Mandy, Mitch and Michael dissect Melbourne's valiant effort against a high-flying Hawks side, again bemoaning our injury woes this season, while they pray for a Carlton favour to make finals.
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AFLW: Gritty Dees now praying for Blues win
[MUSIC] Kynan just slaps it towards Conway wanted support, finally little dish up to Macklin. Cuz you get the knees on the boards again. Macklin on the first of the days. Critical moment here with 9 and a half to play. Upstairs, Kate Hall, and Vanish Dees. [MUSIC] At the back, Maxlin, with their hands off to the left. [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC] Harry can link up with Kay Hall with Brita Tiefen run away from Pound. Has a bounce, takes on Wilson, has a second bounce, runs to 40, and third bounce, runs to 25, Hall keeps going, and stands for the reasonable goal. Follow the goal to the year from Kay Hall. Here's a ground level, shrugs Redell on a red right move. Gets cool attraction on the football, and Melbourne with another green final. And Melbourne, I love the obvious for the first time. It's a brand new flag, brand new flag. [MUSIC] >> On a warm Thursday evening, now made the journey to Cairns in Far North Queensland. And narrowly lost by six points in a hard fought match in 24 degree heat. Narm's finals race is now relying on the results of other matches in the final round of the season to determine if they make finals. >> Hello, and welcome to the unofficial podcast at the AFLW Melbourne Demons, The Deem Brief. I'm your host, Mandy, and with me in this episode of the podcast, we have Mitch and Michael joining me. Welcome boys. >> Thanks, Mandy. >> Triple M, Mitch Mandy Michael. >> Triple M. >> I'm stealing your joke. >> You are. >> Triple M, rocks football. Yeah, so Cairns, what a funny place. >> It's an interesting place to go, isn't it? >> And we almost had for probably the first time three panelists talking about a game that they all went to interstate. >> Yes, nearly. >> Nearly. >> Well, to explain, I was in Port Douglas for the week leading up to it, and I didn't look at the season dates several months ago when we were booking that holiday. I know I'm not a good fan, but I didn't assume that Melbourne would be playing in Cairns. And we flew home that day, which felt utterly ridiculous. >> In fact, you guys probably swapped at the airport, because Mitch and those guys arrived on Thursday morning and you would have been leaving on the return flight. >> Yeah, and check-in was chaos, as it always is in Cairns, because something was broken. >> It was even chaos on the Sunday afternoon for a virgin customer, like when we got there, the line was snaking through, it just happened to be that with all the travelling that we've done, I've been able to get into gold and snuck through the priority line, so if we didn't have that priority, we probably still would have been lining up at cans as we speak. >> There's always a problem in cans. >> I had the opposite. Just wandered in, no one in the queue in front of me, checked in, walked through, and then went and said hello to the boys and everyone that was sitting waiting for their flight, and then headed off to the lounge. Thank you very much. >> That's the difference between colonists and virgin. The fact that I think corners had six or seven people on and there was one person in the priority lane and three others on the other lane, and that was it. >> You wouldn't have been drinking champagne in that lounge, Mandy. >> No, no, no. It was too early. >> I'm with more talking about the result, but generally speaking. >> No. No. We would not have been drinking champagne. >> No. Hard liquor. >> Oh, no. >> There was some vodka. >> There was some vodka. >> When in Rome. >> Drinks. >> Well, it was an interesting place because we didn't sit behind the goals, and there were nine people in the Gisquot, there wasn't an alcohol free pay, so we did have a few quiet beverages. >> I think that's all right. It's pretty warm up there. >> Yeah, we did need to hydrate. >> It was warm, and story of our season, injuries probably cost us the win with Kate and Gab going down pretty late, and well, that's the thing. Not only, obviously, but those two players coming out, it's going to make life tough, but it's the lateness of it. >> Yeah. It would have chucked the magnets all over the place, and all the original plans leading into the game out the window. You probably would have expected if Kate did play, she'd probably spent a majority of time in that middle going up against Bates and Westie and Tilly as well, those three. >> I reckon Westie probably had her best game. >> Yeah, she played well, and leading possession went on the ground. >> Yeah, she was. >> Going back in her first game back as well against this was pretty good, so. >> Would you say that they had a point to prove? >> Absolutely, they did. >> Westie, yes, 100%. >> Yeah. >> Kate's not so much, I think. >> Yeah, great. >> She sort of saw an opportunity to move on with her injury and others coming through. Probably would have struggled to get into our best team this year, provided that we had the best team from the start of the year. >> Yeah. >> I really think she would have been in the team probably most of the games this season. >> Yeah, and then Westie, I don't think it was treated well at the end of last year, dropping her for that first final where we got absolutely demolished by North and. >> Wow, we talked about that in the year, didn't we? >> Yeah. >> People hate being dropped for finals, it's just not. >> Yeah. >> But I don't think there's any bad blood between Westie and Kate with the D girls. >> Well, that's interesting. So on the TV coverage after the game, I can't remember which holds on part of our interviewing, but she said it was nice to get the win for Westie and Casey, as if they'd talked about it, as if they'd used it as motivation amongst the- >> They might have. >> They might have. >> Yeah. >> I thought that was interesting. >> But it's the case for anything coming up against old teams, you're probably wanting that extra effort for those specific players, like when Lib came from Bulldogs, who else have we gotten from other teams, Tay from Carlton, Reeve from St. Kilda and others? >> Not played. >> Not as much. >> No, but we have had some players, and you definitely heard them cheering at the end of the game about how important it was. >> Yeah. Well, I think the point that was made a few times was that Hawthorne hadn't had a scalp this year, and they still don't. I mean, Melbourne can hardly be considered as a scalp this year, but the point was made a few times that they wanted to prove themselves, they haven't done much, and I still don't think they have. >> The top two team. >> No, they're not. And I think finals is going to come and bite them, but we'll see what happens. I mean, there's so many permutations now in that final round. And even while we were sitting there Friday, Saturday, we were at the pub having dinner, and we got the TV coverage changed certainly on Saturday night, so we could watch the game on Saturday night. And we're like, every game had an impact just to be out on finals, even then. >> Well, we'll get to it a bit later into more depth, but out of the nine games, eight of them matter this week. >> Yeah. >> It was the one game between West Coast and Sydney where that just does not matter one bit, but the other eight games do matter and can play a part into what happens in the final eight. >> Yeah, and interestingly enough, you know, Hawthorne didn't score a goal in the second half. >> No. They probably dominated a bit more of the possession in that second half, but our defense, as we've harped on all year, they're just keeping us in games and not letting opponents score too big. Like Brisbane and North Melbourne, yeah, they'll blow out same with Essendon. Essendon was probably just the day that the whole team can forget, but the Brisbane and North Melbourne games, our defenders kept us as close as they did for as long as the game went on. >> Yeah. I mean, even Tyler had six tackles again on the weekend Thursday. >> Well, speaking of tackles, and I wanted to circle back this before I forgot, the players that came in for Kate and Gabby, Surade and Lily, I think. >> Yep. >> Surade struggled to find the boards very hard to come into a team that laid with seven tackles on her own and 14 pressure acts. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Actually pretty impressive. That's keeping yourself in the game, even if you're not finding the board. >> To be brutally honest, when I saw the teams come out, I would have, I said to a few that she was very unlucky to get omitted. Yes, it was for Gab coming back in, but she was very unlucky to get omitted in that initial team, in my opinion, and yeah, I don't, I think, if you're talking for like, like, replacements, I don't think Lily Johnson's the, the like for like that we probably needed for, for Kate going out, and that was probably the, probably the bigger out and the difference just having that mature head and like, if we had have had Paxi in the team still, maybe it would have been different, but have neither Paxi or, or Kate in that team, probably just took that experience head away. >> Well, I think this game's going to go down as the, as the one that got away. So Kate goes out, Gabby goes out, and we missed two goals in the last quarter that were frankly sitters, you know, Lil was, was one of the culprits and, and Bano the other. >> Well, Bano missed a couple and you could see after the game that she was really, really hard on herself, and there was a few of the other girls that were just a circle back, that was Lily Methan, that Miss, not Lily Johnson, we've got two leaves. >> Oh, sorry. >> You do have to. >> When I say Lil, you can take that as a given, yeah. >> But yeah, Bano was really hard on herself, and I know there was probably a few others that were, and, and that just shows how much passion they have for the, for the game and how much it means to them, which is not a bad thing. >> No. >> And look, Bano had a funny night because, you know, she took a couple of absolute clunk things, you know, a beautiful mark on the wing, she obviously was in the scoring early. But also seemed to have sort of butter hands at sometimes. And I feel like sometimes she's very confident in attacking the ball and the clean hands that we're used to. And then other times just seems a little bit unsure of herself so deep forward. I'd love to say we'll do another season doing exactly what she's doing now and getting that confidence better. >> Yeah. I, I did notice that the conditions wise, it was obviously humid. >> Yep, ball was probably a little bit slippery, but Hawthorne did get a control over that ball a lot better than us. >> Yeah. >> Like, I think all game, they didn't have many fumbles, many drop marks where when we were kicking it, we were, trying to play a humble game or moving it around too fast, probably for the ball being so slippery and just turning it over too easy. >> It, I, now I wasn't able to tell this pretty much in the game, it's a big ground, right? The wings seem quite huge. >> Yeah. >> I probably were a wider, wider ground and, and a, and a longer ground, but. >> Hawthorne did it for me saying to use that space pretty well. You know, Melbourne was trying to switch it up, they were trying to use the space. There was a number of turnovers. >> Yeah, they did, they did put a lot of pressure on it, I know, watching it, I was turning around constantly saying, we're just kicking and hoping. >> Yeah. >> We had no structure. I think, I don't know how many kicks live, live had off the top of my head. But, I would say 70 to 80 percent of them were just hot kicks, as long as she could. >> A lot of them, we were throwing the ball, the ball onto our boot, almost as soon as we were getting the ball, just to getting it, just to get it out of defense. I know Goldie tends to do that a fair bit anyway, but it wasn't just Goldie doing that this week. And the other thing, of course, we've got to take into account is Goldie's passion. >> Yeah. >> Because that was horrid. >> It was a second hit as well for the night, I know she had a, she got to freak it in early in the game for a dangerous tackle, which, that ruling, you can first objective. >> Very subjective. >> That's a good, can I just say it's a good rule? >> Oh, yeah, absolutely. >> But it is subjective. >> Yeah. >> About whether she actually got a head driven in or not. She didn't get taken off at all, so maybe it wasn't a head knock as such, but that second one was really bad. Looking back on the replay, I don't think it was necessary for a freaking, and I think the umpires did do it right in letting the play play on for a point. >> Yeah. >> But the fact that both players were down and the ball didn't really move out of the area and the umpire took two bloody long to stop play was, yeah, I thought that was pretty average. >> You could tell on the, on the TV coverage, she was instantly hurt. >> Yeah. >> For those who didn't said it was a knee to the head. So it's about as bad as it gets to be a head clap. >> As I said, looking at the replay, it looked accidental. >> Oh, of course. I was definitely accidental. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> There was no malice or anything into it. >> Yeah. >> It was just. >> But at the same time, when she does get up, she then collapses again, and that's really hard to watch. >> Yep. >> Yep. No, I hope she's all right. I've looked it up and didn't see, but fingers crossed, she's. >> Yeah. So the injury report did come out earlier, she's in the concussion protocols, as expected. We did have a nine day break, so she almost, almost be able to play this week, but with how sickening that was, no, there's no chance this week under the protocols and provided that we do make finals, I don't think she plays the first week of finals either, just because it was pretty bad, really bad. >> I wanted to quantify something that you said earlier, as it's been in our heads, we seem to be low scoring this year. We've played 10 games so far this year. We got one more game to go, that's another game from last year. By the end of last year, the home and away season, we played 10 games. Last year, we scored 653 points in those 10 games. You see it was scored 295. It's night and day, and it's the injuries, and it's a lot of things. It's not the whole game. By the way, last year, we conceded 293. This year, we've only conceded 393, so it's actually defensively. >> Defensively, we're still there. >> Exactly. >> It's our on ball and our kicking for goal that's absolutely killed this year. >> Yeah, cannot put it on the board, exactly. >> I think it just comes down to who we've had out. We haven't really lost too many defenders this year. It's just been our mid and forwards that have sort of been in and out. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it's, yeah, it's quantifiable. >> Yeah, the interesting thing was, I've been noticing, you know, over the last couple of weeks, our hit outs have been quite a lot lower, and this week we were right in there. So, we only missed the hit outs by three, it was 33 to 30 this week. >> Yeah. >> So, again, we're now getting, yeah, it makes a big difference. >> Yeah. >> And GC is just coming, getting better and better every week. >> Same with goalie. Both Georges. >> The Goldberg are now, we're calling it. >> Yeah. >> And the Goldberg are going, yeah. >> By the way, I haven't made on since the interview is saying, because that was awesome. But there's another play that we would have liked all year to get us scoring up. >> Well, even in fall, like, GC is not taking much of the ruck in the fall. It's actually Zanks in cheating in the ruck forward. >> Yep. >> Which I think is good, because it's sort of round the ball, you need that little bit more athleticism rather than the jump, and that's what Zanks brings. >> Yeah, I agree. I also wonder if Mick has already got an item next year. So, if you watch the game, Zanks is playing way further up the field than she would have last year. She was taking marks at half back. She was contesting deep at half back, flying, and bringing it forward, and so relying on goal and bano predominantly down forward. >> Now, that is probably cutting off our nose to spite our face against Hawthorne, but hopefully we'll pay dividends next year. >> Yeah. >> You have three key forwards, kicking two sort of thing. >> Yeah. Well, I think that is a good thing that if Mick is thinking about next year already, if we do make finals, we could go either way. We could be just making up numbers, fall out first week, get done, depending on who we play. >> Yep. >> Or we can turn that into a bit of a run and get on. Like, yes, this loss probably put a bit of a blocker on our momentum that we had built up from the previous four games. >> Yep. >> But we can still do anything. And if it is the case that we do bundle out before finals, we're on that first week, and Mick has started trying different things, which has sort of been forced to do all year, but now that we're getting players back in, I reckon that's a good thing. >> Yeah, I agree. There is another way to look at it, because while I was watching the game at one point in the third quarter, I thought that Zanks was playing in very similar places to where Kate would have been playing. And I do wonder if maybe that was the role that he said, get behind the ball more often, push way up at the half back. Not that she was playing sort of through the midfield, but she was running through the midfield, and I thought maybe that was the other thing that Mick was doing, is desperation to win the game, throw Zanks into that role, and it nearly worked. >> Well, the last quarter, who was he yelling at to get forward? >> Everyone. >> Yeah, he was basically trying to get absolutely everyone forward. I think Macka was playing on the wing, and sort of when it was on the opposite to the wing that she was on, and he was just yelling at Macka to get forward. >> Yeah. >> I don't know if Macka actually hurt him or understood him to a point, as she just kept sort of jogging. >> Yeah. >> But Eliza Mack, I mean, we're not at season review point yet, but 24 touches. I think she was, she led for us. >> Yeah. >> She must be near favoritism for BNF. If she hadn't missed one or two games, she'd be, she'd be clear favorite. She's been, I don't think Macka's missed one. >> I think she missed one after the yesterday game, did she with the face injury, or did she not miss? >> No, yes, you're right. She did miss. >> Yep. >> Miss that one. >> But even that, that's probably only one game. >> That's right. Yeah, yeah, no, I think she'd be, well, I mean, as I say, we're not at season review time, but she was clearly, if not our best on ground, very close. >> Yep. >> Her season, I looked this up. So her averages are up across the board. She's up on kicks, hand balls. It's her best season statistically ever. She's doubled her average clearances. She's nearly getting three clearances a game. And her tackles per game are also up. >> Yeah. >> So she's not just getting the ball on the outskirts and see going, she's, she's doing the pressure acts as well. >> In and under. >> Exactly. Yep. Very impressive as she has been every week. >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we don't even know when the best and fairest is going to be hit. >> No, not yet. >> Another one we're waiting for. I think they're possibly waiting on results of this week. Maybe switching with some clubs that, like, I reckon clubs are already booked in their dates. >> Yeah. >> Do you want to get into the analysis, Mitch? Mitch has done the work on this one. >> He has. And I think it's time to- >> Just before we move on to that, I think we need any give a shout out to Tyler Hanks, who as a result of Kate going out led the team for the first time. >> Yeah. If first time captain, then one of our best players on the night. >> Yeah, she certainly stood up under the pressure of captaincy for sure. >> The look on her face, again, on the coverage, but I assume, you know, even better in person. It was amazing what you were running out. Lots of pride on that face. >> Yeah, absolutely. And I want to get another opportunity through injury to look towards the future. >> Totally. >> So, Tyler would probably be next in line for our full-time captaincy once. >> On many years. >> Oh, yes. >> Once Kate finishes up many years down the track, hopefully. >> It's hope so. >> Also nice to see Blahine. She was up and about. >> Back in. >> Yeah, really. >> Back in her best. >> Yeah, totally. >> Yeah, she had a good go. So, we'll go on to road to the finals. >> Road to the finals. >> Road to the finals. So, eighth place is pretty easy. Essident if they beat Carlton this week, which they are favourites to do, they're in the eight, nothing else can happen. If Essident lose, and we win, we're in, and we'll finish eighth, we can't finish any higher than eighth, if Essident and us both lose, Jollong can sneak in still. >> If they win. >> If they win. And that's relying on them to beat Adelaide Friday night. >> Over there? >> No, at Jollong. >> Okay. >> So. >> That's entirely possible. >> Yeah. >> It is remarkable. The draw, as the number of media outlets said, and as always happens, throws everything up. >> Yeah, correct. Correct. We didn't even, I think we went into it this a little bit last week, and Jono to his credit did predict that it would be a draw, but you can't predict draws to be brutally honest, and to be, I haven't put that in there. So, if Essident and Carlton do draw, it puts our percentage back in, and we need a floor calling. >> Right. Okay. >> And then that rules Jollong out. So, for Essident, a draw is almost as good as a win. >> Yep. >> Yep. >> So, at that point, if you don't beat Essident, sorry, if you don't beat Collingwood, you don't deserve to be playing farms. >> No, and they've got Carlton who barely beat Collingwood. So. >> And of course, the draw for us actually took our percentage out of it. >> Yeah, correct. So, we don't have percentage against Essident and now it's a matter of if they lose and we win, we're in. >> Yep. >> Yep. >> Which is kind of a bit better for us, if the truth be told. >> Yeah. So, looking at the final ladder, North Melbourne, who have Gold Coast this week, and should win, we'll tie up first place. Hawks and Brizzy are pretty much locked in the second and third provided that, as I mentioned, North win. If North do lose, Hawks can sneak in the top. >> Okay. >> But the Hawks Brisbane game is almost locked in as the first one, which is a matter of where. Most likely here. >> Yep. >> Fourth place, most likely Adelaide, if all favourites win, Frio and Richmond can sneak into fourth, depending on their results and Adelaide losing. Brisbane can also slip down to fourth if they lose an Adelaide win and a bit of a sandwich make up as well. Brisbane, technically, mathematically, can drop to fifth, but big percentage difference needs to make up for that. This is where what probably affects us more is fifth place. So, if all favourites win, Frio, finish fifth. >> Well, that, of course, means if we get to eight, it's a trip over to the other side of the country. >> Correct. >> Adelaide, favourites to beat Geelong, Friday night, where favourites to beat, Collingwood, senior favourites to beat West Coast in that game that I mentioned, doesn't matter. North beat, Gold Coast is the favourites, Essen and the beat Carlton, Brisbane to beat St. Kilda, Hawthorne to beat Richmond, Port Adelaide to beat GWS and Frio to beat Western Bulldogs in Frio. Adelaide can finish fifth if in two different ways, one, if Geelong beats Adelaide on Friday night and Frio win on Sunday afternoon. The other way is if Geelong beat Adelaide, Hawthorne beat Richmond and Bulldog's beat Frio. Sorry, if Richmond beat Hawks, sorry, if Richmond beat Hawks, they jump up to fourth. We can play Richmond if Adelaide lose, Richmond win Port Adelaide win and Frio win. Or if Port win, Frio lose and Richmond win. >> It's a bit of work going into these. >> I mean, I particularly love this stat, eight of the nine games matter, that's awesome. >> And then the final, if we can still play Port win, Frio lose, Richmond lose. So as I said, final ladder, if all favourites win, North Melbourne Hawks, Brisbane, Adelaide, Frio and Fifth, Port Adelaide, Sixth, Richmond, Seventh, Essendon, Eight, that's if all favourites win. >> Well, I think the interesting takeaway from that, if you look at this year, is that we can beat virtually any of those teams if they finish fifth. So if we can sneak into eight with beaten Adelaide, with beaten Richmond, we know we can beat Fremantle. >> Should have beaten Frio. >> Should have beaten Fremantle. >> Yeah. >> Port Adelaide, it's a bit harder to say. But that's a winnable first final, if we can make it. >> Yeah, absolutely it is. >> I think that we would be the dark horse that no one wants to play in finals. >> Yeah, you'd be the one team, we'd be the one team, nobody would want to play. >> Yeah, I agree. >> Not a single team would want us into the finals race, because we'd just be that- >> Dark horse that can just do anything. >> That's right. Assuming that everyone's back, and that actually assumes- >> A lot. >> It seems a lot, and actually to highlight one player, Sinead. >> Yeah. >> Gold, if we're missing Gold in that first final, that's a huge out for us. She's been in our top five every game this year. >> Yeah. >> She's obviously not going to play against Collinwood. So I thought that was interesting. >> Yeah, so the injury list that just came out this afternoon, Kate with a low grade quad is a test to return. So probably needs to get through training tomorrow to play, maybe even a late last minute captains run on Friday and all of a sat day. Gab's still weak or too away with her concussion, so obviously she must have had a bit of a recurrence at training. >> Yeah, that training knock? >> Yeah, on maybe Wednesday afternoon. Goldie with her concussion, it's stated one to two, so probably doesn't get back in for that first final, especially if it's in Freo. >> Yeah, you wouldn't risk it with two. >> Probably wouldn't risk out. And Paxie's still a TBC with her foot. >> Yeah. >> You'd assume with Paxie, I don't want to write off Collinwood because anyone can win, but you'd assume that rests, Paxie, I would have thought. >> It says, "experienced demon, Paxie Paxman will remain on the slide lines this week as she continues to manage her foot injury." >> Yeah. >> So she's not playing this week. >> I reckon we brought it back too quick. >> Yeah. >> Was it worth the risk? >> Yeah. >> Well, it's wait to see, I suppose, because maybe it really wasn't worth the risk at the time. >> Wow, it's hard to say. Everything's easy in hindsight on the slide. >> Yeah, of course it is. >> It's at the selection table. But come finals, you need that experience there. >> You need Kate there, you need Paxie there, you need the experience, or we're done for. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. Just that ability to put your body in between victory and defeat is what Paxie gives you. And has the ability to lead on the ground and make those split decisions that have to be made on the ground. >> Yeah. >> Because they're the difference between, that would have been the difference on Thursday night. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. And it's not just that sort of in and under body physicality, it's the beautiful running lines, great handball. If Paxie's handballing to you, you're going to get it without breaking stride. >> Absolutely. >> And it puts you in the open. It's another thing we've been noticing, isn't it, Mitch? It's the fact that our delivery is just a little bit short. We're not quite getting the ball to direct hands to leading hands. It's falling a little bit short, or it's going way over the top. And it's just that finesse that we need to work on in delivery into our forward line that's going to make the difference. >> Totally. Yep. >> So, before we get into this week's game against Collinwood, I'm just going to quickly touch on Laura Kane's comments this week about next year. So from the sounds of it, the condensed fixture will not be back next year. Even with the additional game, I think from the sounds of it hasn't worked as well as they'd hoped. So having 12 games does assist with the fixture evenness, I think, although they still find a way to stuff it up. >> Well, it totally stuffed up this year, let's be honest. >> But yeah, just sort of, you could put it in there, so the way I see it is that you split, similar to how we do it in the men's with 6, 6 and 6, but split it into 3, 3, 3, 3. That's the 3, where you play the same, the 2 opponents that you finish in that middle, that 3 block, those 2, and then 2 from every other 3 block. So it's a bit tricky, but we're currently 9th, if latter stays the same, we're 9th, so we'd play Essett and Port Adelaide next year, two of Kangaroos, Hawthorne Brisbane, knowing that I felt they'd put us against North Melbourne and Brisbane. Two of Adelaide, Freo Richmond, Adelaide Away, Freo Away. >> Of course. >> Two of Geelong, St. Corder and West Coast. >> Geelong and West Coast Away? >> Yep. Two of Western Bulldogs, Carlton and Sydney, which would be very interesting if this is the way it would be very interesting, because we haven't played Carlton in a while, we've never played Sydney and our history with the Bulldogs. One of them misses out. >> They'll play those games in Broome and Kuala Lumpur. >> And then two of GWS Gold Coast in Collingwood, which, that's how I... >> So I love this system. Is this just your idea? Where do you come from? >> This is just my idea based on the way that has been done previously in the men's with the double ups with the 6, 6 and 6. >> Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. >> But not the way it will go. >> No. >> Of course not. No, no, no, you wouldn't bring logic into it. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So just to go back to the Laura Kane stuff, so this is a direct quote when she was talking to Channel 7's talking W on Monday night. So we know we'll be playing 12 games. That's built into the CBA. More AFLW is terrific. >> Absolutely. >> So with the expanding to 12 games and the history of not wanting to extend into too far into December, and then obviously the starting date is going to have to change with no condensed picture. So there's going to be some crossover with the men's. And one of the questions, the other question is when do you want the AFLW Grand Final? So they are thinking about that, about whether they bring that forward potentially to be able to get into some of the AFL grounds that aren't available in December. So... >> Well, it would make sense, right? >> Yeah. >> Like let's be serious about this and get us into some kind of decent ground and give us some a chance of decent crowds. >> Yeah. Well, I have mail during the week, literal mail, but well, not literal, but an SMS. I won't say who, but it's a somewhat daughter place, FLW. And the talk there is that they'll be doing more warm up matches for the men's next year that we more double headers, which obviously ties into this idea of then going to have to start the season earlier. >> Yeah. So I don't think necessarily double headers is the way to go every time, because a five o'clock game at the MCG on a Friday night as a double header is not going to work. It was a pain in the arse to try and work out with that final. >> Yeah. >> And knowing that there's going to be 14 Thursday night games in the men's history next year means that none of those should have games before. >> Yeah, no, a grade, a grade. But if you look at the game like we play in Alice Springs, it might be a bit too early in the year, but that would be an awesome double header. >> Perfect. >> Yeah. >> That'll be a perfect exam for a double header there. >> Yeah. >> Or a lovely Saturday or Sunday afternoon in Fremantle. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Or West Coast. >> Yeah. >> If it gets to the model, I think I've said it almost every week, where it's same opponent, same state, same weekend, that'll work. Because if it's a Friday night game against Freo at Opus for the men's and then a Saturday afternoon at Freo or even a Sunday at Freo, depending on how they want to do it, people will stay. >> Yeah. And you do. You make a weekend of it. >> It'll get more crowds at the AFLW. You can tie it in with state level games as well, so do that as a double header. So we're hosting a game down at Casey, have the VFL on beforehand, have the VFL do you on beforehand? >> Yeah, it doesn't have to be an AFLW-related, does it? >> Yeah. >> But she also did say that, so back to Laura Kane, you might see a midweek game next year. >> Okay. >> But when you do play one, your next one isn't that, so it's not going to, there might be some midweekers. >> Yeah. >> So maybe some Wednesdays to just avoid some of those double headers that are, that are hard. >> Right. >> Would you go to Adelaide on Wednesday night, watch the girls and stay Thursday night and watch the men? >> Probably. >> I think you would. >> I would. >> No, I know. >> I think you're going to make the trip. >> Yeah. >> I think you're going to make the trip, yeah. >> Yeah. >> So that's your thing, right? >> Yeah. >> If they can be sensible about it. >> Same state, same state. Same two days in a row. >> I mean, it's a flight. >> You'd probably make the exception, wouldn't you, and stay the day? >> It's slightly, it's slightly tricky. The flight that I'd put in that ointment is that you're looking at it from the perspective of the traveling fan, of course, they're the vast minority of the crowd. If you live in Adelaide, would you go to both games? That's possibly less likely, but nevertheless, I think some creativity around this, and particularly for destination games, I think it would be an awesome way to do it. >> Just to a point in that, I did see a comment on this, on Facebook or Twitter, I can't remember exactly where. >> Once those 14th Thursday nights goes, on TV, just, what do you do with Thursday night? >> Yeah, yeah. >> And that's why to be interested in the mid-week AFL WVMs, how do they rate? Because that's what they're really going to talk about. >> Correct, yeah. >> And if, with the games being shorter and only two hours, you could easily do a seven o'clock start in Melbourne, on a Thursday night, into a seven o'clock start, local time in Perth, have those two games, and if you need that extra game on a Wednesday night, it gives you sort of six teams to rotate through. >> Yeah. Well, like Larissa was saying last week, got the week before, it's a really nice way to spend a mid-week night. The kids are in bed, it's Wednesday night, and there's 40 on the TV, which is great. But, you know, how that works out, how that plays out. >> I don't know. >> As we said, for the traveling fanatics that, at least Mandy and I are. >> Some of this, some of this are. >> It's not ideal having to take some extra leave days from work or anything, but it's the way to do it if you're going to try and get the more crowd at the AFLW. >> And if you're lucky like me, who work in IT, I can work from home or work remotely. >> Remotely, or pretend to work from anywhere. >> Well, no, I do not. Yes, pretend to work from anywhere. >> I'm joking. >> Anywho, let's talk about the last home and away game for this year, Collingwood. >> Saturday afternoon, 1.05pm at- >> Icon Park, which should get a good crowd. >> Well, you'd hope so. You'd hope you'd get a decent number of both Melbourne and Collingwood people going. >> As I'm sure you've heard me say before, my wife is a Collingwood fan, but unfortunately, I will be in New Zealand, and my trouble is ramping up, and I'm a bit guilty about it. But can I just say how wonderful it is, what a joy it is that Collingwood is crap, and they have had a truly, yeah, so it's pretty much the battle of the injuries. They just have had a lot more injuries than us. >> Well, that was the one side that had more than I said earlier in the year, right? >> Yeah. >> In saying that, I did watch a little bit of the Collingwood Carlton game on Saturday or Sunday? Sunday. >> Sunday. >> As we landed, and Collingwood have improved, and to be honest, deserved to beat Carlton. They just got unlucky at the end where they just sort of, they just couldn't get that extra goal and Carlton managed to get a goal. >> It was interesting, wasn't it, because Carlton did the two, one, one, and Collingwood had the late ones in the last corner they got, that really nearly got them across the line. >> It was an awesome round of football. I actually didn't watch that game, but I watched the SN and Richmond game, and that was heart and mouth stuff. >> And that's going to be tough for both teams to come up next week, because it was still 32 degrees and about 76% humidity, and you could see how taxing that game. It was a really hard game. We were watching it on Saturday night at the pub. >> Playing it was in Darwin in nearly November is interesting. >> Yeah, it's like Kazale at the same time. We were lucky it was 24 degrees, not 32 degrees, because it was about the same humidity. >> Yeah, it was. >> But it didn't seem that bad, and I think Kazale still manages somehow to get a sea breeze come through, so it didn't feel quite as bad as I thought it was going to feel. >> It was actually quite nice there, but we've, if you compare, say Hawthorne to Richmond who they're playing, Hawthorne also had their extra couple days break. >> Correct. >> So Hawthorne playing on a Thursday night compared to Saturday night for Richmond, so that's where you probably take into Hawthorne as favourites for that, and for the fans that for us, Essiden coming back compared to Collingwood staying here, as though it's Carlton staying here. >> Yeah, exactly right. >> Might be a bit tough on them, but given that the injuries that Collingwood have, yes, they have improved a little bit in Carlton, only just got over the line, wishful thinking for them to be able to get up against Essiden. >> It is tough to find superstars in the Collingwood team. >> Benichi. >> Benichi, but even, yeah, I mean, her seasons, I guess it's tough when you're having a tough year. >> Well, when you don't have anyone there to support you, you're never going to be able to do as much as you would when you've got loads of support around you. >> Yeah. >> She'd been on much, much better player with... >> She's looking, she's having a good season versus her averages. >> Yeah. >> You think about it, Robbie Flower in the time he played with the Melbourne players he had around him. >> That's true. >> He was still a superstar. Benichi's probably a little bit similar. >> They're just missing Brie, Brie Day, just... >> Huge difference. >> Even that body there, once again, it's like us missing Kate and missing Paxi. >> Yep. >> Just that experience head just to be there and not necessarily win a lot, Brie does win a lot of the ball, but just that experience to be able to direct and, yeah, because they're a young, pretty young side, similar to us. >> Yeah, absolutely. And of course, you go to our head-to-heads as you always do Mitch against Collingwood coming up. >> Yeah, winning record and four and two. >> Yeah. And even like our form leading into it's been almost the opposite as well. >> Yeah. >> So it'll be interesting to see you'd hope that we would be able to get up and do some damage, I suppose, if you like, actually get a bit of percentage and... >> Not that it's sort of matters, but yeah, I think that's... >> It's not percentage, it's flow, it's whatever... >> It's confidence. >> It's confidence. It's getting confidence back in the team and putting games into those young kids who are only going to get better. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> And look, to Georges and whoever else. >> I sort of had to say, obviously making finals would be a huge bonus, but it would be a bonus this year. It's not something that we're expected to do at this stage, so it's a little tiny bit of a win-win if we win, losing is horrible. But look, if we make finals, that's absolutely fantastic and we could do some damage in the first couple of weeks of finals, but regardless, it would be nice to, if not, at least finish the season with the win, finish the season with the high score, going to your break, feeling good about life. >> Give yourself the best opportunity to make it if we get there. >> Yeah, correct. >> Predictions or is it...? >> Yeah. >> I see us winning by three goals. I think, as I said, what I saw from Collinwood last week, they are improving. Our game up there was, yes, we got a few extra-day breaks, but it still was hot and very hard to come back to from, you see that anywhere. We win by three goals. >> I'm going with Beno de kick two, her favourite grounds, and we don't lose games when Beno kicks two. >> There are. I'm going by a two-goal win. >> Yeah, 14 in a row, 14 from 14 when Beno kicks two, so. >> I am going to go with a four-goal win. Collinwood, give you recent form, but over the course of the season, they cannot put scores on the board, even worse than Melbourne. They've only scored 218 points for the whole year, so if Melbourne can get a couple of early goals and get a run on and get some nice weather and everything else, I'm tipping four goals. >> It is predicted to be rain, I think, on Saturdays, isn't it? It was overcast. >> I think overcast. I don't think it was much rain, but hopefully it's a nice day and we can all get out. >> Well, it's changed a bit. >> Jumping around. >> Looks like it's going to be 25. >> 26 and mostly sunny. >> Mostly sunny. >> Yeah. >> But it was earlier in the week, I was looking at it, and it was overcast and possibly rainy, so it's improved, which is good. >> And if you're not into your spring carnival, I am, I like watching the horses, but if you're not, no better way to protest and to get down and watch a bit of AFLW. >> Of course. >> Don't just turn up to a straight protest, come to the footy. Come to the footy, cheer on our girls as we hope to make finals this year, big win needed, hoping for results. At Icon Park, so if you can stick around for the day in Carlton and cheer on Carlton against this, I don't know. It's hard to say, come from the Melbourne Sportacus. >> Is it because it is a double header? >> It's an extended double header, so their game's at 710 or something, so our game will finish at 3 to 7 game. >> Clear it out. >> Clear it out, yeah. >> I'll tell you what, you could be properly licked up by 7 o'clock if you're hanging around Carlton that long, but yeah. >> Get down to Icon Park, 1 o'clock start, on this that day, before you head on your holidays for the unofficial long weekend, if you've got Monday off, go D's. >> Go D's.