AFLW first game - Carlton V Collingwood

[Premium89]

A packed out princes park and the women's footy league is on!
Even better, pies are losing at the moment...

Some wildly varying skill levels, but good to see them "smacking in", as Richo might say.
Carlton looking a lot tougher and more skilful in game 1.

[citywest]

It's so unfair those bastards didn't give us a licence.

[Impatient Sainter]

I dont believe it was unfair City West - its about money and as a club we are one of the poorest. Its only been in the last couple of years since Finnis's arrival that the club has shown they can run the mens team without going under. We cant even fund a stand alone VFL team, how would we afford a women's side with the Morrabin move and related costs.

The club had plenty of time to take the initiative eg Bulldogs and Melbourne and chose to ignore so they "harvest what they sow". No good complaining about it Saints just be ready next season when more licences are rolled out!

[Enrico_Misso]

Thought with 16 "men" it would be more of a score fest.

[Toy Saint]

There's never a bad time to see Collingwood lose, and that #23 continue the tradition of inneffective overhyped key forwards..

[citywest]

I dont believe it was unfair City West - its about money and as a club we are one of the poorest. Its only been in the last couple of years since Finnis's arrival that the club has shown they can run the mens team without going under. We cant even fund a stand alone VFL team, how would we afford a women's side with the Morrabin move and related costs.

The club had plenty of time to take the initiative eg Bulldogs and Melbourne and chose to ignore so they "harvest what they sow". No good complaining about it Saints just be ready next season when more licences are rolled out!

Carlton are more broke than us Impatient Sainter. The AFL are corrupt there is no doubt about it. If it was about money then Carlton would not have been granted a licence.

[Trev from the Bush]

1. Knock it off, citywest.

2. If last night was an example of an "elite" women's competition, I won't waste my time watching. The skills were, generally, very poor and the "spectacle" not worthy of prime-time TV coverage. At time, the match resembled Auskick with players just throwing the ball at the boot and hoping for the best. On a positive note, continued TV coverage will prove a ratings boost for opposition TV stations. On what I saw last night I am relieved the Saints are not yet) involved in this competition and are concentrating our limited resources on our main objective - delivering our 2nd premiership. Sorry, when the commentators keep crapping on about the big crowd you can be assured the actual mach is rubbish standard. And so it proved.

[Impatient Sainter]

I dont believe it was unfair City West - its about money and as a club we are one of the poorest. Its only been in the last couple of years since Finnis's arrival that the club has shown they can run the mens team without going under. We cant even fund a stand alone VFL team, how would we afford a women's side with the Morrabin move and related costs.

The club had plenty of time to take the initiative eg Bulldogs and Melbourne and chose to ignore so they "harvest what they sow". No good complaining about it Saints just be ready next season when more licences are rolled out!

Carlton are more broke than us Impatient Sainter. The AFL are corrupt there is no doubt about it. If it was about money then Carlton would not have been granted a licence.

Your posts are like Grant Thomas's tweets - not related are you?

[citywest]

I dont believe it was unfair City West - its about money and as a club we are one of the poorest. Its only been in the last couple of years since Finnis's arrival that the club has shown they can run the mens team without going under. We cant even fund a stand alone VFL team, how would we afford a women's side with the Morrabin move and related costs.

The club had plenty of time to take the initiative eg Bulldogs and Melbourne and chose to ignore so they "harvest what they sow". No good complaining about it Saints just be ready next season when more licences are rolled out!

Carlton are more broke than us Impatient Sainter. The AFL are corrupt there is no doubt about it. If it was about money then Carlton would not have been granted a licence.

Your posts are like Grant Thomas's tweets - not related are you?

You have let yourself down with that reply Impatient Sainter.

[citywest]

1. Knock it off, citywest.

2. If last night was an example of an "elite" women's competition, I won't waste my time watching. The skills were, generally, very poor and the "spectacle" not worthy of prime-time TV coverage. At time, the match resembled Auskick with players just throwing the ball at the boot and hoping for the best. On a positive note, continued TV coverage will prove a ratings boost for opposition TV stations. On what I saw last night I am relieved the Saints are not yet) involved in this competition and are concentrating our limited resources on our main objective - delivering our 2nd premiership. Sorry, when the commentators keep crapping on about the big crowd you can be assured the actual mach is rubbish standard. And so it proved.

No, I won't knock it off as you put it Trev from the Bush. It's not about the standard, it's all about growing your members/supporters. Thanks to the corrupt AFL St Kilda have missed out on this great opportunity. I admit the standard was very low but give it 5 years and it will be a great spectacle to watch. You are extremely short sighted.

[White Winmar]

I can see the rationale behind Melbourne, WB and Collingwood getting licences, but Carlton? Surely Mike Fitzpatrick was behind this decision. These licences are valuable because of membership, sponsorship and TV exposure. Also appeals directly to half the population. Given the Bayside region has the most female participants and competitions are growing faster than anywhere else, the decision to exclude us at the expense of Carlton is as bewildering as it is suspect. Cronyism lives!

[mr six o'clock]

The match reminded me of roller derby.
No skills necessary
Just fast crash and bash
Still ,it was entertaining

The afl have been crowing about how successful it was but at some stage in the future they are going to have to start charging people money to get in .
The sooner this happens, the sooner it will be a legitimate competition.

[borderbarry]

Collingwood had several players in their team from St.Kilda area clubs. Will we get these girls back when we enter the competition? I would think not. so what compensation will we received for the loss of these first choice players?

[Wayne42]

There's never a bad time to see Collingwood lose, and that #23 continue the tradition of inneffective overhyped key forwards..

The call her Mo Hope, i call her No Hope

[desertsaint]

No time for all thespirt in the world. but if i want to watch elite aussie sportswomen it's the netball every time.

[ROLS-LEE]

The match reminded me of roller derby.
No skills necessary
Just fast crash and bash
Still ,it was entertaining

The afl have been crowing about how successful it was but at some stage in the future they are going to have to start charging people money to get in .
The sooner this happens, the sooner it will be a legitimate competition.

To me after watching a couple of games now it looks like 2 teams of Clint jones's running around.

[Trev from the Bush]

1. Knock it off, citywest.

2. If last night was an example of an "elite" women's competition, I won't waste my time watching. The skills were, generally, very poor and the "spectacle" not worthy of prime-time TV coverage. At time, the match resembled Auskick with players just throwing the ball at the boot and hoping for the best. On a positive note, continued TV coverage will prove a ratings boost for opposition TV stations. On what I saw last night I am relieved the Saints are not yet) involved in this competition and are concentrating our limited resources on our main objective - delivering our 2nd premiership. Sorry, when the commentators keep crapping on about the big crowd you can be assured the actual mach is rubbish standard. And so it proved.

No, I won't knock it off as you put it Trev from the Bush. It's not about the standard, it's all about growing your members/supporters. Thanks to the corrupt AFL St Kilda have missed out on this great opportunity. I admit the standard was very low but give it 5 years and it will be a great spectacle to watch. You are extremely short sighted.

No, my optometrist says my eyesight hasn't deteriorated in the last four years. And, of course you will not knock it off. Like rabbits, ane toads and european carp you will still be here spouting you reactionary rubbish, eg, "the corrupt AFL" and why we need to play home games in Patagonia or Outer Mongolia. You say "give it 5 years"; I don't want to give it five weeks actually. It is a blessing for StKilda that it missed out on the first round of franchises (gee, I hate that word when it's used in football. All right if you have a McDonald's franchise though - they actually make money). That's MY opinion, CW.

[saintspremiers]

I like it.

I can see a team finishing with a score line of 0.1.1 and matching our all time lowest score in league history.

We all know that AFLW records will be combined with 120 years of VFL/AFL history at some stage

[Moods]

I was a scathing critic of the concept from the beginning, but have always maintained that footy is the best game in the world, so it's only natural that women want to play the game. I have no problem at all with them playing it - the problem is that at the moment they are no where near the level that anyone should want to watch them. Obviously ppl are watching them which is great for the ladies playing. I also have cast my eye over a couple of games but find myself getting frustrated. There are a few very good footballers out there but in the main they are women who just love sport who are giving it a go. Why would the AFL give any more licences than what they already have? The depth of talent isn't there yet. Bringing in more athletes who clearly can't play the game just devalues it further. Better to develop the sport for a few years, promote it, then hope more female athletes come across.

Would ppl pay good money to watch it? I doubt it, but I didn't think ppl would watch it in the first place. It may have a place as a pre-game to the men playing. With the ridiculous saturation the HS is giving it though it's certainly getting noticed. AFL certainly is king in this town.........

[Bluthy]

I watched some of the highlights. What jumps out to you is the lack of speed and ability to kick long compared with the men which means its a pretty congested, low scoring game (although mens AFL is a bit like that despite everything they do to open it up). People tend to want to pay to see the best of the best. Anything less its hard to get money out of people for. But then females may be more prepared to give some dollars to see their sex out there and get great joy from that.

I can understand the role model argument but also women have been playing hard and gritty in sport for a long time. The media always goes crazy when something hits their field of view for the first time and suddenly they are in tears at their being women in sport Go along to suburban sporting fields around the country and you'll see females giving it everything on the field and getting banged up as they do every weekend without money or television coverage.

Television coverage of the most popular sport in Australia does help of course. And without sounding superficial, there is a bit of sex-appeal factor. Women (and some men) have long had the benefit of seeing strapping your men in tight shorts throw their fit, muscled bodies around. So its not the worst to see fit ladies out there.

[Toy Saint]

For 120 years there has never been an openly gay VFL/AFL player. I'm wondering if that is about to change with the introduction of the AFLW competition?

[desertsaint]

For 120 years there has never been an openly gay VFL/AFL player. I'm wondering if that is about to change with the introduction of the AFLW competition?

i'm waiting for the shitstorm when a trans demands to play.

[White Winmar]

Watching last night it is apparent they may have gone too soon. The standard was atrocious. There are simply not enough good players to go around. Another year of development, talent identification and training is required. I'm all for the concept, but if we keep getting that rubbish served up, people will turn off very quickly. We are in a honeymoon period ATM, but people simply won't pay to watch a game like Footscray versus the shockers. While the hype and free tickets abound, all well and good, but eventually, viewers will fatigue very quickly. No more teams for at least two years. Get the first stage right, without the risk of killing the concept completely with a poor product. They deserve every support. Maybe full time professionalism is the answer. I know it will take a few years to get it right, but in the current market, time is one of the luxuries you haven't got.

[Impatient Sainter]

Its definitely a refreshing change and will be a major boon for the clubs membership wise you would think?

[White Winmar]

Its definitely a refreshing change and will be a major boon for the clubs membership wise you would think?

It is, IS. I'm disappointed we missed out on a licence, for the very reasons you mentioned, however, the product needs to be top quality to thrive in the long term. I hope they don't kill the golden goose before it even lays the first egg.