It wasn’t the close contest we would have hoped for, but on a marquee night for women’s football, Victoria have claimed 2017 bragging rights with a thumping 97-point win over the Allies in the inaugural AFLW state of origin.
Backing up their one-point EJ Whitten Legends Game triumph, the Vics made it two from two to dominate the AFL’s pre-finals bye weekend, with Daisy Pearce (37 disposals, one goal) and Karen Paxman (30 and one) allowing the big V to dictate terms from the centre.
For the Allies, a disappointing night turned ugly late with captain Chelsea Randall (ankle), Emma Zielke (ribs) and Kirby Bentley (knee) all going down with serious injuries in a ten-minute stretch during the third term.
Zielke was rushed to hospital, while there are fears Bentley, who has a history of knee issues, could have ruptured an ACL for the third time which could spell doom for her AFLW season with Fremantle.
Surprisingly given the eventual result, it was the Allies who controlled the opening stages, with Jess Wuetschner slotting the first goal of the game. But as Pearce, Paxman and the ever-impressive Emma Kearney (28 touches) began to exert their influence, the Allies simply wilted under the pressure.
It was a case of who wasn’t rather than who was for the Vics, with Jaimee Lambert dangerous up forward all night, and while she was perhaps unlucky to finish with only one goal, Jasmine Garner had no such issues, bagging five goals, including four in the second half as the Vics cantered away.
For the Allies, ruckman Emma King was dominant with 40 hitouts, while Katie Brennan (18 possessions) was likewise impressive, but with captain and inspiration Randall taking no part in the game after three-quarter time with a badly corked ankle, the fight went out of them.
A superb smother on the goal line from Randall which denied the Vics a certain goal was a highlight, but in the end, weight of numbers told as the Victorians peppered the Allies’ defence with inside 50s at every turn.
Having already passed the AFLW record of 70 points (jointly held by Melbourne and Adelaide) by three-quarter time, the Vics had 100-point margin in their sights, but fell three points short.
Nevertheless, the record score of 17.11.113 is a remind to the women’s football naysayers who criticise the game’s low scoring and lack of skill just how good the top level of the game is, and just how much quality the competition can provide given enough time and money to develop over the coming decades.
Women’s football is here to stay. And with the amount of talent on display tonight, fans can look forward to plenty of highlights for the coming AFLW season.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
People didn't go to the match because it s women's footy, which is basically unattractive to watch!
Pope Paul VII
Guest
Agreed. Big Gil was talking about expanding the league next year presumably to tap into existing club loyalty.
mickyo
Guest
Skill level was way up compared to last year, Skill up, concept down.
mickyo
Guest
Agreed
Pope Paul VII
Guest
I liked the game. Skill levels up and they wear the man bun way better than the blokes.
Joe B
Guest
I'm from WA, and absolutely support our Dockers women's side... but no way can I like this silly Vics v Allies rubbish (male or female version). If anything, it fosters the Melbourne centric focus of the AFL administration.
J.T. Delacroix
Guest
A real red letter day for the NRL, Gyfox. Topping 20K. Whoopee bloody doo!!!
Asd
Guest
Wrecked prime mate for that timeslot .
Martin
Guest
Don't we already have something close to SOO in any case with the Giants playing against the Lions in the regular season. Each of these two teams have predominantly players from their own state. It's the same for both Western Australia and South Australia where most players play for their home state via the Dockers or Crows. So we already have state verses state (except Victoria) which is why the first season of AFLW was such an outstanding success. Eight teams is a good number.
mickyo
Guest
Not even SOO IMO. Its a Vic side against an allied side, how does that invite passion?. Its a mistake and i said so when they came up with the concept, who would be surprised if a QLD side put up a better show than a 'allied' team?, we cant do RL type SOO because we have many more states interested in playing. Must come up with better concepts for the finals bye, in fact the recent international cup final between PNG and NZ would have got a bigger crowd if promoted correctly, perhaps womens final first then mens. Womens football will go the same way as the mens, people are more interested in club football than a allies concept.
I ate pies
Guest
Youll find that most of the Vics come from the Darebin league too. One league dominates the rest of the country. Women's footy still has a long way to go.
Martin
Guest
I thought the score result would have been the other way around because you have one state playing the rest of Australia. That is six states against one state and yet still Victoria still wins which is really surprising for me. I guess because everybody expected a lopsided result in favour of the Allies that that put off a many Victorians from going to the match.
Cat
Roar Guru
Good for them. And it actually hurt the AFL how?
Gyfox
Guest
So we have replaced the FInals build-up with a Mickey Mouse game on Fri night & a women's SOO game which attracted under 10,000. Free kick to NRL & Melb Storm, who got over 20,000!
Asd
Guest
All these help the charity scam games .Help the CEOS get fatter with money
Asd
Guest
Be better with Rambo on tv than this training run
Basil
Guest
You mention the E.J. Whitten game as if it was a legit game of football. Nice.
Mitcher
Guest
Ok, coming back in for a second negative based comment I expect to cop some heat, and maybe rightly so. But, surely surely, take out whether this is AFL, NEAFL, or AFLW, and that second last paragraph is utter twaddle. How can it possibly be argued that a thumping score precipitated by an utter mismatch would put to bed arguments against low scoring. There is no doubt there is a section of the population that will denigrate the women's game regardless of the product on the field, which is absolutely improving incrementally and boosting the prospects of the fledgling competition. But for me, that paragraph, seems symbolic of the occasionally evangelical, almost combative, approach some seem compelled to adopt in pushing the women's game's merits. For me it reads like an attempt to paint into a corner anyone who looks to apply what would usually be accepted as reasonable critical analysis of the game as 'naysayers'. Just to repeat, no doubt there are many who won't give the game a fair chance. But that sort of tripe in the professional writer column of this site does the cause no real favours.
Mitcher
Guest
Surely we're all clear that the 'Allies' v anyone is not in any sense 'State of Origin' in the manner any reasonably minded person would understand it.