My bad, the one day I don’t check she tells when the game is…
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In a Calder/Eastern Ranges game:
Quigley not gonna mess up her foot just for a wedding.
All four bridesmaids were VFLW team-mates (Ugle, Caruso, Cornish, and DeMatteoooooooooo).
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Alex (formerly Quigley) has changed her name to Alex Renton on Instagram (after tying the knot on Sunday).
A little birdie (OK, Mia-Rae’s Instagram) suggests the following two have joined us.
Bella Clarke from the NT. Gold Coast was considering drafting her last year (she was part of a handful of players who travelled to visit/train with them):
Ex-Bears AFLW Jordan Zanchetta (very short inside midfielder, 13 games with them):
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In case it wasn’t obvious from her absence but #25 still being present at training:
Williamstown has signed former Essendon ruck Lori Stepnell on the eve of the 2022 VFLW season. The versatile 26-year old is coming off the back of her most consistent VFLW season to date in 2021, averaging 10 disposals and a mark a game for the Bombers.
Measuring at 176cm, Stepnell will add both presence and experience to the Seagulls line-up, able to play in the ruck or as a forward option.
“Lori’s body positioning is exceptional, and her ability to hold space and content in the air is going to be a real asset to our group,” Gulls VFLW coach Penny Cula-Reid said.
Stepnell enjoyed two fruitful outings against Williamstown in 2021, chalking up 14 disposals and seven tackles in Round seven, and backed that up with 17 hit-outs in Round 13. Stepnell also notched a career best total of 28 clearances through the 2021 season, displaying her versatility on the ground as well as in the air.
“She is an experienced VFLW player within the system, and she continues to challenge herself to get better each week,” Cula-Reid said.
Let’s do a crappy run-of-the-card. Yes, the list is not dotted and crossed yet, but we can fill most of it out.
In 2021 we had 43 players listed. That includes 9 “developmental” and 3 late top-ups (Slender, Ahrens, Svarc). Note that 4 of the NAB League Girls (Snell, Finning, Yassir, Prespakis) were on our main list from the start. I’m not going to try to pick the NAB League girls right now, though I have highlighted some of the obvious candidates previously.
1 - Ugle
2 - Felicity Theodore is gone. I never quite worked out how she went from Cannons leadership to a small forward who couldn’t kick to (for a few weeks) an actual-goal-kicking forward then immediately out of the team. From this week’s training video and yesterday’s game this is our new #2. Has some pace, and gall to take on the Honey Badger (dear reader, she failed).
3 - Still DeMatteooooooooooooooo? Shelby Meyers is still with us and upogfraded from no number to #3. A Herald-Sun article I haven’t read has the summary “12 Jan 2022 — Former player Shelby Myers will also return as a [Calder Cannon] development coach while she mixes duties with Essendon VFLW.”
4 - Clifford, 35yo and putting in a hell of a lot of work to be spritely
5 - Nanscawen
6 - Quigley/Renton, probably. Slow recovery from foot (and now ankle?) injury
7 - Davies
8 - Ashley-Cooper
9 - Mariana Anthony
10 - Cornish
11 - I’d be surprised if Suns top-up Barba isn’t back for the second half of the VFLW season.
12 - Currenti. Hopefully the club website will include her on the list this year 
13 - Hosking
14 - The mysterious Thomas Nicolaou, 28yo developmental lister, is gone. Danielle Marshall comes in as a KPP after 11 games with Footscray AFLW, kicked a couple goals vs Casey and paired with Clifford very nicely. The grass must have been very weird, as she is documented as 2cm shorter than Clifford.
15 - Caruso
16 - Crook
17 - Frew
18 - Heil
19 - Julian
20 - McIntosh
21 - Morcom
22 - MacDonald
23 - Amelia Radford
24 - Apparently Renee Tierney from Geelong Falcons/VFLW. Solidly built forward, not fast but aggressive and has some tricks.
Caveat: training video this week has 24 on someone else.
25 - Stepnell out, replaced by another small ruck. I didn’t really notice her as awful at rucking yesterday, though.
26 - Taylor Moss, who played one bad game as ruck in round one last year, was shown in early pre-season training.
27 - don’t think we’ve seen Terira Fry
28 - this jumper number was seen in early photos, but it wasn’t clear if it was Emma Mackay
29 - not used last year
30 - Nalder has played more games for us than anyone bar Heil, and would be #1 if they hadn’t shifted the season earlier last year to clash with her wedding. Better bloody be included on the club site listing this year!!!
31 - Gardner
32 - not used last year
33 - Slender drafted away
34 - Lennox
35 - not used last year
36 - not used last year
37 - not used last year
38 - not used last year
39 - Ahrens back after Gold Coast (probably) miss finals (and she has easier movement to and from QLD than last year)?
40 - Yassir drafted away. Cocomello, who never played for us, is apparently dropped. Replacement is a mid whose name or nickname sounds like her number??? YES: Sarah “Fordy” Ford
41 - Svarc after Brisbane AFLW season is done?
42 - Snell drafted away. Bears AFLW Jordan Zanchetta joins us and immediately slots in as another small inside midfielder.
43 - Prespakis drafted away. Crowley upper-ager at Calder this year.
44 - Dicker (had different hair last week and this week…)
45 - smaller fullback yesterday
46 - Elarmaly, was the sole face of our pre-season for nearly three months! Has been on our list since 2019, but yesterday we learned that she plays as an undersized (173cm) ruck and reasonably-sized forward.
47 - Friswell drafted away. Now Eliza Bell?
? - we know Bella Clarke from the NT is playing with us. Might be 45 above???
? - fark you COVID, no Tiwis again?
If yesterday was any indication, the changes have made us bigger than previous years. We have almost always been the smaller side in the VFLW. Still need some seriously-sized ruck assistance for 31yo Nalder.
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Zanchetta is from the same local club in Brisbane that my kids and I play at. I was there on a really humid summer morning a couple of years ago trying to run off some beer induced calories and she was there at the same time doing a private running session. She was punching out repeat 200s and 400s at a really high intensity.
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Wasnt offered a new contract and has now signed with Collingwood
No LIKE for you.
how will I go on?!
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CALDER CANNONS 6.2 (38) def NORTHERN KNIGHTS 4.4 (28)
CALDER got itself on the board and left Northern winless after two games, edging out the Knights by 10 points at Highgate Reserve on Saturday,
The Cannons took the upper hand with the breeze in the first quarter by kicking three unanswered goals and withstood two fightbacks from the Knights in their turn with the wind, with Kayley Kavanagh’s major that took the lead to 24 early in the last quarter being the only one at the other end of the ground.
Olivia Manfre had 21 touches, laid seven tackles and kicked two goals in a top performance for Calder, which had winners all over the ground as Reese Sutton (22), Tahlia Read (21) and Abbey McDonald (21) also got plenty of the ball.
Bendigo, who we have a little bit of link to, maybe, belted Greater Western Victoria 62-12 but the real pain was the Stingrays beating Gippsland 149-14… Saints hit the jackpot this year?
I think this article is entirely a re-hash, with the exception of the “re-launch” in the sub-heading.
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There are some clips from today’s training in the essendonfcw Instagram account. Tierney being contrary by wearing 49.
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Courtney confirms length of 2km elsewhere.
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Bring back JESSICA STASSI !!!
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Number 3 is Sarah Ford (from the Sydney women’s comp)
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