AFLW R3 2023: Lions v Sydney Swans, 5.05pm EST Sun 17 Sept Springfield Qld

[Meg]

Four changes from last week.

Ins:
Irish woman Paris McCarthy on AFLW debut
Montana Ham return from injury
Bella Smith
Aimee Whelan (first match in 2023)

Outs:
B.Kennedy (omitted)
L.Szigeti (omitted)
R. Sargent-Wilson (omitted)
P.Sheppard (omitted)

That means we will have three Irish women playing - also Tanya Kennedy and Julie O'Sullivan.

Match to be played at the new Brighton Homes Arena which is the Lions AFLW home ground and also where VFL, Academy and AFL practice matches are to be played.

[stellation]

I have no idea if Montana is going to be able to run out a full game, but outrageously excited to see some Morphett/Molloy/Ham group minutes.

[aardvark]

I have no idea if Montana is going to be able to run out a full game, but outrageously excited to see some Morphett/Molloy/Ham group minutes.
+1
Potentially the best midfield in the comp. I'm predicting an upset, Swans by 4 points.

[Meg]

About to start, showing on Channel 7.

[Mel_C]

Why aren't we wearing a clash strip?

[Mel_C]

Well this is a bad start.

Brisbane pressure is just too good. We have no time whenever we get the ball.

[Meg]

Why aren't we wearing a clash strip?

Don’t think it is necessary when colours are clearly different. I love the women in the home strip. The white border on their shorts makes the outfits really classy - even better than the men.

[Meg]

Well this is a bad start.

Brisbane pressure is just too good. We have no time whenever we get the ball.

[emoji51][emoji51][emoji51]

[longmile]

so the lions are the bulldogs of AFLW?

[Mel_C]

Don’t think it is necessary when colours are clearly different. I love the women in the home strip. The white border on their shorts makes the outfits really classy - even better than the men.
They don't look that different on my tv when the camera is zoomed out. Although now that the sun has gone I don't have an issue, so it must have been the glare of the sun that caused the problem.

[Mel_C]

So HTB is a raffle in the AFLW too?

[stellation]

Really well worked team play to end up in that goal from Montana.

[Mel_C]

Montana Ham! So happy she is back.

[Meg]

Montana Ham! So happy she is back.

Big [emoji3581] to that!

[longmile]

Cynthia Hamilton almost kicked a sensational goal on the run from 40-50m out

[stellation]

Little worried Gardiner is going to have an Alexei Navalney style turn on the flight home- does Putin deal in leather poisoning?

[dejavoodoo44]

Would love it if Courtney Hodder wanted to move to Sydney. I tend to think of her as the Cyril Rioli of the AFLW.

[stellation]

27 hitouts in a half for Ally.

[dejavoodoo44]

Morphett can be hard to stop.

[stellation]

I hope we’re just being overly cautious with Montana.

[stellation]

I swear the umpire wasn’t paying insufficient intent there until Brisbane asked for it (or it was a very, very late call). Wasn’t a gift at all, hell of a kick from Dakota.

[dejavoodoo44]

Did pretty well to share that quarter. Probably should have won it.

Love watching Morphett go at it. Gardiner seems to be a ball magnet. Privitelli providing a useful target in the forward line. The Irish contingent is showing some promise.

[Meg]

The Lions women could teach our blokes a bit about kicking for goal ...

[longmile]

Morphett and Gardner are stars

[Ruck'n'Roll]

Yes Allie is is very enjoyable to watch. Who knows what she will be capable of with a few more years to hone her ruck craft.

Look the result was horrid, but there were definitely moments. Nil Desperandum.

[liz]

Despite the scoreline that was probably a better performance than anything we delivered last year. It's just that the Lions had too much forward craft and class. And while we had half a dozen players who had good to excellent games, the bottom half of our team was clearly well short of the bottom half of the Lions's team.

Still, well done to Gardiner, Morphett, Kennedy and McCarthy (on debut). Heads was decent, though her kicking let her down. Privitelli presented well in the forward line. Molloy was given no space to do much (except kick four behinds) but she contributed well with her pressure and tackling. Hurley was busy but could do with tidying up her disposal. And the third Irish woman, O'Sullivan, was far from our worse too. Apart from the clean arms and legs, she looks so similar to Kennedy in the context of a fast moving game, with the wild, dark pony tails, that it can feel like seeing double at times.

Fingers crossed that Ham hasn't suffered a major setback. The glimpses she provided were tantalising.

[Meg]

Interesting comment by Gowans in his press conference that he believed the Swans women struggled to adapt to the much larger size of Brighton Homes Arena in first half today (Field dimensions: 161M x 128M); after playing first two matches at North Sydney Oval (Field dimensions: 125 x 108M).

Not something that had occurred to me.

[Thunder Shaker]

I hope we’re just being overly cautious with Montana.
Swans play down injury fears after Ham's early exit (https://www.afl.com.au/aflw/news/1035408/sydney-swans-play-down-injury-fears-after-montana-hams-early-exit)
Summary: Ham's OK. She was playing on "reduced minutes." The foot is still a little sore but she's pulled up OK.

[liz]

Swans duo poll votes from the coaches (https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/1434667/swans-duo-poll-votes-from-the-coaches)

It's encouraging that, despite the heavy scoreboard loss, a couple of our players received recognition from the coaches. It would have been close to impossible to leave Gardiner out of the votes with her 41 possessions , nine tackles and inside 50/metres gained contributions that even Errol would have been satisfied with.

But Morphett also picked up votes from at least one coach (or maybe one each from both of them). She was excellent in the ruck, but the Lions had tons of very good players so she might have been squeezed out.

[Ruck'n'Roll]

It was interesting to see how hard they sat on Molloy. Maybe it's just another aspecrt of the growing professionalism of the ALFW?

[liz]

Injury Update: Ham ruled out, Higgins season over (https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/news/1434942/injury-update-ham-to-be-managed-higgins-season-over)

Ham has been ruled out of the upcoming game against West Coast. It could be a frustrating season for her, and for those of use who were looking forward to watching her play this year, not lessened by the wee glimpse she gave us on Sunday.

Other than that, yet another ACL injury was sustained on Sunday (in a "scrimmage", which I presume is what the non-playing players participate in). Higgins - the only one of our Irish contingent yet to make it to the senior team -will now not be making it to the senior team this season.

[liz]

It was interesting to see how hard they sat on Molloy. Maybe it's just another aspecrt of the growing professionalism of the ALFW?

She's been subjected to very close attention in all three of our games. You'd think the better teams - including the Geelongs and Brisbanes of this world - might show a bit of sympathy and not tag one of ours, but I guess it shows the regard she is held in. I imagine she is finding it quite frustrating, though it has allowed Gardiner a lot of freedom.