Courtney Cramey column: Sure, Adelaide Crows were inaccurate, but skills, speed have improved

In her first The Advertiser column for this year’s AFLW season, experienced Crows defender Courtney Cramey gives her rundown of Round One and two valuable lessons Adelaide will take away.

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It was only two weeks ago that South Australia was breaking record temperatures, including Adelaide hitting 46.6C. The traditional summer sports of cricket and tennis are used to battling the summer sun, with zinc and hats.

But this weekend saw the opening round of AFLW season three in the non-traditional footy timeslot of February. It was a balmy night at Norwood Oval on Saturday, where we came up against reigning premiers the Western Bulldogs.

The late start ensured we weren’t battling any extreme temperatures and came off the back of the season opener at GMHBA Stadium with newcomers to the competition, Geelong, creating history, securing their first win against the Pies by a point.

Yep, AFLW is back!

It’s bigger, with the expansion clubs of Geelong and North Melbourne, and it’s better, with the majority of players coming off the back of their third pre-season in an elite environment.

Crows defender Courtney Cramey lays a tackle on Kirsty Lamb of the Western Bulldogs during their Round 1 AFLW clash at Norwood Oval. Picture: AAP Image/Mark Brake

Round One saw fitter and faster players, new rules and a continued following that shows there is only one trajectory for AFLW — and that is up.

Some of the notable new rules designed to open up the game and impact scoring opportunity were well received by players and fans alike.

The ability to run out of the goal square from a point to move play faster didn’t see any real strategy from either side. The boundary throw-ins being brought in 10m definitely opened the game up, particularly when it was created in your forward 50.

It enabled girls to keep the ball in play and avoid secondary throw-ins, something we know created continued congestion in seasons one and two.

While ours was a low scoring game, (1.11) 17 points to (2.6) 18, there was notably less congestion, better ball movement and much better skills displayed.

While we didn’t kick straight, we had our opportunities.

We had 12 scoring shots to the Bulldogs’ eight and the 7830 strong crowd rode every point with us.

Of the five matches from Round One, four were decided by less than five points.

A star-studded North side who were aggressive at the recruiting table over the winter showed that they’re contenders this year with a convincing 36-point win over last year’s wooden-spooners Carlton down in Hobart.

There were two things I learnt following Round One: You need to kick goals to win games of footy, that’s a given; and every game is important in this competition. Percentage will definitely come into play at season’s end.

We will be looking to make sure we get the ball through the big sticks more when we take on Carlton next Sunday in Round Two.