Media AFLW Swans News in the Media 2024

Our club in the Media

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Good interview with Chloe talking about how AFLW now needs more media scrutiny and analysis.

Cheers for the non-paywall link. Agree with her entirely. People act like AFLW fans and players don't want criticism but it's never been the case - I want to read detailed criticism of individuals, game plans, whatever, just not pointless criticism of the whole idea of women playing football. I love The Mongrel Punt's coverage for that reason, they don't hold back on detailed analysis but there's never anything less than a solid underlying assumption that the women's game as a whole is worthwhile and here to stay.

More minorly: love the outfits. My sustainable transport side cringes that people are driving 9 minutes from Waterloo to Moore Park, dead easy by bike or bus :rolleyes: That's what we get for building too much car parking in new developments. Ok, rant over.
 
Cheers for the non-paywall link. Agree with her entirely. People act like AFLW fans and players don't want criticism but it's never been the case - I want to read detailed criticism of individuals, game plans, whatever, just not pointless criticism of the whole idea of women playing football. I love The Mongrel Punt's coverage for that reason, they don't hold back on detailed analysis but there's never anything less than a solid underlying assumption that the women's game as a whole is worthwhile and here to stay.

More minorly: love the outfits. My sustainable transport side cringes that people are driving 9 minutes from Waterloo to Moore Park, dead easy by bike or bus :rolleyes: That's what we get for building too much car parking in new developments. Ok, rant over.
Chloe on instagram
 

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TANYA Hetherington has always loved footy.

Following her umpire father to local grounds every weekend and riding the highs and lows of Collingwood's fortunes was her introduction to the game. But finding her own place in footy, especially a full-time job in the industry she loves so dearly, never seemed to be a realistic life goal.

So now, a full-time assistant coaching role in Sydney's AFLW program is a literal dream come true for Hetherington. It is a position that is the result of hard work, persistence, and a willingness to leap at opportunities when they presented themselves.
 
Swans burning question - need to keep improving - and we need to tighten up our defence.

The defensive call out is fair, for a club which prides itself on defensive pressure I think we all enter this year's season knowing this area is ripe for improvement.

 

I like that Gowans is so embracing of the concept. I think when the coach embraces a challenge like that it sets a great tone for the playing group rather than if the coach is worrying or complaining. One of Alastair Clarkson's finer moments as a coach IMO was when the Hawks were playing Giants in Canberra and it was freezing (snowing). He led a captain's run training session topless and was laughing and joking around and I thought that was an excellent way of sending the message not to be put off by the cold. I wasn't at all surprised when the Hawks won (possibly it was a mild upset - I can't remember) and I thought Clarkson's outstanding leadership deserved a fair slice of the credit.

There is another quote from Gowans that I found both interesting and validating of my thoughts/concerns about the depth of our squad:

"You always want to try and get the bottom end of your squad as close to the middle bit of your squad as you can, because that's what the better teams do, and I think the reason that the inaugural clubs are so successful and no expansion club has won it is because they bat deeper," Gowans said.

I was interested in the acknowledgement that your stars are your stars and you're not aiming for your whole list to be stars. But you do want a fairly even list beyond the top handful or so of 'stars'. And I felt validated by the implicit acknowledgement that our list doesn't bat deep and falls off a bit compared to the stronger teams in the competition, especially beyond the best 21, and that that is what we need to try and address.

I think every year we will improve the depth a little bit and I have to accept that it will happen incrementally (I was feeling a bit impatient during the trade and draft period where I leant towards thinking we should have turned over more players). I suppose you need to trade off between talent and experience/seasoning in those bottom 20 players on the list. Players like Whelan and Szigeti provide great experience and leadership for our younger players, even if I don't see them as having big AFLW careers. And I expect they will get games at some point this season and play a useful role, maybe more so than another rookie from the tail end of the draft could have. Probably improves our chances of playing finals this year, possibly at a small cost to contending for a flag in the future.
 
#2 Holly Cooper
#3 Kiara Hillier
#16 Sarah Grunden
#26 Lara Hausegger
#27 Giselle Davies
33 Montana Beruldsen
 
#2 Holly Cooper
#3 Kiara Hillier
#16 Sarah Grunden
#26 Lara Hausegger
#27 Giselle Davies
33 Montana Beruldsen

The only surprise there (for me) was that I thought Davies was going to get #17 not #27. And I've already forgotten what number Beruldsen was previously. Glad to have the numbers. (Not that the players have been wearing their own numbers consistently at training.)
 
In episode 2 of the Everyday Greatness Podcast, AFLW Executive General Manager of Football Kate Mahony and AFLW player Alana Woodward to discuss the changing landscape of the AFLW.

 

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Growth is not linear



“Montana Ham will go up another level. She’s had a really good pre-season, her first one that she’s been able to complete, and it makes a massive difference,” Gowans said in an exclusive update for Premiership Club members.
Speaking on Privitelli he said, “Bec was hampered by the injury that she got against the Gold Coast, and she had a long rehab, and it really set her back.
“Her last three weeks have been sensational. She played match simulation last week and starred so she’s an exciting one as well.”
 
The Sydney Swans AFLW side will face the GWS Giants at Blacktown International Sportspark in a pre-season match simulation on Saturday, August 10 from 2:30pm.
 
BIG CROWDS and fun footy is what earned recent expansion side Sydney the 2024 NAB AFLW season opener.
The young team will host inaugurals Collingwood at North Sydney Oval to kick off the season in style.
It is the first time an AFLW season opener will be hosted outside of Victoria, with a second match that evening to follow in Western Australia where West Coast takes on Richmond at Mineral Resources Park.
But it is just reward for the work the Swans have done to engage their local community since joining the League in 2022.
"It's a really big feather in our cap to do that, and in our third season," Sydney head coach Scott Gowans told AFL.com.au.
"A lot of that goes to the supporters and the great support that we have. I mean, it'll be packed out and it's going to be a great night of footy. We feel very privileged to be able to get that, we want to perform well and hopefully hold that going forward."
 
A few key quotes from Scott Gowans
On Ally Morphett

“She’ll be a test for Round 1. She's improved out of sight over the last fortnight, which is great. Match committee's tomorrow so we'll be able to assess that, get the information from medical. It's just now getting the load back into her…”
On team selection
“You have a line-up ready, but to be honest with you, there's not one player on the list that isn't selectable, and that's a great thing. We haven't had that in the past. I've felt that depth has been one of our Achilles heels, and this year I think we've got the depth, which is great going into the condensed part of the fixture as well. So, I feel as though it could go either way with a couple of players.

“It'll come down to opposition analysis next. We'll dive into that and come up with a way that we want to beat Collingwood, and from there we'll take that into match committee and then pick the side to do that.”
 
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Media AFLW Swans News in the Media 2024

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