Expansion sides winless in AFLW round one

The issue nobody seems to have brought up is the motivation for the league office to cram so many new clubs in as quickly as they have: the pressure from the individual clubs to each get their own AFLW team, for a host of reasons. It may not be directly profitable yet, but indirectly their demonstration of gender equality and all the great press they've seen happening with the "original eight" teams has reinforced their original desires to host a women's club in the AFLW (I believe at least all fourteen of these teams applied for clubs in the original creation of the league).... . . . So the league was in a position of trying to keep its constituent clubs happy, and in the end Gil et al rule at the pleasure of the eighteen AFL footy clubs... . . . Was it the best decision for the health of the game on the field? Probably not - the US has a long history of failed leagues whose death was brought about by too rapid, too rabid expansion. (Look up the early 1990's CFL "American Invasion" for an amazing tale of expansion, collapse, and resurrection.) But the AFLW will survive it, and by definition it can't expand too much more as currently constructed! We'll have some more of these routs this season, probably tapering into the next, but like the GWS men's team's ascension into the title game, these new clubs will eventually improve to viability. (North and Geelong's histories say it'll be sooner rather than later, too.). - - - - *Here's praying that this Gold Coast club follows those examples, rather than their male counterparts on the Q coast... and maybe even gives their men's team their own example to emulate.

That's pretty much every show on TV, especially on 7.

No, nothing is sacrosanct, just thought it was amusing.

Yep because any criticism of the AFLW is clearly irrational :unhappy:

Thought this was very apt - Thanks Titus https://www.titusoreily.com/afl/man-s-meltdown-over-aflw-enters-fourth-year

Agree the more they play the better, but also the more they play at the higher level the better. I think these basic skills hold up at the lower levels because they are better than their opponents, they aren't executing them under the pressure. When they come up and the pressure is on they fall into bad habits.

Yeah the short quarters are no help.

But overselling and underdelivering is the best way to kill your product.

My country football (from a town with a bout 1,000 people) team has always had very strong revenue from the female members, through the 3 senior grades and multiple junior grades of netball. The nearest major town (about 30k pop) has 7 district league teams (which my team competes against) and 4 major league teams (all with netball sides). The local womens comp has 4 teams but only one from the 30k town, two from around an hour away and a 4th from 2 1/2 hours away. Fair to say it hasn’t had much impact here and the query will be whether it actually increases womens participation in sport or simply take paritcipants from netball.

They are hyping it because they want TV audiences, that’s one of the driving factors. The AFL under Gillon is more obsessed with revenue raising than ever before.

Moved country WA last year Paul, small town of 3000 odd the footy comp down here introduced aflw for seniors and juniors and it's going great guns and have given the club greater revenue streams to support itself and more towns are setting up team's due to demand from women, this has been caused by aflw and anything that can support local community and clubs is fantastic and doesn't lead to the classic the AFL should support my country footy rants you see here as income opportunity is there and aflw is the reason.

We're talking about basic skills here Macca - you don't need elite facilities to learn how to handball or how to drop a ball onto your foot. The more they play the better. Skipping the state comps is a bad idea.

Firstly, the state level comps aren't anywhere near the standard - a lot of the errors are coming from technique flaws that aren't holding up under pressure. Secondly, on Offsiders yesterday they mentioned that more and more of the players are choosing to skip the state comps and focus solely on AFLW. Thirdly, there is increased stress in a shortened game because the impact of every loss is magnified - stress leads to errors. Fourth - they aren't training at AFLW level in the state leagues. Finally they aren't playing with each other at state level - knowing your team mates is very important.

Oops "To be fair the receiver of the ball" should have read "To be fair the receiver of the ball wanted the ball".

:unhappy: Whatever. As for not letting Richmond or West Coast in, I agree, but the AFL could have not let the Suns, North or the Saints in. Even if the AFL had only brought 4 teams in over the past couple of years it would have made a massive difference to the depth of the talent pool. "what’s done is done, let’s try and make it work." So let's ignore the errors made and not try to learn from the mistakes and only be overly psotivie about the comp.

Not so much a comment on skill which has been well covered but on decision making. Countless times players dished off for no good reason, often putting their comrades under the pump. To be fair the receiver of the ball. Being coached beyond their capabilities at this point I reckon. I don't know what you can do about the lack of scoring. Curiously they are plenty fit enough to flood back and forth to prevent scoring but not increase it. Perhaps they should restrict forwards and backs to the 50m zones ala Auskick? Watched North vs Melb. Pretty ordinary game. Very disappointing from North, real lack of speed. Can't see them threatening. However, they have a new girl from Ireland on the HBF who is fast and played well. Bung her in the middle. Collies vs WCE was not too bad a game.

What's to say, it's an entirely hypothetical construct about what could or should have happened, but didn't. I don't see what I can add to what exists solely inside your head. I will simply say don't see how the AFL could really have held off on letting Richmond and West Coast introduce sides, what's done is done, let's try and make it work.

The length of the season isn't causing poor skills - the players are all playing in state-level comps outside of the AFLW, they're getting enough practice.

As I've said before, the problem is that they're trying to go from A to D by skipping B and C. They need to simplify the gameplans and get back to basics, and they need to accept that this will be a part-time game for a while. Making them full-time professionals is out of step with the quality of the competition and the capability of the players. Many, many people are able to work as well as be elite athletes; there's very little correlation between money and skill level. Treat as a part-time competition, stop the superlatives and exaggeration, simplify the game-plans, shorten the field and let them enjoy footy for footy's sake (rather than using it as a vehicle for feminism) and it will be a great competition that's sustainable.

Milo – I am preaching that we should have been patient instead of bringing in 6 teams over the last 2 years. Yes the Eagles and Tigers bring in a huge supporter base but the Suns, North & Saints don’t. We could have simply brought in the Eagles and Tigers last year and then held off for another couple of years. The issue is hoe long will people persist, if we had been slower in rolling out the new teams and extended the season expectations of an increased standard would have been met and people would feel progress is being made, right now there is a huge risk of people turning off as they can’t see the standard increasing.