AFLW R4 2023: Sydney Swans v West Coast Eagles, 1.05pm EST Sun 24 Sept Henson Park

[Meg]

Two changes from last week.

Ins:
Paige Sheppard
Lauren Szigeti

Outs:
Montana Ham (foot injury)
Montana Beruldsen (omitted)

Three of our Irish women will again play this week: Paris McCarthy (who made her debut last week), Tanya Kennedy and Julie O'Sullivan.

Plus Colin O’Riordan is an Assistant Coach of our AFLW team.

This is fitting as there will be a celebration of the Irish community in Sydney on Sunday.

Sounds as if it will be a fun day with speciality food and brewers plus wine available.

Also the Swans are supporting the charity Addi Road by asking fans to donate canned goods at collection points at the Sydenham and Woodland gates to assist families in need.

There is a surge in demand for support for basic living at the moment, so would be great to see Swans fans donate to this appeal.

[Mel_C]

I won't be able to watch the game as I have a family commitment. I will be recording it, so hopefully I will be watching a second win 🙂.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

I shall be going, I'm taking a friend to his first live game.

Thanks for the heads up Meg, I shall see what I can do regarding canned goods.

[Thunder Shaker]

This is the game that at the start of the season I predicted would be the most likely to give us our first win. That's no longer the case (yay). but my assessment of the Eagles has not changed. If we play well, we should get our second win of the season by a useful margin.

I'm disappointed that Ham's injury has flared up, because I wanted to see her get her first win. I'm hoping that she gets the chance soon. The next four games are all winnable.

[Thunder Shaker]

Someone needs to remind the AFL that West Coast is NOT playing St Kilda this week.

[stellation]

Great game so far. I feel like Chloe must have decided her round 1 banana needed some competition for goal of the year. 😀

[dejavoodoo44]

Nice goal by Bella Smith. We needed that.

[Mark26]

Only caught the second half but I thought it was a fantastic second win, especially since they were challenged in the third.

[dejavoodoo44]

Fox gave Morphett BOG. 33 hitouts, 18 contested possessions and 10 clearances. Seems fair.
Fought hard in the final quarter to get the win, after letting West Coast back into it in the third.

[Sandridge]

GO BLOODS!!

[longmile]

Morphett AA ruck!

Crazy for someone under 20!

[Thunder Shaker]

The current ladder positions of Sydney's remaining AFLW opponents: 9th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 12th, 10th. I rate these remaining games as all winnable. I expect Sydney will win about half of them because the opponents are evenly matched.

This is similar to the situation in the men's competition when Sydney was sitting 15th on the ladder with seven rounds to go. Sydney won the next six games against evenly-matched opponents.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Morphett AA ruck!
Crazy for someone under 20!


Fox gave Morphett BOG. 33 hitouts, 18 contested possessions and 10 clearances. Seems fair.
Fought hard in the final quarter to get the win, after letting West Coast back into it in the third.


Welcome to the Ally Morphett bandwagon - please move to the back of the vehicle because I'm expecting more to climb aboard with every game.


In all seriousness, she was so dominant her opponent started tunnelling her - very nasty. Took a couple of very nice contested marks - more please miss. She has a tendancy to go the punch rather than trying to mark, hopefully with more experience she will come to trust her hands more. Got caught a couple of times doing her grab-the-ball-and-charge thing from the ruck, I hope she doesn't reign that in, it must be a terrifying sight for the opposition when she gets going like that.

In general I found the game a bit frustrating, beautiful strings of posessions being undone with an importune skill error. But that doesn't detract from the overall pleasure of winning. I look forward to the womens team lining up for a post first away win photo in the near future.

[Meg]

In general I found the game a bit frustrating, beautiful strings of posessions being undone with an importune skill error. But that doesn't detract from the overall pleasure of winning.

What was your friend’s reaction to his first live game RnR?

[dejavoodoo44]

In all seriousness, she was so dominant her opponent started tunnelling her - very nasty. Took a couple of very nice contested marks - more please miss. She has a tendancy to go the punch rather than trying to mark, hopefully with more experience she will come to trust her hands more. Got caught a couple of times doing her grab-the-ball-and-charge thing from the ruck, I hope she doesn't reign that in, it must be a terrifying sight for the opposition when she gets going like that.

In general I found the game a bit frustrating, beautiful strings of posessions being undone with an importune skill error. But that doesn't detract from the overall pleasure of winning. I look forward to the womens team lining up for a post first away win photo in the near future.

Yes, I noticed the tunnelling. I was thinking that it surely should have been worth a free or two to Ally, but apparently not.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Meg, the women blew away the perception that AFL wasn't a physical game - and it's always hard for a newcomer to grasp what's happening when their isn't a commentator spoon feeding opinions. Did ask when the next game was though.

[Meg]

Coaches votes:

Sydney v West Coast

9 Ally Morphett (SYD)
6 Laura Gardiner (SYD)
5 Sofia Hurley (SYD)
4 Emma Swanson (WCE)
3 Belinda Smith (WCE)
3 Charlotte Thomas (WCE)

[Blood Fever]

Nice goal by Bella Smith. We needed that.

Watched the 'mini' on Fox Footy. Bella Smith is a real weapon up forward with that booming left foot.

[Mel_C]

I watched the game last night. It was great to get our second win. We still have things to work on, especially our forward entries. So many kicks went straight to the Eagles and undid our hard work.

It's exciting to see our improvement.
Morphett is amazing.
I really like Kennedy. She is small but she's tough and feisty!
Hopefully Molloy is ok and her arm/elbow injury isn't bad.

I wish the umpires would put the whistle away. There were too many frees.

[Mark26]

Does anyone know how long Ham is out for?

[ootf]

Ham is a test this week.
T. Kennedy has gone from being just a 'train-on' a couple of months ago to getting into the R1 team as a defender to a shut down role on Prespakis v Geelong to a bona fide midfield role versus WCoast - amazing.

A few pics here
AFLW Swans v Eagles (https://cartercapture.smugmug.com/AFLW-Swans-Eagles)

[Mark26]

Ham is a test this week.
T. Kennedy has gone from being just a 'train-on' a couple of months ago to getting into the R1 team as a defender to a shut down role on Prespakis v Geelong to a bona fide midfield role versus WCoast - amazing.

A few pics here
AFLW Swans v Eagles (https://cartercapture.smugmug.com/AFLW-Swans-Eagles)

Thanks ootf. Great pics by the way.

[liz]

T. Kennedy has gone from being just a 'train-on' a couple of months ago to getting into the R1 team as a defender to a shut down role on Prespakis v Geelong to a bona fide midfield role versus WCoast - amazing.


She was terrific, wasn't she. I wonder how many games she needs to play to have the confidence, once she's dodged an opponent and has good speed and momentum running past the fifty metre line, to take a shot at goal herself rather than try to pass the ball off. I suspect not many.

All three of the Irish women have fitted in beautifully. O'Sullivan was responsible for a goal saving smother, and McCarthy is finding her feet. She just needs to get rid of the instinct to play on when she takes a mark within scoring distance!

[liz]

While researching ground sizes ahead of this weekend's clash, I stumbled across a snippet of info that last Sunday's crowd for the West Coast game was the largest at Henson Park since 2003. Impressive. I wonder if we can beat it in either (or both) of the two remaining games there this season. With a capacity of 30,000, there's plenty more space!

Henson Park | Austadiums (https://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/henson-park)