AFL Women's: What we know after two rounds of the AFLW
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Two rounds in to the inaugural AFL Women's season, we can now start to get a read on how the competition is shaping up.
Some things we picked up in round one were confirmed this weekend, while some players and teams have forced us to rethink our preconceptions.
The competition is awfully tight, but round two helped us make sense of the state of the league.
Pies have real forward problems
Despite two fast starts from two matches, Collingwood remains winless and a long way away from an all-important top two position.
The second-half capitulation against Melbourne was remarkable and alarming, the Magpies going scoreless after the long break and allowing the Dees to run over the top of them.
A glance at the stats sheet makes for interesting reading though — Collingwood only lost the inside 50 count to Melbourne by two, while the Pies actually won that stat by two against Carlton in round one, despite kicking one goal to the Blues' seven.
Perhaps the quality of the supply to the forwards is lacking, or perhaps the forward line isn't functioning well enough to make the most of the opportunities.
With Moana Hope heavily blanketed by defenders, the goals might need to come from elsewhere. The likes of Cecilia McIntosh, Emma King and Stacey Livingstone need to find another gear for the Pies to rescue their season.
The Crows mean business
A big home win in the wet against the Giants was a positive start, but running all over the Dogs at Whitten Oval was definitely a signal of intent from the Crows.
Adelaide was helped by the Bulldogs' horrible inaccuracy in front of goal (the Dogs had the same number of scoring shots as the Crows, but kicked 2.11 to 7.6), but the Crows were still more than good value for their win.
They out-tackled the Dogs and came out on top in the battle for the contested ball, two areas that coach Bec Goddard no doubt would be delighted to see her team performing well in.
The season is still young, but the signs could hardly have been better for the pride of South Australia.
The Lions loom as the surprise packet
Not many people had Brisbane at the top of the list when it came to predicting the premiers, but the Lions have come out of a devilishly difficult start to the season with a perfect record and plenty of momentum.
The round one win over Melbourne was a scrap, mostly due to downright horrible conditions, but in beating Freo — in Freo — the Lions have made people sit up and take notice.
Looking at the stats, it's hard to pin point exactly where the Lions are going right. Against Freo at least, the difference might have simply been Tayla Harris.
Harris kicked two crucial goals and took seven marks — a couple of them incredible pack efforts — to provide a focal point up forward. She plays with the courage and fearlessness of Jonathan Brown, something which will surely get Lions fans through the gates for their first home game this coming weekend.
Bri Davey might be the best in the league
Before the tournament began, conventional wisdom was that Daisy Pearce was far and away the best player in the AFLW. She still might be top dog, but she's got some serious competition from Carlton's Brianna Davey.
The former Matildas goalkeeper has been setting herself up behind the ball and storming through the middle like a bulldozer, taking the ball and anyone who dares get near her along for the ride.
Nobody has more disposals in the AFLW so far than Davey, and her disposal efficiency of 71.7 per cent is the best of any of the league's top 15 ball-getters.
Carlton is on fire, and the Blues won't be slowing down any time soon if Davey can keep this form up.
Ebony Marinoff will probably be the rising star
At this point in time, she's probably right up there in the player of the season voting too. You could argue 19-year-old Ebony Marinoff has been best on in each of Adelaide's first two games.
She was rewarded with a rising star nomination in round one, but was arguably even better in round two against the Dogs. Marinoff led the Crows with 18 disposals and stuck six tackles for good measure.
Head to head with multi-sport superstar Emma Kearney, Marinoff more than held her own. And that's worthy of wheeling out this utterly sensational gif one more time.
Topics: australian-football-league, sport, australia
