Bloody hell, should have been a great goal.
With the late withdrawal of Marshall, our average age today was just 20.54yo
I did the laborious check for Port, and today their average age was 23.59yo (younger than I expected).
Itās still a huge difference.
We had 13 teenagers, they had 4. If we both kept the same teams, itād be 11 to 1 come our May rematch.
Appreciate the reporting
Mini-match video (15 minutes) is up. How those videos needing editing get up before the whole match always bemuses me.
For the record, after Marshallās withdrawal, there were ten official* EFC debuts:
- Chloe Adams
- Tayla Crabtree
- Lily-Rose Williamson (VFLW debut only)
- Ruby Mahony
- Kyla Tracey
- Marnie Robinson
- Ava Jordan
- Amy Carris-Brett
- Ashlea Melnikas
- Ruby Murdoch
Seven of them were making their VFLW debut, though from that Iād note that Mahony is certainly not new to state-level senior footy. Melnikas was the only other debutant with substantial state-level experience (37 previous VFLW games).
*I have the game vs the NTFL in the void, though I could understand an argument to include it. All of our non-Tiwi participants in that game are on our list this year (yes, even apparently Dicker). But this is consistent with not counting practice matches, the 2019 game vs GWS at The Hangar, etc.
RETRACTION
It has been brought to my attention that Sophie Molan turned 23yo today. This is extremely useful news, as my spreadsheet had her listed as born on 24th APRIL.
This means this roundās team was actually an average of 20.55yo old, NOT 20.54yo.
Radio 3DJR apologises for this inexcusable error and betrayal of our audienceās expectations, and says happy birthday to Sophie.
The replay is up at:
The AFL code monkeys have fiddled with the Game Centre so it doesnāt show when this happens: it used to be that the list of games would show āmini matchā or āhighlightsā on the left when that went up, and then (IIRC) āvideosā when the second or later video (e.g. the replay) went up.
I hate the AFL code monkeys so much.
Accurate enough summary (if you accept Drew Ryan is a ānew playerā ā she played two games for us in 2022 before spending a year at Box Hill).
Essendon VFLW have fallen to Port Melbourne 0.7 (7) to 9.0 (54) in their opening round clash at the NEC Hangar on Saturday.
The Bombers were prominent in the contest early but found themselves unable to get scoreboard reward for their work despite winning both the disposal and inside 50 counts.
Trailing by just seven points at the main break, the Dons struggled to limit an efficient Port Melbourne side after half-time, evidenced by the Boroughās 100 per cent accuracy in front of goal.
Dangerous forward Olivia Manfre almost conjured an early contender for goal of the season from the boundary line to get her side going but was quelled by some desperate keeping on the goal line.
Ultimately, Port Melbourne timed a run late to boot five goals in the final 10 minutes, ballooning out the margin to 47 points right on the final siren.
Despite the result, the home opener provided an opportunity for the Dons to field 11 new players after a busy off-season of recruiting.
Among the new faces was Ruby Mahony, who flourished as an inside midfielder with 22 touches, nine clearances and eight tackles, while AFLW draftee Chloe Adams marked her first competitive outing for the club with 20 disposals and eight tackles of her own.
QUARTER ONE
- Commentators definitely didnāt go to the NT game. It was wet, but not particularly humid or hot.
- Mahony tough as inside.
- āsheās 145 [sic] cm tall, so no matter how good she is that will always hang over her headāā¦ brutal.
- Great defensive pressure 6 minutes in to deny Port any score, and āshake and bakeā by Murdoch before a precise kick to advantage.
- First touch on the ball after a Port kick ā somehow not a lasso free for us.
- Russell being manifestly demonstrative at a subsequent free being paid against us
- Carris-Brett has tiny arms, but not shy about getting involved. Got a bit of young Ugle about her (hair, being a stick figure, running style, and as a bonus having old Ugleās #41)
- mFord is not much of a ruckā¦
- Richo girl likes whacking people! Though I think she mostly missed in this case.
- Could easily have had a substantial lead 16 minutes inā¦
- Count of Essendon players mis-identified so far: 2
We murdered defending premiers Port in that quarter, with contributions from MANY players, but fluffed half-a-dozen scoring chances.
QUARTER TWO
- Fede āhaving an unexpected restā at 2:07 in the background (the lead-up to that is off-camera). But you can take the blame/credit off Melnikas and give it to Robinson.
- Molan in to fly the flag, twice. And then blindly runs back with the ball shortly afterwardā¦ luckily no one annoyed with her was present!
- Crabtree doing well for a kid
- Orritt doing plenty of inside/pressure stuff.
- 5:30 Molan is NOT slow. Great defensive save.
- That was a nothing free kick to set up their first goal. Hell of a kick.
- Is that the sound of the rest of the AFLW/VFLW girls banging on the fence from 8:30 to go?
- Nice save and feed-out by Robinson at 8:20
- Fede tackled for three seconds before shoving it out one-handed. Another fairly ludicrous kick to goal results.
- 13:00 Jordan accidentally shirt-fronts Crabtree
- 16:20 Robinson tries to take the lowest specky ever, over Harley. Lucky not to be be pinged for pushing.
- 17:20 Adams is one-on-one vs Harley at FB, AND BEATS HER. TWICE. That is outright ridiculous. Wow.
QUARTER THREE
- Only a fifty metre penalty to us in the opening seconds if you apply the Laws of the Game. Would have been very handy to be having a free from 30m out at that time!
- Murdoch is a tidy small defender. When Shaw and McNeice are back we might see her push up to the wing (depending on matchups).
- It might have been Molan on Patterson on the run from our end to their end; I canāt blame Molan for peeling off to attempt the intercept.
- No idea who is (not) on Patterson for her next mark.
- van Loon putting herself into the hole and taking the hit from Harley at 5:20
- Melnikas is on Patterson at 6:50
- 8:00 Sophie is a star, and we canāt afford for her to be stuck in defence. Beats two here to win the ball via HTB.
- 8:55 Patterson outmarks vanLoon on the wing. Once she kicks it, she runs forward and van Loon half-heartedly jogs, losing ten metres on her. Davidge realises the threat and chases hard.
- āChaston having a bit of a laugh AT the umpireāā¦ there were shorter kicks paid as marks in this game.
- This is one of Orrittās better games ā lots of involvement.
- Iām not 100% sure van Loon was āonā Pattersonā¦ but bloody hell. Those 11 minutes of her doing whatever she liked were killers.
- Richardson rucking in the middle? No thank you. Mind you, without Marshall there is no left backup to Russell.
- At this point you can see me abandoning G and player families etc on the wing and heading back to Bullant Hill. The view from the Katie Lio Memorial Grandstand is rubbish because 1) it is too low and 2) the background is therefore so noisy.
- 12:50+15:30 Iād hate to see Richardsonās career Frees For and Againstā¦
- I donāt get why you donāt play Morrow. It means we donāt get smashed in the ruck while Russell is rested (or worse, potentially injured) and minus Marshall Perkins Bernadi etc it provides much-needed tall flexibility across the ground. For large parts of the second half we played with no legit key forward (Marnie was only there for a few minutes, and Ford headed back in the last quarter).
- I caveat that with Manfre absolutely has the nous for that role. She gets to all the right spaces and is typically clean; but I have to say it again, sheās not big or fast enough to be THE forward.
- 13:45 Jordan takes the hit while marking.
- Williamson is just totally irrelevant to this game, despite lots of time on the ball.
- 19:40 Richo sooooo wanted to bump the Port player into oblivion. Had to settle for the (effective) tackle.
QUARTER FOUR
- Watch Ryan for the first minute: she knows her role, and eventually is used as the out. Her opposing wing is waaaaay defensive side.
- There are someā¦ interestingā¦ tackle calls (or non-calls) in the first three minutes.
- 3:20 for Fedeās place kick to advantage. Geeeeeeeeeeet stuffed. But it was mostly skill, not luck.
- I canāt get the Carris-Brett / Ugle comparison out of my head now. Every time sheās in the play.
- 4:55 Richo and Bella respect each other for being crazy people.
- After 66 minutes, we lead 7 scoring shots to 4
- The lack of tackle frees is atrocious this quarter. In rapid succession (6:00-6:20) Adams and Chaston are grabbed around the neck.
- van Loon sent forward
- 7:10 watch Russell and Hartogās reactions to a near kick-to-the-face
ā¦ no malice in it.
- After that instant reaction of shock, Krystal thinks it was hilarious.
- 10:30 that is just about Murdochās sole failure for the dayā¦ but geez you gotta feel like a nuffie after getting that little bump out of the contest, and watching the opponent goal from it. I mean, Jesse Williams is a gun, but still.
- 12:35 Williamson is frustrated after a dud day, late hit after the ball is gone. Look at her at 13:00, she is cooked.
- Great rebound by Murdoch; but the ballcomes straight back and she has to watch Williams goal again.
- 15:00 we are Fede kryponite. Sheās played us three times (across our last six games!) and has not kicked a goal.
- Bella all of the rebound in this last quarter.
Russell and Mahony were both at all but one centre ābounceā attendance. We did more than alright there despite Russell not being a particularly-to-advantage tap ruck, and adding more sFord Chaston Molan should improve that (and the potential for Wales and other AFLW mids for a while, too).
If Perkins and Bernadi can be up forward for those centre clearancesā¦
Note that one of Richardsonās CBAs is as a ruck, and two are as a mid.
| Player | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahony | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 12 |
| Russell | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 12 |
| Adams | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Davidge | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | |
| van Loon | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| Williamson | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Richardson | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Chaston | 2 | 2 | |||
| Melnikas | 1 | 1 | 2 |
No reports out of this match.
Kate Reynolds (Norf) is up for 4 weeks (with no early plea reduction offered) for a high bump on Caitlin Pickett.
(We do not play Norf in the next four weeks.)
I hope Mahony (note spelling) still gets credited with these Coach votes:
6 Ruby Mahoney (ESS)
5 Nayley Borg (PM)
5 Lauren Caruso (PM)
5 Katelyn Cox (PM)
5 Maggie McKellar (PM)
3 Ava Seton (PM)
1 El Chaston (ESS)
ā¦
LEADERBOARD
10 Jasmine Fleming (BHH)
9 Madeleine Di Cosmo (NM)
9 Jennifer Guy (NM)
8 Emily Bates (BHH)
8 Abbey McDonald (GEE)
6 Mietta Kendall (BHH)
6 Ruby Mahony (ESS)
6 Lilly Pearce (COL)
6 Jemma Ramsdale (COL)
6 Brooke Vickers (CAR)