AFLW Round 10: Sydney Swans v Geelong 5.10pm AEDT Sat 29 Oct 2022 GMHBA Stadium

[Meg]

This is the final match this season for our Swans women in their first year of AFLW competition.

It will be a tough game for Sydney with Geelong sitting in seventh place on the ladder (six wins) and the Swans yet to win a match.

We will be without Montana Ham who is about to commence her Year 12 exams. While she is a big loss this could be an opportunity for another player to impress, with list spots for 2023 on the line in the near future.

The Swans have played more effectively in recent weeks with short kicks and handballs running forward, rather than the panicked, hail-Mary forward kicks of the early matches. They will need to maintain that play tomorrow to keep in touch with a strong Cats’ line-up.

AFLW ‘experts’ unanimously tip a Geelong win which is an accurate assessment of the current stage of development of the two teams. I will be satisfied however if our Swans finish the season with a game that shows their improvement over the year and their potential for the future.

The game will be broadcast live on Fox Footy and Kayo and on 7Mate in NSW and Qld.

Postscript: This article includes some interesting detail about how Montana Ham has managed to combine her schooling in Melbourne with playing for the Sydney Swans this year. She is an impressive and mature teenager!

https://www.womens.afl/news/111826

[bloodspirit]

I went and checked out the players training this week. I was impressed at the good morale on display from all involved. Especially so when you consider that this is their last week for the season and most of them don't yet know whether they will be recontracted, don't know when they'll find out, and don't know when the next season begins. Plus, most of them are from interstate and will have to decide whether to return home (potentially given up jobs they've found here etc). Such an awkward situation for them!

[Meg]

Teams now announced.

Swans have omitted Zoe Hurrell and Kiara Beesley while Montana Ham will miss due to study commitments. Genevieve Lawson Tavan, Sarah Skinner and Eliza Vale come into the team.

SYDNEY

B: Bella Smith 11 Brenna Tarrant 20
HB: Alana Woodward 13 Genevieve Lawson Tavan 24 Ella Heads 12
C: Aliesha Newman 16 Lauren Szigeti 28 Molly Eastman 9
HF: Rebecca Privitelli 19 Brooke Lochland 1 Sarah Dargan 5
F: Alexia Hamilton 30 Cynthia Hamilton 10
Foll: Ally Morphett 7 Bridie Kennedy 2 Maddy Collier 14
I/C: Ruby Sargant-Wilson 6 Sarah Skinner 15 Eliza Vale 23 Sofia Hurley 25 Paige Sheppard 4

Emerg: Kiara Beesley 26 Tiarne Cavanagh 27 Sarah Ford 3

In: Genevieve Lawson Tavan, Sarah Skinner, Eliza Vale
Out: Montana Ham (Personal Reason), Zoe Hurrell (Omitted), Kiara Beesley (Omitted)

GEELONG

B: C.Gunjaca 26 A.Johnson 2
HB: C.Emonson 16 M.McDonald - C 11 G.Rankin 10
C: M.Bowen 1 G.Prespakis 41 N.Morrison 9
HF: D.Moloney 4 J.Parry 5 S.Scott 15
F: C.Scheer 14 K.Darby 8
Foll: O.Fuller 13 R.Webster 21 A.McDonald 3

I/C: Z.Friswell 20 L.Gardiner 18 R.Kearns 22 J.Crockett-Grills 6 M.Keryk 45

Emerg: M.Bragg 44 A.McDonald 39 B.Plummer 19

In: None
Out: None

[Mel_C]

A warning for those going to the game, Geelong are starting their premiership cup tour at the game.

[Meg]

A warning for those going to the game, Geelong are starting their premiership cup tour at the game.

Groan ... I suppose it should mean a large (pro-Cats) crowd. Tough for our women (who were at the GF and suffered through that loss) but nevertheless a good learning experience of playing in front of a large opposition crowd.

[Mel_C]

Groan ... I suppose it should mean a large (pro-Cats) crowd. Tough for our women (who were at the GF and suffered through that loss) but nevertheless a good learning experience of playing in front of a large opposition crowd.
I had a go at my brother and asked why they had to rub it in and do this against the Swans? He replied it was because it's the first time the women have played at GMHBA since the GF. So that's fair enough but we can still be annoyed 😛.

And to make things worse I'm watching the Victoria Derby telecast and our great mate Eddie McGuire is hosting!!!

[Mel_C]

HTB adjudication in the AFLW is even worse than the men's.

[Mel_C]

Great mark by Hamilton to set up our first goal to Privitelli.

And great mark to Morphett for our second goal.

Good fight back after Geelong kicked the first 4 goals.

Sounds like a good swans crowd there.

[Meg]

Some good Swans play in first quarter after it looked like we would be blown away by Cats fast start. Bad memories ...

Ally Morphett is going to be a real star!

[dejavoodoo44]

Great mark by Hamilton to set up our first goal to Privitelli.

And great mark to Morphett for our second goal.

Good fight back after Geelong kicked the first 4 goals.

Sounds like a good swans crowd there.

I do like Morphett. Her clearance work from the ruck is very good and now she seems to be more of a marking threat as well.

[Meg]

Unfortunately we did get blown away in second quarter. Very impressive by Cats though, they are now up by 46 points ....

[Meg]

Very impressive game by the Geelong women, thumping win by 75 points.

Swans showed some passages of good play at end of first quarter and again in the last. Plenty to aspire to for next season.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Delighted to be sharing the Ally Morphett bandwagon with Meg and Dejavoodoo.

[Meg]

"One of our themes from today was we wanted to take the game on. I think in a normal way, we probably would have tried to stem the flow a little bit more, but we were determined to stick to the philosophy we're trying to follow. I will admit, at times during the game, we did talk about some defensive stuff we would have done normally." – Sydney coach Scott Gowans

BEST
Sydney: C. Hamilton, Smith, Morphett, Heads

https://www.womens.afl/match-centre/2022/4734/geel-v-syd

[aardvark]

Unfortunately it's going to be more of the same next season. With only a mature age draft before the next season our picks won't be worth much and we don't have much to trade. Hopefully we can attract a couple of decent players from other clubs with tier 1 or 2 contracts. I'd like to congratulate the girls on their season. They were thrown in from the deep end and gave it their best shot. They have shown improvement and a positive attitude throughout the season and quite a few of them are going to be good footballers. I have just renewed my membership and the nice bottle of red I put away to celebrate our first win will be even better when it happens next year.

[Meg]

Unfortunately it's going to be more of the same next season. With only a mature age draft before the next season our picks won't be worth much and we don't have much to trade. Hopefully we can attract a couple of decent players from other clubs with tier 1 or 2 contracts. I'd like to congratulate the girls on their season. They were thrown in from the deep end and gave it their best shot. They have shown improvement and a positive attitude throughout the season and quite a few of them are going to be good footballers. I have just renewed my membership and the nice bottle of red I put away to celebrate our first win will be even better when it happens next year.

Great post aardvark, I second that.

I’ve now heard the commentators say several times how well the women’s program is being run at the Swans. And how well it is being integrated with the men’s program. We have seen Tom Harley involved on the sidelines.

Scott Gowans has said the Swans is his fourth club and is by far the best at providing a welcoming atmosphere for the women and integrating them into the full club culture.

If that reputation is spreading it should help us to attract a couple of good players from other clubs to move to the Swans next year.

[bloodspirit]

Aardvark, why do you say there will only be a mature age draft before next season? I haven't followed closely but as far as I know we don't know when next season will start, except that most likely they will keep it at the same late year time slot, perhaps extending the season and starting earlier. If that's right, I'm imagining the draft might happen at around the same time as the draft where we got Ham, Hurley and Hamilton. If that's wrong, then surely the AFL will have to give us some significant concessions.

[aardvark]

Aardvark, why do you say there will only be a mature age draft before next season? I haven't followed closely but as far as I know we don't know when next season will start, except that most likely they will keep it at the same late year time slot, perhaps extending the season and starting earlier. If that's right, I'm imagining the draft might happen at around the same time as the draft where we got Ham, Hurley and Hamilton. If that's wrong, then surely the AFL will have to give us some significant concessions.

Reported on SEN that the AFL are saying there will be two drafts coming up. A mature aged draft before the season then a full draft after the season to bring it back into line with the normal system. I'm guessing we will have pretty much the same list until the end of next years Trade/Draft period. My thoughts are we don't want concession picks until the full draft. I doubt there will be much available in the MA Draft of interest and the pics wouldn't be much use for trading either but that is a pure guess on my part. The MA draft will be mainly to replace retirees and delistings.

[aardvark]

The good news is if we put our current team on the ground in Season 1 we would have won games. Each team in season 1 only had one or two players who knew what they were doing and the rest were learning. It's taken 6 years to get 2-3 decent teams that play something resembling good footy. I really enjoy watching Brisbane play. Geelong went through 3 years of what we experienced on Saturday and are only now reaching their potential. Even West Coast who were hideous for the first couple of seasons are playing good footy in patches. Next year if we pick up a couple of tier 1 contract players and a couple of good kids in the draft things will change very quickly. I imagine we might be having a look in Ireland/USA too. I wonder if Tadgh and Pyke have any younger sisters? Swans for the flag in 2024!

[Mel_C]

Do we know when the season is starting next year?

[Mel_C]

Great post aardvark, I second that.

I’ve now heard the commentators say several times how well the women’s program is being run at the Swans. And how well it is being integrated with the men’s program. We have seen Tom Harley involved on the sidelines.

Scott Gowans has said the Swans is his fourth club and is by far the best at providing a welcoming atmosphere for the women and integrating them into the full club culture.

If that reputation is spreading it should help us to attract a couple of good players from other clubs to move to the Swans next year.

Today I listened to the podcast with Maddy Collier and she mentioned how welcoming the men's leadership group was and how open they were to giving advice. She singled out Rampe.

[bloodspirit]

Do we know when the season is starting next year?

Short answer, no. Slightly longer answer, probably something similar to this latest season except maybe a bit earlier to accommodate a longer season.

This also explains why I'm confused about the whole thing with having an extra draft.

[aardvark]

Short answer, no. Slightly longer answer, probably something similar to this latest season except maybe a bit earlier to accommodate a longer season.

This also explains why I'm confused about the whole thing with having an extra draft.

I hope this helps.....

FAQ | The 2023 Over-age Draft - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central (https://central.rookieme.com/afl/2022/10/20/faq-the-2023-over-age-draft/)

and in answer to "When the season starts?" Darren Crocker said in an interview yesterday he'd been informed it would be early to mid August.

[bloodspirit]

I hope this helps.....

FAQ | The 2023 Over-age Draft - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central (https://central.rookieme.com/afl/2022/10/20/faq-the-2023-over-age-draft/)

and in answer to "When the season starts?" Darren Crocker said in an interview yesterday he'd been informed it would be early to mid August.

Thanks aardvark. I found that article plus another about the "proper" draft prospects later last night. I'm still pretty confused about what the future holds.

[Meg]

One very positive note from our last match of the season: Cynthia Hamilton - she of the red and white headgear and flowing hair - has been awarded a rising star nomination.

Cynthia had 13 contested possessions, three rebound 50s, 447 metres gained and disposed the ball at 78.95 per cent efficiency.

This means all three of our top three draft picks this year have been nominated for the Rising Star award (Montana Ham (Round 4) and Sofia Hurley (Round 9)). Kudos to our draft selectors.

https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/1243823/hamilton-earns-rising-star-nomination

[joeykanga]

One very positive note from our last match of the season: Cynthia Hamilton - she of the red and white headgear and flowing hair - has been awarded a rising star nomination.

Cynthia had 13 contested possessions, three rebound 50s, 447 metres gained and disposed the ball at 78.95 per cent efficiency.

This means all three of our top three draft picks this year have been nominated for the Rising Star award (Montana Ham (Round 4) and Sofia Hurley (Round 9)). Kudos to our draft selectors.

https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/1243823/hamilton-earns-rising-star-nomination

And add to that her pressure and ferocious tackling. She made some big hits. She's outstanding and my pick for favourite player

[Meg]

And add to that her pressure and ferocious tackling. She made some big hits. She's outstanding and my pick for favourite player

According to the AFLW website, Cynthia is a former Australian junior judo representative so I suppose that ferocious tackling is no surprise!

[joeykanga]

According to the AFLW website, Cynthia is a former Australian junior judo representative so I suppose that ferocious tackling is no surprise!
That's really interesting..i can see that balanced pose that she has at the contests very judo like...she's going to be a gun

[joeykanga]

Meg your post on Cynthia's judo background made me take a look at all the player profiles and I noticed one of our high draft picks Montana Beruldson was injured and didn't play this year.
She has a top class pedigree in athletics with hurdles and heptathlon, which could translate well with not only the physical aspects, but with the application to improve quickly in a relatively new sport for her. A top class athlete with a combination of strength, fitness and agility.
Will be interesting to see her debut next year.

[bloodspirit]

Meg your post on Cynthia's judo background made me take a look at all the player profiles and I noticed one of our high draft picks Montana Beruldson was injured and didn't play this year.
She has a top class pedigree in athletics with hurdles and heptathlon, which could translate well with not only the physical aspects, but with the application to improve quickly in a relatively new sport for her. A top class athlete with a combination of strength, fitness and agility.
Will be interesting to see her debut next year.

It's a bit misleading to call Beruldsen one of our high draft picks. While it is literally true, it was not a reflection of how she would have been ranked among draft prospects. She's really the equivalent of a Cat B rookie and I think a real chance of being delisted without ever debuting.

Cynthia on the other hand is a gun and I think she'll be around for a long time to come and a great chance to be a future captain of the club.

[Meg]

Gowans summing up our first season:

‘Eighteen of Sydney's active squad of 30 had not previously featured at AFLW level, and Gowans is confident they've uncovered some gems, while some senior players will thrive as standards lift around them.

"I think Lauren Szigeti was amazing, as was Paige Sheppard. Then you've got the young ones, Mon Ham and Sofia Hurley, Cynthia Hamilton's going to be a superstar," he said.’

https://www.womens.afl/news/113231?_ga=2.93199965.1914328709.1667362117-325920265.1667055836