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ADELAIDE CROWS<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 4th (5-2, 136.4%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cI don\u2019t think their season has been their most convincing season ever, given where they\u2019re sitting on the ladder. They were behind at three quarter-time against Gold Coast, who\u2019ve only won the one game, and it took them a fourth-quarter effort to get over the top of them \u2013 and that was probably superior experience and conditioning that got them there. And the following week against Sydney, they just made it over the line. They haven\u2019t been super convincing, add to that some of the injury concerns \u2013 Chelsea Randall has been in and out of the team and obviously they\u2019ve lost Caitlin Gould \u2013 and I thought they struggled against Sydney to find a mid-forward connection and rhythm. It\u2019s now more about who steps up when Gould is out and how does that forward line settle into a good rhythm without Gould there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: B+<\/p>\n
Run Home: Richmond (away), West Coast (home), North Melbourne (away), Port Adelaide (home), Fremantle (home)<\/p>\n
Crows down the Suns | 01:07<\/p>\n
BRISBANE LIONS<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 7th (4-3, 131.4%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cIt\u2019s been uncharacteristic of Brisbane. It was their worst start to the season when they were 2-3 at Round 5, which was a concern. Even against Richmond on the weekend, they didn\u2019t kick a goal in the first quarter and were behind at half-time. We haven\u2019t seen this kind of inconsistent football from Brisbane probably since Season 3. What we\u2019re learning is they\u2019ll certainly be a top-eight team, but are they a shoe-in for the Grand Final like we would\u2019ve said in previous years? You\u2019d say no at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: C-<\/p>\n
Run Home: Gold Coast (away), Port Adelaide (home), Essendon (away), Melbourne (home), Collingwood (away)<\/p>\n
CARLTON<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 5th (5-2, 118.8%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cWhen we talk about consistency, style of play and growth in the collective rather than relying on one star player to change things for them, they\u2019ve shown the most consistent improvement on-field and across the whole list \u2013 and it\u2019s been really exciting to see. You know what you\u2019re going to get now when you come and see Carlton play in a positive way. They had an admirable loss to Hawthorn, they beat Brisbane \u2013 which gives them great belief and shows their system can beat one of the better teams. They got smashed by North Melbourne a couple of weeks ago \u2013 and that was probably an indication of where they\u2019re at. But this is the best I\u2019ve seen Carlton play for many, many years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: A<\/p>\n
Run Home: Geelong (away), Sydney (away), St Kilda (home), GWS Giants (home), West Coast (away)<\/p>\n
‘Painting over dog poo’ | 02:54<\/p>\n
COLLINGWOOD<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 16th (2-5, 63.3%)\ufeff<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cI still think it\u2019s that mid-forward connection, but that first half of the season they\u2019ve been riddled with significant injuries. Jordy Allen has only just come back into the team and Ruby Schleicher is a test for this week after taking a few weeks to get into the team. They\u2019ve lost Kalinda Howarth \u2013 and when she\u2019s in the team, they look a lot more settled and positive in the forward-half of the ground because she brings versatility, elite game awareness and the ability to execute what a lot of other small to medium forwards can\u2019t bring. They\u2019re just not there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: C<\/p>\n
Run Home: West Coast (away), St Kilda (away), Richmond (home), Gold Coast (away), Brisbane (home)<\/p>\n
ESSENDON<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 11th (3-4, 74.1%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cAgain, injuries have smashed their team and their season before they even got to Round 1. Maddi Gay not being in the team for the year, among other personnel availability issues among walk-up starters, is quite significant. You look at where the other teams are that they\u2019ve beaten, you\u2019d say given where West Coast have gone from that Round 2 game, if that match was played now the result would be different you\u2019d imagine. Their best is really good and competitive \u2013 and we saw that on the weekend early against North Melbourne \u2013 but they don\u2019t have the cattle on the park to be able to deliver their best on a consistent basis. I don\u2019t think we know what they could be this year because they\u2019ve got so many injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: C-<\/p>\n
Run Home: Melbourne (away), Western Bulldogs (away), Brisbane (home), Hawthorn (home), Sydney (away)<\/p>\n
FREMANTLE<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 12th (3-4, 64.8%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cThe teams that they\u2019re thereabouts with, they\u2019re beating. But they\u2019ve had a really hard draw \u2013 Brisbane, North Melbourne and Sydney back-to-back-to-back is not ideal \u2013 and then they came up against a really good Carlton on the weekend and only went down by nine points. Could they finish where they did last year? It looks unlikely at this point. Have they improved from last year? Probably not \u2013 and that\u2019s a concern when there\u2019s improvement in other teams. But they haven\u2019t gotten worse at the same time. So it\u2019s about finding improvement from here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: D+<\/p>\n
Run Home: Hawthorn (away), Melbourne (home), GWS Giants (away), Richmond (home), Adelaide (away)<\/p>\n
Dropped captain Meg McDonald opens up | 05:10<\/p>\n
GEELONG CATS<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 10th (3-4, 95.4%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cYou could say it was a pretty disappointing start, but look at who they played. They probably had the toughest first three weeks of any team in the competition, you\u2019d imagine. But the way in which they\u2019ve responded and bounced back from that is really exciting. The forward firepower has really hurt them \u2013 and probably cost them the game against Hawthorn on the weekend \u2013 with no Chloe Scheer, no Shelley Scott and Kate Darby has been in and out of the team, so that\u2019s where they\u2019re lacking in depth. Their backs and their mids have generally held up well, but they\u2019re one of those teams again where injury is having an impact on them. And a player they recruited in to be an emerging ruck (Caitlin Tipping) hasn\u2019t played yet, so they\u2019re lacking in the ruck stocks. They haven\u2019t been able to get a genuine ruck on the park and they\u2019re missing a couple of forwards who, if they\u2019re not game-winners, are certainly contributors to a positive scoreboard. We haven\u2019t seen their best list on the park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: C-<\/p>\n
Run Home: Carlton (home), GWS Giants (home), West Coast (away), Western Bulldogs (away), Melbourne (home)<\/p>\n
GOLD COAST SUNS<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 17th (1-6, 40.2%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cThey\u2019re young as a list, but they\u2019re also young as a collective of people. Rhyce Shaw is in his first year and it\u2019s really different coaching an academy group to a group that plays for scoreboard reward and you\u2019re under that pressure and microscope with a really young list at this level. They\u2019re all on a learning journey together and we can see how far back they\u2019re coming from. But we\u2019ve also seen from their gameplan that they\u2019re trying different things with players in different spots. He (Shaw) is really instilling a system of discipline and integrity around selection where players who would\u2019ve been walk-up starts last year may not be getting those opportunities or sitting on the emergencies list for a while. Creating a system around mindset of the players and how they play is slowly developing. We saw some great maturity in the game against Adelaide a couple of weeks ago when they changed it up. At times it\u2019s been effective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: D<\/p>\n
Run Home: Brisbane (home), Hawthorn (away), Western Bulldogs (home), Collingwood (home), Richmond (away)<\/p>\n
‘Got a bit emotional & it’s a Rnd 5 win’ | 01:21<\/p>\n
GWS GIANTS<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 15th (2-5, 65.1%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cThose back-to-back wins was the first time they\u2019d won two games in a row since 2021 \u2013 and had they beaten West Coast, it would\u2019ve been their biggest winning streak ever. In their 10th season in the competition, it\u2019s a pretty significant position when a team has never won three games in a row. I guess there are a lot of question marks around the ability of their list to execute the gameplan consistently. When they do it \u2013 which we saw against Western Bulldogs and Sydney where they balanced that inside-outside game \u2013 you can see the gameplan is really positive and works well. But there are question marks over which of their playing group can execute week-in, week-out and, therefore, you can rely on them. I just think there are some challenges on the playing group more broadly to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: C-<\/p>\n
Run Home: St Kilda (home), Geelong (away), Fremantle (home), Carlton (away), Port Adelaide (home)<\/p>\n
HAWTHORN<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 3rd (6-1, 117.8%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen teams scrap their way to a flag by just finding ways to win \u2013 and I think that\u2019s the positive for Hawthorn. They finished top four last year, so the opposition that comes up against them this year will respect them and you often play your best footy against the best teams. So Hawthorn keeps getting teams that really put their best foot forward and still find a way to win. After losing those two finals last year, what I\u2019d be taking heart from if I\u2019m a Hawthorn supporter or coach Daniel Webster is that despite them not always controlling games and not getting it on their own terms, they\u2019re still finding a way to win. Plus if you look at why they were so prolific up forward last year, they had a couple of players that played significant roles while having a good run with injury. Aine McDonagh and Aileen Gilroy are just so significant \u2013 and when they\u2019re in the team together with their long kicking, class versatility and agility, it\u2019s really important to this group. Those two players haven\u2019t been in the same team a lot this year due to Gilroy\u2019s injury, but when they\u2019re both there, the Hawks look so much better. Gilroy and Kaitlin Ashmore out have affected their outside run and dash, while Jas Fleming was out for a few weeks, so they just haven\u2019t been able to get into a rhythm. But if I\u2019m Hawthorn I\u2019m excited we\u2019ve still been able to win amid all of those challenges wins ins and outs and injuries. It means they\u2019ve been able to teach them how to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: A<\/p>\n
Run Home: Fremantle (home), Gold Coast Suns (home), Port Adelaide (away), Essendon (away), North Melbourne (home)<\/p>\n
Dees continue win streak, Suns down GWS | 00:43<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 2nd (6-1, 294.2%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cI don\u2019t know (if they\u2019re North Melbourne\u2019s biggest challenger) because if you look at their fixture, given they finished ninth last year, they\u2019ve got a really easy fixture. So that\u2019s the question mark. They\u2019ve played Western Bulldogs, St Kilda, Collingwood, Richmond, West Coast and Gold Coast. Then when they were challenged by Port Adelaide \u2013 a team who\u2019s travelling reasonably well in terms of how they play their footy \u2013 they lost that by two points at Alberton Oval. If you\u2019re going to be a contender to North Melbourne, you\u2019re not dropping a game to Port Adelaide at Alberton by two points. You\u2019ve got to be able to adjust and they just didn\u2019t. They haven\u2019t played anyone above eighth so far. Now they\u2019ve got Essendon (11th), Fremantle (12th), Sydney (6th), Brisbane (7th) and Geelong (10th) \u2013 so no North Melbourne, Hawthorn, Adelaide or Carlton. You\u2019d say they\u2019re probably going to finish top two, but we don\u2019t have evidence their style of football can match the Kangaroos. Everyone\u2019s talking about them being North\u2019s No.1 contender \u2013 because of their win-loss record. But the Demons haven\u2019t played anyone who plays like North.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: A+<\/p>\n
Run Home: Essendon (home), Fremantle (away), Sydney (home), Brisbane (away), Geelong (home)<\/p>\n
NORTH MELBOURNE<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 1st (7-0, 316.3%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cYou look at their system both on-field and off-field and as a club overall, it\u2019s elite. There\u2019s so much that every other club can learn by what they do. They just look unshakeable. Even on the weekend when Essendon showed up and played some pretty good footy and they were scoreless in the first quarter \u2026 but they clicked into gear. Is there anything North Melbourne has done that\u2019s surprised me? No. Should they be in the position they are based on the on-field and off-field systems, personnel and experience? Absolutely. Are they playing the way they should be? Absolutely? Are they getting the results based on all that? Absolutely. So no surprises. We\u2019d say they weren\u2019t performing if they weren\u2019t on top of the ladder right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: A+<\/p>\n
Run Home: Sydney (home), Richmond (away), Adelaide (home), St Kilda (home), Hawthorn (away)<\/p>\n
Controversial umpiring call in Cats win | 01:29<\/p>\n
PORT ADELAIDE<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 14th (2-5, 84.3%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cThey should\u2019ve known how to put St Kilda away \u2013 and they weren\u2019t able to do that, so a massive question mark there. Then the game against Geelong, they had that dubious call, but they should\u2019ve still beaten Geelong at home. For me that\u2019s probably a bit of experience in some of their young list. They\u2019ve had some injuries around key personnel and key positions, but they\u2019ve had some really good return, too. Indy Tahau has been a standout performer and they\u2019ve been able to reinvent her game forward of the footy. If you look at last year and how they made it through to a prelim, you could argue they overperformed a little on where their list was at. But they certainly will be kicking themselves that they dropped the last two because they were certainly winnable \u2013 even the West Coast game too. The second-half fade-outs, what\u2019s going on there?\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: D+<\/p>\n
Run Home: Western Bulldogs (home), Brisbane (away), Hawthorn (home), Adelaide (away), GWS Giants (away)<\/p>\n
RICHMOND<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 18th (0-7, 53.9%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cI think they\u2019re incredibly disappointing, given the personnel that they\u2019ve got. I think there are significant question marks around the system that they\u2019ve got around \u2013 and if it was working, the scoreboard would tell a different story. They\u2019ve had Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but the other teams, you\u2019d think personnel-wise through the middle and up forward with some consistent defenders they\u2019d be winning more games. The list doesn\u2019t feel like a team that should be winless at the moment, so they\u2019re incredibly disappointing. I think there are question marks around the return on investment of their program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: F<\/p>\n
Run Home: Adelaide (home), North Melbourne (home), Collingwood (away), Fremantle (away), Gold Coast Suns (home)<\/p>\n
ST KILDA<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 9th (4-3, 93.1%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cI wonder about the belief in their system. Maybe the game on the weekend against Port Adelaide with that ability to come from behind and outrun teams \u2013 like the week before against Richmond \u2013 so I wonder what their learnings are around what belief they\u2019ve got in themselves and their system. It\u2019s exciting for St Kilda and the way in which they played on the weekend, any team who can come back and do that has got a bit of depth about them. They\u2019ve probably got to win three games to get into the top eight, you\u2019d imagine. They\u2019ve got GWS, Collingwood, Carlton, North and Western Bulldogs \u2013 and it could come down to that game at the end of the season. I think given their fixture and where they\u2019re currently positioned, if they don\u2019t win seven games and make finals, it\u2019d be disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: B-<\/p>\n
Run Home: GWS Giants (away), Collingwood (home), Carlton (away), North Melbourne (away), Western Bulldogs (home)<\/p>\n
Record crowd sees Giants upset Swans | 00:52<\/p>\n
SYDNEY SWANS<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 6th (4-3, 135.4%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen their best and it\u2019s really pretty, really good footy. They play a beautiful brand of footy to watch, how they move the ball is exciting. But what we learned about them in those games against Collingwood and GWS, when the inside pressure comes and they get a reasonable match-up for Chloe Molloy and she\u2019s kept a bit quieter, they\u2019re really relying on players up the field. Do they need more scoring opportunities in their team? Bec Privitelli has been in and out, Bailey Martin looks like a reasonable player but is super young and has been in and out and. What we\u2019re seeing is where there are holes in their zones where they maybe don\u2019t have the class of player in certain positions they\u2019re going to need to be a top-four contender. But I think they have a lot of confidence in the off-field and on-field system. It\u2019s either now get experience into their younger players or top up their personnel with spots where they\u2019ve got gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: B<\/p>\n
Run Home: North Melbourne (away), Carlton (home), Melbourne (away), West Coast (home), Essendon (home)<\/p>\n
WEST COAST EAGLES<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 8th (4-3, 110.6%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cThey\u2019re just a lovely, consistent team of players. They\u2019ve got young class in each zone. Ella Roberts is fantastic and just pops up everywhere on the field with that workrate and game sense to know where the ball is going to fall, plus her execution and decision-making is elite. But for all the talk about her, the potential class of the playing list overall is really solid. The exciting thing is there\u2019s a level of consistency about them. That Round 2 loss to Essendon could very much be a win now and the Fremantle game they\u2019ll be disappointed about but I think that was just a bit of age and experience. But you can see they\u2019re building a system that\u2019s going to be solid for a long time in the future once they get more games into this group. They\u2019ve got a hard run home \u2013 Adelaide, Geelong, Sydney and Carlton at their best would be a challenge for them \u2013 but that\u2019s the opportunity for them. They\u2019re at risk of missing given their run home, but I think we\u2019ll learn a lot more about how their growth is holding up in their last four rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: A<\/p>\n
Run Home: Collingwood (home), Adelaide (away), Geelong (home), Sydney (away), Carlton (home)<\/p>\n
WESTERN BULLDOGS<\/p>\n
Ladder position: 13th (2-5, 85.7%)<\/p>\n
Chyloe Kurdas says: \u201cIf you look at the Dogs and how they played their footy against Collingwood, if they play that way for the rest of the season and leverage the personnel in the right positions at the right time, they can beat Port Adelaide, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Geelong and St Kilda. They had a terrible start to the season and they\u2019re sitting 13th, but if they win the next five, they play finals. I think they\u2019re all winnable games. I hope from the weekend the playing group gets a bit of belief in what the coaches are trying to do with them. The coaching staff learned a lot about, yes Ellie Blackburn in the midfield is good, but is that combination in the midfield with Isabelle Pritchard, who had her best game ever. What Ellie in the midfield does is create freedom for Issy Pritchard \u2013 who\u2019s just getting better and better \u2013 so you get the best out of her when one of the best mid defenders is trying to account for Ellie Blackburn. You play Ellie as a mid with rests forward, she can be damaging in both zones.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foxfooty.com.au mid-season grade: C<\/p>\n
Run Home: Port Adelaide (away), Essendon (home), Gold Coast Suns (away), Geelong (home), St Kilda (away)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re just over halfway through the AFLW season \u2014 and the contenders are separate themselves from the contenders.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[9126,114676,64,63,689,3423,3237,52774,117766,117768,71037,117747,106651,106646,71059,97822,60064,117754,52776,117758,13659,117748,30182,2485,9130,49772,117752,117769,97819,117753,117764,117759,117751,36270,15631,117774,117763,117772,647,117746,117762,117770,673,677,117773,117750,10185,6082,117767,117771,701,14444,3509,117775,117755,14389,765,114664,114672,114665,117765,83403,1124,85,1122,15647,670,7200,660,117749,698,117760,117757,3585,117756,117761],"class_list":["post-184126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adelaide-crows","tag-assist-nightmare-baffles","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-ben-waterworth","tag-brisbane-lions","tag-caitlin-gould","tag-cameron-bernasconi","tag-challenges-wins-ins","tag-chelsea-randall","tag-consistent-improvement-on-field","tag-controversial-umpiring","tag-controversial-umpiring-call","tag-daniel-webster","tag-dog-poo","tag-dominant-win","tag-elite-game-awareness","tag-ella-roberts","tag-emergencies-list","tag-geelong-cats","tag-getting-teams","tag-giants-coach","tag-gold-coast","tag-gold-coast-suns","tag-injury-concerns","tag-inside-outside-game","tag-isabelle-pritchard","tag-issues-facing","tag-jas-fleming","tag-jordy-allen","tag-kate-darby","tag-katie-brennan","tag-ladder-position","tag-lauren-wood","tag-learning-journey","tag-massive-question-mark","tag-meg-mcdonald","tag-melbourne","tag-mid-forward-connection","tag-mid-season-grade","tag-mid-season-report-card","tag-new-south-wales","tag-oceania","tag-on-field-system","tag-personnel-availability-issues","tag-playing-group","tag-port-adelaide","tag-positive-scoreboard","tag-pretty-disappointing-start","tag-queensland","tag-question-mark","tag-question-marks","tag-record-crowd","tag-rhyce-shaw","tag-ruck-stocks","tag-run-home","tag-score-assist","tag-score-assist-delay","tag-score-assist-nightmare","tag-shelley-scott","tag-shock-finals","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-st-kilda","tag-standout-performer","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-swans","tag-victoria","tag-walk-up-starters","tag-western-bulldogs","tag-win-streak","tag-win-loss-record","tag-winning-streak","tag-young-class","tag-young-list"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}