AFLW 2022 - R8 vs GWS @ Manuka - Sun 7:10

[kruddler]

Best thing about this game is GWS have to play saints on wednesday night.

So a winnable game, becomes a winnable game against a fatigued side, albeit on their home deck.

Lets see if we can go back to back!

[crashlander]

Best thing about this game is GWS have to play saints on wednesday night.

So a winnable game, becomes a winnable game against a fatigued side, albeit on their home deck.

Lets see if we can go back to back!

GWS were awful against Adelaide. Totally out-played. And some of the better players haven't been making the contributions they could do. I hope we can take the same sort of run into next week's game. We'll be hard to beat if we do.

[kruddler]

GWS had the first after the siren win in AFLW history against St. Kilda earlier this week.
They got a fight from the sainters and will be hard pressed to back up a mere 4 (5?) days later.

We've gone in unchanged.

[kruddler]

Confirmed that Poppy Schaap is the travelling emergency.

GWS...
B: B.Stack 15 A.Lister 14 
HB: T.Hetherington 9 P.Randall 21 E.Lorenzini 25
C: E.Pease 33 A.Parker 3 L.Steane 20
HF: N.Barr 8 C.Staunton 13 T.Mackrill 32
F: L.Stephenson 12 A.Dallaway 30
Foll: E.McKinnon 23 A.Eva C 2 K.Loynes 7
I/C: H.Zreika 24 G.Garnett 17 R.Beeson 6 B.Mowbray 31 K.Smith 4 

Emerg: J.Grierson 10 R.Privitelli 19 

In: E.McKinnon, R.Beeson, B.Mowbray
Out: J.Grierson (omitted), J.Doyle (omitted), A.Morphett (rested)


Only 3 changes from the side that was pushed until the final siren 4 days.
Meanwhile we've had 8 days to recover from flogging the same side.

Lose this one and questions will be asked.

[kruddler]

3.3 to 3.1
We are 2 points up at half time.

We have been more dominant, more strategic and more cohesive as a team, but the giants have made the most of their chances.

I suspect we will run over the top of them in the 2nd half if we can hold them at bay for the first 5-10 minutes of the 3rd quarter.

Winners across the ground.
Pound has 14 to half time across half back.
Midfield playing well with Moody, Prespakis, Hill and Egan all doing same old same old.
Backline solid with Mua and Kez rebounding plenty of attacking thrusts and Paige Tudgeon locking down well.
A little bit wasteful up forward, but good signs all round.

[kruddler]

Darcey Vescio show in the 3rd.
Kicked 2 in a minute to notch up 50 AFLW goals, first player to do so in the AFLW. Erin Phillips is a few goals behind.
Could've had another 2, but missed.

Had the ball in our forward half for 85% of that quarter, but could only extend our lead by 11 points. Now 13 points with a quarter to go.

Giants are tired. We have all the play, just need to find the big sticks....well we've found them, hit them twice, need to get between them.

[kruddler]

5.3 - 33
to
7.9 - 51

Dominant, but wasteful. I think we hit the post 3 times for the game.

Finals is mathematically possible, but 99.9% unlikely.
Still good to see us work through the changes we've had to make in the off-season and cobbled together a side that works on paper.

[LP]

Was probably our best game for the season, the opposition was quite physical tonight and we stayed focussed and calm to hold the front position and keep attacking the footy.

[DJC]

Was probably our best game for the season, the opposition was quite physical tonight and we stayed focussed and calm to hold the front position and keep attacking the footy.

Unnecessarily so and seemingly a deliberate tactic.  The umpires did penalise most of the blatant acts.  They did miss the “fend off” to the face that resulted in the first GWS goal.

Our girls played hard, as they should, but didn’t over react to the GWS tactics.

Our tackling techniques are very good; plenty of force but not dangerous and often involve pinning one of the opponent’s arms; a chicken wing without the twist.

I was interested in seeing how Loynes went.  She worked hard and was serviceable but had limited impact.  I doubt whether she’d be selected in our team.

We seem to have found a well-balanced line up and, when we play to our strengths, are more than competitive.  It’s unfortunate that it took so long for things to click into place.

[kruddler]

We seem to have found a well-balanced line up and, when we play to our strengths, are more than competitive.  It’s unfortunate that it took so long for things to click into place.

I was having, shall we say, a robust discussion about our coach. It seems there are plenty of 'cheersquad members' that demand he be sacked. Their reasons seem to be...
1. He is the reason for 'mass exodus of talent' in recent years
2. He has underperformed as coach and we've been going backwards.

Now, on point 1, i call BS somewhat.
The implication was that any or all of Bri Davey, Dalton, Hoskings, Loynes, Downie and Harris have left because of Halford.
Firstly, Loynes and Downie are easy ones. Underperforming, over the hill, not enough list spots to keep them. A luxury we could do without.
Dalton is a special case who moved, essentially for more money, better opportunities in Sydney for her rugby. Maybe we could've kept her, but she is not committed to AFL and i'm sure that would rub Halford the wrong way. He honours commitment and effort.

This brings us to Harris. Leaving training to promote her boxing, is similar to Dalton, but taken up a notch. Teammates were not pleased with this as well. It was clear in the way Harris and her teammates interacted in the 2nd half of the year. Again, lack of commitment, Half is well within his right to demand more.

Next we move onto Bri Davey. She had issues with others at Carlton for sure. Did this include Half? Not sure. If she did, that would probably extend to her GF Tilly Lucas-Rodd as well.....but no big loss there. Since there was rumours that we promised Davey a car and never committed, i think her issues are bigger than the coach.

That leaves us with the Hoskings. They come across as a little bit flighty. Jess leaving raised many eyebrows as she only wanted out with less than 24 hours to go and the trade actually went through AFTER the deadline. The AFLW have kept that very quiet for reasons unknown. Potentially issues with Half, but no evidence for or against.

An alternate view....a coach will never get all 30 players who want to be best mates with him.....and he doesn't have to.
Players just have to respect him and his wishes and do whats asked of them. If they can't hack it, or don't want to be part of the team, so be it. Seeya later, don't let the door hit your butt on the way out the door.
You do NOT sack a coach because the odd player has an issue with him.
If you did sack a coach, maybe a different player has an issue with the new coach. Sack him too? How many coaches do you go through before you find someone everyone liked?? Will they actually be any good at coaching or are they just a likeable character?


This brings me to the second part.....and the reason i highlighted this post.
Despite losing a marquee player.....and then losing a viable alternative (Serena Gibbs - covid reasons) soon after, Half has managed to scrounge together a side that is competitive. Yes, it took some weeks to get too, but those early days we didn't have much to choose from. Covid was keeping 2-3 players out every week. Hill was still recovering from her ACL. Walker, Egan recovering from injuries. He barely had enough players to actually field a side.....and we were up against the best sides in the game.
We were simply not good enough to match it with them. That doesn't mean he can't coach!

A similar view put forward by others is that he took us from a grand final side, to a mid/lower placed team. Plenty of legitimate reasons to counteract that, highlighted immediately above this. I've also expressed views of how diluted the vic pool of players has become due to the expansion and this is reflected in the ladder somewhat.
All that aside, those same people fail to see that before we hired Half, we were bottom of the ladder and he took us UP the ladder and ultimately to the Grand Final. Was that simply dumb luck? Has he forgotten how to coach?

So yes, its unfortunate its taken us 'so long' (in reality, 6 weeks....and/or a fit list) to find a side that works. So unfortunate that the natives have had their pitchforks raging and lanterns lit ready to hunt him down and add him to the list of sacked coaches.

I've always been of the belief that the players are not bigger than the team. If a player has an issue with the coach, than that player is the issue. Suck it up and do whats required. Gary Ablett Jnr and Bomber Thompson didn't talk for half (or more) of a season in which they won a flag. Could you tell from the outside? Did it effect his performance??

TL;DR
Vote 1 - Keep Half!