Game Day - Round 5 - GWS v Richmond

[Tails]

Tom Hunter was awarded VFLW coach of the year last year. I think it's too early to call for his head.,
Time for a chill pill imo.

Peta Searle has had the same issues and has come in more prepared and organised, there's no excuses.

 

[17]

They recruited a few big names, which was good for getting momentum and support for the club's Women's AFL team. But the next tier are still learning how to play football at this level. I get the impression a fair number of them come from other sports and Australian Rules is quite a different game, they don't look like they are getting to the correct place on the ground to be effective and we look like we have less players on the ground: outnumbered at contests all the time.
They will learn but Women's AFL has developed enough to make it hard to be competitive as an expansion club.
DS

I compare the Richmond AFLW team to the other expansion clubs (Suns, Eagles, Saints) that joined this year.
The others all look to have a much better balance of mids and talls, running players, and players that can play in a variety of positions.
And they are also better skilled.
Richmond went for some big key names and some 18yo's from the draft, with a big rump in between.
A lot of that rump appear tall slow and unco and just cant compete with other fleet o foot and more adaptable players.
As i stated a while back, the template for a successful side was our men's team, but we have seemingly not gone with that model in assembling the women's side.
Our big three names have been mixed. Conti is a supeprstar. Brennan has been ok but tagged relentlessly.
Frederick has been average - was a standout player in the early years of the comp, but as it has skilled up and become faster, is she being increasingly exposed as a one-dimensional lumbering forward?
And hence I get back to recruiting.
Dont know whether Hunter is a good coach or not, but as the bloke who was integral to assembling the side from scratch (ie Sabs was his #1 target), it seems clear that building a list is not his strong suit. In fairness, its probably not something he should have been in charge of anyway.
That would be my key "learning" from the "journey" thus far.
Building a competitive list is where the collective RFC football brains trust need to focus on now in preparation for 2021.

 

[jb03]

They recruited a few big names, which was good for getting momentum and support for the club's Women's AFL team. But the next tier are still learning how to play football at this level. I get the impression a fair number of them come from other sports and Australian Rules is quite a different game, they don't look like they are getting to the correct place on the ground to be effective and we look like we have less players on the ground: outnumbered at contests all the time.

They will learn but Women's AFL has developed enough to make it hard to be competitive as an expansion club.

We have a long way to go, I don't think you can blame the coach, I'm sure there is a lot of video being shown to the women to explain what they should be doing, but getting it done on the ground in the heat of a game is a different matter. I watch the games and often look around wondering where our players are. Wasn't is an old Dyerism when he would describe a player as always being where the ball isn't? We need to teach the players how to set up and get to the contest and that takes time.

I am somewhat disappointed at how we are going, had hopes that we could be better than this, but it is proving a big step up and remember we only just made the VFL Finals in the Women's and lost our final.

Time for patience, I'm sure the club is looking at ways to bridge the gap to the competitive teams.

DS

Pretty simply we have got it wrong on this one. Every other club, including the new ones has got it at least partially right. We didn't/haven't.

 

[Baloo]

Pretty simply we have got it wrong on this one. Every other club, including the new ones has got it at least partially right. We didn't/haven't.

Focus on Football mob should make a move to take over the club.

 

[jb03]

Focus on Football mob should make a move to take over the club.

Why would you make that comment? Aren't we allowed to be critical of anything to do with the club?

 

[Baloo]

Why would you make that comment? Aren't we allowed to be critical of anything to do with the club?

You've been critical of the women from the first game. Not sure what you expected really from a new team in the comp playing against established teams. We've brought a few of our VFLW women across, picked up a couple of delisted girls.

They are improving week on week and giving it a crack. Season's not over yet but so far they only have 1 less win that Collingwood, one of the original teams, had for the whole of last season.

They are doing ok.

 

[DavidSSS]

Recruiting isn't looking great I would admit, too many players still learning the peculiarities of Aussie Rules.

But they are getting better and we are a new team. They will improve and we have to keep the faith: they wear our jumper and they represent our club.

DS

 

[jb03]

You've been critical of the women from the first game. Not sure what you expected really from a new team in the comp playing against established teams. We've brought a few of our VFLW women across, picked up a couple of delisted girls.

They are improving week on week and giving it a crack. Season's not over yet but so far they only have 1 less win that Collingwood, one of the original teams, had for the whole of last season.

They are doing ok.

I have been critical from before the first game. And they are not doing that well.