VFLW - Round 12 vs North @ Windy Hill, 10AM Saturday 22 May 2021

In round 10 North Melbourne came from behind to beat Hawthorn to retain a slim hope of reaching finals (they are one game and lots of percentage out, but will get to play the current sixth-placed Saints so have a smidgen of control over their destiny).

They did that with just 3 AFLW players (who played 10, 1, and 0 AFLW games this year).

The previous two weeks they got smashed by Casey and the Pies.

Not sure if Frew or Ahrens could be inclusions for us… that would certainly help us!

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Oddly, North does not appear to have any links with a NAB League team, and have just one NAB League girl on their supplementary list.

EDIT: completely wrong, see below :upside_down_face:

They have certainly suggested they would bring in more AFLW players, and given they may have just three weeks left…

Brooke Brown, Alice O’Laughlin, Beth Lynch and Amy Smith have all made multiple VFLW appearances so far this season for the Roos.

Coming down to bolster the side with be Jasmine Grierson, Tahni Nestor, Vivien Saad, Daria Bannister and Elisha King.

Adding some grunt to the midfield will be Ellie Gavalas and Mia King who had great seasons with North in the AFLW.

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This will be another Radio 3DJR exclusive.

The Norf-supporting niece (I personally know THREE Norf supporters!) may join me there.

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Correction: Norf are linked to the Tasmanian NAB League team. Comments on last week’s game:

North Melbourne gave debuts to a trio of Tasmanians, in Amy Bissett, Jemma Blair, and Ella Maurer, with more still to come. Jayde Hamilton, another Allies representative, also turned out for the Roos in their win.

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This is going to be… something.

Can’t see the article behind the paywall, but the headline says almost all of it. Presumably by “Tasmanians” they mostly mean U19 Devil players (not sure if they have more than one mature-ager from Tassie).

The Devils finished third this year in the Girls NAB League.

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A post was merged into an existing topic: AFLWomen’s - No Bombers still

So at least five of the Tasmanians are AFLW players.

The new AFLW inclusions will be at least:

  • Mia King – midfielder who played 9 of a possible 10 AFLW games this year
  • Ellie Gavalas – midfielder who played all 10 AFLW games
  • Nicole Bresnehan – medium defender who played all 10 AFLW games

Sarah Skinner is one of 11 Tasmanians who will line up in North Melbourne’s VFLW side this Saturday when it takes on on Essendon at Windy Hill.

The 21-year-old played for Burnie and Glenorchy in the Tasmanian State League Women’s (TSLW) before the demands of COVID-19 saw the league fold.

Despite the challenges, the Tasmanian youngster has not taken a backwards step. The mid/forward took advantage of the Kangaroos’ connection to the state, featuring in 11 VFLW games so far this season.

“North Melbourne [has] flown me over each week. It has been a really good experience which I am grateful for,” Skinner told The Advocate.

“I do feel really lucky to have this opportunity, which is important for players like myself who are too old for the NAB League and hopefully more girls like me in the future… can get this chance.”

Skinner said the opportunity to develop her game in the VFLW had been invaluable.

“There is a lot more uncontested football (in the VFLW) with a higher work-rate off the ball to create the uncontested play,” she said.

“Down here (Tasmania) the ball is a bit more of a scrap and is in dispute, but over there (Melbourne) it is more skilful and structured.

“I am surprised with how I am going, as I didn’t expect to be playing this well, and that is credit to my teammates and coaching staff who have invested so much in me and North Melbourne.”

The 11 Tasmanian players set to don the royal blue and white stripes on Saturday will consist of TSLW talent, NAB League talent and current AFLW listed players, including Mia King, Ellie Gavalas, Brooke Brown, Daria Bannister and Nicole Bresnehan.

“Having 11 (Tasmanian) players out there on Saturday will be pretty special as we will also be representing Tassie as well,” Skinner added.

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IN: Prespakis (the reason for the GIF), Ahrens
OUT: Mackay, Crowley

Still no Frew… but hell yeah. If not injured that’s harsh on Mackay, has one bad game for the year and yoink. She hasn’t played anywhere but wing this year, so maybe that got her squeezed out.

Norf have made 9 changes! Three of the INs are KINGS.

They have tripled their AFLW representation: from 3 last week to 9 this week, because fark you that’s why.

This may not be as complete a summary as usual, as Norf don’t list their VFLW squad on their website and their stats are also broken (e.g. they show Emma King as not having played AFLW this year, while immediately below are videos of her kicking bags of goals… this year).

IN:

  • P. King – as seen below, the leading tackler in the NAB League. Averages 20 disposals too!
  • M. King – midfielder who played 9 of a possible 10 AFLW games this year
  • E. (Elisha, not Emma) King – small forward/mid who played 10 AFLW games last year; was injured this year
  • V. Saad – ruck/forward who played 9 AFLW games
  • T. Nestor – 172cm defender who played 3 AFLW games
  • N. Bresnehan – medium defender who played all 10 AFLW games
  • M. Sinclair – VFLW-listed? 4 games this year, 3 goals (all in one game vs Casey)
  • C. Taylor – VFLW-listed? 3 games this year, 0 goals
  • B. Lynch – 173cm defender who played 3 AFLW games. Sister of Tom.

Every OUT is a non-AFLW player:

  • A. Bissett – upper-age Tasmanian NAB Leaguer, 10 goals from 9 games there… and dropped after her only Norf game last week, because you can only fit so many Tasmanians.
  • C. Fitzgerald – defender, 10 VFLW games this year and played one game for Richmond’s AFLW in 2020. Not good enough.
  • J. Hamilton – GWS Academy player, 6 VFLW games this year. Go back and show your family you’re the dud (LINK)
  • M. McDonald – 10 VFLW games this year, get nicked, we don’t need ya… and remember that rule that says you’re not allowed to play lower-level footy either. We might call you next year.
  • N. Moore - 27yo, only 4 VFLW games this year. Bye.
  • K. Price – played all 11 VFLW games till this week. Clean out your locker.
  • B. Slaney – defender, another 10 VFLW gamer, nick off
  • L. Wright – 10 VFLW games. You’re cut.
  • N. Wallace – 8 VFLW games, Ex-Bear, and by the way THE CAPTAIN OF THE TEAM. Whatevs, go away.

P.S. They lied. Ellie Gavalas (defender with 10 AFLW games this year) is not an IN. I’m not going to count to to see if they are actually playing 11 Tasmanians as promised.

Is Georgie as prone to leather poisoning as Maddy? Because every game I’ve seen Maddy play, the ball just seems to follow her.

NAB League stats ladders. She’s bigger and slightly more outside than her sister.

(Ignore the disposal and tackle leaders: only one game each.)

Looks like she is cut from the same cloth then. Excellent.

Although I suspect that means she’ll be off to an AFLW team next season. Hopefully Essendon gets her (and Maddy) back in 2023/4(?) once in the AFLW.

She might be the #1 pick this year.

My working theory is that it continues to be very good for our VFL girls to play against AFLW sides. It shows what level is required and can only improve our development.

But, I get peeved that it is an unfair playing field.

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The bit that peeves me is that three weeks in a row they waited till we turned up, and only then totally changed their teams! 22 changes against us the past three weeks.

(That and it taking me forever to identify all of those changes!)

We have to play their full sides in the finals anyway, so the experience is absolutely useful… but it would be nice to play that first final at Windy Hill.

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I finished the descriptions of the nine players cut in the above thread, and I feel bad for them… this team is unlikely to make finals, but if you’d got your team to the position to do so and then half of the core of the team got told to nick off and by the way you’re not allowed to play at any other level this winter… boooooooo.

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Headline may not be true, but here’s something not behind a paywall.

Norf certainly haven’t had a problem this year getting midfield touches. Everything else must be (have been?) awful!

VFLW STATS LEADERS

Disposals: Norf have 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the league! That’s Kiely, Eastman, and Skinner. Nanscawen is 5th due to her missed games, but averages more than each of them.

Goals: Clifford in 3rd. Frew (now three weeks out) remains in 5th.

Marks: Kiely leads this too! They also have Skinner 4th, Runnals 5th, Eastman 6th, Mourney 9th! WTF, 5 of the top 10 in a 12-club league. Norf must kick the ball sideways all day every day.

Tackles: Nanscawen 4th

Kicks: Kiely, Eastman, and Skinner are the top three. Nanscawen is 6th.

Handballs: Barba and Ugle are 4th and 5th. Eastman is 7th.

Hit-outs: Nalder has moved up to 5th.