The year we failed to win a final -- the 2024 VFLW season summary

[theDJR]

ROUND 5

VFLW - Round 5 vs Saints @ The Hangar - 2:30pm Sat 20 April 2024

Saints are 5th on the ladder with a percentage of 67 after today’s lynching by GWS. [image]

EFC 4.10.34 defeat a similarly lame Saints’ 3.7.25

IN: Bailey Hunt for EFC debut. Fellow ex-AFLW-Dog delivers the jumper.

She’s still a bit underdone; just pop her at FF for the first time in her life and see if she can run out the game…

@theDJR

Gough is bigger than Georgia Clarke in all dimensions.

@theDJR

Commentary starts by saying we are an “incredibly frustrating team to watch”… and then quotes a fragment of the scores for/against tally I posted after last week.

@theDJR

BaileyHunt set shot from 40, sharp angle.

Easy!!! (video)

8-0

@Hoffy

The wind temp here is ‘2 Jacket’.

Luckily I have another in the car.

@theDJR

• Chloe Hunt 100% gets suspended in the AFL for that deliberate shoulder into G’s face.

There’s no free here. Here, there’s no free, alright? Free, no, Georgia? No free.

Hunt did not get reported… this time.

@theDJR

Drew still thinks she can kick goals from the right pocket. Should have given up on that after the post-siren draw versus the Hawks at Box Hill.

9-1

15 minutes in…

@theDJR

BaileyHunt soccers through Manfre snap at goal.

15-1

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@DonBomb

@theDJR

Molan back on, and forward.

Her brother played his first game for our VFL team. A large Molan cheer squad at the Hangar today.

The second sister-brother combo to play for Essendon on the same day (after the Suttons last year).

@theDJR

Amy Gaylor has caught her prey.

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Ford!!!

We get it forward late and Sarah roves off Molan.

21-1

(It’s not a 20-point wind.)

That’s the quarter-time score.

@theDJR

Chaston pass to Gaylor. Gaylor to GClarke. Gaylor runs on for the handball back and hits up Lily-Rose. Lily sells some candy, and kicks to Hunt. Now Lily is running past for the handball – gets it, handballs to G, keeps running, gets it back from G. She runs into our fifty, looks to the middle, and HartAluni is running into space. Perfect chip to her 25m out directly in front. That was bloody impressive!

Tayla went on to completely fark up the putt kick.

The feared Ella Friend (who combined with Dojiok to ruin us in their 2021 junior debuts for Footscray) takes a bad bump to the back/neck. After four minutes she gingerly walks off.

@theDJR

Melnikas marks then hits an unstoppable lead by Davidge – fast, arms outstretched, CLUNK. Tia is not yet 19.5yo, is getting plenty of centre attendances, can play forward and back, is on track to beat Crook as fastest player to 50 games in the modern VFLW.

Tia went on to completely fark up the putt kick. Three behinds today!

@DonBomb

MELNIKAS with 3 disposals in that passage of play.

Bloody yobbos can be heard on the far wing.

@theDJR

They surge forward, but LilyBateman runs back to mark in the goal square. Some yobbo yells STOP as loud as they can, because there was three seconds left and playing on was the only way bad things could happen.

3.6.24 leads 1.3.9 at halftime

That score almost perfectly matches the 23-9 inside fifty tally. Neither of us efficient…

@theDJR

There are at least three really poor frees given away by LilyRose in this game: she is later run down while slowly pondering what to do, one failing to bust the tackle early in this quarter, and now the reckless marking shepherd when we had it covered anyway. Commentary says she would have got away with the tackle-bust versus nearly anyone in this game, but that’s not the point: very often she would not get away with it at AFLW level, and it’s that career she’s trying to enhance by being in this game.

@theDJR

GClarke outmarked in the goal square. Last few minutes very much swung to the Saints.

There is no wind for us. Just warm sun.

26-17

I have so much PTSD from certain players:

@theDJR

De Angelis is killing us, again.

The Saints close to within 2 points before…

@DonBomb

Hunt handballs it to Gough. Snaps truly. This is a much better game than the VFL curtain raiser.

@theDJR

What a shot – amidst chaos, the kid Gough slots the game-sealing goal.

4.8.32 we lead 3.6.24 at the final break.

@Hoffy

Umps want Saints to win.

No ‘ball’ to us, 1 min later, ‘ball’ to them…

@Hoffy

The punters in the Katy Lio Grandstand appreciate @theDJR calls from Bullant Hill.

Hoffy is the under-stated type:

@Hoffy

Our forward line a wee bit dysfunctional

@theDJR

I hit the “enhance” button a few times, and it confirmed that not using nicknames on the board causes inaccurate scoring.

@theDJR

Drew is a gun. Went in hard and took the hit to beat two Saints. Huge play. She CAN do stuff other than when she and her opponent have decided to run apart on the wing.

Hell of a contest right now.

No one (either team) is dying wondering.

@theDJR

Chaston denied three frees in as many seconds.

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HartAluni on with a new, presumably bloodied, headband.

…

HartAluni not worried about further contact; makes two successive tackles to get the ball out in our favour.

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Richo doing Richo things, sending Guttridge off hurt, and urinating the other Saints off

I did have to correct Gemma online after she repeated the untruth in an article and a podcast.

@aidanfooty2

@theDJR

Commentary kept harking back to the VFL capitulation

Gemma also kept saying that this was going to be our first win of the year! I don’t think she watched our game vs Darebin

@IceTemple

@theDJR

Huge mark by Porter at full back.

HUGE!

massive mark, brilliant work

Finally we get a win. Excellent result.

@theDJR

AshMelnikas grabs a young fan to come in for the song.

(Here’s the song!)

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In the absence of Marnie Robinson, our highest and lowest-numbered players are thrown into the middle of the pack. Also, their first EFC win.

@theDJR

Four distinct phases to this match: we jump them, a near quarter-long wrestle, Saints take over, and then WE SAY NO.

While it got very stressful, in the end this was the main stat:

@theDJR

Bloody De Angelis topped the fantasy points (19 disposals, 7 marks, 6 tackles, 3 clearances). But at our top… I like this new kid! She faded, but we likely don’t win without her. And there remain more key (non-AFLW) players to add.

@theDJR

With two goals in her debut game, Bailey Hunt claims our highest goals/game average.

Next in the rankings:

• Fede Frew 1.48
• Paige Scott 1.33
• Arthurina Moreen 1.25
• Renee Tierney 1.12
• Mia-Rae Clifford 1.11
• Sargent/Asciak/Ponter 1.00

Thought somewhat deeply; how does it help?!?

@theDJR

Credit: this is someone who has thought deeply about how to cheat… as long as Jayda doesn’t work out she can simply lift her arm to escape the “hold”.

Coach votes:

8 Charlotte Ryan (SOU)
5 Lily-Rose Williamson (ESS)
4 Emily Gough (ESS)
4 Bailey Hunt (ESS)
3 Amy Gaylor (ESS)
2 Gabriella De Angelis (SOU)
2 Natalie Plane (SOU)
1 El Chaston (ESS)
1 Caitlin Matthews (SOU)