Record-breaking crowd may silence AFLW doubters

Optus Stadium crowd provided a much-needed tonic to a week dominated by negativity

Aleisha Newman’s goal-of-the-year contender was a highlight of AFLW round two.
Photograph: Michael Willson/AFL Media/Getty Images

After a crushing week of off-field criticism, the AFLW can count itself victorious after fans showed their support for the code in droves, a record 41,975 turning out at Optus Stadium for the clash between Fremantle and Collingwood on Saturday.

The crowd eclipsed all other stand-alone domestic women’s sporting events in Australian history – an incredible feat given AFLW this week came under fire by the AFL itself, with head office sending an extraordinary memo to clubs instructing them on how to avoid congestion and increase scoring. So outlandish was the memo it threatened that umpires would not bounce the ball unless sides lined up as the AFL requested – despite the fact the AFL admitted to being unable to determine new rules after just one round, and that the requests were made in the “spirit” of the game (albeit a “spirit” that would never be accepted in the men’s game).

It was an unprecedented and unwarranted move that gave voice to the sport’s detractors at a time when there is, on the contrary, much to celebrate.

The quality of the Fremantle v Collingwood game, for example, far outweighed that of the season opener in week one. Fremantle’s victory was all the more impressive given their poor previous form; beaten summarily by the Bulldogs in round one, they also finished 2017 seventh on the ladder after beginning premiership favourites. But, if there was any occasion to inspire them, this was it, and, with chants of “Fre-o” audible in the background, Dana Hooker delivered with 20 possessions and two goals, continuing an impressive run of form which saw her finish club best-and-fairest in season one after giving birth just three months before being drafted.

Alongside her, Lisa Webb looked anything but a debutant with 17 possessions and seven marks, all the more impressive given the 33-year-old took up the game just last year after deciding to “try her hand” at football after a solitary training session.

For Collingwood, not all was dire, even if after two losses and a season nearly done, plenty were in tears at siren’s sound. Second-gamer Chloe Molloy showed why many rated her a No1 draft-pick, demonstrating significant composure to come away with 15 disposals all the while being physically targeted by the Dockers.

This was one of the most controversial talking points of the game, and while it was off-putting to see a second-gamer roughed up, all the more credit must go to Molloy for her resilience. Coach Wayne Siekman was less than impressed after game’s conclusion, telling reporters that Molloy had finished with “bruised jaw and ribs” after being “fairly well belted up”.

But while the game at Perth Stadium was just the tonic the AFLW needed after such a negative week, Friday night played into the hands of detractors, and ended up a miserable occasion all round. Held at boutique Drummoyne Oval, the Giants v Blues clash promised an entertaining outing given Greater Western Sydney’s much-improved showing in round one. However, players, crowd and media alike were greeted with pelting rain and thunderstorms, the game becoming the second in two seasons to be suspended for dangerous weather. With the television broadcast cut due to flooding, the AFL’s online stream also failed and half an hour of Fox Footy ads followed, not an update in sight. Eventually, when coverage returned, Kelli Underwood and Anthony Hudson called the game from the bench, ponchos in hand, but with no cover to speak of, half the crowd had cleared out.

Unsurprisingly, the end result was a low-scoring game that lurched from pack to pack, and resembled anything but the “entertaining” game demanded by the AFL memo. But, as Kate Sheahan and Brad Johnson were at pains to point out, congestion is the inevitable result of such conditions, nothing to do with the quality or otherwise of the competition itself.

The cruellest twist of the night was that the conditions would contribute to the ACL injury to Carlton’s captain and 2017 best and fairest. Pending scans, she appears to have been joined by the Bulldogs’ No1 draft pick in Isabel Huntington, another cruel blow given Huntington has only just returned from an ACL, and a broken leg the year before.

Before her untimely injury, Bri Davey’s footballing nous had been the difference between the two sides, pinpointing passes and kicking long to the boundary in the wet. Unlike the Giants, who failed to adapt, she played smart, wet-weather football, ignoring the threat of turning over the ball thanks to the “last touch out of bounds” rule. In this regard, the AFL’s tinkering began to look absurd – on the one hand persuading players to engage in “free flowing football” to score, when in the wet, they would have been better off scrapping it forward. But with the newfound rule in place, players are clearly avoiding hugging the line, and in insisting on the switch, are more prone to turning it over.

Losing Davey is some blow for the Blues’ season, and by game’s end the club’s stars in Darcy Vescio and Tayla Harris struggled to sing the team song through tears for their fallen captain – or perhaps the culmination of an extraordinarily trying week. How Carlton rebounds will be testament to team spirits, given coach Damien Keeping also watched the match from hospital with a serious illness that will keep him out of coaching for an indefinite period.

And so, while Carlton may now struggle to reach the grand final in a competition of such fine margins, Adelaide’s premiership defence may be over as quickly as it has begun. Sorely missing league best-and-fairest Erin Phillips, the Crows suffered their second loss in a row at the hands of an excellent Melbourne outfit. Between them, Melbourne’s indefatigable trio of Karen Paxman (21), Elise O’Dea (18) and Daisy Pearce (15) racked up an extraordinary 54 possession, with Pearce adding nine tackles and Paxman showing no sign of the back spasms that kept her out of most of game one.

The Demons also showed plenty of the spark their opponents were lacking, with Aleisha Newman putting her hand up for an early goal of the year contender with a wonderful burst of pace on the wing, three bounces and a banana goal from a sharp angle 45m out.

After such a miserable week for AFLW, it was moments like these that said far more than any column can about where the competition is headed.