The big question is whether Casey will have half their team be AFLW-listed again this week: that saw them equal with the Hawks into the final quarter last week.
After Geelong smashed Fark Carlton last week, Casey went to the bottom of the ladder as the only team without a win.
The good news is that this rematch is going to played in a mild cross breeze – them playing the strong goal-to-goal wind so much better than us at Casey earlier this year nearly got them the win.
Out Harris, in Hibberd?
Quick summary of (both) team changes: we are in doo-doo.
No Freya.
More later.
OK, time to copy/paste. Richo is out for the season.
ESSENDON
B: M. Ford (42), B. Plummer (57)
HB: G. Azzopardi (67), D. Ryan (51), A. Melnikas (64)
C: I. Porter (70), C. Bernardi (47), S. Orritt (68)
HF: O. Manfre (43), T. Davidge (77), S. Ford (45)
F: E. Chaston (61), L. Thompson (74)
R: L. Prince (44), M. Albrecht (48), A. Jordan (62)
INT: E. Harris (76), M. Ibrahim (41), M. Mifsud (46), S. Johnston (79), S. McIntosh (78)
EMG: M. O’Connell (56), O. Lacy (58), M. Harrison (54), E. Downie (50)
IN: C. Bernardi, S. Johnston
OUT: S. Molan (foot), J. Richardson (foot)
CASEY DEMONS
B: D. Madigan (23), K. Phillips (31)
HB: S. Casey (22), O. Morris (13), G. Proy (32)
C: M. Macdonald (18), S. Heath (12), T. Burn (4)
HF: M. Fitzsimon (10), M. Mahony (45), A. Bannan (49)
F: T. Harris (40), G. Gall (34)
R: G. Campbell (41), E. McNamara (27), E. Zanker (30)
INT: T. Williams (36), Z. Burn (25), C. Hammans (17), A. Pisano (29), A. Dethridge (43)
EMG: J. Pacevski (1), L. Jatczak (14), A. Robinson (19)
IN: A. Bannan, Z. Burn, G. Campbell, M. Fitzsimon, G. Gall, T. Harris, S. Heath, D. Madigan, M. Mahony, E. McNamara, A. Pisano, K. Phillips, G. Proy, E. Zanker
OUT: M. Chaplin, G. Colvin, T. Gillard, S. Lampard, M. O’Hehir, L. Pearce, J. Rigoni, S. Taylor (managed), B. Lyne (shoulder), L. Jatczak (unavailable), A. Kirkwood, Z. Mitchell, A. Robinson, A. Vrsecky (omitted)
Fitzsimon does bad things to our VFLW team…
Casey Demons have named Melbourne AFLW premiership players Tayla Harris, Eden Zanker, Megan Fitzsimon, Alyssa Bannan and Shelley Heath for their clash with Essendon at Windy Hill.
The winless Demons have made a whopping 14 changes to the side that went down to Box Hill Hawks last week, with the premiership quintet among 10 AFLW players brought into the team, although eight AFLW-listed players go out.
Essendon regains Christina Bernardi following a two-match layoff as it looks to break a three-game losing streak but loses Sophie Molan and Jayda Richardson to foot injuries. Molan should return next week, but Richardson is expected to be sidelined for the remainder of the campaign.
At least we entirely miss out on last week’s triple ruck setup of Pearce, Gillard, and Jatczak!
Finally, a since-last-time exercise is useful. They’re certainly not like-for-like changes!
| OUT | IN | Role | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sophie Molan | Scarlett Orritt | key def | smaller, loss |
| Marnie Robinson | Sophie McIntosh | key def | smaller, loss |
| Jayda Richardson | Olivia Manfre | fwd | smaller, loss |
| Abbey McDonald | Christina Bernardi | mid? | loss |
| Meg Harrison | Drew Ryan | wing | loss? |
| Eva Downie | Eva Harris | Eva | bigger! |
If you read down to the punchline, well done.
You may better know the Demon names on the right…
| OUT | IN |
|---|---|
| A. Kirkwood (6) | A. Bannan (49) |
| A. Robinson (19) | A. Dethridge (43) |
| A. Vrsecky (24) | A. Pisano (29) |
| E. Morris (27) | E. McNamara (27) |
| J. Lin (10) | E. Zanker (30) |
| J. Pacevski (1) | G. Campbell (41) |
| L. Jatczak (14) | G. Gall (34) |
| M. Williams (28) | M. Fitzsimon (10) |
| T. Doultree (26) | M. Mahony (45) |
| Z. Klein (3) | S. Heath (12) |
| Z. Mitchell (21) | T. Harris (40) |
I think they’re annoyed at our 5-year 8-game winning streak…
| When | For | Against | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-07 | 21 | 47 | -26 |
| 2019-01 | 32 | 35 | -3 |
| 2021-02 | 31 | 22 | 9 |
| 2021-EF | 35 | 32 | 3 |
| 2022-14 | 27 | 21 | 6 |
| 2022-SF | 76 | 9 | 67 |
| 2023-04 | 37 | 35 | 2 |
| 2023-12 | 30 | 25 | 5 |
| 2024-08 | 67 | 26 | 41 |
| 2025-05 | 42 | 36 | 6 |
| TOTAL | 398 | 288 | 110 |
Fantasiest Top 21 named. Top name giving me PTSD again.
In theory we are winning 11-10 but that’s because the likes of Harris, Zanker, Bannan, Heath, Pisano, and McNamara are yet to play this season.
| Team | Player | AF | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | CLR | HO | i50s | R50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dees | Megan Fitzsimon | 106.5 | 0 | 0 | 16.5 | 8.5 | 25 | 3 | 9 | 5.5 | 0 | 2 | 3.5 |
| Dees | Georgia Campbell | 100 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 52 | 3 | 0 |
| EFC | Eloise Chaston | 81.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 11.2 | 7.4 | 18.6 | 3.9 | 5.4 | 2.1 | 0 | 2.7 | 1.9 |
| EFC | Layla Prince | 74.9 | 0.1 | 0 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 11.1 | 1.8 | 5 | 1.8 | 22.3 | 1.7 | 1.3 |
| Dees | Tylah Burn | 69.9 | 0.1 | 0 | 11.3 | 2.1 | 13.4 | 1.4 | 7.5 | 3.4 | 0 | 2.6 | 2.6 |
| Dees | Meg Macdonald | 68.9 | 0 | 0.2 | 6.2 | 8.4 | 14.6 | 2.5 | 7.4 | 3.4 | 0 | 1.5 | 1.3 |
| Dees | Maggie Mahony | 66 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| EFC | Brooke Plummer | 61.9 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 11.1 | 4 | 15.1 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 3.9 | 0.9 |
| EFC | Ashlea Melnikas | 61.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 12.4 | 1.4 | 6.6 | 2.4 | 0 | 1.6 | 0.7 |
| EFC | Maddison Ford | 59.4 | 0 | 0.1 | 9 | 7.1 | 16.1 | 3.7 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 0 | 0.4 | 2.9 |
| Dees | Georgia Gall | 57 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 2.5 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 5.5 | 1 | 0 |
| Dees | Kasey Phillips | 55 | 0 | 0 | 7.7 | 2.1 | 9.9 | 1.3 | 5.7 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 0.1 | 3.9 |
| EFC | Maddison Albrecht | 54.4 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 7 | 5.8 | 12.8 | 1.5 | 4.6 | 1.3 | 0 | 3 | 0.3 |
| EFC | Tia Davidge | 53.1 | 1.3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0 | 1.4 | 0.4 |
| EFC | Christina Bernardi | 52.6 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 6.6 | 2.4 | 9 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 0.2 | 0 | 1.2 | 0.4 |
| Dees | Sophie Casey | 52.4 | 0 | 0.2 | 9 | 2.8 | 11.8 | 2.1 | 3.6 | 1.8 | 0 | 1.7 | 2.4 |
| Dees | Olivia Morris | 49.9 | 0 | 0.1 | 7.8 | 2.6 | 10.4 | 2 | 4.1 | 1.1 | 0 | 1.9 | 1.5 |
| Dees | Tegan Williams | 49 | 0.1 | 0 | 5.8 | 5.1 | 10.9 | 1.8 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 7.6 | 1 | 1 |
| EFC | Lucy Thompson | 48.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 7.7 | 3.2 | 10.9 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 3 | 0.6 |
| EFC | Sarah Ford | 48.6 | 0 | 0 | 5.6 | 7.7 | 13.3 | 2 | 2.9 | 3.6 | 0 | 1.6 | 1 |
| EFC | Ava Jordan | 46.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 6.3 | 4.7 | 11 | 1.1 | 3 | 1.3 | 0 | 1.7 | 0.3 |
Scarlet Orritt to play her 25th VFLW game.
So Casey are full of AFLW players???
Surely there is a rule against that.
Until last year when the NSW AFLW teams joined in briefly, there was a cap of 10 AFLW players in any given game… and unless there were very specific circumstances (e.g. someone returning from long-term injury, someone new to Aussie Rules) AFLW players rarely featured after their pre-season started.
But now it’s chaos and randomness (FCFC abruptly brought in 14 versus us last year). Could be the difference between teams (us!) making or not making finals.
Hmmm. The removed fence largely matches the planned whizz-bang interchange bench… which is not approved yet.
MaggieO and MegHarrison are in first warmup of 22 (?) players.
Bernardi not in the 22…
I would assume MaggieO would replace Bernardi over MegHarrison purely based on our changes since last time around shrinking our KP players’ size and numbers.
WAIT… Bernardi now out doing warmup things while others are well into their specialised tasks.
ChristinaBernardi still out there after everyone else goes in. Doesn’t look like a fitness test.
