AFL WOMEN'S Rankings: Round 6 SEASON 7

This AFLW season, the four remaining AFL teams entered a women’s team in the competition for the first time: Essendon, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, and Sydney. Things didn’t go too well for them on the weekend, as three of these teams were thrashed by more established clubs: Essendon lost by 44 points to Brisbane, Sydney lost by 66 points to North Melbourne, and – possibly most bitterly – Port Adelaide lost by 60 points to its biggest rival Adelaide. Indeed it could have been much worse if the winning teams had been more accurate in front of goal, with the expansion teams combining for 22 points from just seven scoring shots, while their opponents combined for 192 points from 67 scoring shots.

Are the expansion clubs worse this season than they have ever been? There is a logical argument that it would become harder for later entrants to be competitive as the talent pool becomes less deep. However, this year’s crop of new teams is not necessarily that much weaker than the last set (Gold Coast, Richmond, St. Kilda, West Coast) back in 2020.

Essendon and Port Adelaide lost to probably the two strongest teams in the league on the weekend, and have been on the whole reasonably competitive, particularly the Bombers (see table below). In terms of percentage and ranking points (which adjusts for opponent strength) they have performed similarly to Gold Coast and St. Kilda a couple of years back, who were each able to pick up a few wins, with the Suns even sneaking into the finals.

Hawthorn and Sydney have been significantly less competitive. The Hawks have picked up a couple of close wins in the past two weeks against the Swans themselves and the similarly-placed Eagles, but other than that have generally been soundly beaten, with a percentage of under 50 (see table above). The Swans have not won a game at all, and have a percentage under 30.

However, casting our minds back, Hawthorn and Sydney have actually performed similarly to Richmond and West Coast back in 2020. Both had percentages in the 30s in their first season, and they had only one win between them. West Coast is still struggling, but Richmond in their fourth season have managed to turn themselves into a finals contender.

Overall, some expansion teams have been ‘more ready than others’. North Melbourne was strong from the start, even if they did miss out on the finals in favour of Geelong due to the league’s conference system at the time. Essendon this season are a decent side; they are far from the first side this season to be well beaten by the Lions, and have been competitive in all of their matches up to that point. Gold Coast and St. Kilda were also decent in their first season. Port Adelaide, like Geelong before them, has been well-beaten at times, but on the whole has performed in line with some of the lower established teams.

Only Richmond and West Coast in 2020, and Hawthorn and Sydney this year, have been routinely trounced in their first seasons (at least when not playing another bottom team). AFLW teams tend to rely heavily on the strength of their midfields, and those teams have been relatively inexperienced in those areas. Richmond had Monique Conti in its first season, but has only now got significant support around her. Hawthorn only has Tilly Lucas-Rodd in its main midfield rotation who has played before this season, while Sydney’s midfield is full of rookies. The Eagles have Emma Swanson in the centre and had Dana Hooker, but the latter has played less in the guts since her major injury.

All of them have high draft picks though who may develop into the next wave of midfield stars; Ellie McKenzie at the Tigers, Jasmine Fleming at the Hawks, Montana Ham at the Swans, and Ella Roberts at the Eagles. It will be interesting to see over the next few years if this equalisation method has brought these newer teams up to the level of the ‘foundation’ clubs.