Semi conscious

Friends and well-wishers, thank the football gods because after seven finals losses in a row, the dear old Melbourne Football Club has saluted for the first time since 2022. Only now will I sincerely agree that it's better to be in them and lose than not have the chance at all, but there'd have been none of that if this game had gone where it looked to be heading in the second quarter. Enter pound-for-pound our finest half in a final, where unlikely heroes united with superstars and legends to deliver a result that was more exciting than all the thumpings of shit teams this season combined. 

If we were going to get to the pointy end of the year and plummet off a cliff again, it's appropriate that the opposition had players called Goodwin and Grace Kelly. And by the time we were nearly four goals down I was waiting for surprise recruit Jana Novotna to show up and declare us the game's straight sets specialists. But no, unlike cowards like me, the people who are employed to do this stuff professionally weren't running up the white flag and preparing for post-mortem finger-pointing, they were alive, well, and ready to come back from the dead in memorable fashion. Result - a massive weight off the shoulders, even if there may be an anvil headed directly for our collective bonces next week.

Usually the only reason to watch Channel 7 games via Fox Sports/Kayo is to avoid seeing the Tayla Harris eye jumper/man kicking footy through window ads for the 2500th time this year, and given that only a handful of the viewing audience would've been tuning in through their coverage I'm surprised they bothered to put on a panel to analyse the game. Not half as surprised to hear somebody from the organisation that calls games from a South Melbourne studio say "there's no excuse for not getting out and watching some footy today". Also, with five minutes to the bounce it wasn't a very helpful suggestion unless you were going past on the #19 tram. 

Quite a few people had an excuse because only 2600 turned up, and if somebody's going to claim we'd have got more at Casey, a) we wouldn't, and b) it's a small price to pay for the dignity of the competition, because it looked better on TV. To thrash the over-expansion case yet again, AFLW would be in a much better place, with more interest if games like this were the norm rather than Gold Coast losing by 70.

My anti-Cranbourne views about how Princes Park should be the home of AFLW (and who really cares if there's some Carlton signage on the fence?) didn't look so good when the place flooded a view weeks ago, and I thought further carnage was on the cards when the national anthem singer was grappling with the radio thing (industry term) on her hip just as the music started. I suspect she battled hard to stay faloat together in the face of production troubles, but pulled it off only for the microphone to abruptly cut out about 0.01 seconds after she finished the final note. After going to pieces the last three times they've heard Advance Australia Fair, her save was obviously inspirational to our players.

This is the same ground where I once found a disused washing machine at the foot of a stairwell, so while it may be better than Casey the ideal situation would be for the AFL to invest in a boutique stadium 'Home of AFLW' stadium somewhere near the city. Here's an idea, how about we give up on paying a fortune to move to middle of a racecourse and go halves so AFLW Land can also house our training venue? What about putting it in Docklands near that bullshit wheel so the City of Melbourne will chip in too? Might start an MFC Party to run at the next state election.  

Like last week we got off to a hot start, but this time I wasn't falling for it. There was a false alarm where a Harris snap from an obscure angle just fell short, to the disappointment of Gall who'd already turned around to celebrate, and the other players mobbing Tayla in the pocket. Never mind that shit, here came Fitzsimon to put one through from a similar angle, and my petualnt demands for a Crumb 'n Snap led recovery were being taken seriously. Then Hore did brilliantly to bring a ball to ground and regather before kicking the second. This was not to be taken seriously yet, but preferable to being two goals behind.

Against Brisbane, Wotherspoon got a rush of blood and missed the third goal via attempted miracle dribble from miles out, this time it was the more conventional route of Fitzsimon from a set shot 30 meters out. Once again, after we'd missed the chance to stomp on the opposition in the first quarter they belatedly turned up and made life difficult. The ball spent the next few minutes at Adelaide's end, and we were in danger of having all the early dominance wiped out in a flash again. 

I thought it was nice when the Crows botched an easy chance from right in front, but as we couldn't clear the ball effectively it turned out to just be the setup for a seven point play and I thought it was time to start nervously adjusting the collar. So far, so last week, but crucially we didn't concede the second goal [Update - I'd completely blanked out that the Brisbane goals came in the second quarter. Going well then], and in a complete deviation from the script the goal to the right of screen with 0.00 left in a quarter went to us. It was a fine finish from Mahony, whose zero goals in the first 12 games of the season were obviously just a massive rope-a-dope job before she went (relatively) nuts in finals.

So that was all good, but you could tell from the way the ball got trapped in our backline that the Crows weren't going to fall apart like so much other flimsy opposition this season, and the way our fourth quarters have gone this year I wanted to avoid any tricky situation like... say... being level at the last change. That didn't look like it was going to be a problem thanks to Adelaide suddenly shooting away in the second quarter, starting with a mark to a player third in line, who only had three career goals and decided to steer a set shot right through the middle instead of shanking it OOF and into the park at right angles. 

After earlier claims on commentary that the mystery voice you could hear through the effects mic was Mick Stinear, I hope he was the person who unsuccessfully yelled "chewy on your boot" as she lined up. Later he was seen coaching from the box, which is very unlike him and may have just been down to the novelty of playing at a ground with two proper levels. Wherever he was during the quarter in question, nothing could be done to stop the Crows from seemingly carting off to a famous away win.

I'd complain about the 50 against Gillard that led to Adelaide's fourth goal (surprise, surprise, to somebody who isn't a regular goalkicker), but even if the contact was so light it nearly qualified as mime don't push an opponent after a mark unnecessarily and there's no chance of being duded by the umpires. The free before their next goal was more offensive, with a bit of pissweak off the ball holding leading to a reversal and the sense things were about to go tits up. Even Abbey Holmes, who once said "we" when referring to the Crows on commentary couldn't hide her disdain for the decisions.

Enter Crumbmaster Mahony, who goalled via a great turn and snap from the square, and you'd have willingly taken a seven point deficit into half time considering where it was going. Except you couldn't, because this time we were the clods conceding right at the end. I'd had to stop watching at the end of the first quarter, and was 35 minutes in the hole even after skipping half time, so if it suddenly leapt to the real time coverage a'la Geelong 2022 I'd have been surprised to find us close/in front rather than eight goals down. It just felt like it was going that way, but as you already knew half an hour ahead of me it wasn't.

With limited options available to change the game after half time, Harris went into the ruck and Pearce played forward because I suppose they thought we couldn't take forward marks to save ourselves anyway so why not try and liven things up around the ground. This worked in theory because Harris got plenty of the ball during her cameo time in the middle, but most of our attacks were still dying when panic punted into the arms of a defender (if it got that far), so wasn't helping us eat into the lead.

After respectfully trying to trade Bannan last week (shortly before that plan expired when it was all but confirmed that Zanker will be going to a WA side), she'd done chuff all here but had a chance to cut the margin to a goal with a set shot. Remember that final against the Crows when she said no thanks to a set shot and ran around the mark? That was good. This kick wasn't, but as we'd switched to an all-crumb strategy, Mackin got the all-important goal on the run instead and thing were officially ON.

It went from ON to SPARKS BURSTING FROM THE SOCKET when Kween Kate Hore put us ahead by rolling the ball through from angle to confirm what you already knew, that she's the greatest player this side has ever seen. Adelaide hadn't scored for the quarter, but this game had more ebb and flow than the Pacific Ocean, so it was no surprise when they were having a set shot not long after. That missed, but more importantly for this contest it happened with a Crows player looking dead in the background, then hobbling off with a leg injury. I don't wish injury on anyone and hope she's already recovered, but at the time my first thought was "that's got to help us". 

After all that hard work, we were on the hook for another goal in the last minute if not for a massive tackle by Gillard. Apparently this was just her warm up for an even better one later. This left scores equal at the last change, and good thing I could skip through three quarter time because the nerves were getting to me now. So much of this season has felt throwaway and frivolous, but confronted with the prospect of our season turning out to be a massive waste, I felt alive. 

Sure, the game was probably already over in real time but I didn't need to know that. It's not like somebody was going to drive down the street blaring the Grand Old Flag, and as I'm pretty sure my new neighbour who looks like Steven King isn't (only because it would be a right prick of a drive to Casey), I was safe from spoilers and free to watch in as close to real-time as possible, with gratuitous fast-forwarding after goals, and at stoppages. 

We were obviously very much in it but I just had a premonition that things had already gone horribly wrong. Partly because of our last quarter record, but also due to being a spineless poltroon. So when Adelaide attacked first my "here we go" moment came much later than last week, and I don't know how many Adelaide players are called Kelly but unless you're connected to the Royal Family of Monaco it's no excuse for saying Grace's first name every time. It'll be a sad day for dated references when she and Natalie Wood eventually leave the game, so can somebody please draft a Diana Spencer or Lupe Valez.

Early Adelaide dominance didn't bode well, but it all turned after we survived them getting away with two blatant counts of holding the ball, and went the other way for a goal against the run of play from who else but Hore. With Hanks not having her best day (but somehow being listed as our second best in the AFL website report, which is absolutely bonkers), it was up to the captain to lead an array of randoms to their finest moments. Wotherspoon had played one of the better 0.0 forward games so far, full of lovely chase and tackle, when she got reward by pulling down a great contested mark after our best ball movement of the day. Heath set it up with one of her Heathian looks like she went twice the allowed distance but probably didn't runs, but credit to Mahony for a perfect kick inside 50. Great time to play the game of your life to date. 

Suddenly we were 11 points up with eight minutes left, but that was more than enough time to turn it into a one point loss. Then Campbell wandered forward, pulled down a mark at the top of the square and it was going to take a lot of hard work to lose this. I'd still consider it a massive taking of piss if we'd lost to three unanswered goals in seven minutes but after events in the men's competition earlier this year I'm legally obliged to say you just never know... And when Adelaide attacked right out of the middle we were lucky not to be back within two kicks.

Wotherspoon could've killed it with a shot after another big mark, but even in missing she wasted enough time off the clock to ensure it would require St Kilda at Docklands levels of organisational disarray to lose. They did get one goal back, and even when pelting forward with 25 seconds left it was probably too late to get two and snatch it in dramatic fashion unless somebody punched the goalkicker immediately after it went through. 

Just to make sure, Gillard did this - which was arguably not as important as the one at the end of the third quarter, and not really match saving given how little time was left but looked great so let's look at it again.

Stood tallest when the moment arrived. 🔥 Take a bow, Tahlia. #DemonSpirit pic.twitter.com/jYs3OcgiDX

— Melbourne AFLW (@MelbourneAFLW) November 15, 2025

The shove of the vanquished opponent really topped it off, as did Hore's joy at having finally won the pretty big one. And indeed we had, ending the W finals losing streak at three. Spare a thought for Eliza West and Casey Sherriff, who lost the first two, then went to Hawthorn and have dropped four over the next two seasons, surely becoming the first ever players to lose six finals in three years (NB: Turns out they're not because they didn't). I hold all our premiership players in high esteem, and look forward to them returning to flag reunions in the future but all I'm saying is that it wouldn't have happened if they still played for us. Especially if we still didn't make finals last year.

Our joy may not last long thanks to the juggernaut that's waiting over the horizon with a thermonuclear nuclear bomb next week, but I'm thrilled that everyone's work this season has been at least partially validated with a finals win. Also, it's good that everyone's calling this Mick Stinear's 100th game in charge because it validates my view that Shae Sloane was the coach of record for that game against Hawthorn in 2022. Speaking of the coach, based on his reaction at the siren either he or a few long-term players are going to chuck it in at the end of the season, so may they all get one last, unexpected crack at a flag together via unusual and/or nefarious circumstances.

2025 Daisy Pearce Medal votes
5 - Kate Hore
4 - Shelley Heath
3 - Tahlia Gillard
2 - Ryleigh Wotherspoon
1 - Maggie Mahony

Apologies to Fitzsimon, Harris, McNamara and Taylor.

Leaderboard    
Ironically, if we'd lost Hore would've won the big one outright, but by keeping the season alive she's left the door open for Hanks to tie for first, or even go past her if we make the Grand Final. Now that's what I call captaincy. And there's big news in the minor awards, where Mahony not quite 'storms' into a share of the Rising Star given that you can currently win with one vote, but picks a great time to register her first appearance in the top five. Feel free to take it out of the judge's hands by kicking eight next week.

44 - Kate Hore
39 - Tyla Hanks
--- Cannot win ---
22 - Maeve Chaplin (WINNER: Defender of the Year)
17 - Eden Zanker
16 - Tayla Harris
15 - Eliza McNamara
12 - Shelley Heath
11 - Megan Fitzsimon, Tahlia Gillard
5 - Paxy Paxman, Olivia Purcell
4 - Lauren Pearce (LEADER: Ruck of the Year), Ryleigh Wotherspoon
3 - Sinead Goldrick
1 - Maggie Mahony, (JOINT LEADER: Rising Star Award), Saraid Taylor (JOINT LEADER: Rising Star Award)

Goal of the Week
Encouragement award to Mahony for the various snaps, but you can't go past Hore's big bounce. In the race for the end of year award it had better context than Zanker vs Sydney, but I'm still fond of that right up to the point where we find out she's definitely leaving before the final result and there's a 'shock' change of mind.

Next Week
You cana avoid straight sets and still lose the decider 6-0, but even thought it's highly unlikely that we'll end the greatest winning streak in history I'm very much into having a crack at North. In the limited time since 1st and 2nd could meet in a Preliminary Final, the second place team will never have started underdogs to the same level we will next week and I say bring it on. Like entering the $50 million Powerball jackpot it's probably a waste of time, but until the moment the numbers come out and you've won nowt you can dream about how good the unthinkable will be.

Obviously, Zanker comes back, but the way the forward line worked here with one less tall I'm tempted to say either Bannan or Gall will need to make way. No doubt this will lead to Wotherspoon and Mahony having zero disposals combined in a total of 0.3 but if we're going to beat North by any means don't you think it's more likely to be snaps directly plucked from the arse rather than well crafted kicks to a marking forward? And in light of the best score we've kicked against a good team in god knows how long, I won't get high and mighty in demanding a Pisano recall.

Otherwise, assuming Chaplin's still not going to be right, just go with the same lineup and hope for the best I suppose. And somebody sew the seeds of confusion by starting a fight at the opening bounce please. 

Final thoughts
Now, obviously we want to win next week clean and free of controversy, but at the same time, North Melbourne have you thought about a team building dinner at one of these restaurants?

Finals Destination

Hello, it's your usual correspondent, back from my nervous breakdown just in time for finals. And what says 'uplifting comeback story' better than Melbourne blowing the first part of a double chance? If you consider the entire scope of human existence, it's not that long since we last won a flag under those circumstances... in 1957.

Thanks again to the guest reporters for keeping the red and blue end up over the last fortnight, but I'm here for as long as we keep our finals adventures alive. They're morally obligated to give us another go next week, and having come this far in 2025 I'm prepared to go for another three weeks if it means rising from the dead to make a Grand Final via beating the most unstoppable force in the competition's history.

By now, I'm pretty sure the only people reading this are fellow nutters who also spent the whole week thinking how SHIT it would be to lose eight consecutive finals across the genders. But you can't lose eight until you've lost seven, which is where our old chums Brisbane come in. If somebody can prove there's been a mystical 'flags for finals losses' trade-off it would all be worth it, but as no such thing exists I reserve the right to be morbid and miserable. 

As somebody who always expects the worst but hopes to be pleasantly surprised, I went into this game thinking about pre-ordering commemorative 0-8 merchandise from a foreign sweatshop (not sure who'd buy it, but go with me), and obviously thought "here we go" in record time when the Lions got a free at the opening bounce. 

The return of the mystery midweek injury - previously seen destroying our 2024 season - claimed Maeve Chaplin, and I was not keen on the ball spending any more time than necessary in a Chapless backline, so it wasn't ideal handing the ball over to them with an invitation to wallop it inside 50. Speaking of absent defenders, it's not my place to tell them who to pick (well, not in the women's game anyway, I'll go to the electric chair for selection whinges March - September August) but I felt bad for Laela Ebert that she'd been roped in as an injury replacement, played every game of the season, then got the Tijuana when finals turned up.

The free kick was confirmation bias gold, but inadvertently led to our first goal. They tried to get it inside 50 and test our Gillard and *makes ehhhhh side-to-side hand wobbling gesture* backline, but a pox kick went straight to O'Hehir [insert sound of deviant British laughter], and by not paying a 50 when the ball was slapped from her hands, the umpire helped get the ball to Heath, who got a free for a high tackle. She was well beyond her range, but Brisbane obviously thought she'd have a red hot go anyway because they ignored Harris strolling past for a handoff/goal on the run combo. Not, as it turns out, the start of a huge day out for Tayla against her old side.

We were suspiciously (and misleadingly) dominant early, and another chance soon came via the high tackle/offload method. In this case, Hore graciously declined a long-distance opportunity for her 100th career goal and passed to Fitzsimon. She missed, but at the second opportunity Hore did register the career ton. Which is a great achievement by our reigning greatest player ever, but more importantly at this time put us 13 points up in a final. 

The excitement was diminished a bit by Zanker departing the ground with what looked to me at first like the old "I can still walk but my ACL is mincemeat" scenario, until it turned out she was hobbling while trying to regain composure after a head knock. She passed the concussion test, but was ruled out of the game anyway, which was the safest option after we got away with sending Goldrick back on with a fractured eye socket.

We remained on top until quarter time, and held them to a single point. Maybe it was just the home ground advantage that caused us to lose to Brisbane a few weeks ago? Nothing to do with a forward line subject to more downhill skiing references than Sonny Bono, and finishing games like a car running out of petrol I'm sure. 

Given our very average last quarters this year, I was keen to have some sort of buffer to work with at the end here, and we'd have got a third if Wotherspoon had passed to Bannan or walked a bit further into an open goal instead of trying to roll it through from 30 metres like Ryleigh Pickett. If it went through via any means we'd have been in "hello, what's going on here?" territory, but that miss was the beginning of the end. Next thing you knew the ball was at the other end, where Taylor failed the Acting Football League test of pretending you REALLY wanted to keep the ball in play and instead gently rolled it over like a lawn bowler. Sure, a Lions player had just hoiked the ball in the air seconds earlier, but AFLW umpires have all but decriminalised incorrect disposal so it's not surprising they missed it.

Unfortunately for Taylor, who has been very good this season, and did well in other parts of this game, her over-lingering tackle immediately after helped Brisbane to their second and our first quarter successes had been wiped out. It was back to three points, and remained that when Brisbane converted another free/goal. As she was closest to the ball when it was paid I was worried for a second that Taylor had done a one-person reverse Mad Minute and given away three goals in a row, but thankfully for her the alleged offence had already occurred. Didn't make any difference overall, by now our Zankless forward line had practically ceased trading, and Brisbane were doing all the attacking. 

That's more like how I expected things to go, and a reminder not to do stupid things like feel positive about winning off the back of a couple of early goals. The good news is that the Lions got it out of their system and didn't get another before half time, but neither did we, and watching our attacks die horrible deaths probably brought joy to all those lowly teams we'd beaten the tar out of earlier in the season. Maybe I don't want a two division system as much as I thought? 

Despite Herculean, Gawnesque efforts by Hore to lift her side, we came back from halftime flatter than the proverbial plateful of piss and conceded first. It was just the sort of goal from thin air that we don't do enough, and instead of the finals slogan 'Bring the Heat', I'd suggest they try to 'Bring the Crumb'. I've wrestled all year with which one of the forwards has to make way, and unless the decision is made for us by Zanker going west, I've regrettably landed on Bannan. I will always cherish only knowing we'd won the Grand Final by seeing her celebrate in our general direction, but we've got to get some ground level players down there, and she lacks the versatility of Harris. 

Send letterbombs c/o Demonblog Towers, but please attach your case for using all of Zanker, Bannan, Gall and Harris (+ Campbell/Pearce at times) inside 50. And any danger of playing Pisano again? She hasn't set the world on fire, but if you draft somebody at #5 and have them under contract for two more years there must be a better end to their season than playing in half-baked scratch matches. NFI if she'd have made a difference against Brisbane, but if she plays next week I'll be heavily invested in her doing something useful so this paragraph doesn't make me look like a cock.

Just as we seemed to be swirling around the u-bend, enter Supreme Leader to stick a kick down Mahony's throat and get things going again. I doubt many established teams have three games in a row where somebody kicks their first career goal, but I'd have preferred that as a fun fact to Channel 7's helpful graphic about how Brisbane had never beaten us in a final. Which is not that big an achievement considering there had only previously been two. And when we gave back the Mahony goal soon after, it was time to erase the stat from Talkingpointpedia entirely.

Stranger things have happened than us kicking a run of goals, but I'd all but put up the white flag and wondered if we could change the course of the game by somebody heroically sacrificing their season by going the biff. The Lions look like a team that would enthusiastically throw themselves into stoush and forget about footy, but sadly the theory was never tested.

Other than Hore being dudded out of an open goal by a bounce/close checking opponent, our forward line remained unseen - and the captain was so good everywhere else on the ground she gets a full pardon from being implicated. I'm sure things would've looked a lot better if Zanker was down there, but it doesn't mean the moment she departs (and if she doesn't play this week the departure may already have happened) everyone else goes out in sympathy. 

McNamara was well down the list of people I'd expect to be marking inside 50, and as it's not her job to kick set shots I won't hold a miss against her. Still, as long as we kept the margin under 10 at three quarter time you never know right? And then we let Brisbane go end-to-end in the dying secondsfor a goal where ball hit boot between the on-screen clock expiring and the siren going off. There was a fair push in the back in the lead-up, but that's no excuse for being in that situation to begin with. 

There's always a chance of weird shit happening, but fat chance. It will be retrospectively funny if we win next week and somehow beat RoboNorth in the Prelim but at this stage I'd be willing to bet a kidney against that happening. With nothing else happening in attack Campbell went forward, but her attempting to recapture the Zank magic was like trying to fill the Grand Canyon by chucking in some loose rocks.

After partially starting the rot in the first quarter, Wotherspoon had the chance to inject some life into things but missed, and I reckon it's risky relying on set shot goals so much in a competition where only about 10 players can comfortably kick over 40 metres. The 'spoon agreed with my idea and crumbed one straight through the middle. Of course, this was all for nothing when a minute later four (4) Brisbane players were left running onto a loose ball in the square that may have bounced through on its own anyway. Some teams would've blown it by crashing into each other, or trying to share the ball unnecessarily two metres out from goal but none who were playing in Qualifying Finals. 

It all started with a player wading through a tackle in the middle of the ground, and with 10 minutes go, this was fatal. But not as fatal as conceding another one straight after. I'd like to see the ball tracker evidence that the ball went far enough to be paid a mark, but it was morally no less than we deserved. It said everything about our day when Gillard threw a boot at a loose ball on the half back flank, only for it to shoot off at right angles and out of bounds. If I wasn't obliged to keep watching, I'd have walked out of my TV at that point. 

Gall got one to cut the margin to 13 again, but instead of piling on the pressure just in case, we let them get the ball straight back down their end and nearly kick a goal. It didn't happen then, but the death blow didn't follow far behind. Bannan got one at the end, which was nice for her but too bloody late to be any help for our chances of winning. Which we didn't do, landing us on the edge of another double finals disaster, and on the same side of the draw as a team we probably won't kick a goal against. Just think, if this comp was still played over summer we'd be a few weeks away from Round 1, refreshed and ready for a big season. Now I feel like I want us to win the flag but would be guiltily satisfied to get a start on ignoring footy for the next few months.

2025 Daisy Pearce Medal votes
5 - Kate Hore
--- Incredible distance ---
4 - Tahlia Gillard
3 - Eliza McNamara
2 - Tyla Hanks
1 - Ryleigh Wotherspoon

Apologies to Fitzsimon, Mackin and Taylor.

Leaderboard
It's a completely natural grandstand finish that I'm prepared to take a lie detector test to prove was not rigged to create drama. It would be fitting if they shared the award, but as that would likely involve us losing next week and neither being in the top five players (explaining the loss) then let's hope for alternatives. They are officially now the only potential winners.

39 - Tyla Hanks, Kate Hore
--- Cannot win ---
22 - Maeve Chaplin (WINNER: Defender of the Year)
17 - Eden Zanker
16 - Tayla Harris
15 - Eliza McNamara
11 - Megan Fitzsimon
8 - Tahlia Gillard, Shelley Heath
6 - Olivia Purcell
5 - Paxy Paxman
4 - Lauren Pearce (LEADER: Ruck of the Year)
3 - Sinead Goldrick
2 - Ryleigh Wotherspoon
1 - Saraid Taylor (LEADER: Rising Star Award)

Goal of the Week
It's the Wotherspoon crumb just for being a rare goal to come unexpectedly instead of first relying on a mark or free inside 50. Zanker vs Sydney remains the leader.

Next Week
The world tour of all the teams we've lost finals to before continues with a return to playing Adelaide. Here's to Bannan bringing back her move from last time of running around the mark for a goal on a run, then sticking two fingers up towards me for trying to trade her. It's just a team balance thing, I promise. The Crows are obviously not what they used to be, but are a cut above the mid-table strugglers we usually dispatch with moderate ease (in Victoria) so this could go anywhere. NFI if Chaplin is coming back, and I seriously doubt Zanker will play, but Goldrick would be a welcome addition in defence and maybe the loss of our best tall forward will accidentally encourage us to do something else in attack. I'll foolishly predict a win but without any confidence.

Final thoughts
It's better to make finals and lose them than not making them at all, because it means you had 12-24 good weeks and only a couple of shit ones at the end, but I'm fanging for a hit of glory so if I promise not to get upset when we die without a trace against North can we just win one more game this year please?  

Second comes right after first

It's thanks to the guest reporter rotation for saving my bacon again, and this time we're crossing time zones for a return report from Mae of Western Australia. It's been 12 years since she contributed the last post of the Neeld era, which is absolutely wild stuff. In the interim she was there for a M flag, I was there for a W flag, and we'll navigate the end of 2025 home and away football commitments together.

Big thanks to Sir Demonblog for letting me jump in this week. Fair warning that this might lean a little more 'vibes' than 'serious football analysis'. (As opposed to my other Champion Data level posts?). One of the joys of AFLW season is how perfectly it coincides with the annual Men’s Off-Season Meltdown. While the papers are full of trade demands and punch-ons, our girls are dishing out proper Demon ruthlessness.

On a personal note, as someone who was the lone girl in the kick-to-kick during school lunch breaks back in the day, I still can't believe I am lucky enough to have AFLW exist in my lifetime. Even though it arrived too late for me to play (not that my lack of talent, fitness, or ability to survive a Shelley Heath tackle would've helped), the W vibe still makes you feel part of it. The players' genuine warmth - from Kate Hore thanking you for holding the banner to their support of the Ruby Demons - makes every fan feel included. It's just a bloody good vibe.

Also, a quick plug for our amazing WA supporter group, the Western Demons. Their latest newsletter has an incredible feature on more than 100 years of women’s footy history, including wartime matches in 1915 where women played in full skirts in front of huge crowds in Perth while raising money for the troops. If that’s your jam, I’m sure they would be happy to send you a copy. Hit them up on Facebook or email westerndemons@gmail.com for a copy.

On another note, I'm loving the club's newfound social-media energy. Living so far from the action, I lap up every post as it makes me feel closer to the teams and fellow supporters. Dropping a joke about 186 (we were using '186' long before the cool kids started saying '6-7,' right?) felt like the start of a new era, and I am absolutely here for it. (Objection - I think it's like telling Pearl Harbour survivors gags about the Japanese airforce). 

Laughing at ourselves is actual Demon Spirit, and the timing — right as our girls were about to head back to the scene of the crime for a must-win (to dodge Norf until the Granny) — showed a cheeky, youthful arrogance that this old chook can absolutely get behind.

Admin’s not sleeping tonight 😔 #DemonSpirit pic.twitter.com/BMMYOfF6WM

— Melbourne Demons (@melbournefc) October 31, 2025

Right, so onto the game. We went in needing a win to cement second spot - aka a ladder position taht keeps us well clear of the Norf juggernaut in week one of finals. We knew the Lions would roll the Pie in their last home-and-away game, so it was pretty simple: win and finish second (hello, Brissie at our Casey stronghold) (or as it turns out, at Princes Park. Which is bad for home ground advantage, but good for not playing marquee games at glorified public parks), or lose, slip to fourth, and cop a humiliation from Norf in week one. Let’s save that for the last Saturday in… November, shall we?

At least we'd already earned the double chance. We've got to maintain recent MFC tradition and go 0–2 in every finals series we're in, right? (This is why the 186 jokes are funny to us.)

The chance to be the first W player to reach 100 career goals was snatched from Kate Hore, with Gemma Houghton hitting the milestone earlier in the day. It's a shame as I really wanted us to win something this year. Still, at least it wasn’t a Norf player taking this one too.

Changes were Georgia Gall returning from her ankle injury, Dingo coming in to cover the injured Molly in defence, and Rigoni making way. I turned on Foxtel to find the Swans–Bombers game still going after a weather delay and found us on the channel labelled 'Lawn Bowls PBL22' instead. Classic.

In the first quarter, Maggie Mahony got a bit greedy early, missing a snap at goal and ignoring Zanker in a paddock of space. Please, girls, don't annoy Zanks when we are up against Daisy to get her to sign a contract. It was a good contest early, with both sides looking dangerous when they found space to run but our tackling pressure - especially from Heath and Hanks - kept shutting down their flow. Add those long Gillard arms cutting off everything, and we were holding firm.

Geelong's pressure was solid too, and a tackle in their forward line gifted them the first goal. But enter Ryleigh Wotherspoon, who pickpockets a Cat with a ninja move and nailed our reply. Must be her cricket background… can we make 'cricket background' the W version of a 'basketball background'? (I feel like she'd have been an elite sledger in her day. Real off-colour stuff, possibly ending in Miandad vs Lillee wielding of willow)

The Cats started dominating uncontested ball, but Maeve Chaplin was reading the play beautifully and saved us repeatedly. They were peppering the goals, but were thankfully kicking with Demon-like inaccuracy. It was a very entertaining opening term, just one goal apiece but plenty of fun to watch. I warned you there'd be more vibes than analysis. (So far we've had a player called Dingo and somebody's alternative sports background raised so A+ from me)

Second quarter. Right, time to lift Dees as Operation Avoid Norf needed to step up a gear. Tyla Hanks, my goodness. What. A. Player. She nailed a strong tackle to win a free, then delivered a precision pass to Tayla Harris. Pure, glorious Hanksy vibes. Zanker slotted our second - please stay, Edo, we love you. She outmuscled her opponent to take a nice mark from a lovely Fitzy long bomb into the hot zone and converted from 20 metres out.

Both sides were tackling like madwomen. Mackin was a bit fumbly (understandable after so much time out), but you can already see how her line-breaking pace and dare will be crucial come finals. We’ve missed that spark all season, and I think having both her and Goldy in the team will make us a lot better. Geelong were moving it quicker, but we'd had more of the ball and repeat inside 50s this term. Their defender out-marking Gall then laughing in her face was outrageous behaviour, though to be fair, with Georgia’s cricket background she probably opened the sledging innings herself (Oops, I blew the cricket sledging storyline too early. Meanwhile, I hope the Cats player who had all the laughs enjoys sitting on the couch next week).

Nina Morrison, though... She's just better than everyone for a few minutes there. Spins out of a pack at their 50 and snaps truly to put the Cats back in front. They're coming hard now. Prespakis hits Morrison again soon after (the curl connection vibes I am here for), but why is she that free inside 50? Very uncharacteristically sloppy defending from us. Luckily she missed but the momentum was all theirs. 

Then, finally, a spark. Harris launches long, Gall takes a cracking pack mark, earns a 50, then dishes off to Fitzy - who handballs to Gillard rather than taking a shot herself, and Gillard bombs her first ever AFLW goal from 40. Scenes! Game 46, and the tall defender gets on the board. After Maeve's first last week, it’s becoming a defender goal fest (Thank god I was in the room for this one, because it was tremendous). Vibes immaculate.

Half-time: Dees 21, Cats 17. Fun, frantic, entertaining footy. I'd settle for boring footy if it meant we locked in second spot without heart palpitations.

Shoutout to a few Demon Army legends - Suze and Claire - spotted behind the half-time boundary chat. Elite banner skills and background acting? Love it.

The commentator described a Hanksy run, bounce, and precision pass to Zanker on the lead as "champagne football". Correct, and the really expensive kind of champers. But the Cats drew first blood in the second half to retake the lead. Come on Dees, don't make this hard for yourself. The connection between mids and forwards wasn't there tonight. Then some Zanker magic, a miracle goal over her shoulder from a ruck contest near the square. Please stay, Edo. Demonblog, surely that’s a Goal of the Year contender? (TBD)

Hanksy was finding more of it now, and Mackin's was shaking off the fumbles and starting to show her run. We were up by 10 halfway through the third and had definitely cranked up a gear, but my blood pressure would prefer a 10 goal lead, not 10 points. Geelong's tackling pressure remained top-notch, and Zanker going off with a bloody nose hurt as we need her up forward.

A random umpiring decision (never been better) gifted the Cats a chance, but an equally random one our way balanced it out. Karma vibes perfection. Hanksy then kicks a Nina Morrison-style goal - crashing the pack, scooping it up, spinning through traffic and snapping truly. God, I love her. Gillard followed with a brilliant smother to kill another Cats attack. But Morrison responded with her own Morrison/Hanks special to keep Geelong within ten. 

Then the skipper stepped up, as Hore channelled her inner-Petracca (oh...) with a clever bouncing goal from the boundary. So classy. That’s her 99th. Another Goal of the Year contender? (TBD!)

Zippy Eliza Mac gets a fingertip on a certain Cats goal, and bless the footy gods, the technology agrees with the ump that she did indeed touch it. (Not that they ever showed us any evidence of this, but I was happy to take their word for it). Then Hanksy capped off one of the best quarters you'll see, laying a fierce tackle, winning the free, and spotting Harris perfectly for a strong contested mark. Tayla nails it after the siren. Five goals to two that quarter. Dees by 23 at the final change.

Mick Stinear is probably one of the most underrated parts of our club. He’s always talking up the unsung players like Heath and Fitzsimon, but how about his own contribution? Premiership coach and still employed.

Now it was time for the girls to bring home second. Wotherspoon was terrific, and she's improving every week despite having barely any footy experience. Must be that cricket background. Harris was huge playing higher up the ground, giving us a strong linking target.

The Cats had plenty of chances early but couldn't kick straight. Our pressure was forcing them wide and keeping the damage down. Then there was some genuinely sexy team footy: slick ball movement by multiple Dees through the middle, ending with a perfect pass to Zanker, who clunks the mark and nails her fourth. Not flashy enough for Goal of the Year, but what a team goal. Pure Dees footy. We're finally starting to connect properly as a team. (And may I suggest we do whatever sort of Melbourne Storm style cash in a paper bag/amended invoices rorts are required to keep her? Thank you). 

The Cats got one back, leaving the margin 21 with five minutes to play. Then another to make it 14 points with a minute left. Typical Melbourne. Siren. Breathe. Dees win 9.5.59 to 6.9.45 and finish second on the ladder. Job done. 

2025 Daisy Pearce Medal votes
5 – Tyla Hanks – 5 votes, and a quiet moment of appreciation for a star midfielder wearing this number who just quietly goes about being awesome and humble
4 – Eden Zanker
3 – Megan Fitzsimon
2 – Kate Hore
1 – Shelley Heath

Apologies to Ryleigh Wotherspoon, Tayla Harris, Maeve Chaplin and Lauren Pearce.

Leaderboard
37 - Tyla Hanks
34 - Kate Hore
--- Needs three finals to win
22 - Maeve Chaplin (WINNER: Defender of the Year)
--- Needs four finals to win ---
17 - Eden Zanker
--- Not going to win ---
16 - Tayla Harris
12 - Eliza McNamara
11 - Megan Fitzsimon
8 - Shelley Heath
6 - Olivia Purcell
5 - Paxy Paxman
4 - Tahlia Gillard, Lauren Pearce (LEADER: Ruck of the Year)
3 - Sinead Goldrick
1 - Saraid Taylor (LEADER: Rising Star Award), Ryleigh Wotherspoon

Goal of the Week
The Eden Zanker special (grabbing the ball from the ruck and booting it literally over her head) is right up there. Maybe we should just give it to her, along with her 'official prize' of bags of cash to encourage her to sign that new contract (Scam endorsed, but she still wins for the one at Casey from the boundary line post-smother). When Edo's in Hulk mode, she's unstoppable.

The defender's first goal trope always hits, so Tahlia Gillard's long hoof from 40 (set up by that clever Fitzy handball) deserves a nod. And that team goal in the last quarter that ended with another for Zanker was peak Dees footy.

But it has to go to Kate Hore with The Petracca™ from the pocket. I'd call these goals 'The Hore,' but… yeah, also problematic. She’s just so skilled and classy, and every so often she pulls out something that reminds you she’s operating on a completely different level.

Final thoughts
A final note on vibes… Paxy helping carry former teammate and opponent Shelley Scott off the ground in her last game was big W energy.

Also, confirmation that the Official Kate Hore Non-Concussion Prayer Circle put into operation after the game worked, so I guess I'm religious now. "How did you find God, Mae?”, “Well, Kate Hore passed her concussion test so she could play in our first final”…

We’ll need to lift another level for finals, but at least it’s not Norf first up and we get to play at our Fortress of Wind (I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you). Finishing second is a fantastic achievement. We can only play who was in front of us, and we won enough to earn it. Even in the games we lost, we were right in them. A few bounces our way and we're unbeaten. The list is healthy, competition for spots is fierce, and that’s exactly how you want to roll into September  November.

After both our teams missed the eight last year, I'll never take this finals feeling for granted again, and honestly I've got far more faith in our girls than the other mob to actually win another one.

And the feeling is very much mutual there. Thank you very much again to Mae and Craig for filling in while I was having a little nervous breakdown. I'll be back next week for the first leg of our 0-8 finals run. Cheerio and Go Dees.

Travelling like Burke and Wills

After god knows how many games since the first men's practice match of the year I've finally hit the wall for anything short of finals footy. Thanks then to guest reporter Craig T for returning to cover for me. Short thoughts from me at the end, and in random italics mid-post, but otherwise over to our correspondent...

I’ve always felt Brisbane have been able to get 'up' for big matches better than most AFLW teams. When they won the flag two years ago, they lost three of ten H&A games to teams that didn't get within a bull's roar of the finals, but were unbeaten in five matches against Melbourne, Adelaide and North. And given the comments from their camp this past week it was obvious this was a game they were extra focused on.

Now, we shoudl have been just as focused of course, but I get the impression that Mick Stinear's philosophy is more about consistency. Either way, I expected them to come out breathing fire and we'd need to be ready for it. So it transpired, the pressure around the ground was intense with neither team able to string together any controlled possessions, but Brissie did seem a little more direct which always helps in a hot contest. 

Despite this, the first half of the first quarter was pretty even, but in the second half they did pepper the goals, and had several chances. In fairness there was probably only one miss you'd reguarly expect to kick, the rest were rushed snaps that were always going to be iffy. But four points down at quarter time wasn't too bad a return, and I hoped we’d weathered the storm and could take control as things settled.

(This was the third time Brisbane has held us scoreless in an opening quarter, and we'd won both the other games so even though not one other person on the planet considered this a factor, and even I knew it was bollocks, it made me strangely optimistic about winning. Would also be good for the historical record if they lost by a kick after the siren again - A)

We had the better of it once the second quarter started, and Harris got clear of her defender to mark directly in front and kick the first goal of the match. On the night she hit many marking contests but wasn't clunking them as well as she usually does. She's been a bit off for a couple of weeks. The rib bruising probably hasn't helped, but I suspect she's not too far off and will hopefully hit form in the finals. Tayla at her clunking best would make a massive difference when it matters.

Another player who I feel has been a bit down on her usual high standards the last couple of weeks is Hanks. Both this week and last she's been slow to get into it, and I hope it's not the loss of Purcell having pushed her to try and do more that's starting to take a toll. Fitzsimon has tailed off a little as well, possibly for the same reason. Liv’s absence does leave a big hole.

Neither team made much headway for some time, but Brisbane went close, only stopped when Gillard produced a great effort to stop a certain goal, running down and putting just enough pressure on Eleanor Hartill to make her miss from 15 metres out. At this stage Brissie were 0.6 to our 1.2 and I started to wonder if we might be in for a bit of luck with the opposition just not taking their chances. 

(This is the third time this year a team has got to 0.6 against us, which is weird - A)

Shortly, after when Kate Hore was held at a ball up 20 metres out and slotted our second from the resultant free those thoughts intensified, but Brisbane soon went from inside defensive 50 to the other end for an out the back, off the ground, well out of the air to be honest, goal to Smith. We got a quick reply, winning the centre clearance and courtesy of a snap out of traffic via Zanker. Then, in the last few seconds Eden got another, taking a free kick for a hold in a marking contest and slotting it through after the siren. 

This ball movement up to it was possibly our best all night, going Hore to Pearce to Hore to Heath to Zanker. It meant a 14 point lead at half time which was very useful given the intensity of the game. We were looking much more dangerous up forward with controlled shots to Brisbane’s rushed attempts. Unfortunately, the game did not continue in that vein. Brisbane got the first of the quarter early on when Shelley Heath put down Charlotte Mullins a little late after her shot missed. It was probably there, but no more so than Paxy being bowled over in similar fashion after a shot later in the quarter. 

Mullins' goal cut the margin to eight points. It was then after Paxy’s non-free that Brisbane took the ball down the field to Dooley out the back to cut the margin to three points. Generally I don’t like to bag the umps and place too much significance on their errors, but with six minutes to go in the quarter we could we have seen a critical moment. It was still three points our way when Hore wasn’t paid a mark 20 metres out plumb in front that even the commentators called out, and was then pinged for holding the ball. 

Pushing the lead back out to nine points could have taken the sting out of the slight momentum Brisbane had. But it was not to be. The efficiency rate had switched around, and towards the end of the quarter it was noted that despite both teams having similar a number of 50m entries Brisbane had kicked four goals to our one point.

Their last two both came courtesy of Conway snaps, and she was also having a big impact around the ground. She’s someone who, when in range will always try to get the shot off – don't fall for her dummies that she's looking for a team mate as an option!

Brisbane now had a nine point lead and things were becoming serious, but as in the second quarter we nailed a goal after the siren. Harris marked just inside 50 with less than ten seconds remaining, and left it till three to go before she laid off the pass to Chaplin who had to outmark said Conway 20 metres out on a light angle just before the siren sounded. For a defender who had never kicked a goal she slotted it like a pro and we were back within touching distance.

The last quarter was back to being a high pressure grind with only the one goal scored. Sadly, it was Brisbane’s, via a wild snap from Ruby Svarc with nine minutes to go. We weren’t without our chances. Zanker missed two sets shots that were eminently kickable, and Hore the type of snap she specialises in. Zanker also had a chance with a snap she didn’t quite connect with, and for much of the last few minutes were were doing all the attacking but just couldn’t nail the goal to get within a kick. (The spirit of the 2022/2023 men's team is strong, probably right down to their finals record - A)

Speaking of Zanker, her contract expires at the end of this season and rumour is she's had a new one sitting in front of her for some time but hasn't signed. Word is she is has a connection out west and is being chased hard by and both the Dockers and Eagles. I wonder if Daisy might be the trump card for West Coast. If she goes it will be a huge loss, one of the best key forwards in the comp at 26 years of age. I have no idea what compensation, if any, we would receive, as when it comes to AFLW trades the AFL seems, to quote Monty Python, "make it up as they go along".

So, in the end a nine point loss. While disappointed, I’m not as down on the result as I might usually be. For all of Brisbane’s endeavour, and from what was said this past week they really got up for the match and we weren’t that far from winning it on their turf. If Kate gets paid that mark, if Eden kicks either of her last quarter misses we could easily have still won. I think they gave it their best shot and still only just got past us. If we meet them again in two weeks at Princess Park, hopefully with Goldie and Georgia Gall back, maybe even Grace Beasley if she’s ready, I will give us a real chance of reversing the result.

Hopefully, the next close one will go our way. And as many as you like after that. If they come in the finals, all the better.

2025 Daisy Pearce Medal votes
5 – Kate Hore
4 – Shelley Heath
3 – Tahlia Gillard
2 – Eden Zanker
1 – Maeve Chaplin

Apologies to Hanks, Pearce, Harris, McNamara and Fitzsimon

Leaderboard
Adam here - and bloody Nora it's getting spicy at the top. Also, based on historical voting patterns for defenders Chaplin's not going to lose the defender award from here so she can put that next to going from fill-in player to flag winner in her most treasured footy memories.

32 - Tyla Hanks, Kate Hore
22 - Maeve Chaplin (WINNER: Defender of the Year)
--- Can still win with three finals ---
16 - Tayla Harris
13 - Eden Zanker
--- Can still win with four finals ---
12 - Eliza McNamara
8 - Megan Fitzsimon
7 - Shelley Heath
--- Can't win ---
6 - Olivia Purcell 
5 - Paxy Paxman
4 - Tahlia Gillard, Lauren Pearce (LEADER: Ruck of the Year)
3 - Sinead Goldrick
1 - Saraid Taylor (LEADER: Rising Star Award), Ryleigh Wotherspoon

Goal of the Week
No real outstanding ones this week. Give it to Chaplin for a nerveless first ever goal after the siren. But I doubt it will remotely challenge the clubhouse leader. (Correct, it did not - Editor)

Next week
Down the highway. We should win, and if we do it probably means a rematch with Brisbane, but this time at Princes Park (Fine time to start playing games at decent - weather permitting - neutral venues - A) not up there. As I said, I'd be reasonably confident we can turn the tables. First things first, we need to beat Geelong. I may head down for my first Kardinia Park match, that I can definitely recall, since Kelvin Templeton kicked eight for us on Easter Monday 1983 and we won from from six goals down at quarter time. And while I am not superstitious, I've been to eight of our women’s matches this year and haven't seen us lose. The three I've watched on the idiot box have been defeats, so just in case I'm the good luck charm I'd better go. 

It's me again (incorporating Final Thoughts)
Thanks again to Craig, and stay tuned for another surprise guest reporter next week. My thoughts on this game are that we got the close, competitive loss against a good team that proves we can beat anyone (well, maybe not those on a record winning streak) on our day. It's just a matter of lining up the right day and a game. Wasn't this one, even with the Lions doing their best to miss everything in the first quarter.

I was watching, but was so distracted that I missed the Chaplin goal while dealing with some generic family crisis. Didn't even find out she'd opened the account until after the game, so it's probably best that I didn't try to pretend to have been fully into it. BUT - have you noticed our last quarters against competent, league-standard opposition have been putrid? Whether we beat Geelong or not, if the fourth quarter is a slog again then I'm going to start printing commemorative MFC Straight Sets Fourpeat merchandise.

That will do nicely

By mid-October, I should be separating the M and F elements of MFC (the meaning of 'C' can be altered to suit your feeling about the organisation at the time), but I assume it's always a bit of a flat week when a couple of premiership winning club legends find/are shown the door. It's sad, but you can't have lost flag heroes without the flag so I'll be happy to go through this again in the future. There's an emergency trade wrap-up post sitting in my drafts, but the energy didn't stretch far beyond using the long-awaited 'Trac runs out' line, and suggesting 'Jiath's Crackers' as a replacement for Howie's Hangers/Hogan's Heroes so I think we'll just park that division of the club until 2026 and come back with fingers crossed so tight we'll all be on the emotional green whistle by June.

After all that I could've done with a week away from all footy topics to be honest, but as Guest Reporter O'Clock hasn't struck yet, I thought this might be a nice palate cleanser. In the end it was, but when two goals down in the first quarter it was looking less like drinking away your man troubles and more like garging Drano.

Before the unexpected deficit, there was a reminder that things can always get worse than having a sook in the comfort on your own home. Sinead Goldrick already had a bandage over one eye, and about 25 seconds after the first bounce she was clobbered in a tackle and left the ground clutching her nose as if it was going to disintegrate Michael Jackson style. I disputed the claim of the boundary rider that she'd "gone down to the rooms" as if there's some secret underground lair at Casey (though, to be honest I haven't been there for about 10 years so will stand corrected in the unlikely event etc...), but considering the obvious schnoz discomfort and previous damage in the same area it was lucky her head didn't split open like a ripe tomato. 

I thought that was the last we'd see of Goldrick for the rest of the game, but contrary to the trained medical analysis of Dr. Demonblog, she soon returned without having to resort to the old 'face held together with sticky tape' method like that bloke from GWS. Not even a Mr. Poon-style bandaid under the nose, which was a testament to her resilience, our medical staff, and/or me drastically overreacting [UPDATE - Turns out she had a fractured eye socket, so all of the above?]. The clobbering seemed to save us from a blatant holding the ball, but considering the crimes against correct disposal that went unpunished for the rest of the game there's no guarantee it would've been paid anyway.

We got away with that, but Sydney still got the first goal not long after. Obviously they'd missed the memo about opposition sides at Casey Fields reaching 3/4 time on 0.something. I rationalised that it was ok to concede first because they were kicking with the wind, but it turns out this was just an invention of my demented mind. I don't trust the commentators going on about how still it was when their studio was only 20km closer to the ground than Demonblog Towers, but I'll accept that they had better information from colleagues at the ground. That, and the wind never once being a factor for the rest of the game. In my defence, there was a kick just before this which looked to hold up on the breeze. Additionally in my defence, there's 20+ years of evidence on this site that I've got NFI.

Then, like a repeat of the Freo debacle, we turned a couple of shizen forward entries into conceding again, and seeing the Swans run ointo a loose ball inside 50 was a bit *nervous adjustment of collar*. The collar was gradually loosened over the next two quarters, but while karma, jinxes and all footy mysticism is bullshit, I was cursing the pre-match commentator chat about Hore kicking the four goals needed to become the first AFLW player to the career ton. Let's just get four in total first, and if we didn't it would only be marginally less embarassing than Fox Footy suggesting the men were about to launch a blockbuster Brisbane '24 style comeback and win the flag shortly before losing to St Kilda after kicking about 32 consecutive points.

I was already in 'excuses and complaints' mode, so after our earlier attacking disappointments I thought "surely they could have picked a smaller player" when Georgia Campbell had the ball 50 metres out, before she dropped an absolute ripper of a kick on Zanker at the top of the square. With Zippy Fish on the other side, this may have been footy's biggest day for the letter 'Z' since our first year under Paul Roos.

Goldrick's return from the dead came in time for an audition to join the British and Irish Lions, heaving out the biggest throw of all time to set up Hore to kick an absolute ripper in the forward pocket. As she bounced it through from an obscure angle I thought we'd signed off the Goal of the Year award, only for the title to be snatched from her grasp less than two quarters later. I know what he meant, but Daniel Harford's post-goal declaration that "She's a little bit special" was somewhat politically incorrect. 

Related - I quite enjoyed Harford's off the chain commentary, regularly hanging shit on umpiring and taking a relaxed attitude to calling players the right name. You wouldn't accept it over the Grand Final, but if there's ever a time for pissfarting around on the call it's when the viewing audience would be lucky to reach five figures. It was also good that they kept having to mention the Sydney player called 'Sargeant-Wilson' because it made it seem like you were watching an episode of Blue Heelers.

If I knew Sydney was going to stop dead after their third goal I'd have taken it a lot better. In the week of Taj Woewodin's delisting there was nearly something for Daniher-era parents when Rigoni had a shot that was touched through in the last minute. This left us trailing at quarter time, which was good for football I suppose, and now you know the result it was a better pre-finals rev up than spending four quarters punching down on slop.

I thought Rigoni had just wandered forward to get a kick, but it turns out she was actually following Sydney's improbably named Z. Fish around, and this led to her to be in the right place to mark Hore's kick 20 metres out directly in front. I'm not entirely anti-joy, but find iot unnecessary for players to charge from the other end of the ground to celebrate a first career goal. Conserve your energy and offer congratulations with a hearty handshake at the next break of play thanks. She didn't do much else, but it's interesting that they're trying non-Pisano options in the forward line when she's a #5 pick contracted until the end of 2027. Not like Melbourne to neck ourselves with a long term contract is it?

The goal by a famous relative opened the relative floodgates, and Zanker got another straight after despite the Sydney fan yelling "AWW COME AWN!" straight into the effects mic after a free kick in the build-up. I wonder if they identify people who can be clearly heard and send somebody over to say "for god's sake, don't drop the C bomb or do any sort of 'ism", because one day extra spicy talk will go to air, and given that commentators always react when loudmouth yelling is heard they can't feign surprise that such a thing could ever be heard on their broadcast. I'm offering direct entry into our folklore for anyone who shouts 'Demonblog', 'Demonwiki', or 'I saw Mark Jamar kick five goals' loud enough for it to be heard on national television.

Theoretically Sydney were still in range, but now we'd tightened up at the back and there was no more casual wandering into an open goal. On the other hand we'd clearly fired up, and got the next one when Rigoni and Bannan kept the ball alive in front of goal long enough for celebrity finger victim Heath to sneak in and crumb one through traffic. Even more people got involved with the next goal, as it went through Fitzsimon, McNamara, and Hore, before Johnson fumbled fortuitously to Wotherspoon's advantage, before Harris got it from the square.

This was more like it, and we spent the last few minutes of the half smashing the door down for what may have been the sealer. It never came, but we did survive their player running an ultra-marathon through the middle of the ground for what would've been the moral counterweight to us getting our first goal from a gigantic throw. But it missed, Sydney never got another goal, and the second half was a gentle version of procession mode. Apparently their plane was hit by lightning twice, which still isn't as good an excuse as us having four players stuck in a lift last week. The commentary box treated this news like they were all lucky to be alive, as if half the 20,000 planes in the air as you're reading this aren't being randomly pelted with lightning without plummeting to earth.

We needed the death blow, and it was provided by Zanker from close range. I still think it's sensible to cash in one of our tall forwards for shit hot picks or players, but under no circumstances should it be Zanker. But I'm not going to tell you who I think it should be, because refer previous comments about having NFI. About the only controversial opinion I've got self-confidence about is that this league would get a much better airing if it didn't interact at all with the men's season, and I choose to claim a crowd of a few hundred better than usual as justification.

Once we had the first goal post-break it was obvious where this game was going. Sydney had enough about them to avoid being steamrolled, but there was a clear difference between our kicking to spare players, and their "oh shit" panic booting of the ball as far forward as possible. They'd stopped scoring, but had some claims to being unlucky about the next goal. After already conceding the Hore goal from a ridiculous angle, somehow there was an even more ridiculous one to follow. 

With all respect to the captain, if they could only pick one of ours for a Goal of the Week nomination (and as Tayla Harris 2/3 in a recent MOTY, this is unlikely) not choosing Zanker should be subject to a Royal Commission. She had to pick a crap handball up off the ground, had a first shot from the boundary line smothered, then regathered and instantly chipped it through from a ridiculous angle. Hore's was good, this was great and whoever choses the weekly options should be keelhauled for not selecting it.

The tall forward goal collection was completed by Bannan, and after those ropey few minutes in the opening quarter we were pissing this in, going back into second on the ladder courtesy of a 109% gap over Hawthorn that acts less as a tiebreaker and more of a tiedestroyer. And, err, then not much happened for the next quarter and a half. It was the middle point between Gold Coast, when your grandmother could get a shot at goal in the final term, and Richmond/West Coast when the job was done and feet went up. 

We had six scoring shots for six points, while Sydney had nil for nil. We keep waiting for the day when Zanker really goes on with a game and kicks nine, but you won't find me complaining about four from anyone in any Melbourne side. After the dicey start we were pretty good, and as much as I find the idea of playing finals at Casey offensive it may be our best chance of going through. For now we know top eight is sealed, and unless something really wacky happens in the next fortnight the next question is finishing 2nd, 3rd, or 4th and the accompanying finals implications. I'd be happy to play next week and just skip straight to working out who gets the flag if that's ok with everyone else.

2025 Daisy Pearce Medal votes
5 - Eden Zanker
4 - Kate Hore
3 - Megan Fitzsimon
2 - Tyla Hanks
1 - Tahlia Gillard

Apologies to Chaplin, Heath, McNamara, Paxman, and Pearce.

Leaderboard
It's semi-back on at the top, as Hore closes the gap to one straight BOG. Alas it looks like curtains for the surprise Chaplin challenge, but she's all but unbeatable from here in the defender award. At a conservative estimation of 20 votes left, it means the line of elimination has taken out another group of contenders further four contenders.

32 - Tyla Hanks
27 - Kate Hore
21 - Maeve Chaplin (PROVISIONAL WINNER: Defender of the Year)
16 - Tayla Harris
12 - Eliza McNamara
--- Abandon all hope below here ---
11 - Eden Zanker
8 - Megan Fitzsimon
6 - Olivia Purcell 
5 - Paxy Paxman
4 - Lauren Pearce (LEADER: Ruck of the Year)
3 - Sinead Goldrick, Shelley Heath
1 - Tahlia Gillard, Saraid Taylor (LEADER: Rising Star Award), Ryleigh Wotherspoon

Goal of the Week
Hore from the pocket was beaten by Hore from the pocket, before being swept out of the top two entirely by a goal that deserves direct entry to the Hall of Grouse.

Edo's on fire at Casey! 🔥#AFLWDeesSwans pic.twitter.com/230VeGLcoD

— Melbourne AFLW (@MelbourneAFLW) October 18, 2025

Next Week
Not often you get a season defining game when second on the ladder with two games to play, but an away game against Brisbane is it. Our only top four opposition of the season, having beaten up on the downtrodden, but lost in almost exactly the same way to a couple of fringe finals contenders. If we win decently I'll get excited about finals glory, if we lose in drab fashion I'll paint a yellow stripe down my back and mentally concede another straight sets finals exit, and if it's close either way then for god's sake skip the last round and get on with the important stuff ASAP.  

Final thoughts
Still not sure this transfers to beating top sides, but happy to be proven wrong. I think some variation fo this has been the final thought about four times already this year, hopefully next week gives some answers. 

Fried Round

Contrary to popular belief, you can win every week. But only under the name North Melbourne. In the week of an absurdly premature story about looking ahead to playing them in finals, it turns out we're still vulnerable to middle of the table opposition in alternative timezones. Doesn't help when four top players get stuck in some bullshit faulty lift, but we've had games this year where they could've walked across hot coals and still romped to victory  

Like the Port game, it involved failing to chase down a bad start, but in this case against opposition who suffered a 186-style blowout on the same ground earlier in the year. Unlike certain other teams that were slaughtered after running into a juggernaut at the wrong time, they didn't respond by blowing the club up for years to come. Which is nice for them, not much help to us now.

Before commencing usual programming (now with much less mockery of underwhelming opposition), can I risk straightsplaining Pride Round and ask why we didn't wear the special jumper here? I guess the idea is to debut it at home, but isn't a bit weird to have a jumper for a cause, then deliberately not wear it in the round dedicated to that cause? Why not just have it in both games, it's not like they're going to debut it at Casey Fields for the benefit of thousands of people ready to trample each other for the chance to buy one. (Update - ok, it's a two round thing. So wear it in both? Update update - possible jumper clash issue. Needs to go full rainbow next year for the benefit of people who'd unnecessarily blow their stack).

Lucky it wasn't 'Survivors Of An Air Raid' Round, because we were back at the place where the siren makes a noise like the warning of imminent nuclear attack. And it may as well be for Mick Stinear, who has a 70-something percent winning record, a flag, and a life membership waiting for him, but hasn't coached a win at Fremantle Oval since 2018. We've won once there since, but he missed the game because his wife was giving birth (and fair enough too), and I'm sure the nearly seven year old kid is gutted that dad has never coached another win since - including two consecutive losses by under a goal.

Last year's loss in this fixture could be blamed on injuries before the game, this time you could argue we were hurt by injuries during, but both times we could've and probably should've won regardless. The key difference is this time we've already done the work to get established in the top eight (let's dial it back a bit on the top four hopes), while last year there was a lot more injury crisis to get through before we ran out of time to rescue the season. It was a cock-up, but as long as do the right thing for the rest of the year the only serious implications on our finals chances are an enhanced chance of having to play North first up.

The ground didn't just have a novelty siren, in the first quarter we kicked towards a sign suggesting 'The best things in life are Freo'. This was appropriate, because our performance was heavily influenced by the latter part of the surname Vandross. It was, as they say in the classics, flatter than a plateful of piss. Looked good in the opening minutes mind you, where we went forward and did everything but score. In warm and windy conditions (only one of which we'd be familiar with), I'd prefer to put the fear of god into the underdogs ASAP than leave the door open for an upset. That's how you end up relying on Collingwood to miss multiple set shots in the last minute to hang on and win.

Instead, this was less thrashing through bulk goals against hapless opposition and more the 2nd-4th quarters of last week. For all my propaganda about having two divisions, maybe it's good that we get to enjoy clobbering some strugglers instead of risking having to prove ourselves every week. Sorry for not getting more excited by humiliating Gold Coast at the time, but I'm happy to settle for something in the middle. It wasn't happening here, because the Dockers came up with the most effective way of beating us - taking your chances. Expected score can generally get in the bin, but I'd like to know the chances of our previous opposition this season kicking any of the first goals Freo got here. And they were deserved, but many other goals against us this year would've been if the chances hadn't been butchered in spectacular fashion.

The first came from a nice set shot, and by the time the second we'd lost Georgia Gall to an ankle injury where nobody knew who it was because the commentators were calling off a screen in South Melbourne, and they couldn't get a shot on her face or number. You couldn't even tell it was a tall player from the angle she'd collapsed on, so as far as viewers knew it could be anyone from Gall, to Hanks, to Helen of Troy. As it happened on the far side of the ground the in-person boundary rider was no help either, and as she had earlier gone with the formal but lesser used 'Elizabeth McNamara' earlier, I suggest she'd have been about as much use identifying our players without their number as I would be picking Dockers players from a lineup. 

Eventually somebody thought to show a replay, which dramatically solved the mystery like the all-time least watched episode of Law and Order. We were down one of our (literal) Big Four forwards for the rest of the game, but look at our points for column, what could possibly go wrong? Turns out the answer is 'playing against competent opposition'. Like when their second goal was delivered on a platter to a leading forward. If we kicked like that, Gold Coast would've lost by 300. Now it was "I didn't think this would so difficult" panic bombs inside 50 for no score. 

The spirit of just hoofing it wherever transferred to the backline, where a clearing kick was stuffed right down the gob of somebody - and if you've watched any version of Melbourne this won't surprise you - somebody who previously had two goals in 73 games but easily steered their set shot through. There was too much Chaplin up the ground for my liking, regularly taking our steadiest hand away from defence, and creating an eligibility headache for our Defender of the Year award.

We finally got a chance via a Wotherspoon free, but the thinnest headband in footy missed the lot. She did make amends with a very good mark of the top of the square. With respect to Gall, this was Ryleigh's chance to really get amongst it, but after a promising first half she disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle.

The comeback was shortlived before we conceded a goal to somebody called 'Tunisha', which is also the answer to a drunk person's favourite North African country. And as proof that inside 50s can go and piss up a rope, we'd had more of them by quarter time despite conceding a higher score than some fortnights this season.

You'd almost think all our problems were wind-related based on the second quarter, if the fourth didn't exist to contradict that theory. After a week stuck in the goal waiting queue, Bannan got a much needed one, before we got lucky when a Freo player was coathangered in a tackle and somehow deemed to have been holding the ball by an umpire standing a couple of metres away. Thanks for that. This led to a Zanker shanker set shot that was fortunately near enough to goal that it didn't matter, and we were 2/3 of the way to filling the remaining tall forward bingo card.

Now the margin was under a goal but things still looked ropey. But before long, as my Kayo feed went on and off like a tap, the scores were level. It came good just as a Hore set helicoptered into the hands of bingo wildcard Pearce at the top of the square. I've seen her miss from closer, but through it went and via a few awkward minutes at the end we got to the break just a point down. It was hardly hurricane force breeze, so time to go on with it yeah? Not really. Various early chances went awry, but at least for now our attacks were better value than just generating scores at the other end. In one way you could see us running away with it, in another it makes sense that we lost a thriller.

Our problem was conversion, and after about 12 minutes of attacking for no reward, Freo kicked one against the run of play. The coverage nearly missed the kick while replaying the mark, then celebrated the heartwarming return of a 3x ACL victim by cutting to a glum-looking Melbourne child who clearly couldn't give a fat rat's clacker about the comeback story. 

The kid would've chucked his hat over the fence if the Freo player hadn't missed an absolute sitter straight after, doing that classic AFLW move of turning around to find an empty square then excitedly botching the snap. A second goalless quarter to the left of screen had us five points down at the last change, but there was always the wind to save us. That didn't take into account giving away a free and 50 from the first bounce. Another player with two goals in 70+ games missed, but our reply was to kick OOF, then they did the same, and the contest was in full 'hardcore fans only' territory.

Finally, it was the old 'everyone get out of the way and leave it to the stars', when Hore snapped the goal to put us ahead. Harris will get the goal assist, but it never happened without our flavour of the month Fitzsimons standing up in a tackle and keeping the ball moving. It was very much not over, especially when they got a free in the middle of the ground and the player metres away from where it was paid got to pelt off - about 25% further than you're allowed to run without bouncing - and punt it inside 50. There it rolled into the behind post, preserving our one point lead.

We'd probably have sealed it if the ball didn't take a comedy bounce with Bannan running onto it inside 50, but instead it went down the Vandross End and they got a goal to make things difficult again. The challenge of kicking a goal against non-dreck opposition went up when Harris departed after a heavy collision, and you'd like to think if either she or Gall had been out there we may have got better value from the last two minutes of optimistic long kicks straight to Freo defenders. 

Sadly it was not to be, and we ran out of time. If the Pakistani cricket team did it you'd call for an enquiry, but we'll just put it down as not travelling well and hope for better next time. 

2025 Daisy Pearce Medal votes
5 - Tyla Hanks
4 - Lauren Pearce
3 - Sinead Goldrick
2 - Eliza McNamara
1 - Ryleigh Wotherspoon

Apologies to Chaplin, Fitzsimon, Hore and Paxman. 

Leaderboard
Assuming there are 25 votes still available (three scheduled games and a minimum of two finals), it's cactus for anyone more than that far from the lead. Now that Hanks holds a lead of +1 BOG she'll be hard to shift from here. But if anyone can do that it'll be Hore, despite long-term evidence of underappreciation in this award. In minor categories news, congratulations to Pearce for staking a claim on the ruck award. 

30 - Tyla Hanks
23 - Kate Hore
21 - Maeve Chaplin (PROVISIONAL WINNER: Defender of the Year)
16 - Tayla Harris
12 - Eliza McNamara
6 - Olivia Purcell, Eden Zanker
5 - Megan Fitzsimon, Paxy Paxman
--- Abandon all hope below here ---
4 - Lauren Pearce (LEADER: Ruck of the Year)
3 - Sinead Goldrick, Shelley Heath
1 - Saraid Taylor (LEADER: Rising Star Award), Ryleigh Wotherspoon

Goal of the Week
None of them memorable, so you know Hore vs Collingwood is still the clubhouse leader. Writing this bit the next morning (and depending on how long it takes to do the rest of this post that will give an insight to what order things are done in) I had to go back and check who kicked them and how. On the occasion of her first career vote, let's go for Wotherspoon due to the quality of the mark which preceded it.

Next Week
It's 9th placed Sydney, as we finally complete the set of playing all 17 opposition teams. On current interstate form, if it wasn't at Casey I'd be worried about a fiasco. For the endless shit I pour on our home ground, at least we win there much more often than not. Here's to ending next weekend completely overinflated about our flag prospects based on beating an average team. I assume Gall will be out, and probably Harris too, which will require some rethink about the forward line but this may not be a bad thing because there's no way one of the (literally) big four isn't getting cashed in for shitloads of picks and/or players at the end of the season. 

And if Gall and/or Harris are out, any danger of just playing Pisano no matter what? She hasn't done much yet, but is a high draft pick and isn't going to develop kicking the ball around at training. There are players elsewhere on the ground getting games due to lack of other options, I feel bad for her being regularly shelved because we've got 500 forwards. The question of "but who are you going to drop?" has been answered for the next couple of weeks at least, time to invest in her future and related cliches.

In other news, I'm just about cooked for writing about Australian Rules football in 2025, so if you're amongst the handful of people who read this far and want to have a crack at immortality by doing a guest report get in touch via email, socials, or by knocking on the front door. Usually I'd say your votes could be decisive in deciding where the Daisy goes, but at this stage the best you can do is keeping the race alive.

Final thoughts
Even with the injury excuses and travel considerations, this was crap performance against a fringe side but like the Port game it need not be fatal to the rest of the season. Still, I wouldn't be whacking your next house payment down on us winning any final, let alone the flag. But, in a generally predictable competition we represent the 'this could go anywhere' party so keep calm and hope that this turns out to be the loss we had to have, before eventually romping through the finals in swashbuckling fashion.

One piece at a time

In a week where our men's team tried to shed as many premiership players as possible, the job of temporarily calming things down fell to the section of the club that pioneered the old flag 'n turf. There was a time early in the 2024 season when Birch, Gay, Sherriff and West were gone, half the list was broken, and things looked extremely ropey. Adjusting for a lot of cardboard cutout style opposition so far this season, things seem to have turned out ok. Which is something to consider when you're about to drink furniture polish around June next year.

For all the excuses about a 'see attached pages' injury list, the lowest point of that season was when Essendon tore us to shreds. It says something for how well we've done in practically every other game played in competition history that despite being our all-time biggest loss and lowest score, we've done a lot worse to many opposition sides. Clawing back to the edge of the finals after that was impressive, and in just over a year we're back to where we were against the Bombers before that fiasco. Melbourne is the good team, Essendon is the mid-tablish side we should beat without it being detrimental to the league's reputation. 

On the occasion of randomly playing a home game at a decent venue in whatever level of prime time you get on 7Mate immediately after a show with somebody called 'Chumlee', it would've been good for football if we'd been dragged into a high quality thriller. So apologies to the AFL and Channel 7 for all but winning the game with three quick first quarter goals, then holding the opposition at bay until most neutral viewers had gone to bed or opened their third slab. Personally, I'd have been happy to win by 87 again, but never let it be said that I'm not thinking about the health of this competition.

Improvements to the viewing experience from not playing in a public park were offset by the putrid Essendon clash jumpers, with a sash randomly ending near the top instead of looping around. It was a fashion crime on the same scale as that silver shit our men used to wear in away games back when we struggled to pay the electricity bill.

Despite what happened last time, it briefly looked like another five star thumping was on the cards when we went three goals up in the blink of an eye. The most fascinating thing about us this year is how the forwards are rotating the goals between them, this week it was the turn of Harris x2 and Gall, while Zanker, Bannan, and for once Hore went home empty handed. I don't want to lose any of these players but something has to give at the end of the year, because it's an absurdly top heavy attack that will surely (hopefully not) come back to haunt us in the end. 

All this and you've got Campbell out of the team when she's the medium (?) term replacement for Pearce. Love for the club and all, but at least one of them has to decide they don't want to be second or third banana at the end of the year. I'll be sad when they go, but bring on the top draft picks from teams desperate to get off the bottom of the ladder. I'm sure if Daisy coached a Victorian club she'd have talked a few of the stars out by now, so thank god she's in charge of the geographically equal least appealing club in the competition.   

The answer of 'how many more people can you get to attend by playing in a stadium' was only about a thousand, and I don't know if makes it more financially rewarding to battle bullshit wind at 1pm in Cranbourne but every extra person also added a percentage point of how much more professional it looked. There was also a Taylor Swift album promotion featuring two Las Vegas showgirl characters standing behind Tom McDonald, which you'd never have seen at Casey.

Best wishes to Ms. Swift in making a billion dollars, but the only Tayl* I'm interested in following ends in 'a Harris'. By now the ad with the eye jumper has surely been seen more times than the video for Shake It Off. Speaking of things my kid likes, I was baffled that she suddenly wanted to watch this game instead of muppets talking shite on TikTok. In absolute 100%, no DNA tests required proof that this is my offspring it turns out she was trying to pay off a gag that involved the numbers six and seven standing next to each other. There were a couple of post-goal moments early on when Bannan and Harris just needed to turn their back to camera and all would be revealed, but sadly by the time it actually happened child had lost interest and gone off to do cyberbully somebody/whatever else 11-year-olds do on the internet. 

Forget whatever's funny about 6 meeting 7, I'm only into MFC related gimmicks. Like how we always facilitate great moments for random players. In this case it meant conceding the first career goal to a former New Zealand rugby international. To be fair it was via a thumping set shot, so as we seem to have given up on Ireland maybe this could be the next frontier in recruitment. The players may also be sturdier and not break down all the time.

That goal may have been the trigger for Essendon to invoke the spirit of '24 and storm back into the game. But it wasn't. The next three quarters was basically just them thumping the ball forward hoping for the best and seeing it turned back immediately (usually by 'All Australian Or We Riot' Maeve Chaplin), while holding up well enough to stop us romping away with it.

Other than winning, the best part of the night was commentators going rogue and hanging shit on the new holding the ball rule. At least until realising they might get rotated off the coverage if anyone from the AFL was watching and throwing in disclaimers about how we have to get used to it etc... There was also a halftime interview with Gawn where I'm pretty sure they'd been told not to ask any difficult questions about his teammates disappearing like South American political dissidents in the 1970s.

Though we'd only conceded one goal in a half again, the door was ever so slightly ajar considering the better standard of opposition. Then we kicked the only goal for a quarter and a half, the game was won a mile out, and as the commentators couldn't make spicy comments about rule interpretations anymore but didn't have the BT style buffoon rating to fill time by talking crap, it all went a bit going through the motions. So with nothing else to say, as she kicked our only goal of the second half I'd like to announce that Megan Fitzsimon has officially achieved Neville Jetta status as somebody who is so underrated that they've become rated. She is having her career best season by some distance, and has years left for further development. Which is nice.  

All that was left to do was run out the game, and for a return to our early season policy of players mysteriously carking it. The Rent-A-Player rewards card has been packed away for now, but best keep the Medicare one hand with this side because something unusual is always just around the corner. Just weeks after Heath had to depart a game with Super Heart Rate, Goldrick departed midway through the final term with illness. Essendon got their second goal not long after, making the margin 19 with nine minutes left, and while a comeback was unlikely there was more chance than the 0.0% when we got that far in front against either Coast but more chance than the 0.0% percent when we were that far in front against either Coast.

More concerning was the sight of Heath regaining the strange injuries title when seeing lying down with legs elevated on a seat, hooking into the green whistle. Turns out she was just coping with a dislocated finger and there's no long term issues. Digit injuries give me the ick so I can sympathise with her, if mine ever go out of place I'd need the whistle, Lifeline, and a near-fatal dose of heroin. 

The incident also offered a perfect 'over it' picture for future use, so not all bad news eh Shelley? He says forgetting she used to be a taekwondo champion and may kick my head in.

At two players down and with the game long won, we reintroduced the "that'll do" spirit of the West Coast game and let them kick another goal. That cut the margin to 13 with a couple of minutes left, and talk about your handy point because I'd have been packing it at the prospect of being mown down in another epic comeback. I bet Maeve Chaplin wouldn't have let the Docklands Disaster happen, and there was to be no such fiasco here. The ball spent enough time at our end to run the clock down and all was well. 

Bit of a change from last week to be semi-falling over the line instead of booting an opposition to death, but you can't play flotsam and jetsam every week. Put it down as a good, honest, important win and cross your undislocated fingers that we got something out of it for the important end of the season.

With four games left we're three wins and a couple of hundred percentage points ahead of 9th, so you can lock away a return to the finals. As we know North will finish top unless DQed for salary cap violations or witchcraft, so it's just a matter of landing second or third and avoiding playing them in the first final. If I was paid to be peppy and positive I'd say bring it on, let's embrace the challenge of trying to KO the big hitters as soon as possible but no thank you, we've lost six consecutive finals across the genders so while nothing's guaranteed I'm happy to embrace the less treacherous side of the draw if possible. 

2025 Daisy Pearce Medal votes
5 - Maeve Chaplin
4 - Tayla Harris
3 - Kate Hore
2 - Megan Fitzsimon
1 - Eliza McNamara

Apologies to Gall, Hanks, Heath, Paxman and Pearce

Leaderboard
Suddenly, a new contender emerges, just weeks after I said there was no chance of anyone other than Hanks or Hore winning. Now, watch them both poll solid numbers in the league B&F while Chaplin gets nil. If nothing else, she'll romp the Defender of the Year award here. Still, it's on like the proverbial in this one. Even Harris is within striking range of making it interesting.

25 - Tyla Hanks
23 - Kate Hore
21 - Maeve Chaplin (PROVISIONAL WINNER: Defender of the Year)
16 - Tayla Harris
10 - Eliza McNamara
6 - Olivia Purcell, Eden Zanker
5 - Megan Fitzsimon, Paxy Paxman
3 - Shelley Heath
1 - Saraid Taylor (LEADER: Rising Star Award)

Goal of the Week
The Wotherspoon one was enjoyable, but Hore from the Pie pocket remains your clubhouse leader.

Next Week
First leg of our (hopefully) gentle ride into finals is a return to Fremantle Oval, scene of last year's after the siren disaster. They lost to North by 100 at the same venue earlier this season and sit 13th but are still a chance of sneaking into the eight due to the ludicrously top-heavy nature of the competition. So after we did all our best scoring work in about eight minutes this week I'm not taking anything for granted. Can win, should win, but after Richmond pulled off the one massive upset of the season I need to see hard evidence that this is going well before getting excited.

Final thoughts
More of the same please, and I hope Charlie Spargo takes up all North's AFLW parking spots.