.

At quarter time we lead 2.6.18 to 0.0.0 – not due to wind. It’s 10 inside fifties to 1.

Not long into the second quarter we lead 21-0… and it’s about now things go awry.

Courtney (on the wing) has zero disposals at half-time!

For the first time since 2019, we play Barba in defence.

Great Scott straightens us up, and makes our lead 36-22 at the final break.

That’s 4.12.36, from triple the inside fifties.

Scott is knocked out by a teammates’ elbow (they was pushed into the collision by a Demon). And then it’s 37-29, then 37-35… ruh roh!

We fall over the line, from an inside fifty lead of 39-17. After that errant start, Scott kicked three of our four goals.

Alyssa Bannan finished top with 108 fantasy points (20 disposals, 7 tackles, 9 clearances).

theDJR · July 31, 2023, 1:03pm

ROUND 5 vs Pies

Pie captain Caitlin Bunker is also out concussed, to counterbalance Scott’s absence.

The usual chaos with 6 changes, but there is serious quality there: Lila Keck (though she injures her ankle early), Bella Clarke, and EFC VFLW debutants Georgia Clarke and Steph Wales.

We play almost no legit juniors this year, so let’s highlight this one.

It’s not till after the quarter time siren that…

And for her first goal we get:

Video at https://twitter.com/essendonvflw/status/1649596794807132160

The AFLW coach is in with some advice.

At half-time we lead 25-6… no wait, that’s the inside fifties. The score is 14-7

This is despite:

To be fair, Radford is on 13 disposals, with Dicker banished to the forward line from the start of the game.

The final quarter starts well, as Dicker worries the ball from her opponent and converts from the boundary. That’s her second goal, and the score is now a fair-ish 28-8.

Every coach has their favourite things:

Ultimately, 4.7.31 defeats 2.3.15

What that score does not show is the 10 total misses!

Radford has 19 disposals in the second half, and Bates “only” 11. Radford has 10 inside fifties (only 2 behind Collingwood!)

Ryan and Wales have a joint 26 disposals.

Insane Coach Votes – they agree on 1 of 9 players.

theDJR · August 1, 2023, 8:48am

ROUND 6 vs Willy

Willy has just come off a spectacular smashing of FCFC 45-10.

We make six changes, though for once some of them are forced (Hart-Aluni, Keck, and Molan are all injured). We will not see the first two again this year, while Molan will end up with the greatest number of disposals for the team.

For the first time we play our full allowance (10) of current or just-cut-AFLW players. Sophie van de Heuvel plays her first VFLW game for us (after 20 for Geelong). Georgia Clarke plays her 25th VFLW game.

Radford is a late withdrawal; she carried a rib injury through that stunning last half vs Collingwood.

Hi Courtney hi!

Her rugby duties completed, Clifford returns.

Oddly for Willy, it is a sunny day with light wind.

Dicker is back in the midfield, but kicks the first goal of the game.

We have a huge backline, and are monstering them. Several times the umps punish us simply for being stronger. They don’t punish Seagull sniping of Spargo or Amber Clarke, though.

Bella Clarke played forward in the first half, because we had so many monsters. It didn’t work, so she swaps with her Georgia namesake for the second half, and both do better after that.

1.4.10 trails 2.3.15 at the final break.

Yikes.

4.6.30 defeats 3.3.21. Willy laid 116 tackles, but we knuckled down and won it in the final quarter.

Ex-Bomber Nicole Julian topped disposals for the day (22).

Courtney had 21, and got a video for it.

We displace FCFC from the top six.

theDJR · August 1, 2023, 9:08am

ROUND 7 vs Saints

Ashley-Cooper succumbs to injury, again, and will not play again this year. Ash van Loon comes in to be a very big-bodied midfielder, and Molan moves to the middle as well. Big bodies on a wet day.

This is part of 13 (!!!) changes since we first played the Saints in round 2.

OUT	IN	Comment
M. Busch (28)	C. Prpic (58)	def/mid
R. Tierney (23)	E. Chaston (61)	fwd/mid
M. Pearson (64)	E. Gamble (14)	key def
C. Sargent (80)	M. Clifford (47)	key fwd
A. Barba (11)	A. Radford (22)	key mid
M. Bateman (62)	G. Clarke (17)	KPP
A. Strahan (79)	S. Van De Heuvel (27)	med ute
Z. Hurrell (53)	S. Molan (73)	med ute->big ute
M. Gray (48)	A. Van Loon (26)	med ute->big ute
A. Clarke (33)	R. Sutton (72)	mid/fwd
J. Richardson (52)	S. Wales (30)	ruck
L. Spargo (51)	M. Wilson (66)	small fwd
E. Cornish (55)	D. Marshall (6)	tall ute

14 minutes into the second quarter we lead 0.7.7 to 0.0.0… it’s 1.8.14 to 0.1.1 at the final break (Wilson kicked the goal).

Manfre marks and goals early in the final quarter.

2.8.20 defeats. 1.2.8, and we move up to fifth.

101 tackles for us, 96 for the Saints. Dicker 19 (and each of hers are worth two), VanLoon 13 tackles (scary) and Radford 11.

For the opposition, you can tell there were a lot of stoppages: Madison Capsalis has 11 clearances from 15 disposals!

The only thing Grace fears is the cold.

theDJR · August 1, 2023, 9:36am

ROUND 8 vs Hawks

VFLW - Round 8 vs Hawks @ Box Hill City Oval, 12noon Sat 13 May 2023

It’s 1423 days since we last lost to the Hawks.

(not including practice matches)

No pressure.

Year For Against Result

2018 21 60 -39

2018 14 41 -27

2019 20 56 -36

2021 55 27 28

2021 29 14 15

2022 31 31 0

2022 60 7 53

2023 27 27 0

4.3.27 we lead 1.5.11 at the final break.

Cloke usually leaves the huddle swearing for Courtney: “Farking foot on the throat—sorry to swear”

She’ll come back to ~~Nut Bush City Limits~~ Box Hill City Oval come the finals, and cop a worse blow.

This is five wins in a row, and for a moment we are top of the ladder.

Manfre kicks 2 goals in a game for the first time with us.

VFLW - Round 8 vs Hawks @ Box Hill City Oval, 12noon Sat 13 May 2023

Scoring accuracy this year by the two teams is nuts: Hawks have saved their worst for us, and we’ve saved our best for them.

Games EFC BHH

Against each other 9.5 4.18

Against other teams 18.41 31.38

TOTAL 27.46 35.56

18.41 by us vs other teams, holy ■■■■

Hurrell gets her first win with us.

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theDJR · August 1, 2023, 10:09am

ROUND 9 vs Cats

It’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

Fede gets a bunch of Port Melbourne players to do similarly.

Nek minute: we withdraw all of our AFLW players, and the Cats do not.

That creates slots for Cannons Maddison Ford and Sarah Grunden to debut.

Mia is the sole scorer in the first quarter:

Clifford leads, marks, and goals to make it 12-0.

Courtney takes advantage of a Cat fumble, and we lead 18-6. Surely us kids ain’t beating the top-of-the-ladder AFLW-packed midfield (Charlotte Simpson has 16 disposals at half-time; we have Sutton on 8)…

Cats and the umps go BANG-BANG, and we trail after 65 minutes of hard but inefficient work.

Manfre marks a not-15-metre kick, and goals to make it 26-27 with 3.5 minutes left. We eventually lose 26-28, which was bloody impressive given the teams named. We had our chances late, including a Dicker handball that didn’t get over the top to Clifford in the goal square.

But Grace has 21 tackles!

VFLW - Round 9 vs Cats @ The Hangar, 11am Sat 20 May 2023

Let’s look at our post-AFLW starting mids. This is only a sample of 12 centre throw-ups, but still useful. Sutton and Dicker missed only one each.

Player Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total

Sutton 2 5 1 3 11

Dicker 2 4 1 4 11

Russell 1 3 1 4 9

Davidge 1 4 1 6

Molan 1 3 4

Prpic 1 2 1 4

Ryan 1 2 3

Grand Total 8 20 4 16 48

at the below, I got excited:

theDJR · August 1, 2023, 10:48am

ROUND 10 vs Darebin

VFLW - Round 10 vs Darebin @ La Trobe Uni, 10:30am Sun 28 May 2023

I’ve never seen us lose to Darebin (in 2018 I watched the VFLM lose instead).

Year For Against Result

2018 14 41 -27

2019 34 26 8

2021 70 3 67

2021 52 2 50

2022 64 7 57

With Wales withdrawn and Russell playing for the Jets, we debut rucks Jamiee-Lee Morrow and Sophie Ure. They are the 127th and 128th EFC VFLW players.

It is! To be precise, it is camogie (the women’s version). Later on, the men play hurling. This is cool, and explains the many lilting voices around us in the pavilion.

It’s sopping wet, and the second quarter is scoreless. Sutton is bossing the game on 15 disposals at half-time, with Angelica Gogos the expected leader for the Falcons.

The AFL code monkeys never considered that a scoreless quarter could happen, and it breaks their app.

We then concede the next 8 points

But some comedy amidst that:

Mia kicks her second goal, gets decked immediately afterward, and kicks her third goal from the free. In a late rush we reach our best score for the year (6.6.42 defeats 1.2.8)

Sophie Ure has a bit off the Angus Milham about her: she is very good at being tall, but at least in this game not much else. Not that this wet slog was ever going to be great for a light young ruck on debut.

We move up to fourth on the ladder, and for the first time this year we move our percentage above 100%

Elsewhere, Willy destroy Fark Carlton for a second time.

theDJR · August 1, 2023, 11:13am

ROUND 11 vs Norf

I start doing extended history lessons to start the game threads.

IN: Bateman
OUT: Bateman

This is Lily’s official debut for us – she had played in both of the practice matches three months ago.

The Felicity will unfortunately play a very good game versus us…

It’s a foggy day even at high noon, and raining.

Norf are shockingly good in this game – I’d attended their game vs lowly Footscray earlier in the year, when they looked near-Darebin level.

Manfre clunks and goals (yes, the fog has cleared!)

Ryan starts the final quarter at CHB.

And we STEP UP.

5.7.37 loses to 6.9.45… and I wasn’t too impressed with the umpiring.

theDJR · August 1, 2023, 11:14am

ROUND 12 vs Casey

Ure is out, injured (but absolutely not a good match versus Swain anyway).

We have the very substantial wind in the first quarter.

It takes us 16 minutes with a huge wind to kick a goal in the third quarter (Manfre outworks two Demons).

We manage to burn 6.5 minutes before they goal to creep up to 30-17.

It takes them another 8 minutes to score the next point. Awesome defending.

But then…

30-25… oh ■■■■, if they goal in these last two minutes there is ZERO chance of getting even a draw.

A series of repeat stoppages later, and we survive.

All 55 points were kicked at the southern end.

Inside 50s	EFC	Casey
Q1	13	4
Q2	0	12
Q3	11	3
Q4	0	9
TOTAL	24	28

We got smashed inside (clearances lost 14-28), and outside. Our 96 tackles saved us: Dicker had 15 of them, and 6 clearances.

I’ve been doing ladder predictions for the last month, but with so many teams so close freakish things keep happening…

theDJR · August 1, 2023, 11:42am

ROUND 13 vs Port

Manaia Huta plays her 25th VFLW game (the first 16 were with Darebin).

Also, she is 21yo this day!

And NEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWW Lisa Hardeman medallist!

Spoiler: this is one of those game where you can watch the replay and repeatedly say “oh, that’s when we failed to finish top of the ladder”:

That ball does not appear to be on the line between Reese and the goals.

I agree with Mr Cloke:

Brains can win you a premiership:

We are smashing them on the clearances (20-10 at half time), with Dicker Molan and Chaston top of the stats.

El does bounce back to kick the next goal of the game.

Mia follows up. We trail 13-19 at the last break: the wind is a problem but not at all Casey-like. Ex-Bomber defenders Caruso and Liv Barton lead the disposal tallies with 16 and 15.

OUTTA NOWHERE! Orritt goals!

It’s 19-21 with 8 minutes left.

We win inside fifties 36-21 and lose 19-23

Dicker has 21 disposals, 10 clearances, 13 tackles, 6 inside fifties…

theDJR · August 1, 2023, 9:57pm

ROUND 14 vs Footscray

After their win last week, Port are the only team guaranteed finals. All we need to do to make finals in beat the team 11th on the ladder. Let’s see how hard we can make that look…

For the first time of the year, we’re at the magical place that is Windy Hill.

Sophie Ure, MadGray, Eloise Ashley-Cooper, and some other yobbo.

La Presidenta is on scoreboard duty on the far wing, where you can say anything and no one will know.

We give up the lead, and steal it back just before half-time. It’s 3.0.18 to 2.1.13, but we’re mostly being out-worked.

Nek minute: the Dogs rapidly double their score, and we are looking at missing finals.

Kenny makes a rundown tackle for a set shot… misses. Then she gets in space, kicks from 25 on the run… hits the post! Argh!

A draw would mean we miss finals.

Mia gets whacked, distant ump has to over-ride the local. Slots it!

AND THEN THIS HAPPENS!

The last quarter is 20-2 in our favour, to eventually win comfortably 41-28.

Pressure like this Sutton rundown was how we turned the game around:

Kenny looking after a dazed Pearson – she copped a late hit to the head, and Wilson with a GOOD DOG.

Disposal-wise, it’s the usual culprits up the top: Molan 25, Chaston 21, Dicker 16, Sutton 15, Ryan 15 and 2 goals. Prpic has a game-high 6 clearances… from 7 disposals!

SHUT. UP.

theDJR · August 2, 2023, 9:33am

Elimination Final vs Hawks

Back to Box Hill to play the Hawks, for the fourth time this year.

You know how I reported Crook would be fine to go? After 21 games in a row, Tamsin is OUT.

It’s worth noting that Saints AFLW stole Maddie Boyd from Hawks VFLW the week before… and then lost to them in the final game, and missed finals!

There is an ever-increasing wind across the ground, slightly favouring our end in the first quarter. We lead 8-0 at the end of it (Manfre marked and goaled).

We give up the lead, and then with seconds left in the first half:

We’ve got a few injury concerns: Pearson gets the thigh strapped, and then Wilson busts her left elbow and comes off in tears.

Manfre has a string of near-goals. We lead 23-14 at the final break, with the Hawks to have the (cross-)wind in the last.

Manfre (tackle) and Prpic (CLUNK) have chances, and don’t convert them. The Hawks get the first goal of the final quarter, and are a kick from winning the final.

The below is representative of the umpiring in the last quarter. Fend-off = opportunity. That is pinged every day of the week, ya nuffie.

We keep tackling, we stop them scoring, Manfre goes CLUNK on the siren.

She converts, and 4.7.31 defeats 3.3.21

And the most important outcome of this final:

theDJR · August 2, 2023, 9:52am

Semi Final vs Pies

In a direct copy of 2021, we finish fifth and win our Elimination Final.

No changes (no Crook! Wilson lives!)

After 11 minutes, a scorching pass from Molan hits Mia on the lead. She converts to make the score 8-0, and to be the first Essendon VFLW player to kick 50 goals. Frew only kicked 49, and is here today near our bench and players. And so is Alex Quigley, another noted FF for us.

At quarter time we lead 9-1… is this real, are we about to become Premiership favourite?!?

Mia hurts her ankle. She comes on and off for the rest of the game.

There’s no wind, but the Pies beat us 0-15 in the second quarter.

Ryan has more clearances (6) than Jess Bates (5).

After getting tested prior to the third quarter for some kind of ailment, Dicker has 14 disposals and 8 tackles in the second half to tie Bates.

And that’s the score at the final break:

We got the first point, but then a ghost from our past (Caitlin Sargent) arises to mark and goal.

It’s the only goal for the quarter, and we lose 2.6.18 to 3.4.22… Molan surprisingly fell short with a kick on the run at the death.

theDJR · August 2, 2023, 10:36am

PRELIMINARY FINAL vs Port

Port knocked off Fark Carlton (BY ONE POINT ) to join us in the Prelim.

Mia is struggling to be ready:

Two huge ins: Crook for us, and Emily Harley for them.

And then @Riolio went on holiday, and the Blitz server burnt to the ground… so no coverage of the Prelim for you!

Port get on a roll in the second quarter, and so…

Lauren dis-obeyed me, and went on to get TWO shiny things!

Fede blew our many current and ex players and staff a kiss before this shot.

theDJR · August 2, 2023, 12:44pm

But tell me what you feel!

Let’s be up-front here… there’s not many games this year that would be high on my re-watch list. It was very often a slog, and we weren’t the only team struggling.

Darebin lost to Casey 130-8
Casey lost to the Saints 59-17
The Saints lost to a Boyd-less Hawks 21-4
The Hawks kicked their favourite score 3.9.27 (never change!) to draw the Cats 4.3.27
The Cats lost to the Pies 43-3
The Pies lost to Port 57-20
Port lost to Norf 6-4
Norf lost to Footscray 54-15
Footscray lost to FCFC 45-9
FCFC lost to Willy 45-10 and 50-12
Willy lost to EFC 30-21… SO GIVE US THE FLAG!

That was legit my first attempt at an all-teams chain… half-way through I was thinking I should gave written a program to check if any such chain actually existed. Good thing I started with Darebin

Our backline was fantastic, with quality additions such as Hurrell, Ford, and (when not midfielding) Molan. Molan is the “old” one at 22yo.

Midfield we had to replace the likes of Nanscawen Radford Zanchetta Anthony Doonan Barba… I mean, basically Mission Impossible. In the practice matches we experimented wildly.

We lost our expected #1 ruck on the eve of the season. We started the midfield with Sutton, who had a total of zero VFLW games to her name. Dicker grew, and grew, and grew. Wee Meg Ryan proved me to be very very wrong (big-bodied midfielder! If you had that on your bingo card, you’re lying). We threw 18yo kids in to scrap (Prpic and Davidge). And then we picked up Chaston and Molan (the latter when not CHBing).

Come the end of the year, the midfield was solid. Hell, even Kendra acolyte Huta got aggressive on a wing in that Semi Final.

The forward line… well. I already commented on that. It’s bloody hard to win games when you can’t score. Just ask 2019 and 2021.

And the even-bigger question? No Miller, no Major, massive player turnover? Would the spirit survive?

Yes.

We are not anywhere the best squad, or the most experienced, or the best balanced. But having an attitude of “no, ■■■■ you, I’m gonna fight” is a hell of a thing, and can take a flawed team to one kick from minor premiers, and a different single kick from a Grand Final. This list had no right to do that, especially after starting with a draw and two losses (one of them being our fourth-worst ever).

Our captains inspire. Grace and Meg inspire. That’s infectious.

We are not that many players, or midfield-forward connection, away from being right up there again.

theDJR · August 18, 2023, 8:50am

I rushed the writing and then had to wait 16 days anyway…

theDJR · August 18, 2023, 9:26am

Hoffy · August 18, 2023, 9:29am

Never in doubt

Year	For	Against	Result
2018	21	60	-39
2018	14	41	-27
2019	20	56	-36
2021	55	27	28
2021	29	14	15
2022	31	31	0
2022	60	7	53
2023	27	27	0

Games	EFC	BHH
Against each other	9.5	4.18
Against other teams	18.41	31.38
TOTAL	27.46	35.56

Player	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Sutton	2	5	1	3	11
Dicker	2	4	1	4	11
Russell	1	3	1	4	9
Davidge	1	4		1	6
Molan			1	3	4
Prpic	1	2		1	4
Ryan	1	2			3
Grand Total	8	20	4	16	48