I arrived at the Swans Fan Day at Moore Park about an hour before it finished. It was at Industrial Hall, their new base in the Entertainment Precinct. It was ok, and pretty much what I expected. Loads of kids, and child-friendly activities. There were more AFL players there than I had anticipated however, and not just the fringe players. Buddy Franklin, Josh Kennedy, Jarrod McVeigh, Dane Rampe, Aliir Aliir, Isaac Heeney, along with many others were all there, and it seemed like most were making an effort to be involved with the fans.
Personally, I didn't approach any of the players, or get involved in any of the activities, although they did have the 4x Swans Premiership Cups there, so I of course had to get my photo taken with them, although they said I couldn't pick them up...
It was free, all indoors and air-conditioned, which was good. Music was ok, and it wasn't overcrowded. The space is a good size, and it'll be interesting to see how the Swans utilise it in the future. The downsides to the event were that the food was expensive - $12 for a mini pizza!! - and the Swans (probably the staff more than the players) seem to have a bit of arrogance about them, although in some ways, you kind of expect that from an elite team. I also think the arrogance comes from not having any elite female representation, which I'll explain a bit later...
After leaving Moore Park and picking everything up from Mum's, I took the long journey out west to Blacktown, which really is in the way out west. You're confronted with hobby farms and open parkland when you get off the expressway in places with names like like Rooty Hill, Doonside, and Plumpton.
But it was easy to find the ground, and even easier to find a park, although I got there about 90 minutes before the game. Entry was free (AFLW games are free anyways), but the refreshments were again expensive - $5.50 for a 600ml bottle of Sprite!! The place was overrun with kids, and the Fan Day events were packed into a relatively small outdoor area, without much shade on a 30-degree day. And there are no AFL Premiership Cups to pose with...
But it had a bit more of a positive vibe about it than compared to the Swans Fan Day, and this is where I think having the elite female athletes at the event made a difference. Aside from the male AFL players, the Giants also had their netballers there, as well as the AFLW players who were not playing in the game that afternoon. I think this makes the male players more humble and fan-friendly, and the female players bring a different attitude and fan response.
At first I thought it was a bit disingenuous to have both Fan Days on the same day, and that perhaps someone was trying to sabotage the other. But then on reflection, I think it's likely that there would be many families in Sydney with split allegiances, and having both Fan Days on the same day, but at clearly different times, would allow those families to get to both events, and enjoy the same experience on the same day.
Because the Giants Fan Day was outside, they could also have a few different fan events, such as a water-slide, and a goal kicking setup, although I suspect these were AFLW-driven rather than being unique to the Giants Fan Day. The other positive to come out of it was the fact that, because there were so many people there for the Fan Day, it effectively guaranteed a big crowd for the AFLW game.
Sensing this would be the case, and with only the grandstand offering any shade, I grabbed a seat about 40 minutes before the bounce. The grandstand only really covers one wing, and probably seats about 2,000 people. A lot of seats were also reserved for players and officials, which is understandable given how many of them were there on the day. It was a good decision, because b y the bounce, the stand was about 90% full. The rest of the ground, which is surrounded by a grassed embankment, was also well populated, which was really encouraging. I would have guessed there to be about 3,500 people to be there - AFLW says 3,823 people.
It's a good place to watch footy, and the ground covering looks immaculate. The fans are close to the players on the sideline, although there is a huge distance between the player benches and the interchange gates, which must be inconvenient for teams, especially in terms of communication and making quick interchange decisions. There also appears to be a good corporate area, and two stories of boxes/media facilities. Generally speaking, it looks like a fantastic place to play footy and run a team.
When it came time for the game to start, Carlton were on top almost from the start, and the Giants just couldn't get any clean and clear use of the pill. Their forward pressure was very good, and they structured up behind the footy very well as well. There was some good passages of play, although a few basic skill errors still dog the women's game, particularly dropped marks and overrunning ground balls.
However, there were some good passages of clean play, and the athleticism of the women stands out a lot more in-person than it does on the TV. I was really impressed with Katie Loynes, and fortunately I saw probably the best game from two AFLW stars, Darcy Vescio and Tayla Harris. Harris in particular was very good in the air and dominated the first half, to really set up the win. Amanda Farrugia was probably one of the best for the Giants, and I think Jess Dal Pos might be carrying an injury - she definitely looked a bit restricted at times. Cora Staunton was a crowd favourtie, but she tends to go to ground too often, and the Giants backs were just overrun by the repeat inside-50's by the Blues.
Having said all that, I left at half time, to beat the traffic back to Newcastle. So I missed the massive hit Harris put on Pepa Randall. Having only seen it on TV, I think she'll still get 1-2 weeks for it. She took her eyes off the ball, ran past the footy, and connected with a player who clearly wasn't expecting the hit. The only thing that might save her is that I don't think she collected Randall in the head, who walked off, and if Randall doesn't have a concussion. But it goes to show how hard the women play. there is no doubting the women's ability to go in hard at the footy, and I'm a huge fan of the way they play. Having also watched the Adelaide team destroy Geelong on the weekend, there is no doubt the quality of play is improving.
A couple of further observations about AFLW: There definitely should be an entry fee - even a gold coin donation would be enough to ameliorate some of the costs involved, and I don't think crowd numbers would suffer much. And not enough players can kick on both sides of their body. this is a real issue preventing the quality of play, and it may result in more leg injuries, as players stop and prop a lot to get back onto their preferred side. The sudden stop I imagine would put strain on the knees, rather than being able to kick freely through the ball, but obviously I have no evidence to sustain such an hypothesis.
Overall the atmosphere at the ground was good, although obviously the fans were disappointed the Giants weren't more competitive. There was a good number of Carlton fans there, and they were pretty vocal without being negative to the opposition, which was encouraging. Players from both teams were applauded when they entered the playing arena, and the feeling overall is more encouraging and festive than the men's game, which you're probably going to get in a shorter season that is still maturing.
So I wish I could go to more games! I wish they would play some games in Newcastle, and I wish the Swans had a team - not just to support, but also because I think it would help the culture of the entire organisation.
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