AFLW 2021: Inside the competition’s statistical evolution from year one to now
How has the AFLW changed since its first year? We’ve taken a look at the numbers from year one to now to see the big differences in the game.
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Key stats reveal why more people are watching and supporting AFLW — teams are kicking more goals, racking up more disposals and taking more marks than ever before.
Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich said the standard of the women’s game had risen on the back of greater fitness and preparation since the league started in 2017.
“All of those players that we took out of community footy in year one have now had five pre-seasons with an AFLW club,” Starcevich said.
Despite the addition of six teams – and the stretching of the talent pool – Champion Data statistics show that scoring has improved from a competition average of 32.8 in 2017 to 35.3 this year.
Disposals have increased from 177.9 in the first season to a league average per game of 215.6, while marks are up from 33.2 to 41.7.
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Contested possessions have also lifted from 95.2 in 2017 to a competition average of 103 per game this season.
“That preparation aspect of it, the physical preparation and the technical and tactical, but primarily the physical, has been significant,” Starcevich said.
“Every part of that – the running, the strength, the speed and agility – all of it has improved, the diet, the attention to detail, the recovery – all of those areas.”
Tackle numbers have increased slightly from season one to season five, but stoppages have decreased from 46.7 in 2017 to 39.7 this season, meaning less congestion.
Starcevich said retaining possession and skill execution had “definitely improved”.
“When we first started the pressure was OK across the board, but we were all one or two possessions away from giving it back to the oppo,” Starcevich said.
“But now teams can chain their possessions from the back half to the front half quite regularly, so that bit has definitely changed.
“And the ball getting out of congestion that’s becoming more regular.”
Collingwood co-captain, Brianna Davey, an inaugural AFLW player and an All-Australian defensive midfielder from season one with Carlton, said the uplift in skill level had come from more elite training standards.
“The girls having more time to train and more time to dedicate to their craft, has been a huge thing,” she said.
“A lot of girls came from local footy where it didn’t have those elite support networks to help, so I think having the opportunity to be in elite sports environments and to dedicate time to your craft has been huge.
“For me, the difference in skill level, smarts, fitness from year one to now is chalk and cheese, it’s improved so much.”
While the competition’s low scoring was criticised early on, Starcevich said higher-scoring games didn’t always equate to a better match if the contests were lopsided.
“When you get two high-level teams playing each other at times you will get a low-scoring outcome, like four or five goals each perhaps, something like that,” he said.
“If there is a divide there between ability, you will get blowouts.
“People will sit back and say ‘Well, the total score for that game is 14 goals’ well that’s fine if you are on the good end of it.
“But the games where it is a 10-2 (goal) margin I think they are the ones where we have got to be careful where we don’t say that’s great, it’s high scoring.”
Both Starcevich and Davey said AFLW was also starting to see the benefits of improved player pathways.
“The kids now coming through the talent pathway, they are ready-made when they step in,” Starcevich said.
“The kids have had their eye on AFLW for five or six years now and see it as a real pathway.”
Davey added: “The girls coming through now who did have a pathway (in footy) and some of them are ready-made footballers already, so you see what difference those pathways do make from an actual playing point of view,” she said.
WHY DAVEY V PHILLIPS IS THE ULTIMATE MARQUEE CLASH
It’s the clash that’s been three seasons in the making and one that will see Collingwood, for the first time in AFLW history, travel to Adelaide to face the Crows.
Sunday’s Round 9 game between the Magpies and Crows will be the first time these two powerhouse football clubs have clashed since March 18, 2018, when Collingwood came out 21-point victors at Olympic Park.
It will pit some of the AFLW’s most elite midfielders against each other: Britt Bonnici (average 25 touches a game in 2021) v Ebony Marinoff (23.5). And Jaimee Lambert (20.3) v Anne Hatchard (19.6).
But the matchup that could be most enticing will see Brianna Davey (23.3) v Erin Phillips (18.6/12 goals).
Two veterans of elite sport, cross-coders turned All-Australian AFLW footballers.
Davey, a tall goalkeeper played 18 international games for the Matildas between 2012-15, has a similar story as Phillips about her journey into the AFLW: played – and loved – junior footy until the pathway ran out for 12-year-old girls and she turned her athleticism into another sport.
While it was Olympic-level basketball for Phillips, it was international soccer for Davey.
The last time these two athletes played against each other, was in the 2019 AFLW grand final, when the Crows resoundingly beat Carlton in front of more than 53,000 at Adelaide Oval.
Back then, Davey was the Blues captain and after taking out the 2019 club best and fairest honour, Davey then sensationally requested a trade to Collingwood.
The 26-year-old was named the side’s co-captain for 2021 alongside Steph Chiocci.
Davey is now in career-best form, averaging 23.3 touches, four marks, five tackles and 3.5 inside-50s per game.
She said her good form came down to feeling more settled in her new colours.
“Last season I was the new girl and finding my feet and the team were amazing in welcoming me, but it seems like learning about your teammates, learning about how they play and understanding how they can help you and you can help them, and understanding the game plan … now that I’ve found my feet I feel so at home which allows me to play with more freedom.”
“I’m just really enjoying my footy. You can get really bogged down sometimes where it’s all you ever think about, but I’ve found a better balance this year.”
Whoever wins Sunday’s game remains in the hunt for a top 2 spot in the AFLW finals and could still finish minor premier depending on other results.
It is the most exciting finish in AFLW history, with not a single ladder position locked in (although the Magpies and Crows are among five teams that have qualified, but could ultimately finish anywhere from 1-5).
Davey, who returned from a torn ACL in 2019, said she loved the challenge of playing against a star like Phillips.
“She’s such a great player, a great athlete, she’s one of those players who has that ability to turn a game on it’s head, I definitely think she’s unfair in that category,” she said with a smile.
“She’s definitely someone you’ve got to be mindful of when you do play against Adelaide.
“I actually always really look forward to playing Erin because I do really respect her as a footballer and as a person and I love the battle and to compete against her.
“It’s been a long time between games for the two clubs, it will be a good battle.”
Davey said the close-knit Collingwood side was excited to be hitting the road for the first time in 2021 after COVID cancelled their trip north to face Brisbane in Round 7.
“It’s always such a great opportunity to bond as a team,” she said.
“It’s the last round, but it will be nice for us to get away together and prepare in a different way as a group and run into this game having been able to spend a fair bit of time together prior to it.”
For Davey it’s hard to put her finger on exactly why this 2021 Magpies squad was as close as it was, but said it came down to the fact that a big emphasis had been placed on embracing each other’s differences.
“We have a very unique group in that we have a lot of different personalities, but we all somehow come together.”
BRAZILL’S BEAUTIFUL MOMENT 12 MONTHS IN THE MAKING
When the final siren sounded on Saturday to see Collingwood beat St Kilda by 46 points, the first person Magpies defender Ashleigh Brazill thought about was her 14-month-old son, Louis.
Saturday’s triumphant win was Brazill’s first game back in 12 months, having torn her anterior cruciate ligament in Round 4 last year and back then, Louis was only six-weeks-old.
“The thing that upset me the most, other than doing my knee, was that I never got a photo of me and my son in my guernsey,” the 31-year-old said.
“And so after the game, Louis was the first person I grabbed.
“Luckily COVID restrictions have eased so he could come back in the changeroom with me.”
As Brazill juggled unstrapping her ankle, icing her calf and keeping Louis entertained, one of her teammates photographed the moment, capturing mother-and-son perfectly.
Brazill said the image summed up the moment incredibly well.
“It’s just me with my son, I didn’t know it was being taken, but it’s also about what you don’t see,” she said.
“The two lockers next to me were full, but then at that point those girls had already left and I was still trying to pack up, which sums up being a mum.”
In her first game back from the ACL injury, Brazill – who also plays for Collingwood in Super Netball – had nine touches, took three marks and laid two tackles, and pulled up well.
“Last year, I did ‘everything’ in my knee, so it was a pretty big surgery and I wasn’t able to hold him without help from my wife and I couldn’t walk with him … my wife was pretty much looking after two newborns,” she said.
“But having an injury that took 12 months to come back from and having a newborn, it gave me the opportunity to really figure out who I was as a mum and learn how to parent without any sporting distractions.
“For an injury that is meant to be really sad, it ended up being the best 12 months I’ve ever had with Louis, and watching him grow and my knee getting better.”
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