Thanks for the call today @theDJR
2 Likes
Good work DJR.
2 Likes
thats why you should have rode your bike
2 Likes
We were lucky to be 2-8 behind at quarter time; in the first half of the second quarter they went bang-bang-bang to set you the ultimate win. But for the last 2.5 quarters we turned up the pressure, and were the better team. The Saints barely went forward in that time; their last four goals came from very few inside fifties during those last 50 minutes.
The good news: we have got a damn good set of four midfielders (Georgia Nanscawen, captain and 2019 B&F; Federica Frew, who played the second half of 2019 with us; Alana Barba, who played half-back for a few games at the end of 2019; and Courtney Ugle, who played the first half of 2019 only). All of them can get their own ball, and when Simone Nalder is back in the ruck the other teams we won’t fear. As you can see they’ve barely played together. Prespakis and Yassir from Calder Cannons loom as support later in the year.
The bad news: holy ■■■■ we got murdered in the ruck today. Taylor Moss was barely better than Stepnell, who at best has only ever been a time-filler as ruck. Frew was left to ruck a few times, and she’s 167cm. The Saints #60 Kelly and #15 Bohanna provided their teammates so many opportunities. I see Caris, the Casey ruck, was named in their best in their comfy win over Fark Carlton yesterday… please let us survive till round 3 when Nalder should be back.
I’ll got through the players individually below, but the early damage came from a handful of strong-marking long-kicking Saints, on top of those rucks. They had three tall defenders who killed so many of our forward thrusts, while we no longer have Kirby Hicks down back and at times the notably shorter Kendra Heil was under siege.
2 Likes
This is not going to be a perfect summary: 18 months on from the last game, a bunch of new players to consider, and near zero consideration of who their opponents were and how they did.
9 Marianna Anthony – named in the back pocket, played on the wing. She only played 3 games for us in 2019 but was pretty busy today.
31 Eloise Gardner – at least I’m assuming it was her. No idea what is going on with her being announced as a Coburg player. 175cm full-back today.
21 Alex Morcom (used to be 27) - decent utility player, 21 games with us now.
15 Lauren Caruso - got a decent amount through the middle of the ground
20 Cecelia “CBomb” McIntosh – I liked her game today. She played all over the ground, was sharp, kicked a goal after a long hard lead from the midfield to provide a target when Quigley was just out of range. I’ve stated her 2019 was over-rated (the umps were patently morons to name her third best in the league) but being over 40 seems to suit her!
18 Kendra Heil – not her best game, but she’ll be fine. Still a composed disposer of the ball.
5 Georgia Nanscawen (used to be 43) – still a bulldozer. Kicking a bit more penetrating than 2019?
22 Nattie MacDonald – I still don’t know how she missed that goal in the last from metres out, went and retrieved the ball, and missed again. Can play lots of positions.
7 Jessie Davies – had her own cheer squad at the ground today. Comes from Footscray VFLW/AFLW. Promising, plenty through the middle.
2 Felicity Theodore (used to be 41) – got a few touches. Highlight was running into a much bigger player to cancel a mark in the last… oof!
13 Elizabeth Hosking (used to be 33) – I never remember anything about her, and she’s now played 10 games for us.
4 Mia-Rae Clifford – played as key forward till she got her eyes gouged out in the third quarter. I can understand how she could kick a bag, as in last’s week training cones run vs Darebin.
6 Alex Quigley – easily our best forward today. Took a stack of contested marks and won a stack of ground contests. Kicked two goals in the third quarter, the second was special. Has been a regular goal-kicker since our first year (and first goal!) but today was impressive from limited opportunities.
26 Taylor Moss – thoroughly beaten in the ruck contests and around the ground.
17 Federica Frew (you need to remember which name has the “r” in the second spot) – probably our top possession getter today. Kicks aren’t always the prettiest but they have range and get in quick. There was a sequence in the third quarter where she just kept racking up the Inside Fifty count.
11 Alana Barba (used to be 42) – I’ve been bigging her up in recent weeks, and I see no reason to stop now. Is just class, and is elite-elite at evading the opposition. When Clifford was injured she went to full-forward: in that quarter she snapped one goal under pressure and gave off the unmissable not-a-goal to Nattie. Played 11 games at the Calder Cannon Footy Factory in 2019 before 4 off half-back for us.
8 Eloise Ashley-Cooper (used to be 45) – in the leadership group at age 20
10 Eleanor Cornish – put her down in the same group at Hosking; 9 games up over three seasons and I rarely notice her. Which is bad when you’re one of the tallest players in the squad.
29 Emma Mackay - veteran most recently with Footscray at AFLW and VFLW level. I saw some composed moments but not too much to say.
25 Lauren Stepnell – had a stinker as backup ruck and key forward
1 Courtney Ugle – I hope she’s alright. Got clobbered late by a Saint forward after she made yet another centre clearance. Happy with her game otherwise – possibly her best since 2018. She went in hard and when she had the ball she had arguably the best disposal by foot in our team.
BEST (in approximate order, and not having seen any stats): Frew, Quigley, Nanscawen, Barba, Ugle, McIntosh
6 Likes
P.S. The “strong midget in #5” I mentioned for the Saints was Valerie Moreau, ex-Bomber. How embarrassment, for me and Kendra. Kicked two goals for them.
Official bests, in order, so please disregard everything I said.
Best Players: C. Ugle, C. McIntosh, F. Frew, A. Barba, K. Heil, A. Morcom
Though, in my opinion, there’s no freakin’ way Heil did her appointed job better than Quigley did.
1 Like
A couple non-action shots by @karmabomber at
https://www.instagram.com/p/CL06VDhhh5G/
Thank deity for the usual numbers on the front of VFL(W) jumpers today.
A few action photos added at the above link. The captain popped in to say thanks for the photo of her.
Morcom braces herself against the shockwave from this tackle by Clifford:
2 Likes
Ripper summary DJR.
Are we any closer to knowing a time for next Sunday at Casey?
1 Like
Round 6 of the AFLW has been announced. The AFL continue to delay and have scheduled the two WA teams versus each other for a second time this year.
Melbourne are now playing the Saints 7:10 Saturday night – maybe there will be a double-header?
Hope not, if it makes entry difficult.
1 Like
THE VFLW twitter account says round two will be out tomorrow (Monday).
But from the below article:
The VFLW Bombers will now look forward to round two against Casey Demons at Casey Fields at 10am on Saturday, March 6.
No sleeping in!
The Bombers fought back in the second half after a slow start, but couldn’t overturn a 30-point half-time deficit in the 4.5 (29) to 7.5 (47) loss.
After no football since the 2019 season, excitement and intensity levels were high throughout the first quarter, with the Saints having to fight hard to score the first major for the day.
The Bombers, led by new captain Georgia Nanscawen and vice-captain Courtney Ugle, challenged the Saints across the ground but struggled to capitalise in front of goals.
The Saints came out firing after the first break, kicking a quick four unanswered goals to leave the Bombers goalless at the main break.
Cecilia McIntosh was vital throughout the first half, throwing herself into contests and applying much needed pressure on the Saints.
Cecilia McIntosh did her best to fire up the Bombers. (Photo: Celie Hay)
After a stirring half-time address from coach Brendan Major, the Bombers ran out with a change of mindset and were lively early.
They hit the board quickly with forward Alex Quigley scoring two majors within minutes of one another.
The team maintained consistent intensity and pressure throughout the third term to keep the Saints scoreless, with Alex Morcom strong across the backline and Kendra Heil supporting Nanscawen in midfield.
A fourth-quarter position change from midfield to forward for Alana Barba resulted in the Bombers’ third goal of the day, with McIntosh hitting the scoreboard shortly after.
Alana Barba (middle) celebrates her fourth-quarter goal. (Photo: Celie Hay)
But the Saints quickly replied with two late final-quarter goals to seal the 18-point win.
Nanscawen was disappointed in her side’s first half, but said there were plenty of positives to come out of the game.
“It’s disappointing to not get off to a great start. Throughout the first half, we were really on the back foot, and as a result we dropped our heads a bit too much,” Nanscawen said.
“In the second half, we were a lot more proactive and played the game on our terms a bit more. There certainly were lots of encouraging signs, but we need to tidy up that (attitude) as it wasn’t a great course to drop our heads, so we need to be better with that.”
Nanscawen attributed the strong second half to a change in attitude and the increase of pressure applied to the Saints.
“In the second half, we had the confidence that we could play our game and we were a lot more proactive, particularly around the stoppages,” she said.
“In the first half, we didn’t man up very well, so we really tidied that up and played the game more on our terms.”
Nanscawen said she was “incredibly excited” to see the future of women’s football after the NEC Hangar hosted its first VFLW game today, with the players using their new facilities for the first time.
“We are very lucky to have these facilities and we can feel very proud that when people come here that they can marvel at what we have. I certainly feel very proud to be a part of a historic day to play the first official match here," she said.
“I can’t wait to hopefully sing the song here in not too long a time."
The VFLW Bombers will now look forward to round two against Casey Demons at Casey Fields at 10am on Saturday, March 6.
Essendon 0.2 0.4 2.4 4.5 (29)
Southern Saints 1.2 5.4 5.4 7.5 (47)
Goals: Quigley 2, Barba, McIntosh
Best: Ugle, McIntosh, Frew, Barba, Heil, Morcom
The new women’s facilities were accessed via the door that used to lead to the cafe. All of the new building is now at/beyond lock-up stage. The Saints used the actual hangar at the break.
Also: "Kendra Heil supporting Nanscawen in midfield”? Yeah nah. Not sure if this explains how she got in the Bests.
1 Like
Went along to the VFLW today and the first person i talk to is Dodoro which made for an interesting start to the day. Great to see him out supporting… very much the true club man. Had a nice quick chat. The girls sadly went down today 47-29 but it was not all doom. Far from it.
I wont pretend i know all the names as i was only learning many today. I think team will come away from today with some positivity. They won the 2nd half on the score board and general play.
Really like the mens Carlton game it was 15 mins of a lack of team disciplines which i am sure the coach will discuss. The ball came into the Saints forward line too open and with little pressure in that period. Saints put on 4 quick goals unanswered. After that they tightened up really well and they had the ball in their forward half more. They were the hunters instead of being reactionary. Maybe lacking a few marking targets with height up forward cost them 1-2 goals.
Number 7 Jessie Davies was really good. Was quite composed and got in the right spots often.
Hopefully they take that 2nd half form into next week. It was an enjoyable day all round. If you get a chance i recommend checking it out. All in all it was quite positive👍
1 Like
This is 100% correct.
3 Likes
I do try to slip in an occasional factual snippet.
2 Likes
Edit about 10 typos in previous post🤦♂️
1 Like
