AFLW 2022

[kruddler]

I see Darcy Vescio is calling for some changes to take the AFLW to the next level, some of it is common sense and many of us have already stated that playing the girls game in summer is not conducive to a high quality competition.

Now I believe I am a relative AFLW booster compared to some, but I have to take exception to one assertion Vescio makes, and that is the AFLW needs to become paid full-time professionals to get better. It's a slap in the face for the vast majority of high quality male amateur competitions all over the country, competitions full of combatants that aren't paid or trained like the AFLW but easily exceed AFLW in terms of skill, consistency, tactics, implementation and output.

Please do not use a "we need more money" argument as an excuse for ordinary output or delayed progress, because there is nothing stopping female amateur competitions becoming as skilled and consistent as the men's competitions other than participation, time and commitment. The vast bulk of men or boys playing football do it for free!

I feel Darcy's call really is putting the cart before the horse, it is the artisan gets paid by the quality of the product not the apprentice!

Its very much chicken and egg.
Pay them more, so they can commit more and the standard will go up.
If the standard goes up, they will get paid more.

re the highlighted part, with more money a lot of that will actually go away, and with the lack of money, it actually exacerbates that issue.

Especially in the current climate of game start times, game match days and game state locations(!) changing weekly, it makes life very difficult. The majority of girls have jobs outside of footy as a necessity. How many jobs offer the flexibility required to assist in a career in AFLW in the current climate? Plenty of workplaces simply couldn't accomodate the constant uncertainty that is required.

Take that up a level....what happens when a player gets injured? Lets say they do a knee? What does that do for their career?
Lets look at Nat Plane.
She would certainly be one of the lower paid players on the team. Too many stars above her.
She works a full time job as a landscape gardener. She basically does 8-10 hour days and off to training. Rinse, repeat.
If she did a knee, there goes her job just like that.....and not just like that, but like that for the next 12 months...and potentially her football career along with it!
Somewhat thankfully, albeit very worryingly when you think about it, she doesn't think about that on game day and puts her body on the line each and every time and will deal with the consequences later.

Obviously we lost Chloe Dalton because she could earn more money/satisfaction outside of AFLW circles (in rugby 7's) and we lost her as a result. If we gave her more uncertainty, she could still be with us, and potentially never sat out to begin with.

There are plenty of 'cross-coders' that play dual sports (and some as well as work/study on top) and their load can become so great that something needs to make way. Sometimes, that will be AFLW.

Now, all of the above can be wiped away with the stroke of a pen from the higher ups at AFL house.

Then all those questions about their passion, time and commitment magically go away....and the competition gets better as a result.


If the AFL couldn't afford it, they wouldn't be asking for it.

Gil and his 'sexy' $225mil marvel upgrade screens is a slap in the face to the girls.