LADY WARRIORS 

Over the weekend I managed to sit down and watch both women’s grand finals in the AFL and NRL. I continue to be amazed by the skill and ferocity of the matches. They are as entertaining as the men’s game in many respects and I for one like the purity of what is on show.

Over the years coaches and players have learnt how to bend the rules, break the rules very subtly and cheat with nuances that become the norm. For now, the women’s game has avoided most of those negatives, but it will happen in the years to come. Best example of that was that there wasn’t a single ‘six again’ call in the NRL GF.

In my coaching career I was dealing with open age footballers in their late teens and the competitions I was involved in had that pure love of the game. Remember the classic Commonwealth Bank cup matches. They were great contests and I liken the standard of the ladies’ game to that of good schoolboy football.

In the AFLW the face of the game was the Demons captain, the somewhat demure Daisy Pearce. She has returned to the game after giving birth to twins some 12 months ago and is everyone’s favourite as she really does come across like another Ash Barty.

The Adelaide team went in as favourites and in the end won comfortably. In fact, that was their third victory in the five years of the competition. It will be interesting to see what happens next year when the AFL will expand so that all clubs will have a women’s team. Many Adelaide players I am sure will be tempted to move across town to the Port team.

In the NRL the administrators cop a lot of flak, but you cannot fault them on how they introduced the women’s competition. They started with just four teams and a further two teams will be added each year. That has proved a master stroke as it has not diluted the standard of play. They have chosen to go with depth not width and I applaud their reasoning. I have watched a lot of games this year and I haven’t seen a single player who looks out of her depth. They have had good coaches and their commitment shows in the fitness level and their skill set.

One of the reasons for the success of the ladies’ game is the fact that so many have come through the ranks of playing touch football and later on in tag footy. On the local scene this is obvious with the Magpies in the NRRRL competition and as I’ve said before the women’s game and the arrival (finally) of Luke Douglas could well be the saviour of the Magpies.

In the grand final it was yet another sad day for Dragon’s supporters but the better team on the day won. Dragons scored in the opening minutes and never bothered the scorers again. How good was the officiating? The game kept flowing and always in control.

The good news for everyone is that in a few months it will be on again. A new season (making up for Covid) will start later on to culminate in another grand final on the big day in October.