[MUSIC] Kynan just slaps it towards Conway wanted support, finally a little dish off to Macklin. Can she 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 Kate Hall with Brito Teeth and 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 for Kate Hall. Here's a ground level, shrugs Redell on a red right move, gets cool attraction on the football, and then over to another green final. [MUSIC] Two games in the space of four days saw Melbourne travel interstate to Adelaide, and claim a gritty two point win before returning back to Melbourne and fronting up again less than 90 hours after the final saw and had sounded at Norwood Oval. To claim another gutsy win at Moraben, taking us to three wins on the trot, and reigniting the possibility of finals for season nine. Hello, and welcome to the official unofficial podcast of the AFLW Melbourne Demons, the debrief. I'm your host, Larissa, and with me in this episode of the podcast, we have Mitch and Jono joining me. Welcome, guys. >> Very well summed up, Larissa, and thanks for having us. >> You've got to make it brief. >> Yeah, amazing summation. >> Two games in the space of four sentences. >> And two games, two wins, and brilliant game plan. >> Yes. >> Back in the roast. >> Yes, so Adelaide was a really close finish, Mitch, you were there. >> Yes, yes. And I do have to apologise to anyone that listened to the podcast last week. I did say that anything less than tango loss would be a win for us. Technically I was right because it was less than a tango loss. >> Well, that is true, yes. >> But to say that I was expecting us to come out and blitz Adelaide, and especially in that first quarter, take that two gold lead and hold on. I was not expecting it, especially sort of condensed fixturing. >> Yes. >> They had a much better talent than us in all due respect with the injuries that we had. We had been struggling to run out games, so even at halftime when we were a goal and a half up, it was still like we're probably not going to hold on. It was still. >> Yeah, it was pretty nerve-wracking watching on the TV. I can say that for sure. >> Yeah, correct. But the game plan that Mick decided to bring out on Wednesday night was definitely impressive. It was just more of a run and gun. Our pressure on the ball carrier was very hot. Our defence just stood up tall when Adelaide got the ball and not allowing him to get a free possession. >> Yeah, I think the defence was amazing. >> You know, it was effectively, if we turn the footy over, I'd get back as quick as you can and just super defensive and then just go. >> Yeah, so Hanksy, Taylor Hall, sorry, Kate Hall, Goldie, and Lisey, Mac were our best players. >> By far, but as I said, the defence. >> Yeah, they're holding us up and they don't get the credit in the media or anything. But when it comes to best and fairest, you definitely see the likes of Talia and Mavo up there. >> Yeah, Mavo's been amazing. >> It's not far for sure. Matt Cheps is unbelievable. >> Yeah. >> And one thing I do want to say to Adelaide's credit, they probably didn't have the best of games against this. >> Yes, they were really inaccurate in front of goal. >> Yeah, not just that. >> They were sloppy, it could tell that the condensed fixture didn't help them. I think they'd came off two games earlier in a lot less space than us. So I think they had the Saturday game where we had the Thursday game the week before. >> Yep. >> They had their three and 14 days a little bit earlier than us. >> Yeah, correct. >> How much of that though was our pressure though? That was the best pressure I think I've seen in my mental football side, regardless of mental women for about five years, I reckon. >> And what was the start or something at half time with 90 inside 50 tackles? Was it something like that or I can't remember exactly the start, but there was definitely a lot. >> There was a lot. I think it was a record. >> Yeah. >> I was paying much attention. I was too busy trying not to wake Evie up. >> Yeah, and one last thing on Adelaide, it's just we did get a good run into the umpires that night. >> So you should, which in compared to the pre-season match that we had in Adelaide, pretty much opposite. So yeah. >> Let's not get me started when I'm pouring, not this week. >> So the two-point win over Adelaide, and then we had the 14-point win over St. Kilda at Moraben, and we had Zanka back to goals, Bano, Campbell, Goldrick, Purcell, all-kicked goals, and Hanksi, McNamara, Kate Hall, Liv Purcell and Zanka are in the best. And the good thing to come out of both games was there was no new injuries. >> No new injuries, and having Zanks packed and Liv back in, those were three massive wins, and you could just see it. Zanks being in helped us straighten it before the line, took maybe the second defender off Georgia Gald, Turpin on the third, Bano playing on the second instead of the first. And then Zanks still being strong and being able to take a couple of good marks and kick up all goals. And then with Liv being back, it freaked Hanksi up a little bit. You saw how many clearances she had. And then Paxi's just Paxi that can get put in anywhere, and both her and her and Liv gave a bit more depth into that midfield. Biggest thing that Paxi did was a little bit of Goldie to go back to half-forward with that pressure. >> Yeah. >> They're coming back in instead of swinging it back to half-back what we have been. But Liv just comes in with those big things with that, and I already called it Batman Mask. >> Batman Mask. I think that's pretty cool, but no, it's just freed right up. But the one we're missing is Miss Eliza McMamara, what a game of football. >> Yeah. >> Wow. >> Two, both games. She played amazing. >> Black eyes. >> Yes. >> That's impressive. >> Well, you couldn't really tell with the rainbow pain on the cheeks, but no, her coming back in, we really did miss her in that game against Eliza, where she did do the injury. And what can we say, she's another one that's been performing really, really well. >> And she probably hasn't missed the steps since she's come back from her back injury to be brutally lost. >> Yeah. That's a really good point. >> She's almost in career best form. >> Yep. It's going to be a tight finish for the best and fairest when that comes around. >> Yeah. Especially because it's the coaches voting and not the umpire, and certain roles get brought up. And yeah, it's just that best and fairest night will be a very interesting game. >> Yeah. I'm not even going to try and predict it. >> No. That seems wildly impossible at the moment, I think. >> Another couple that we really are enjoying watching at the minute is either two Georges. >> Yes. Yes. I just think the injuries have given us a good opportunity to get a look at some of the up and coming players. And that's really exciting, isn't it? >> It's just invaluable experience for them. >> Georgia Gold just every week just gets better, and better, and better, and better. And so does Georgia Campbell, and the best thing about Georgia Campbell, she swings forward and kicks goals as well. So with the laws coming back. >> Possibly. >> Possibly. >> Yeah. >> Hopefully. >> Yeah. >> It's going to make for a tight selection of squeezes. >> It is. >> These two youngsters now have really given me a headache in the selection stuff, which is really good for it. >> In the best way possible. >> And when I take this year ahead of it, it's really good for future season as well. >> Absolutely. And when it does come to it, the teams will come out in a couple of days. But if laws is fit and firing, I'd probably say read dropping out instead of GC because obviously age does come into a bit of a factor with that. But Georgia is up and coming, and will be our number one rock when laws does hang up the boot. So to put more time into her, see how the tandem goes. It worked like early last year when Mick tried it. >> Yeah. On the top we spoke about off here as well, though, GC can go forward, where his reach struggles are just a little bit more going forward than what GC does. Either of them are going to be stiff or whatever goes out for laws, because they both mean really good for it. >> Yeah, correct. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> And then if B comes back in, like we're talking about we haven't -- >> Oh, gosh. >> Who do you drop? >> I don't know. It depends. >> I haven't looked, but I'm not even going to put a prediction here. >> No, honestly, it probably depends on matchups, but because of the way that B can play, can free up Goldie to play other spots, Paxi as well can float around, and might come to it down to one of the younger players. >> Yeah. >> If it's back, it might be Grace Hill, Riley Waterspoon might be another option. If the third play that I thought of was Denbie Taylor, and if Denbie gets dropped, that would be very stiff. >> Yeah. >> She had two excellent games in week seven, so. Yeah. >> Yeah, tough decisions to make, but good ones, I guess, for us as supporters. >> I'm glad I'm done on the selection panel. >> Especially this week. >> And then we've got Gab Colvin, who will miss this week with Concussion. >> We did mention that we -- >> Two games in a row? >> Yeah, so we did mention earlier that we were lucky that we didn't get injuries. We actually did with Gab gone down with the concussion. From all accounts, it's a bit of a delayed concussion because it happened early in the game against Adelaide, but she came back on and then only went off in that second half of the last quarter. So I think it might have been a bit of delayed, but yeah, she does miss two games, which, as a consequence of the condensed picture, the 12-day protocol automatically rules her out, so it's not like she's missed one week and then just didn't get up for the second week. It's two games that she's missing. >> Yeah. >> Unless we could have been collielled with this, given me some three games in that period as well, so. >> Plus the half a game that she missed with the last half a time. >> It's tough because it's already such a short season and then you have players missing chunks like that in that, especially if something like that happens in that condensed section of the fixture, so it is pretty brutal for those players, I think. >> Which is why the AFL need to get rid of it. Sorry, I've got to mow my P's and Q's because some of the students where I'm currently doing some learning now is have worked out that I do the podcast, so I have to behave a little bit. >> Okay, that's a warning for all of us to bring it back in the line. But yeah, so we've got three games left, Richmond this week, Hawthorne up in Cairns, which both this week and next week are winnable, but still a bit of a stretch because both teams are really good, they're probably the most in form, they're two of the best, most improved teams this year. Both got some star players. >> And I think both Richmond and Hawthorne will be really motivated to try and do well enough to finish, you know, as high up the ladder as they can. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> I've got a vested interest in watching Richmond a little bit on most of me. One of my mates actually is their coach, so I don't mind them going so well with Furgot coach. I'm just, Furgot if you hear this mate, just, you know, way down this week, would you? >> Yeah, but with the three games, it's going to get really, really tight. I message into the group off during the week after the Adelaide game and when every team had played their seven games about the roles of the ladder, and it was lucky that we did beat St. Kilda, because if we hadn't, we'd be two games plus a shit ton of percentage out. >> Yes. >> So we would have definitely needed to win all three and hope results go away. We still, that's still the case, we still do need to win all three, but if we do happen to lose to Hawthorne and get a massive percentage boost against Collingwood, which fingers crossed as much as you don't like injuries, Collingwood don't get players back. If we can still sneak in with two, but most likely we need to win all three to play finals and even sneak in, and doing the predictor, I'm not looking forward to it if we do sneak in because it's looking like a trip to Freo, or a trip to Adelaide, to play, well, honestly, this game Friday night, Port Adelaide, St. Kilda will probably determine which of those two teams stay in contention to finish that top half at the bottom four of the eight, if that makes sense. >> It's like between fifth and eighth. >> Well, whoever wins that will most likely finish fifth or sixth, whoever loses it probably misses out on finals altogether, so that's almost elimination final for them, but yeah, it's probably a trip to Freo or a trip to, so trip back to Freo or a trip to Port for the first week. >> I mean a trip to Freo, we owe him one, so, you know, relish that opportunity to do. >> And then if we do happen to win that, it's a trip to Brisbane or a trip to Adelaide. >> Okay. >> We were, let's be honest, the initially I both did a predictor before, and Mitch had us missing out on the eight, five percentage. >> Yep. >> I had us finishing eight, and then I had us beating Hawthorne in the grand final. >> Yep. >> But, yeah. >> I lost your options, don't I? >> We just got all our players back, so we knocked over Freo in week one, we beat Adelaide in week two, and we beat North in week three. >> So, the way that we both had the top four being was either North or Hawthorne finishing on top, just based on sort of percentage, Breezy could also finish on top, like the big key game with that top four will be Adelaide and North, played at Norwood Oval, so North win that they finish on top, technically undefeated, but not a perfect game, perfect year because they drew with Geelong, but yeah, and then Hawthorne finishing fourth, potentially, because we beat them, but yeah, it's probably going to be looking like an interstate grand final again this year, in less North finishing on top, but it's a bit more interstate travel if we stick in. >> Yep. That's the takeaway message there. >> I think we leave it there, and wait, Freida, jump on. >> We're very excited to announce tonight that we've got a special guest, our special guest tonight was drafted six in the 2017 AFLW Women's Draft, made her debut the following year in round five against Brisbane, I believe, as a junior footballer played for the Bendigo pioneers, and according to Mitch, will this week play her 70th game for Melbourne? Welcome, Zanks or Edo. >> Hey, guys. >> Whichever nickname you prefer. >> All of the above. >> All of the above. >> Excellent. Love it. >> It's an absolute privilege to be here with you guys, so thank you very much. >> Really excited to have you. >> Well, the privilege is out as you can get up your time just for humble volunteers, you're just like chatting away. >> Yep. >> I love a good chat, so it's my pleasure. >> Can I just start with a quick question, Edo, touching on the Bendigo pioneers, I grew up around the same general sort of area of Victoria, as you up in the Northern Victoria, and I'm just curious how much commuting you had to do as a junior footballer to get from Natya. Did I pronounce it right? >> Yeah, that's good enough. >> Good enough to play all your pioneers' games. >> Yeah, for sure, and out in the Valley, it's a good country out there, so now super lucky to be born and bred in the heart of Victoria, but nah, yeah, I probably have to really thank my dad. He had done a lot of the commuting and was risking it all for me to put on the L-plates and drive everywhere, but I was going to get to driving hours up, I imagine. >> Nah, for sure, but, yeah, nah, a lot of commuting, Bendigo itself is a good two and a half hours from from Natya, so yeah, a lot of driving, then Melbourne's another four and a half hours, so yeah, he heaps of driving, but yeah, wouldn't change a thing, I'm sure dad would probably like some fuel money back, but it was good to- >> It's been a worthwhile investment. >> Oh, nah, for sure, for sure, and we had a lot of good chats in the cars as well, it was a good way to connect with dad and talk to him, Robbie, so yeah. >> Yeah, a lot of trekking, but yeah, wouldn't change it for the world. >> No, as a proud, proud girl, dad myself, I can guarantee you there is no way knowing he would want anything back, it would be all worth it. >> No, for sure, and what was junior football like for you before the pioneers, can you talk us through a bit about your pathway to get to that point even, because I mean, I have a little bit of an interest in how women's football is being taken up in the country, and it seems up around northern Victoria, it still seems pretty rare, and so I think it's amazing that you have made it here. >> Yeah, for sure, sorry about the dog barking in the background, hopefully we can get that out. But yeah, it's 100%, it's still very scarce. >> Yeah. >> But I guess, yes, it's scarce, but there's still, it's come such a long way. Yeah, I played under 12s with the Tillie Buckman and Yutang Boys, and I think we only won like one game out of maybe 12 or 13 games, so we weren't really a hit for Tillie Maname Saints, but no, it was a good stepping stone, and I think that's where I kind of fell in up with Tillie. I think the initial phase is me falling in love with the boot, so I just absolutely loved the studded boots, and from there I learned what sport they were for, and then chucked them on, and yes, since then I kind of loved the game, but yeah, I played under 12s with the Boys, and then yeah, like any other regional club, you couldn't really progress from there with your body developing and bits and pieces, so yeah, I played netball for a fair chunk of time back home, and then, yeah, the Warranine Tigers started up a youth girls league, which was, the Bendigo, it was affiliated with the Bendigo League, so yeah, that's kind of where a lot of the travel came through, and obviously getting connections through the Bendigo pioneers by that, but yeah, I only played one year of under 18 youth girls footy, and yeah, that was probably where women's football was starting to take off in terms of all the programs starting up, and yeah, I was fortunate enough to, I guess, yeah, all the stars aligned really, and I didn't spend too much time playing too much junior sports, which you could, I don't know, it could be either a good thing or a bad thing, I would have liked to play a bit more footy, but I'm also very fortunate that, yeah, I got to go to such a professional club pretty quickly, so yeah, my time in junior footy was pretty scarce, but yeah, it was really good to get that professionalism in myself super early, so yeah, well, there's no evidence that you had a couple of years playing, between football playing netball. Oh yeah, it's a bit of a shame that netball is not a contact sporter, but going from footy to netball was a bit strange, but we got there, but yeah, well we're happy to have you. No, I'm glad to be at the D's, it really is a great club, and the culture there is really amazing, and the girls and the staff included like just have your best interests at heart and want you to do so well inside of football, but are so invested outside of that as well, so yeah, this helped me get to where I am now, and yeah, future me is going to thank him so much, so yeah, absolutely love the D's, amazing. You were just talking about how you absolutely love the D's, I'm sure, sort of when the expansion teams come in, you would have been one of the players that got a touch on the shoulder and offered a bit of money to go elsewhere, but like many of our other players that got the same touch before 2022, what do you think has been a reason for our fantastic retention over sort of the expansion periods up until sort of getting bombarded this year? Yeah, well, I definitely think the staff, the staff for one, I'm sure you guys have met me quite a few times now or have heard of him, and just he's got such a good reputation within the club, and like I said just before, he wants us to be good footballers, but he wants us to be better people, and I feel like in senior coach roles that can probably be pretty hard to find, coaches being so focused on outcome-based focuses rather than your life outside of football, so making these staff have such a big impact on why a lot of us girls and a lot of the staff included want to stay, and I think just having that cohesion as a group and the staff that stay, like you do, yeah, if you get to know each other on a deeper level when you do stay together for quite some time, and yeah you do pretty much become family, and you're there through the hard times, and you're there through the good times, and you know you have that to share amongst the group, so yeah, I wouldn't, yeah, got a couple of taps, but I honestly didn't want to be anywhere outside of the Nades, and we have been such a successful group in the past, and yeah just having that feeling with such a great group of people that I've created such a bond with and been with since the start of my career, like it's the least I can do is be there and perform, but yeah, I just absolutely love the group and yeah, Mick is a massive part of why all of us, yeah all of us girls and staff included continue to step up and be there and perform, so yeah. Now I've been on record in this podcast multiple times over the last couple of years saying that he's an absolutely genius of a coach. Yeah, and probably shows this year as well with some of the moves that he's made, like I was amazed about the different, the slight change of game plan on Wednesday night against Adelaide just to change it up, so I know, yeah for sure, and then for you, yeah sorry, for you to come back in and slot right in against St Kilda on Sunday was, was awesome to say so yeah for sure and I think when you touched on that bit of a game style sense like yeah we have had a bit of a bit of a tough start but probably tried to over complicate things as well, so yeah you kind of just bought it back to basic simplified, simplified our game a little bit more and yeah I guess off the back of that we've got to play a bit more freely so yeah that certainly helps but what was the second part of the question sorry? I don't think that was one, there was it, oh great, I don't think so I think yeah I said to me too I'll speak to and that's the genius of mixed coaching with being so injured this year with the injuries that we've had to you, to Taylor the list goes on we've been decimated with all of our really really good players, just being able to pull it back and say we're just going to go back to basics it allows, it allows the two Georges to come in and just really develop so, so incredibly well so quickly. Yeah for sure, well yes we've had a fair few injuries but the girls that have slotted in have slotted in seamlessly and they've put in so much work and like GC and and Goldberger or Georgia Georgia Gold, there's been effort for what two or three years now so they've kind of got their header out, well they definitely do have their head around you know what's required and like mix mix game style and what he wants out of game so yeah I think even though we've had injuries I think the girls have definitely stepped up and yeah they having AFL at a senior level and giving them that exposure is obviously going to help them significantly but yeah they've been putting in such an immense amount of work in the pre-season and the good thing about GC and Goldie and you know a few of the other girls that come in like they're coming up against some of the best defenders in the competition in terms of like Mavo and Tarles and you know Landy when she's down there so like it's it's probably no not such a surprise as why they slotted in so well that they come up against some of the absolute guns of the competition so as much as it's not time it's frustrating when we we train and they're beating us quite a fair bit it's it's certainly partase dividends come game so yeah it's it's definitely no surprise that um yeah they're doing as well as they are that's a really good point and I'm guessing there's a bit of coaching there from you and Tay and a bit from Laws for GC going on a bit too yeah for sure and I actually found myself in the rock of quite a few times on the weekend and just hoping that we make a bit of a change and I go through the rock a bit more but I don't think don't think Mick will allow that too much but yeah especially when the injury toll came and you know I do find my I do see myself as a bit more of a forward leader now that the team has changed positionally a little bit you know I've been there long enough to to know what's required in the forward line and and to know what movements we want and what we want the forward line to look like so yeah during that bit of a period where yeah I was injured and obviously Tay is injured we were able to help out our key our key for was a lot more and yeah probably under help them understand you know where to be and how to work with each other and how to block for each other and so forth so yeah I guess from an injury perspective it was really good to I guess just step back and and just watch watch the girls train and watch the girls learn and develop so yeah it's been amazing watching them grow as much as I have this year mostly yeah it's so lovely to see you getting that opportunity to mentor them I guess and something that just struck us through the week you know we were you know we were sort of preparing and in our little chat group and and I like I was just looking over some of your Wikipedia and then I was like it is only 24 she's so mature and like it just feels like you've been around and been part of the team forever which you have essentially but it's lovely that you've got that really strong sort of grounding in the team now and and that you're essentially one of the the seniors in that forward line and and you've got so much to offer the young players coming through it's great thanks I really appreciate those words and I have worked really hard on my game and it probably helps that you know I'm fairly versatile in the previous years and sort of gone here and there through the midfield and bits and pieces but yeah to really solidify myself in the full line it's just helped me get more education and yeah more craft around yeah being a forward but I've had some amazing mentors in in my years of being with Melbourne as now at Daisy Pierce she was she was a forward and yeah I've I honestly cannot explain how much I've learned off days and you know even just mid-game should be you'd pretty much been in an education session with there and be mid-game and you'd be like oh my god I was playing football when you sit down in class and right down some notes but she's uh yeah I obviously learned so much off days and even Kate she's taken a bit more of a role within the midfield this year but you know she she comes through the the forward line when we have our meetings and you know speaks about yeah he's the staff and you know Kate is she's our captain but you know she's still learning as well but she has so much to give to the forward line in terms of your education and positioning and and whatnot so yeah I've me individually I've had so many great mentors within the forward space and yeah she's lying our forwards coach coach excuse me at the moment yeah she's done so much development coaching and yeah she brings an amount amount amounts sorry an immense amount of knowledge to the group so yeah and I think she herself has the best one of the best mentors in the competition being me so yeah through her education and her I guess seeking yeah coaching development she just brings so much to the forward forward line group and yeah I guess that's where I've really really shunned really is yeah having a bit more time and solidifying myself in that forward line and then just having so many people around me that you know support what I'm doing and yeah have so much knowledge and education around yeah forwards and how they move so yeah that's certainly no surprises to why I'm probably starting to elevate yeah well Mitch and I were talking off air earlier and it was cooling noticeable with you coming back into the side one Sunday how how much more efficiently work going forward and and how much more confidence the rest of the forward group will just having you there so it's definitely a cool loss to you and you're outstanding leadership qualities no thank you I definitely think having there all the inclusions that we have we still have quite a few players to come back but even just Percy and packs coming back as we know Percy's an absolute beast in contest so when you have when you have mids like Hanksie K Percy you know lacing out balls to you there's probably really no excuse to perform when you're getting them right on your chest so yeah I think I in terms of the week weekend just go on like I just wanted to bring my my contest and yeah my ability to be really a really good option area and yeah if I'm doing those two things right I'm generally can the rest of the game take it takes care of itself so you know the goals and all the little fun bits and pieces come but as long as I'm bringing you know my intent contest and my aerial then yeah the rest should just happen a hundred percent and so for everyone listening out there I've banged on for the same point for two years it's not about the goals that you kick it's about the contest that you create and not letting it come out so thanks for making me right on that point. Oh yeah I don't know how many show hopefully here's the people watch the game on the weekend and we're there but yeah one of my goals wouldn't have happened if JC didn't absolutely launch and crush a pack of four or five and those things in games that just change momentum and yeah just small things like that create something from nothing almost so yeah just doing those things and doing the small things right allow us to be able to produce what we did on the weekend so yeah it's really 100% I completely agree. We're really excited to see this mid-season resurgence it's really exciting. We're all excited to have everyone back as a group. Yeah one of the things that we hype on a bit in the podcast is revolving around the fixturing. We've just got me out of our condensed sort of period. What was your thoughts of it all and where do you see the fixture going to once we start getting into those 12, 13, 14 hopefully soon all 17 games? Yeah I was probably a conversation worth having with is it Laura Kane? Yeah she'd have an email. No I don't know it was probably hard for me to judge being on the sidelines like I'm feeling quite fresh at the moment coming back from a bit of an injury so but all the girls with conversations that I've had yeah their bodies are feeling pretty good and you know cut us to them they're putting themselves in a position to be able to perform like that. What was it three games in 14 days or something? Their recovery is an absolute priority and they're doing that 100 110% so yeah the SNC staff yeah they're absolutely onto us about recovery and making sure we're getting enough sleep and yeah the girls are absolutely taking that on board so yeah the feedback I've got in terms of that like the girls are feeling really good and as long as they're prioritizing their recovery and sleep and diet then yeah I think they'll be just fine but yeah I don't know I wish I was a part of it. It's new to the competition so I would like to be a part of it and yeah I guess be how I put up everyone's going to pull up different and I think that's kind of the data that hopefully they're trying to get out of it along with broadcasting and bits and pieces but yeah I think a big thing will be how our bodies handle it and whether it'll be sustainable in the future but yeah which is to your case like hopefully it does get to the point where we're having 14, 15, 16 games and 18 would be good where we traverse everyone but yeah absolutely that probably won't be in my time life but it definitely should be and like one of the things that I think we've spoken about a bit I think there's a few coaches that are now coming out or ex coaches coming out saying that it should be same weekend same opponent same state like lining up with the men's not necessarily double headers the casual double headers would be good but is that somewhere where if that was an option to you would would you prefer that or oh for sure like I'd like to see the competition be at that point like you you look you know for 10 20 years ago like the VFL played before the AFL game so it would kind of make sense and yeah it would kind of make sense that youverse everyone at least once because sometimes you're coming up against people that you never come up against in finals and bits and pieces so you're kind of just having to go off vision and how they've played other games and you know you can't really combat your own game style to their game stocks because you yeah you haven't played them during the season so obviously I'd love the competition to get to that point but and I really hope it does but yeah I think this is the little trial period that we've gone through just now the little condensed period hopefully that gives us good numbers in terms of broadcast and bits and pieces and yeah hopefully we continue to progress to that but yeah good things take time and yeah we'll get there eventually yeah I certainly had a disappointed kid at home this way who said to me either what day is it today Wednesday it must have been Monday night he said to me who's playing football tonight and he was devastated when I told him that there was no football on this week on Monday night on Monday yeah yeah so so you know I think I think our sense of it is it's been as as supporters it's been a lot to get to in a short space of time and like the likes and meet who's at pretty much every game was over in Adelaide last week and then back again and out at St. Kilda on at Moraben on Sunday he's a dedicated he's incredibly dedicated yeah we love him indeed he's an absolute legend yeah and it's um it's certainly like you know just that that familiarity and the that kind of thing of going oh there's a football match on tonight you know I'll sit down and watch it has been as in that sense as a fan has been for me personally I've enjoyed that but I've also found that trying to get to the Melbourne games with the condensed fixture is just it's been a lot yeah for sure and I think you know these are the things that are trialing one and yeah broadcasting and stuff but yeah two does it work for you know onlookers and supporters to actually be at these games and support support the program so yeah I guess we're guinea pigs at the moment but hopefully we have good outcomes with it so yeah yeah onwards and upwards to you know onwards and upwards yeah the more the more games we get each season the better I think oh well that's it like yeah I don't know we we talk about all this but at the end of the day we had we had an extra game so I don't know we probably shouldn't be complaining too much but we're getting there yeah more exposure is always good now I've got a good one for you got a good one for you know I saw you at the G probably when the men side played west coast I think and you got a photo with with my daughter Evie as you've done a couple times I showed her the photo last night in case she was like dad you're gonna be home or whatever with a little squeaking I said no no I'm I'm gonna be talking to Edo tonight and she squealed in absolute excitement and ran and got her Melbourne jumper so that is that just makes my heart being a girl dad my heart just burst knowing that she has got her own little female heroes that she can look up too and he's just unbelievable that's incredible yeah it gives me a little bit emotional um yeah I'm glad that you shared that with me and yeah that's I guess that's why I love the game so much like just little little moments like that and you know little young females males you know older women men just even just going to the game and supporting us girls but I can't remember the exact Oscar and young youth female numbers off the top of my head but yeah the amount of youth girls and women's competitions that have been bought into the community is astonishing and that's that's one of my reasons why I do this just to see so many women play something that they have probably never had any exposure to is just incredible and yeah to know that yeah not just myself but the whole AFL women competition is a part of that is yeah it warms my heart and um yeah just even like yeah um getting further with Eevee um yeah just small little moments like that make it so worthwhile the hard times the compressed fixtures whatever it might be it's it's those moments that yeah get you through and yeah that's that's incredible so um thank you for sharing that with me that's all right yeah that warms my heart the numbers are exploding everywhere you know I know my old junior club Belgrave um just before the AFLW started was down to one junior team and they've now got like it's 12 junior teams and 10 of them are girls teams yeah that's amazing it's that's standing really like to see how far women's participation is going it's it's mind blowing and it's it's great it's great to be a part of yeah yeah it really is it's very exciting yeah I agree with you you know like I I grew up in a small country town football was the the community revolved around the football team and i had brothers that played like you i played netball um for the local football club and you went along on a Saturday and you rocked up at whatever time the first game your siblings first game was and you stayed there until it was time to go home and milk the cows in the evening and then and then so i've been really closely involved as a spectator and as a fan but never it was never an opportunity for me to play and i really love getting to come along to the AFLW games now and watch i i think i heard a woman um interviewed on the radio the other day she was talking about her daughter who's playing um you know community football and she said that her that her daughter's living her best life like as in the mum's best life the mum was like this is what i wanted to do when i was a kid now my daughter gets to do it instead yeah that's really lovely yeah for sure yeah we yeah it's a bit of a shame that the AFLW competition wasn't introduced in 1800s but uh yeah i hope us running out there is yes hopefully bring a smile to yeah women that haven't had the opportunity to play and hopefully us um interacting with you guys is is yeah i guess it wouldn't do any justice but hopefully bringing some form of element of AFLW to your life and yeah it's a bit of a bit of a yeah i guess shame that you know yourself included um yeah didn't get the opportunity to play but um yeah like i said hopefully us going out there and and playing a playing a good hard game and yeah hopefully yeah can can pay you back in um yeah placing good hopefully for you guys but you're certainly doing that for us yeah we love to see it god i'm good Ada can you just quickly tell us the dog about the dog barking in the background like you've i think i've seen on instagram is that a little sausage dog you have or am i snow no he's a little he's actually a big bone boy he's uh he's not yeah he's we funny story we uh sorry i'm kind of interrupted but i he was he was on um an ad as a miniature daisy and we're like oh i like it's not going to get much bigger than this oh my god he is a full-blown sausage for sure so uh that that's him he was uh he's pretty protective if a little bird lands on the fence he uh doesn't like to be at least territory so yeah yeah and outside of football like what i i think we were chatting again you've you've done some work um turf management grounds keeping kind of stuff where do you fit that do you fit that in at all how do you fit it in where um and that's kind of thing of balancing for um you know other paid employment around playing football yeah yeah for sure um yeah sports turf manager at Amy park so um probably pretty lucky having two workplaces in the one vicinity um so yeah look after our ground and Amy park itself and collingwood's ground but um yeah it is a fine balance um one to balance work work and then two to find work life balance that's probably the thing that i'm struggling to calm the terms without the moment is making sure i have a life outside of both my jobs and uh you know giving time to my partner Nikita um you know even Dash and even just trying to get home to see family um yeah with full-time work and yeah footy it's all both at the same time it can be quite challenging and and home is my space to really just reconnect with myself and family and i guess just put a put a stop button on the world i guess it's so quiet and um out there and all my favorite things are out there so um yeah it does get to a point um where i really do just need to get back home but um i think yeah in terms of like my sports turf management um yeah Troy my manager he he's been outstanding with flexibility with work and i think that's important as long as you're as long as you're giving back to i guess him and the company itself and making sure you're getting your jobs done like he's he's super flexible so um yeah i probably can't thank Troy and his team enough for yeah allowing me i know it's just down the hall but allowing me to you know be be away from work when i need to be and obviously with travel and bits and pieces you end up taking a fair bit of time off work and you know this time of year during the spring is probably up yeah my busiest time the grass just doesn't stop growing and you know you start to implement water programs and more fertilizer and things like that so it is a pretty busy time but um yeah as long as i'm in there getting getting my jobs done and you know giving back to giving back to them um yeah it's it is pretty easy and it would be even harder if you know going to work was a chore but i absolutely love what i do and i absolutely love the work um that in that i'm involved with and it does open so many opportunities working in sports turf management so um yeah i'll hold it close to my heart but uh yeah no it's definitely a lot easier when yeah going to work every day is enjoyable so um yeah what what other things outside of football and your work do you like to do to you talked about getting back up home and that kind of chance to reconnect and what things what things bring you joy in that um outside of those your work and football a lot of dangerous stuff so these that i probably can't do boston contracted unfortunately yeah i love fishing um yeah i guess just getting out getting outside anything to do with outside really just brings me joy um but yeah absolutely love you know things like motor bike riding i love just going out to a track and going over some some jumps and being a bit reckless out there and water skiing and bits and pieces like that just things that get your blood pumping a little bit is anything involved with that all right i'll put my hand up and do for sure so i love it but uh no i think an important one is just making sure i'm reconnecting this family life as long as i'm doing that then um yeah everything else is a bonus so um yeah spending time with with my partner Nikita she's absolutely amazing so um yeah she just comes and watches me do all these adrenaline pumping things and probably biting their fingernails off whilst i'm doing it but uh no making sure i'm giving time back to her as well i think it's so important because yeah they as you guys know and you guys interact with the partners and friends so much they they are our rock and they do go through the highs and lows that people don't see whether we come home first out into years or hopefully excited about a win or what so um yeah it's important to give back to them and making sure you know we're getting away on holidays and uh recharging so yeah as long as i'm doing those things um yeah i'm a pretty happy woman yep i've got one other like completely in a pointless question but i have to ask i love that you i i think i'm safe to say this you're the only player at Melbourne that does this but i'm not across whether you're the only player in the whole league that has the jumper tucked into the shorts i love that and then and then occasionally and i don't know whether this i need to know whether this is accidental or intentional the the little inside of the bottom of the shorts sometimes flips up and there's like a little bit of white and i wonder just is that a like a superstition or is there something going on there or does it just happen in the game and then they're just bringing my fixes itself up yeah it's a it's a genuine shark tale not intentional whatsoever and in terms of the jump attacking that's another thing that i inherited from Daisy she okay but but i got the number six and i got the job of working so um just making sure Daisy's still with this but uh oh beautiful carrying on the legacy for sure so uh yeah that little jump of flops certainly not uh intentional it's just when you're running around and getting dug into the ground and taking speckies and bits and pieces it just makes its way out yep yeah i love it that's beautiful i'll just have a couple of quick four ones that i've just come up with off the top of my head hit me with them funniest teammate mavo yeah yep she's a classy isn't she she's still giving some um is she still giving some pre-game rev-ups oh i'm no but she needs to bring it back i need to bring it back because gee we some of him uh you just think what the hell but then he just focused on footy it's not just footy all the time so she's a good little circuit breaker absolutely you need that a hundred cents you need it sporting orders when you were growing up oh i actually love Nick dar Santo um so it was a bit of a bit weird coming up against him on the weekend but yeah i love i love watching because of here and the way you played he was just an absolute star so um yeah a bit of a same as being growing up as well so there goes there goes my quick fire question it was just about about the be who who just support growing up so thank you to answer that yeah well you were lost me in the 2010 grand final were you a family of st. killed a supporters edo or did you do family members have different teams that they follow yeah no yeah we're a bit all over the place a lot of mums side were st. killed a fan but mom herself was a horse fan that was a um roo's supporter my sister Tegan um yeah she went for the Saints and then my brother just went full of whoever won the chromium ship that year so smart lad yeah smart lad but uh yeah a bit all over the place actually a bit of a mixed bunch safety issue most of them are our d's fans yeah oh d's fans now i love it very good one last one because if we don't stop it here we'll probably be tattooing or not and you need to be at the football on saturday don't you i'll set away if we're still talking i'll be happy with that but i have to get home my wife's got my daughter and i want me to trouble um but where is your absolute favorite grand to play at oh don't say casey oh so casey's out of it all right um you can say casey if you want to say casey i do love casey oh um but one of the grounds that i absolutely love flying on was off this stadium um i just felt like i was lightning running across running on the grounds and yeah obviously with that pretty good win over the dock is you can't not love the oval so um yeah off this one and then yeah it's equal equivalent with the field of dreams for sure can't can't keep it out even with all the wind even with all the wind that's what that's like unique about it so much teams teams hey going out there going out there well that's a valid valid point maybe maybe you're in their head already maybe we've got a renewed um love for casey after hearing you say that you like it surely you guys already loved it before i said anything surely it's just a long trip out there that's all yeah it is a hike it's all worth it though it's all worth it yeah it's a it i'm in the western suburbs so it's it's a hike for me mustard mid anytime i see a game at icon i'm much more in the mood for that but look we go we have to the same with me it's a bit of a hike from the west yeah sure it certainly is i'm just you know you want to get my wife to move back to the east would be all good ha ha come and leave backside come live near near bow and Morris that would be the dream that would be pretty handy to get to casey from there imagine still a good 45 minutes but uh it's obviously a bit easier from out there out from the west so yeah 100% oh got one last week one toughest sure hit me toughest opponent there's some really good defenders in these like there's some great defenders i think i think pepper randy um probably more so from an emotional perspective she she knows how to get in your head and doubt yourself and yeah and yeah she's she's pretty she um yeah she's she's unique um she's a very unique defender um and yeah any time that i've come up against her yeah it's been a really good battle so uh yeah i'll have to say pepper randy for sure that's a good answer i've always thought she was an underrated player myself so for sure for sure she is a bit of an underrated defender but uh um yeah just like anyone else in the competition she continues to improve so yeah keenly come up against her again and hopefully get the better of her we look forward to that well thanks very much for coming and joining us tonight it's been a real privilege and pleasure yeah no stress guys yeah good luck on saturday and for the rest of us thank you very much and no thanks for that it's it's been absolutely great to sit here and chat to you guys so yeah beloved beloved deis fans and i hope we're we're making you guys proud so absolutely no it's been absolutely great to be here and chat with you guys yeah you certainly are and eevee's getting to her first night game this week beautiful olla i'll come over and say hello that'd be great thanks thank you all righty so um welcome back i hope you enjoyed the interview with edo there very exciting for us to be able to interview her and i hope you um enjoyed it we're gonna now have a look at our upcoming match against richmond just a quick one quick shout out to derrick at castaway studios for assisting us with the interview with edo that was very much appreciated and using the big studio here at castaway with a big big help fabulous thank you very much thanks derrick yep um so this weekend we play richmond richmond at casey on saturday night evening five five past five yeah it's still it's probably twilight twilight twilight we're daylight saving so yep hence he gets to come because you should just fall asleep in the car all the way home the dream yep so um we didn't play richmond last season no haven't played richmond since uh 2022 first season of 2022 so that's actually the last time i missed the game in melbourne um and it was unfortunately due to covid but yeah it was the last melbourne game i missed so gosh you've got some record it's amazing yeah well to be honest you're not missing much but pantry isn't a horrible horrible place to watch football oh yeah especially at the minute where it's absolutely no room with the crowd capacity of yeah 1500 i honestly think they'd have more people that their attendance would be heaps higher if there was more room there yeah to actually hold i don't think they're doing anything until the whole stadium get the whole bowl gets redeveloped okay whenever that gets done but um because i noticed on their um on the broadcast over the weekend there again there was people standing up on top of the railings on the footpath out on punt road yeah um all right so we're playing them at a casey this weekend which we did back in 2021 yeah um so they've played their ones they played their ones and then game at punt road yep uh we've seemed to score big both times so we've scored 15 goals to theirs eight across the two games yeah uh winning by an average of uh 22 points being 28 in the first game in the 16th and that second game where from memory watching it on tv bano running down that wing on punt road correct wing so correct yeah all right so who were the players to look out for for Richmond where we yeah we know it goes without saying um but just looking at the average sort of average disposals across uh both teams sort of one-on-one so you go mon con to you with just under 27 then makka who's more recent average is bit up there but just over 21 to suppose across the season grace egan's probably another one to look out for averaging just a tick under 20 then it went tile hanks at 19 um and then probably the only other one sort of midfield wise would be probably Ellie mckenzie yep heard a little bit about her yeah great then number one draft pick from memory i think yeah maybe a number two draft pick but she's got a lot of talent but um groys are up forward for them yeah and caddy brainin as well and brainin can't give her too much she can uh easily tear up a tear up a game so yeah they're definitely definitely much the vastly improved yeah they're going against along on the weekend was really competitive i i actually watched most of it and it was a really enjoyable game to watch i thought i think that says more about july and this year too that maybe that most of their games this season they've been in it and up until three quarter time and then just struggled to get over the line and run it on the top of yeah so falling away for some some unknown reason well um but yeah with uh the stats this year um richmen are definitely one of the most improves yes absolutely teams this year yeah well a six and two yes they've probably had a bit of an easier draw yep i'm not playing too many of the the top teams um but to still be six and two this deep in the season still credit to them i can't take them lightly yes absolutely it won't make this week i'm sitting in shabbily straight to the one column which not necessarily a run with but just just a contest like yeah just to see those two rolling match up on you're not going to stop at getting the football but if you can have harass her and put pressure on her and limit her impact because she's a very very good user of the footy so if you can just impact that slightly it goes a long long way to winning the game i feel and now it could be completely wrong but i don't know where we're just the armchair experts sitting on the head exactly right so one of one completely getting the tip wrong last week so that's all i think well for the better yeah absolutely yeah i don't think it hit me too i had a part of it on last week i probably would have said the same thing like just where we were with the injuries that we had and just who out of light ah yeah sorry yeah and all credit to their girls like that that was incredible you heard what edo said just before with the uh the way that mik can just take a step back realize that we're going to technical and move towards just going back to the basics so yeah you know what you mean we're short and simple we continue that yeah with the potential of uh blahim and and laws coming back in this week yeah i'm meant to ask you to whether they were going to be back so assuming that they're both they both they both pass their fitness tests yeah if they come in who goes out i think i said i said it earlier i'd have re what out for laws i think i invest in Georgia a bit more see how that tandem works yeah but if bees fit she she comes in absolutely yeah but who to take out it's a bit more of a tough one yeah yeah yes big questions i'm glad that i don't have to answer yeah it's like we were saying off air we're glad to not have to be making those decisions because it is with the return from injury now there is um a lot of pretty talented players at the that mixed disposal to bring in well the blessing in disguise we've had these years they're all these girls starting to come back they're going to be fresh for the last three games yeah absolutely yeah might have might have a couple of the younger girls might be getting slightly tired yep so you can give them a break as well and all of a sudden if mitch and all it's all going to be out of the earlier if we can all of a sudden getting a run and we can win the last three yeah usually six in a row yes your sneaky chance to fall into the eight yep and then anything can happen this side has got that much talent across the board yep that if we make the eight we'll cause some damage yeah absolutely that would be great to see do you want to um talk us through mitch a bit the permutations of the last three games oh yeah as as mentioned earlier the uh the game this way this friday between port and thank you all set up yeah a bit of an interesting battle for the for the top eight uh thorough spinner in the works and have a draw correct um but the winner of that's probably more likely looking into finals where the other the loser of that probably misses out yep um as mentioned that's port Adelaide's home game yeah it is it is at albany um as i said off the top we pretty much need a win all three given our horrible percentage yep um with that game against the red hot firing hawks up in cans probably the uh probably the ultimate test in our in our run home and is there any question that they've got on a good run early in the season and that they might drop away but maybe you did see that with sort of Sydney and the men's they had a great start then fell apart for about a month or two got back on the run but because i mean what are they they're an expansion one of the the last teams to come in so what are they in their third season yeah third season now but yeah the recruits they got yeah over the last two years they recruited really really really well yeah with baits and boatie last year and then topping up with westie and case from us the even like cases he had injured but yeah i think westie's just been a blessing in disguise for them it's been huge yeah um but that game will be pretty pretty important because if we lose that then then albany's sandwich does come into play what what um effect does the game being played up in cans have do you think i reckon it helps us um although we'd probably need a doubt from the running gun and handball game because it will be hot mojoey muggy up there yeah that's where we've got the tools that we just expect now yeah tools where we can just go along we can go just long direct and if we've got a bailout towards the boundary line that their key defenders aren't huge so yeah but it i reckon it helps us a little bit but it's sort of it levels the playing field because both teams haven't played there during the year um it's a it's a it's a neutral grant so um if you're talking about a 11 game season where some teams get five some teams get six yep hawks are nice playing a neutral grant game up there it's five and a half sort of yeah evens evens that out a little bit so um but just going back to richman this week case you fields you heard it from edo the girls will love it down there so yeah um weather wise i think it's going to be a bit of rain on friday friday night early saturday morning so uh definitely bring your camp chairs because the ground will probably be wet and they are allowed in that casey apart from some other grounds that we have been to this year um but sort of at five pm it doesn't look i think it's going to be about 15 degrees yep winds touch wood uh sort of 19k's 10 knots it's not too bad by case expandancies is it really probably it's probably about as smart as it gets it's probably calm for yeah so yeah get down have a pie or a hot dog for dinner yeah cut will be easier that's the way you want to go soft drink if you want to water if you don't drink five o'clock yeah sort of it'd be done by quarter seven so go to dinner afterwards exactly right get down as i say every week that i'm on here you know if you hear us can we give us a have a chat with us we're happy to have a chat the girls are always happy to have a chat um the girls that aren't playing are always happy to have a chat especially during the game just get there it's just a great night out it's just a really good night out there'll be face painting and i assume still for the kids yeah yeah they've really upped the activations that they've got around the ground this year i think at all the matches so there's definitely lots to do very family friendly um and as we always say the tickets are um fifteen dollars each for adults although i did think they had some promotion on it was two for one adults maybe or kids or kids or kids are always three hundred and so yeah hopefully everybody's taken out their membership even though it's late in the season and predictions predictions these buy two goals oh yeah okay um i'm gonna say yep less than less than a goal and Melbourne's gonna win Melbourne 32 oh we like that percentage booster needed yep okay all right love it who's going to be best on ground just to throw in a curveball question Edo Edo Edo with a bag yep all right like it okay yeah uh i'm going to say lysie mac for me um all right well as we said thanks again to Derek castaway studios yep Derek uh get down to casey gates open about fourish usually that's about an hour before game gonna be a nice each evening uh good damn cheater goes on this charge towards finals for me again yep we've got three games left hopefully more if we make the finals yep go Deeds go Deeds
