Daisy's girls have got it figured out
The Eagles' W supremacy starts now, Turbo at it again and a draft series to keep an eye on.
G’day punters. Hope the weekend was better than the rain delays at Optus Stadium.
We’re getting to the pointy end of the AFLW now, with both WA teams still a live(ish) chance of playing finals.
And both the AFL and AFLW draft prospects are deep in training for their respective national drafts. At Playbookx, we’re producing a social series for WA Football profiling the best 10 male and 5 female prospects, thanks to the support of Tyrepower.
If you haven’t yet, go check out the first episode on Jacob Farrow.
There’s a new one dropping this arvo on West Coast academy player Tylah Williams too. Get around it.
In today’s newsletter: An Eagles co-captain having a serious impact, Ella Roberts again, Turbo time yet again and my favourite ruck in any competition (with apologies to Scott Jones).
Let’s get stuck in.
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AFLW EAGLES
Hooley dooley, this was a serious win. The Eagles weren’t even favourites going into the big Friday night game at Sullivan Logistics Stadium in Leedy (which was weird, ngl). Then they came out and dominated the Cats from the bounce. Daisy’s squad has finals in their grasp. It’s a significant moment, particularly given the rocky run of the program over the years - Eliza Reilly has a good piece on that over at Code Sports if you want to read further.
All they have to do to lock in finals is beat either Sydney away next week or Carlton at home in the final round.
Bella Lewis was awesome. She’s been as reliable as they come since coming into the league, but her first season as co-captain has been particularly impactful, even if the numbers don’t properly reflect it. She’s also been busy watching tape ahead of the AFL draft as part of her role in the club’s recruiting department, as covered by Nathan Schmook in this great piece for AFL Media.
Surprise, surprise… Ella Roberts was elite again. The Margaret River maestro had a team-high 25 disposals, 14 contested, and eight tackles. Sometimes she looks like she’s playing a different sport to everyone else.
Rising Star contender Lucia Painter was the star up forward with three goals from 14 touches and a ripper finish on the final siren. She won’t win the award, Zippy Fish has got to be favourtie, but she’s had a hell of a year.
Former Eagles captain Emma Swanson literally fights fires for a living, so deploying her as a tagger makes sense. Swanson kept Geelong star Georgie Prespakis in check all night, and had 19 and a goal herself. Unreal.
AFLW DOCKERS
Turbo time take two. We wrote about Kiara Bowers last week when she had an enormous last quarter to will her side over the line in a tight game. Guess what? She did it again. Turbo had 10 touches, five clearances and five inside-50s in Q4 on the road against GWS. The Dockers won by seven points. What a freak.
Fremantle finished the round in 10th on the ladder, four points behind Carlton in eighth. But they’ve got a shocking percentage. To play finals, they have to beat Richmond at home and Adelaide away and hope some results go their way. Impossible? No. Unlikely? Yes.
Mim Strom is my favourite ruck. The work she does post-contest is enormous. I lost count of the number of times she was the one to spread hard defensively to lay a big tackle on the weekend. There’s a reason she’s the reigning All Australian.
It’s not the first time Freo have had all of the ball in their forward half but stuggled to hit the scoreboard. They kicked 6.11 against the Giants, 2.6 against the Hawks a fortnight ago, 3.5 in a winnable one against Carlton… the list goes on. Expect the forward group to be a recruiting focus this offseason.
That’s the lot for today. Thanks again for reading.
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Catch you next week.