Weather looking ok for Sunday.
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Gee that Nick Hind fella seems to really want Nat Mac to have the football
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I believe the team email said âeven pretend dogsâ. Iâll let you work out whoâs dog that was aimed at.
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A little bit of Nat Mac bias there.
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âOogalâ 
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Ha, I started from the bottom and thought these two comments were related⌠poor Peanut gets no respect 
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I will never not be amused by the AFL listing of the teams.
- That they position players numerically.
- That they have two separate numbering systems (e.g. Barba correctly sorted at #28, but showing 0).
- That they assume 18 on the field.
- The random way they assign those not on the field to the bench and the interchange. In this case, Iâm betting the code monkey thought it safe to put everyone but three as emergencies, so the number on the bench can vary per league. And of course both teams would name the same number of players, right?
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I never realised it was 16 vs 16
It was 18 on-field in 2018 and 2019 (5 on the bench, with 1 of those having to be a junior player). Hence my reference above to Barba debuting in 2019 as âthe 23rd playerâ.
Brendan Rhodesâ [sic] says
It all comes down to this. The Bombers have been dominant team throughout the whole season, coming into the Grand Final undefeated with only two draws blotting the copybook, plus two record finals victories to qualify.
But the Saints earned one of those two draws and pushed Essendon all the way only six weeks ago.
The confidence theyâve gained from beating higher-ranked opposition in three consecutive weeks, two of them on their home grounds, will be invaluable as well.
How can the Saints stop the Bombersâ all-powerful forward line â a group that includes Rohenna Young medallist Federica Frew (33 goals), runner-up Mia-Rae Clifford (21) and top-10 finishers Cecilia McIntosh (18), Renee Tierney (16) and Grace Dicker (12)? St Kilda draftee and Saints skipper Deanna Jolliffe, Grace Buchan, Alex Hynes and Georgia McLean will have a lot to say about it.
The midfield battle of Essendonâs Georgia Nanscawen, newly-drafted breakout star Amelia Radford, Jordan Zanchetta and Joanne Doonan versus draftee Hannah Stuart, former Bomber Rebecca Neaves, winger Winnie Laing and Madi Capsalis will be vital, as will the ruck showdown of Simone Nalder versus Sarah Black.
At the Saintsâ end, Tayla Kearns, Chanelle Slater, Gabriella De Angelis, Olivia Flanagan and Kayla Ripari will look to kick a winning score against Alex Morcom, Bella Clarke, Eloise Ashley-Cooper, Danielle Marshall and Kendra Heil.
Essendon deserves to start a clear favourite, but it would be unwise to write off these Saints.
Prediction: Essendon by 17
Brendan Rhodesâ winners: Last Round: 0.
I hope his pick is better this week than last week!
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WHEN it comes to this VFLW season, the Southern Saints have been one of those sides you just cannot really underestimate.
They may have ultimately finished fifth on the ladder this season, but three big wins in a row against at times much more highly fancied opponents has seen them make their very first VFLW Grand Final.
Southern Saintsâ coach Dale Robinson certainly believes her charges have taken confidence from the last few weeks and the fact they have taken so many huge scalps in a row.
âWeâve really hit some form at the right time of year and I think the connection the group has, and the will to play for each other and theyâre not just out there for themselves has been a really big impact and something that weâve really seen a change in in the last couple of weeks and itâs been there all year in patches and itâs probably just really come together at the right time of the year,â she said.
Not only do Robinson and the Saints take confidence from the past few weeks, but from the fact that they have been one of the most competitive sides against the competition benchmark Bombers in 2022.
âYeah we do (take confidence),â she said. âAnd I think both of us play a really good brand of football. âI think we both play very similar brands of football as well and itâs knowing that we can match that and hopefully the team that turns up the best from a mindset perspective on the day come out at the end with the win.â
Despite not getting the week off like the Bombers, there was no rest for Robinson, who was already into preparation mode a mere 24 hours after that epic Preliminary Final win. She said she was âkeeping things pretty simple and knowing that the girls know what we need to do and get the bodies through, getting good recovery in and getting prepared for the weekendâ.
Much like the Bombers, the Saints have kept a pretty settled line up all season, not relying on many AFLW stars throughout the season. Robinson definitely thinks it is a huge positive.
âOh itâs helped massively. Brendan [Major, coach of Essendon] and I spoke before [at the Grand Final media day], so weâre probably two of the sides that have really kept our VFL group quite compact all year, and you know weâve had some of our AFLW girls come through, but itâs really around those girls that needed that bit of time,â Robinson said. They seamlessly come into the group, the group accept them really well but the last few weeks and with all the changes with AFLW and that weâve just been able to get back to our core VFL group and thatâs what Iâve been about, that ensuring at that level weâre building a VFL side thatâs complimented by our AFLW program but never reliant on it.â
Despite last playing the Bombers about a month ago, Robinson was not worried back then about playing any so called âace cardsâ with the prospect of the two sides potentially meeting again in finals.
âYou go into every game wanting to win it,âRobinson said. Itâs about putting the right foot forward, itâs about looking at the things we can improve on, looking at the things that work really well and strengthening those, and theyâre the things that weâve taken away from that game.â
When asked how she is going to counter the dominance of the Essendon forwardline, Robinson had a pretty straightforward answer.
âI think thatâs full team pressure, so thatâs not just relying on my defenders,â she said. âItâs making sure that weâre getting pressure all across the ground thatâs making the difficult entries so theyâre not getting silver service essentially because they have been a great forward line, theyâve scored a lot of goals this year, so itâs really about making sure thereâs pressure all up the ground.â
Will the Saints continue their monumental run of picking off much more fancied opponents and claim their very first VFLW title? Only 48 odd hours to go until we find out
Day one footage, 2017:
Overwhelmingly unfamiliar faces (and a few familiar but not expected, such as Georgia Harvey* as a player).
And is that an un-tattoed Lori Stepnell?!?
*Our AFLW Contract Manager/AFL List & Recruiting Compliance Coordinator â she made the development list in 2018 and 2019, but never played for us.
Yeah Maj, good luck for the future.
(includes new ground level footage from the finals that theyâve been sitting on!)
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Canât work out if the jumper is wrong, or if the head is twisted Exorcist-style?
EDIT: nope, the sash is always reversed.
So, yeah, this thing happens TOMORROW.
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