AFLW Rd 1: Carlton vs Collingwood at Ikon Park

[kruddler]

Lol...not for my eyes, totally necessary.

Someone get the defib to jimbos house ASAP!

[LoveNavy]

Firstly.

I'm not buying into the naysayers and those philosophically opposed to females playing football. They should start a sky is falling thread elsewhere!

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The Game

Counter-intuitively, the massive increase in player fitness and strength has had the opposite effect of what many expected. The game was generally congested because of the tactical focus on tagging. Players like Vescio, Chiocci, Stevens, Davey and Harris no longer have a natural advantage over the rest. You won't see them easily breaking lines like they did last season.

I wasn't expecting the negative tactics from the coaches, I was expecting AFLW to be more attacking. The focus on tagging and defensive structures is all new for the girls, they applied it very well perhaps even better than the men. But the newness of this in their game means the attacking players are yet to sort out how to deal with it. So at least short term we are likely to see less dominance by the likes of Vescio, Pearce, Harris, Brennan, Phillips, etc., etc..

Pound for pound the girls attack the contest and each other as hard if not harder than the men.

I think the AFLW Executive would be a bit worried about the aggression and vindictiveness on show, too much of it and the game becomes intimidating for many girls. The soccer mums(ie. The FA) would see that as a win.

Don't get between the Lioness and her Cub, or in the AFLW case the footy or a team-mate!

I though the two best players on the ground were both Collingwood, Chiocci and Molloy. But it was clear our defensive structures kept the Pies outside a comfortable scoring zone.

Shorter kicking, 25m to 30m, the girls are as good as the guys hitting targets by foot, judging them as deficient when they miss a 40m target is like judging the guys at 60m!

Handball is still a problem, the lack of power is causing some congestion because handball range is diminished. But see my question about the ball below.

I don't buy into the new rules making the AFLW game congested and corridor centric, the real cause of that is the coaching tactics and the increase aerobic capacity and strength of the weaker players who were previously just chook runners. Some of the body transformations in one pre-season are astounding, there were no unfit players out there.

Keep in mind these girls only assembled for pre-season in November, hardly full-time professionals yet!

Having said that, the new rule will have no effect on play if the umpires are unable to divorce themselves from bringing players back directly over the mark. In any case teams have already learned not to chase the footy so the delay in getting the pill to the nearest player negates that rule. At best it needs tweaking at worst it's not effective.

It may be because of the significant changes in body shape, but it appeared to me the girls were now using the full sized footy. Last year they used the smaller size footy, can anyone confirm the situation for the current season?

Looking at the two teams last night, our list management versus the Pies, I'm not sure we can sustain that game style and make an impact on the finals. The Pies were significantly bigger in build and height, we've gone the diverse mosquito fleet route. That is not a detraction from the play of the smaller girls who often took down larger opponents.

Maddison Gay will be the AFLW best player within a season or two. She moves and thinks like her male counterparts, as team-mates imrpove she will become an attacking weapon.

I'm a bit concerned about Lauren Arnell and her future, I can see why she stood aside from the captaincy. It's clear the average AFLW player is now faster and stronger, Lauren no longer has the leg speed to keep up and her strength and aggression are no longer an advantage. I hope she can prove me wrong.

Overall I'm very happy with the progress the girls have made, if the guys showed this sort of improvement we'd be on a 3 year rebuild not a 20 year hiatus!

Great post LP.

From Maddison Gay - CFC website
“I go from working eight hours a day, straight to the Club, so days I’m training I start at 7am and get home around 10:30pm."

For those who enjoy comparing apples with oranges, compare a day in Madison's life with that of any AFL player

[laj]

Someone get the defib to jimbos house ASAP!

Lol...Too late!

[kruddler]

[DJC]

From what I heard on the radio, Tayla Harris had more contested marks than Collingwood and a game high six contested possessions.

She is going to be a real asset but we need to get Sav working on her kicking 

[flyboy77]

Those particular boys you're talking about would have as much or even more muscle definition and strength than the 18yo female. It's 's not always about weight. Female's will only kick it 60% of their male counterparts hence if they're playing on a full size ground scores will be very low. juts have to take that into account. Like female cricketers, female footballers need to play on a smaller ground if you want higher scores.

As DJC says, inside 50 is a useless stat for females, inside 25 or 30 is critical.

And yet 18yo women are far more capable of making an impact in women's tennis, as but one example, than their male peers....

if it's true most of the women can't kick straight (or hit a target) over 30m, they've totally lost me....

[LP]

And yet 18yo women are far more capable of making an impact in women's tennis, as but one example, than their male peers....

Hardly a valid comparison!  :

[Lods]

It is a key point though (although it supports the opposing side in the debate)....professional women's tennis for around 50+ years...WAFL at the elite level for one.

With the fast tracking of modern training methods within 10 years or less we'll see a much superior product.

[laj]

And yet 18yo women are far more capable of making an impact in women's tennis, as but one example, than their male peers....

if it's true most of the women can't kick straight (or hit a target) over 30m, they've totally lost me....

Kicking relies more on strength. Tennis is a different skill, relies more on run and skill with the racket. Even then they don't exactly serve at 240k. Let's not compare sports. Different game so compare like for like. Women will only kick the ball about 60% of the men. On AFL grounds they'll struggle to score because of that. If you women are going to be kicking bombs from outside 50 your knowledge of anatomy and physiology is sadly lacking. Have to accept scores will be low, they might kick 40m at the absolute best, if you're going to watch the game. It's footy but it'll be a bit different.

[DJC]

I'm reminded of a conversation I heard on SEN (I think) some time back.  A caller explained that he was responsible for developing the physical exercise regime for female recruits when the Australian Army decided to allow female soldiers to join most corps and services rather than being restricted to the WRAAC and nursing.  After a couple of weeks, he realised that basing the physical exercise regime on that of male recruits was a huge mistake.  Females obviously have significantly different musculoskeletal systems to males and were being injured trying to replicate the male recruits' exercise regime.

No matter how many seasons of AFLW there may be, most female players will never be able to perform anywhere near the level of male players.  The NBL and WNBL comparisons have a much longer history and they are virtually different games.  However, I don't mind watching WNBL (perhaps because they play like I did).

Anyone who expects AFLW to be the same as AFL will be sadly disappointed.  Anyone who enjoys Australian footy, and can appreciate less power and more subtlety, will happily watch AFLW.