Adelaide, Melbourne and St Kilda pick up big wins in the opening round of the AFLW season
After her ACL injury and just two games last year, some were doubting Erin Phillips. They were wrong. Check out the AFLW results here.
Erin Phillips flexed her muscle and reminded the AFLW world she’s the undisputed star of the competition with a dominant display in a 38-point win away to West Coast on Saturday.
The bolstered Crows, who are technically the reigning AFLW premiers, won 8.8.56 to West Coast’s 2.6.18 in front of 1,929 fans at Mineral Resources Park to underline their credentials as a genuine 2021 premiership threat with Phillips and captain Chelsea Randall back in the ranks.
Phillips may be 35-years-young and only played twice in 2020 after an ACL injury sustained during the 2019 decider but her 23-possession performance would’ve left no one doubting she’s still got it.
Coming in, there were doubts the ex-basketballer would even start in midfield and despite conceding a free-kick within the first 15 seconds at the centre bounce, she was the integral figure with 15 kicks, eight handballs, five clearances and two goals.
Adelaide had been challenged by the Eagles in the first half, but it was Phillips who warded them off in the decisive third, converting two of her four shots on goal, including a classy left-foot snap.
West Coast’s best were Emma Swanson and Dana Hooker with 17 and 19 touches respectively.
HAPPY HOMECOMING
Adelaide skipper Chelsea Randall showed no rustiness in her first AFLW appearance since the 2019 Grand Final, with 19 possessions.
The Crows skipper had injured her ACL in their first training session of the 2020 pre-season in November 2019 and not played at this level since.
WA product Randall was roared on by a strong group of her dedicated family and friends in the Mineral Resources Park grandstand.
Randall’s performance included several marauding runs where she showed no signs of a lack of confidence in her body in a big positive for the Crows.
EBONY’S REPRIEVE
Ebony Marinoff, whose three-game suspension was overturned bizarrely only 48 hours before the game, was outstanding in midfield with 21 disposals including five clearances.
Marinoff had admitted she was “distraught” to have copped the ban for forceful front-on contact on Giants recruit Brid Stack in pre-season.
That was only exacerbated by an extended tribunal process, delayed by the Australia Day weekend, leaving her and the Crows in limbo, but she shook that off impressively on the field.
INJURY WARD
Reigning Crows Best and Fairest Anne Hatchard finished the game on the bench with a corked calf which will be assessed before their Round Two game with Fremantle.
Adelaide were already without Rachelle Martin (shin), Hannah Munyard (shoulder) and Dayna Cox (hamstring).
West Coast had injury worries too, with Brianna Green limping off in the second after a clash in a marking contest, with an apparent ankle concern. In her first game in more than 1000 days, Green did return but had limited impact.
OFF-SEASON EXODUS, 14-HOUR DAY CAN’T SLOW DEMONS
The Melbourne Demons have made a bold statement to open the AFLW season, overcoming an off-season exodus, late fixture change and huge travel day to show they will be no competition pushover.
A five goal to nil blitz in the second quarter led to a 21-point win over the Gold Coast Suns at a blistering Metricon Stadium.
The Demons ran out 9.2 (56) to 5.5 (35) winners over a young but gallant Suns outfit, who scored in the first and last minute of the opening term to take an early lead but could not go on with the job.
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Led by star onballer Karen Paxman, who looks to have returned from last season’s AFLW best and fairest runner-up showing even fitter and more tenacious, the Demons ramped up the pressure in the second term and did not let the Suns back into the match.
They kicked nine of the last 12 goals of the match to seal the win just hours after boarding a plane from Melbourne, ahead of a return flight home following the match to round out a 14-hour day.
Demons coach Mick Stinear admitted the Suns got the jump on his side with their physical defence but responded well.
“The Gold Coast are so strong and physical around the ball … and they got the jump on us with that and then our girls found their feet and started winning their fair share of the footy and we got a bit more time in our forward half,” he said.
“Come quarter time they had a handle on the situation and then that second quarter was where we set up the game.”
In front of a paying crowd of 1902 fans, the Suns showed plenty in just their eighth AFLW fixture though, with the addition of veteran Sarah Perkins set to be a key to their season.
Suns coach David Lake said his young side had paid the price for a 15-minute lapse in concentration.
“With the five debutants – who I’m excited about the and energy they brought – when you play at this level, it just doesn’t stop and when you play against a side like Melbourne, who can possess the footy really well, you pay a high price (for a lapse),” he said.
PERKINS MOVE A WINNER
The Suns’ move to draft experienced forward Sarah Perkins is paying dividends already, with the former Crow and Demon showing she can provide the club with the key target up front they have lacked.
The 27-year-old took no time to form a combination with the Suns’ young All-Australian Kalinda Howarth, who put the ball on her teammate’s head for a goal in the opening quarter.
And a set move with Leah Kaslar led to her second, with the cult figure from the AFLW’s opening season set to become a quick Gold Coast favourite.
PAXMAN CONTINUES RUN
Melbourne’s star onballer continued where she left off in 2020, dominating around the ground to finish with a game-high 25 disposals – including 13 in the second term alone.
Paxman, who finished second in the AFLW best and fairest count last year, was always going to be targeted by the Suns but they could do little to slow her down.
While the Demons have lost plenty of experienced talent, the continued rise of Paxman will be key if they are to challenge for a maiden title.
PENALTIES A KEY
The Suns conceded three 50m penalties throughout the match, all of which led to goals.
The infringements – two in the second term for encroachment and one early in the third – turned the match in the Demons’ favour, giving them a lead of 28 points early in the second half.
The Suns’ discipline will need to improve vastly if they are to match it with the competition’s big guns.
SCOREBOARD
Melbourne Demons 9.2 (56)
Gold Coast Suns 5.5 (35)
Goals
Melbourne: Hore 2, Cunningham 2, Zanker, Heath, Petrevski 2, Mithen
Gold Coast: Stanton, Kaslar, Perkins 2, Perry
Best
Melbourne: Paxman, Cunningham, L Pearce, Mithen
Gold Coast: Stanton, Perkins, Keany, Ahrens, Kaslar
Crowd: 1902 at Metricon Stadium
SPECIAL MOMENT FOLLOWS RESILIENT SAINTS’ BIG STATEMENT
James Mottershead
St Kilda officially boasts the best young midfield duo in AFLW after Tyanna Smith put in one of the more memorable debut performances alongside superstar teammate Georgia Patrikios.
The 18-year-old Smith was influential when it mattered for the Saints and looks like she can elevate St Kilda into a premiership threat in 2021.
The Saints recorded their highest score in their AFLW history on the way to a nailbiting nine-point victory against an inaccurate Western Bulldogs.
Isabel Huntington, stationed as a forward, and Ellie Blackburn almost got the Dogs over the line, both kicking two goals, but St Kilda looked like the real deal with slick ball movement, options up forward and a dominant midfield.
WATT A BRIGHT LIGHT
Rhiannon Watt played the perfect game in the ruck for the Saints.
In her ninth game of AFLW, Watt perfectly combined her tap work with her ability to follow up at ground level, propelling the Saints forward to set the tone early.
Watt finished with 11 disposals, four clearances and 13 hit outs.
PATRIKIOS’ SIDEKICK
It’s no secret Georgia Patrikios is one of the best footballers in AFLW, and she showed it again on Friday night finishing with 23 disposals and a goal.
But what will excite St Kilda people the most was the breathtaking debut of its first selection at last year’s draft, Tyanna Smith.
Smith finished with 15 disposals and a goal.
BATTLE OF THE BURKES
It was the headline act heading into the game, and despite having a quiet debut, it was Alice Burke who left RSEA Park smiling while her dad Nathan was left to lick his wounds.
The daughter of the St Kilda legend, picked up as a father-daughter selection in last year’s draft, finished with two disposals.
Alice gets the chocolates in the Burke v Burke battle but this is what it's all about â¤ï¸#AFLW #AFLWSaintsDogs pic.twitter.com/OQAERclULr
— AFL Women's (@aflwomens) January 29, 2021
SLIPPERY SKILLS WHEN WET
If there were fears more than 40mm of rain before the first bounce was going to turn the game into a scrap, it took just 30 seconds to put everyone’s minds at rest.
When Caitlin Greiser kicked truly from the goalsquare it ignited a flurry of scoring and fast football, with six goals kicked in an exhilarating first term.
The first half, which yielded nine goals, would’ve muted the competition’s naysayers as Patrikios, Smith and Blackburn burst out of stoppages time and again.
HUNTINGTON DOMINANT AS A FORWARD
After playing her footy in the Dogs’ backline last season on her way to winning the Rising Star award, Isabel Huntington was the most influential forward on the ground at RSEA Park.
Highlighted by huge pack marks in the second and third quarters, Huntington was too strong in the air and just as dangerous when the ball hit the deck.
She finished with nine disposals and 2.2.
SCOREBOARD
St Kilda 8.3 (51) def Western Bulldogs 6.6 (42)
Goals
St Kilda: Greiser 2, Guttridge, 1 Patrikios, Shierlaw, Smith, Vogt
Bulldogs: Huntington 2, Toogood, Blackburn
Best
St Kilda: Patrikios, Smith, Greiser, White, Watt
Bulldogs: Huntington, Blackburn, Toogood, Lamb
Crowd: 2523
IZZY BACKS UP BURKE’S BIG CALL
Nathan Burke says fans can expect to see a lot more of All Australian defender Isabel Huntington playing forward in 2021.
Huntington, who also won the Rising Star award last year, dominated as a permanent forward for the Bulldogs in the side’s loss to St Kilda and could easily have finished with four goals.
Two huge pack marks and a long-range bomb in the first quarter had Burke feeling vindicated for his off-season decision to move the 21-year-old forward.
“Everyone who bagged me over summer saying you’ve got to play Izzy back she’s All Australian at back and as I’ve said numerous times if you’ve got a player like that you’d rather have her kick goals than stop goals,” Burke said.
“Once she actually gets herself into a bit of match practice as well, because by her own admission she’s probably saying I’m still not sure when to lead and when to go, when she figures it out, look out.”
Burke, who coached against his daughter Alice for the first time, also had praise for star midfielder Ellie Blackburn who finished with 21 disposals and 2.1.
“I’d have three or four of her if I could, Ellie was tremendous,” he said.
“One of the things I challenged her over the summer was to be a goalkicking mid, that’s an added string to her bow and against Richmond the other week she kicked two goals, in our intra-club she kicked two and tonight again she kicked two, so that’s enormous.”
Umpiring was a sore point for Burke and the Bulldogs though, after the free kick count ended 26-6 in St Kilda’s favour.
Burke said the Saints deserved a lot of the free kicks after throwing their bodies in, but it was a big discrepancy.
“I’ll leave it at that, geez it makes it tough,” he said. “What was it, two-and-a-half or three thousand for a noise of affirmation (at Moorabbin), it’s getting easy, back at home next week we will get our Western Bulldogs peoples to come and do the same.”
Burke said the role of Dad was put to one side when the game started because there was so much happening.
“If you asked me how she went, I’m probably going to have to watch the video and give you a review after that,” he said.
“But I asked her after if she had fun and enjoyed it and she said it was great, so hopefully she did well enough to get another game next week so I can sit down and play the Dad role.”
Next week the Bulldogs play Carlton on Friday night at Whitten Oval.
RESILIENT SAINTS SHOW TOUGH EDGE
St Kilda will use a preseason dogged by disruption to its advantage after a pulsating win against the Western Bulldogs.
Coach Peta Searle said the ever-changing nature of the fixture in season 2021 wouldn’t pose too many issues for the Saints, who were constantly changing training venues in the preseason.
COVID has meant that border closures threaten to impact the AFLW fixture, but Searle said her side wasn’t looking too far ahead.
“We’ve all gone through hell so to speak in the last nine months so we just take what we take and get what we get and compete the way that we can compete,” she said.
“In our preseason our ground wasn’t ready so we were training at Seaford, we were training out the front (of RSEA Park), we were training at Trevor Barker Oval, so we really just said you know what, we’re not going to whinge and moan we’re just going to be a team that can compete anywhere and play anyone.
“That’s the type of team we want to be, resilient, so the draw doesn’t bother us, we’re just glad to be playing footy with our mates again.”
Searle said she wasn’t surprised to see first-gamer Tyanna Smith look at home so soon.
“She’s been blitzing training, she’s exciting to watch, she attacks the gaps, she’s a competitor and she’s tough,” Searle said.
“She runs to the right places and even when she was run down tonight the message went straight out to her to tell her that’s her go and to keep going.
“We’re pretty happy to have T in our side and feel like we’re starting to get a pretty good midfield group which is impressive seeing as they’re kids and we’re just seven games in.”
Tarni White, who lost her job after suffering a second ACL tear in as many years last season, made a spectacular return for the Saints and finished with 20 disposals.
“Tarni’s a competitor, she’s a driven young lady and you always know what you’re going to get with Tarni,” Searle said.
“She trains like that, she plays like that and I think some of her teammates fear her in our tackling drills, but that’s the beautiful thing about Tarni, I wasn’t surprised on what she delivered tonight.”
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Searle had plenty of praise for the spectacle and the brand of footy both teams played.
“I think if you were an outsider watching women’s footy, you’d walk away pretty excited about where the game’s going,” she said.
Next week the Saints take on North Melbourne at Arden St Oval on Sunday.
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