Almanac Footy: AFLW – Carlton’s season

 

Although at time of writing it is still spring, the arrival of summer is imminent, suggested by some warmer days, the first appearances of nude bathers on the optional clothing beach and the final phases of a long draw-out football season (AFL followed by AFLW) and with it the conclusion of Carlton’s (mostly) annus horribilis. When the Blues’ AFLW team predictably met their match in Brisbane on Saturday night, the hope was extinguished that an improbable Grand Final appearance – or dare one utter it – a premiership for the women might salvage something from the year for the Navy Blues.

 

In fact, the Carlton AFLW players had thoroughly exceeded expectations. Those supposedly in the know confidently predicted a bottom four finish for the Blues, so their 5th spot on the ladder at the conclusion of the regular season followed by comprehensive wins in two finals represented an over-achievement as marked as the under-performance of their male team mates. In March, there were confident predictions that Carlton’s AFL team would be a serious challenger in 2025. As the. AFL Record expressed it: ‘the Blues should be looking not just to play finals, but to figure prominently’. Your correspondent was more cautious, hopeful but braced for disappointment, though certainly expecting that to occur on the scale which it did. In fact, the optimism was dashed in the opening game against Richmond, just about everyone’s favourite for the wooden spoon. When Carlton contrived to allow a second quarter 40 point lead to end with a humiliating 13 point loss, it was apparent that 2025 was unlikely to produce a routine march to the upper reaches of the ladder. While there were occasional hints of revival, the season brought rarely relieved gloom, with periodic defiance of the ‘rule’ that it couldn’t get any worse. I attended four matches in September, but didn’t catch a glimpse of Navy Blue on the field, so even with my failing eyesight, I can confidently conclude that Carlton did not figure in the finals …prominently. While the injury plague offered some explanation. The Blues weren’t Robinson Crusoe with this predicament, and as a wise man once advised, “there were reasons, but they’re only excuses”.

 

Fast forward then to the AFLW season. Carlton opened the season with a comfortable victory against Collingwood and managed an early-season win against Lions in Brisbane. While they narrowly lost to Hawthorn that was the only blemish on their early season record until an inevitable thrashing by the all-conquering Kangaroos. Successive late-season losses to Sydney and St. Kilda left the Blues with 8 wins 4 losses from twelve matches to achieve a merited finish and a home elimination final.

 

The vagaries of the fixture are a constant source of complaint in the men’s competition, as there are clear divisions between the strongest teams, the middle-rankers and the weakest. Given that each team plays 11 opponents just once and six teams twice, there are inevitably teams which benefit either by meeting weakest rivals twice and/or avoiding a second encounter with the strongest opponents. In the AFLW, similar rankings are evident. This year, with 12 matches (seasons have gradually been extended over the life of the competition), the eighteen teams did not play against five potential opponents, so the chance of missing a percentage-builder contrasted with the alternative of meeting the strongest potential opposition distorts both win-loss ratios and percentage. In past seasons, this luck of the draw has been more pronounced in AFLW, because form has been fairly reliable and upset results have been rare, where a seemingly weaker side takes down a supposedly stronger rival. This year, upset results – as well as reversals within games, where a team overcomes a significant deficit – have been more in evidence, which I infer is a maturing of the competition as well as a strengthening of the standard. If the supposedly superior team is off its game, even slightly, they can be vulnerable to a “lesser” opponent.

 

As a keen observer of the early years of AFLW (yes, I was there at that memorable inaugural game, February 3, 2017) and an occasional viewer more recently, I am impressed by the improvement in players’ skills and the application of strategies and tactics. Kicking skills – both length and precision – for the majority of players are now considerably advanced on the early seasons. Marking and handball have also improved, fewer dropped marks and hospital handpasses, although there is still a tendency for over-use of handball as a desperation disposal, often to a surrounded teammate, even by the better teams.

 

I saw the Blues’ women four times this season (for 4 wins, a novel experience), and their team play now is a marked advance on earlier seasons. There is a sense of deliberation about disposals, good backing up, running to create space, and other strategies associated with the modern game. Darcy Vescio, who set Princes Park alight in that initial match is still running around, although with veteran status, they* are now a cool defender, after earlier winning two goal-kicker awards In spite of conceding height to most opponents, Darcy is rarely beaten in the contest and they still deserve the tribute which Marc Murphy paid after the 2017 opener. Murphy said Darcy had the men’s team No. 3 covered, a modest allusion to the fact that at that time they both wore that number for the Dark Navy Blues. Gab Pound continues to represent the Blues as the only other player from that first match, although Jasmine Garner who was in the Magpies team on that memorable night, has established herself as the outstanding player in the brief history of the competition, particularly since joining North Melbourne.

 

The torch has passed to a new generation at Princes Park. Talented youngsters Mimi Hill, Poppy Scholz, Mia Austin and Sophie McKay as well as her highly skilled sister skipper Abbie are driving forces with the team, aided by stalwarts such as Harriet Cordner, Tara Bohanna and the Irish connection Erone Fitzpatrick and Dayna Finn.

 

Enough about the Blues. Saturday night unequivocally brings the two best sides in the competition to the Grand Final. Perennial contender Brisbane (six Grand Finals of a possible seven, for two premierships) meet North Melbourne who have dominated the League during the past two seasons. North’s administration made a serious commitment to the women’s game, even though they missed inclusion in the inaugural competition, and this has been justified by their consistent levels of performance. The Kangaroos’ extraordinary 26 game winning streak, which until last week hasn’t been threatened, makes them worthy favourites. In the home and away matches, they soundly defeated all-comers, with Brisbane’s 29-point margin, the closest a rival came on the scoreboard. Brisbane who have been their opposition in the three successive Grand Finals, winning in 2023, succumbing to North last year, are worthy opponents. The Lions are themselves on a nine game winning streak, which would be even more noteworthy if it didn’t suffer by comparison with North’s remarkable run.

 

I’d encourage any football enthusiast, even sceptics about the women’s variant, to take in the game on Saturday night. I expect that North will prevail, but as they have revealed a vulnerability in their Preliminary Final against Melbourne and Brisbane are in a rich vein of form, the Lions will certainly consider themselves in with a realistic chance of an upset. They are well-coached and highly skilled, as are the Kangaroos, so it’s reasonable to expect and hope for a grand game.

 

*I understand that ‘they’ is Darcy’s preferred pronoun.

 

 

To read more by Peter Fuller click here.

 

 

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