Round one of the AFLW Season has come and gone, and after what I can describe what has been a great week for women’s football. I have decided to list the things that I liked and disliked from the first weekend of AFLW Season two.
What I Liked
GWS Giants
This side finished last on the ladder in 2017 and they gave one of the heavy favourites in Melbourne such a massive scare. They restricted the Demons to just one goal in the first half, before the Demons eventually took control and barely got over the line by a goal. Nonetheless, it was a very impressive performance from the Giants and one they should take going forward in 2018. Phoebe McWilliams and Jacinta Barclay kicked five of their six goals, but no one in Victoria gives them any credit whatsoever. Alicia Eva and Britt Tully registered an insane 24 tackles between them and Courtney Gum looked like a genuine draft find on the weekend. Don’t count them out against Carlton this Friday night.
Katie Brennan
The Western Bulldogs really missed having Katie Brennan on the park last year and it showed with her performance on Sunday. She only played the opening two games of the season last year before an ankle injury derailed her AFLW Season. She did storm home to win the VFLW’s best and fairest award upon her return, and then proved that she will be a force to be reckoned with on Sunday. Three first-half goals from the Bulldogs captain showed that she is back better than ever. Watching her teaming up with Isabel Huntington up forward is going to be a tantalising prospect in years to come.
Chloe Molloy
Even though Chloe Molloy was originally drafted as a key forward and a very good forward at that, proving she could mix it with some of AFLW’s elite in the VFLW last year, Both Collingwood and Molloy surprised everyone when she lined up in defence for the Pies’ season opener against Carlton on Friday night. Although the Blues took home the points, Molloy was impressive on debut, amassing 20 disposals and three marks to be named one of Collingwood’s best players in their eight-point loss. She thoroughly deserves her Rising Star nomination this week – she’s going to be a superstar player for the AFLW going forward.
Brisbane’s Forward Line
No Tayla Harris? No worries for Brisbane’s forward line, who got the job done against Adelaide sans the reigning league best and fairest in Erin Phillips as well as a few other premiership players. Forget the fact that Brisbane kicked a shockingly inaccurate 4.7 – the Lions dominated most statistics against the reigning premiers in their Grand Final Rematch – They kept them scoreless in the second half, they had nearly 60 more disposals, they doubled the inside 50s count (32-16) and they took 13 marks inside 50 to Adelaide’s two. Sabrina Frederick-Traub looks like she’s thriving on being the big target up forward, taking 10 marks up forward, whilst Jess Wuetschner and Kaitlyn Ashmore kicked three of their four goals. Don’t forget about Kate McCarthy either, she led all Lions in goals last year.
The Expected Numbers At Optus Stadium
Next Saturday night is going to be a huge night for the city of Perth as they host their first-ever football match at the newly-built Optus Stadium. The capacity of the ground is over 60,000 and it is expected to reach nearly full-capacity, despite the fact that the AFL will be charging people a small sum to come watch this match. As a result, it will smash the AFLW’s current attendance record, set at last year’s season opener between Carlton and Collingwood at Ikon Park, to which over 24,000 were in attendance. At the moment, at least 38-39,000 tickets have been purchased for this match on Saturday night, which is a huge win for Women’s football.
Dislikes
Sarah D’Arcy’s Kick
People will debate about whether or not D’Arcy tried to shove Jess Hosking off her with her foot or whether it was a legitimate kick in the groin for a little while, but there was no arguing that it was a very ugly look on the game and it was quite unnecessary to say the least. The umpire rightfully placed her on report, which led to the first decision made by the new one-man match review panel in Michael Christian – who decided upon giving her two weeks suspension. Was two weeks the right call? Given that it is a shortened season, I believe it is, but one could only imagine how severe it could’ve been.
Fremantle
Fremantle’s first-half performance against the Western Bulldogs was embarrassing to say the least. There was very little effort, they were beaten comprehensively around the ground and they could barely get it inside 50, let alone register a score. Sure, they were better in the second half, kicking three goals to two, but the damage was already done on the scoreboard. Found it very interesting when Fox Footy’s Kate Sheahan suggested a rumour that up to five Fremantle players struggled to finish their 2km time trial. Maybe there’s more to the injury list than first thought?
Injuries
Whilst we’re on the subject of injuries, there were a number of big injuries during the first week of the season. Melbourne star Karen Paxman hurt her back in the second quarter in their game against GWS. Erin Phillips and her quad kept her out of playing in the Grand Final Rematch, whilst premiership team mates Jenna McCormack, Abbey Holmes and Courtney Cramey also missed with injury. First-gamer Daria Bannister ruptured her ACL in the Dogs’ win over Fremantle, whilst the Dockers are without Kirby Bentley, Kiara Bowers and Kellie Gibson – all three crucial parts of Fremantle’s best team.
The ‘Last Touch’ Out Of Bounds Rule
The AFLW brought in this rule in hopes that it can reduce congestion and stoppages and display a more free-flowing brand of football and produce higher scoring. Instead, it brings a little bit of confusion and for a league that is still developing, it’s a very unnecessary rule to have. I’ve seen AFLW players try to go for the switch kick deep in defence, only for it to go over the head of their team mates and trickle out of bounds, resulting in a free kick to the opposition in the pocket, and I’ve seen free kicks come from players who didn’t even give off a clear disposal. It is a very silly rule that probably doesn’t even need to be there.
The Constant Negativity From The AFL Fans
This is the one thing that is getting on my damn nerves. Every where you look on social media, you get the same people calling out AFLW as ‘Too boring’ or ‘Something that is worse than Auskick’ or even something else more dreadful, idiotic and just plain ignorant. The negativity was out in force when Collingwood and Carlton played a game that saw both sides fail to register a goal after half time and only Collingwood registered a point in this second half. Okay, maybe that game wasn’t the greatest, but we’ve had some really good matches last season and we saw some good matches last weekend. The men’s league has produced some real stinkers in years gone by – where are those haters? Stop being so impatient and let the game grow naturally.