AFL WOMEN’S Rankings: Round 2 2020

Western Derby: Bowers gets her hooks into Dana

Watching the first AFLW match between West Coast and Fremantle, played in front of over 35,000 fans, there seemed to be a feeling of payback in the Dockers’ 45 point win over their new cross-town rivals. Seven former Dockers lined up for the Eagles, including former fairest and best winner Dana Hooker. Fremantle laid a massive 78 tackles on West Coast, and Roxy Roux’s celebration after slotting through a goal seemed to sum up the joy they got in showing they are the premier team in the west.

Eighteen of those tackles were from Kiara Bowers, who comfortably led the league in tackles and pressure points last season, and was runner-up in the Most Valuable Player award. Bowers kept Hooker quiet early, and while Hooker ended up with the same number of disposals as Bowers (13) for the match, the Dockers had well and truly skipped ahead by the time she started finding the ball. Katie-Jayne Grieve had 11 tackles as well (and two goals), a big step up from the 2.4 tackles per game she averaged last year.

The Dockers in general have built their game on pressure, and kicking the ball long. Freo recorded only four more disposals than West Coast in the match, but had 16 more kicks, and 30 to 19 inside 50s. Carlton surprised them in the finals last year, but the Dockers are looking like they will again be among the contenders to make it to the final week this season.

The Demons also play like a contender

There was a happier result for a player against her old club this week, as Libby Birch and her new team Melbourne beat comfortably beat their original rivals the Western Bulldogs. The Dogs seemed to enjoy getting stuck into Birch even more than the Dockers got into their ex-teammates. With Birch in the side the Demons’ defence has been much stronger so far this year, conceding just two scoring shots on the weekend, and only five against the Kangaroos last week (ranking them #1 overall – see chart below).

In contrast to the Roos though, the Bulldogs could barely get it forward in the first place, with Melbourne playing much of the game in their forward half. Their personnel in that half of the ground has always been strong, but this year so far it seems to be even a touch better. Karen Paxman, Elise O’Dea and returning captain Daisy Pearce have always been major ball winners, but improvement has come from Shelley Scott, who is averaging five more disposals per game, and Maddison Gay, who is averaging over five tackles.

And the Demons still have All-Australian ruckman Lauren Pearce to return. Demon and Docker fans might be starting to dream that their women’s teams could finally snag the premiership that has eluded their clubs for so long.