54. AFLW 2024 Round 1 Preview - Its Kick Off Time

welcome on in everybody to the all Aussie rules podcast this is episode 54 of the 2024 season this is going to be our aflw week 1 preview episode we also have a quick look at the men's finals that starts next weekend um as always don't forget to like comment subscribe there's so much content happening right now um a little snippet of what we plan with the for the next 5 6 weeks at least there'll be two episodes going live each week as per normal one will be focused on the men's game one will be focused on the women's game um yeah that's the plan so um for the next couple weeks the late week episode the Friday episode will be the aflw and the early week episode will be the uh AFL men's episode and then once the uh women's roster changes to them having some teams played two games in a week the early one will be the women's and then the later episode will be the men's but I'll keep you all updated with that as we go um yeah don't forget to check out the socials all Aussie rules pretty much everywhere Twitter Facebook Instagram Tik Tok You Name It We got it um also YouTube Spotify for the podcast and on the YouTube plenty of extra videos bonus videos If you feel like um I've worked out over across a 37-day period starting 3 days ago we're going to have 31 videos so pretty much most days there's going to be a new video on the YouTube channel so go check all of them out don't forget to watch them all like them and yeah hit that subscribe button without any further Ado we'll jump into the men's um final series just quickly have a look at that um we lead off on Thursday next week so a week from when I'm recording this I guess just under a week from when it gets posted uh Port Adelaide jalong at Adelaide oval Thursday night footy Port Adelaide favorites um obviously qualifying finals so the loser does get a second chance uh should be a good game you'd imagine if the best of Port shows up you'd think they win but uh jalong you can't Rite them off Port we'll be going slight favorites into that one Friday night footy is a bulldog's Hawthorne at the MCG Bulldog's currently favorites this is an elimination final so the loser goes home they're two of the most informed teams of the competition so uh one of them will be departing uh and you got to think hathon are probably pretty happy that they get a week one final at the MCG seeing they are away but technically really get the home ground advantage over the dogs in this one interestingly I believe there was an announcement today yesterday when you're watching this um that the aflw Bulldogs game will be straight before this also at the MCG or a few hours before obviously um that is a bulldog's Port ADL game so a little double header action at the MCG and then we jump into our Saturday fin first up Sydney gws first versus fourth scg Saturday 3:20 p.m. should be at Cracker uh Sydney won both these matchups this year they'll be starting favorites they finish top of the ladder it's hard to hard to go against them but gws's form is quite good of late they haven't lost for a little while outside of the last week when they kind of rested some players and I don't know how committed they were to winning that game I'm not sure and then the final game of the week one of finals for the men's game is Brisbane Calton up at the gabber Brisbane will be starting short favorites in this one you'd think they should win it based on form um they're going pretty well Calton are not um rematch of last year's uh prelim Final in which Calton started really well and then Brisbane just got over the line um you go back uh to opening round this year they met at this same ground Bruin in a reverse dominated the first quarter with like six goals up or so in that first quarter Colton flew back in the third quarter and ended up winning it by a point in the end so um should be a cracker should be a cracker all four games could be huge um and yeah two teams will be finishing their season on that weekend um yeah so that's everything for the men's game there's lots happening at the moment um in offseason news for them a lot of trade talk a lot of delistings uh a lot of that sort of stuff some resigning and whatnot but um we will be leaving that for the moment we're going to focus on the games at hand both men's and the women's and then once the men's season wraps up then we'll start looking at the uh offseason stuff what your team needs what your team's chasing and all of that because at the moment um there's not too much point on getting bogged down with that information too much I don't think so we'll jump into the women's game for this weekend massive um massive weekend for them I guess uh so first up Friday night footy starts our season off up in Sydney we got Sydney hosting the Collingwood magpies um Sydney will be going into this comfortable favorites not huge favorites but reasonably comfortable favorites um they finished eight from the Lad last year Collingwood finished 11th missed finals after losing both of their last two games um if they had have won both of them they might they would have made finals for sure uh if they had have won one they would have needed a bit of a percentage boost but nonetheless they missed the finals Sydney played finals just um in what was a pretty solid season from Sydney seeing the year before I don't think they won a game or they only won one maybe um so yeah 2022 was a really bad season for the swans they bounced back last year um and really did well so I kind of expect them to go pretty well again this year um I'm not I'm not convinced on the Collingwood team for those that don't know I am a Collingwood supporter and I am an aflw Collingwood member as well I'm not hugely confident on their season but part of me hopes that they do really well and maybe they can kick that off with a win in Sydney although I find it doubtful um there's two games on Friday night though over in the west we got West Coast Eagles Richmond it's a late start over in the eastern states it'll be 9:15 um Eastern State Times Obviously 7:15 start over in the West um games are shorter in the women's games so two hours will knock it on the head um as you can see or you probably can't really see because it's pretty zoomed out as a little bit blurry but Richmond will be starting favorites in this one um West Coast last year had a bit of a rough season they're going pretty similar to their men's team to be honest last year they went two and eight which is not not fantastic fantastic and the year before they also went 2 and eight so they've only won four games in the last two seasons uh not hugely positive for them meanwhile the Richmond Tigers they finished 10th last year um had a really good percentage finished fifth and F five and five sorry solid percentage um they finished the season with a really good win over Collingwood uh but fell a game short of playing finals I think everybody expects to go over and win this one um I'd be surprised to see West Coast show enough Improvement to be competitive in this one based on what they've shown the last two years but strange things happen in football so I'm not completely writing off the West Coast Eagles just yet I would like to see see how they go first up before we make any Rush decisions um Saturday we got a blockbuster lineup of FO football uh five games four of them like none of them overlap until that last game of Port Adela Adelaide um clashing with jalong Melbourne so you can sit in front of your Telly and watch a lot of footy on KO Sports and fox tail this weekend first up we got gws versus the Bulldogs this is a CRA Mani roval um gws coming off a tough campaign last year they certainly were not very competitive in too many of their games last year uh they started I think 0 and five ended up winning two games in the run home but um still ended up quite a long way down the ladder same can be said for the doggies who went one and N last year um and I don't from the what I understand what I've been hearing um some big offseason moves in the negative for the doggies so um it might be tough for them going forward um they're certainly certainly not expected to do too well both of these teams in fact are in the markets the lowest two ranked teams to in terms of chances of winning the Premiership equal with West Coast who we just mentioned so probably not the biggest Blockbuster game of the weekend however in a short season uh the winner of this sets themselves up quite well just due to the fact that you only have you're only playing 11 games you probably need six to make finals maybe maybe seven but probably six will be enough to get you through maybe we'll see depends how close it is I guess the competition this year but if you can get one straight up it's a really good start uh the next game is the bombers versus freem manal um it's a Wendy h bombers were pretty solid last year they finished seventh on the ladder they went six and four um fell apart a little bit towards the end could have been a top fourward chance uh with a few weeks to go but just didn't quite close out the season uh meanwhile freem manal they missed finals they only won four games um had a really low percentage for a team that went four and six um bombers should be favorites here they I won't say they will win this but they they should win this on on paper they're a about six rank team in markets this year whereas Freeman were down towards the lower lower six or so um yeah that's that's about all I have to say about this matchup it should be should go the way of the bombers I would imagine uh next up is go Coast silda up at PFS same ground that the men's team plays at um I wonder if they'll have as good a home record as the men's team they certainly would hope so because that will put them in good stad this year um Gold Coast coming off last year they did play finals they finished fifth on the ladder and we're only half a game outside the top four um finished the season really well going into finals uh six wins three losses and a draw is a really good result um um sorry I'm just uh getting up some things they did however lose week one of the finals against Sydney in um yeah in an elimination Final in which they were the home team so that was probably a disappointing result and end to their season after showing a bit of promise and almost um almost making top four silda they finished n on the lad missing out on finals by percentage roughly 4% so that's probably like 20 30 points in the women's league um a pretty good season overall um but in the end not quite making finals but only eight teams make it there's 18 in the league so uh not too bad from them interestingly uh go Coast sit about six in the market and go uh yeah no sorry Anon kilder a few spots behind that in about 10th or 11th um should be a good game actually really both teams wanting to get their Seasons off to a good start Gold Coast obviously were the better team last year slightly um we'll see how that plays out on Saturday night but I'm going with the Suns next up we have jalong Melbourne this is one of the big two games of the week weend I think um so this is fourth versus fifth in the current markets two of only five teams at $10 or less in the markets uh both have a good chance to get their Seasons off to a good start obviously Melbourne finished second on the Lad last year going eight wins two losses with a huge percentage of 22.9% massive um and jalong they also played they finished sixth on the ladder with a massive percentage as well they went 6 and four with a percentage of beat EST in the first week they then uh came up against Melbourne who they're playing here and lost oh jalong won It by Five Points sorry uh in the semi-final they then went to the prelim final and lost to the Lions by Four Points who went on to win the Premiership meanwhile uh Melbourne they obviously got the second chance went into finals with obviously a very good record um eight WIS two losses as we said they got pumped by North Melbourne in the first qualifying final um lost by 41 points 9 to 50 so they got smacked that week and then the following week they were a lot more competitive against jalong but lost by Five Points I think things Point towards for me points to point towards a jalong win in this one but this should be one of the games of the round maybe this one or uh the final game of the two best games of the round we'll get to the the other one obviously shortly uh the final game of the Saturday afterno or evening this is night time now nighttime footb Port Adelaide Adelaide Showdown opening round um one team coming off a really good year the other team not so much adelade last year they went nine and one went losing just one game in the regular season whereas Port adelade they only won two games seven losses and a draw so completely different campaigns a lot more hope given towards Adelaide this year um pretty high in the markets St currently third ranked team um by the end of this round they could be the top ranked team um you'd expect that they will go in into this and beat Port Adelaide I would say quite comfortably um so their season finished last year they won their uh lost sorry their qualifying final against the Lions by two points they backed it up the next week in the semi-final um over in Adelaide and absolutely smacked the Sydney Swans 82 to 15 in one of the the biggest smacking you'll see in aflw and then in the prelim final they lost by a point to the kangaroos um in what was a heartbreaking loss for them after a really good season so they'll be looking to go one step further this year or probably two step for further and win a Premiership cuzz they were certainly a competitive team last year and just just missed out in the end um most of the final Series last year was really close like both prelims were sort um less than a goal margin the Grand Final ended up being 17 points but we have probably eight minutes to go it was only one point in it um semi-finals were both or one was close one was weing a kick the other one was a flogging and week one of the finals uh there was one close game one flogging and a couple um close-ish games I guess but that leads us to the end of Saturday Night Football two games left to look at for the aflw there will be a lot more indepth analysis and stuff going forward um of the aflw for future weeks but as we're learning about the season we're just going to just run through the games for this first episode um where am I up to we got haong Calton in a bit of a Victorian Victorian Grudge Match sorry on Sunday afternoon um at Frankston haon home game here last year haon finished 14th three wins seven losses finished the season reasonably well so certainly moved into the season quite well after a little bit of a slow start Carlton they finished 12 on the ladder four and six and lost their last four games so after six weeks they were four four and two and looking like a chance to make a run for the year they just did not finish the year off well at all um looking at hopes of both teams hathon I won't say they have huge hopes but definitely top eight prospects I think in this season Colton uh slightly less chance but I still wouldn't write them off in the season at all um both potentially top eight teams but also both could finish in that bottom four or five teams uh depending on I guess how their season starts and this is a pretty important game for both teams hathon are going to be probably starting favorites in this one the final game of the round of round one of the 2024 aflw season brisban North Melbourne um they're called kangaroos I guess technically in umw cuz aren't they called North Tasmania kangaroos or whatever they called but um big game uh up at I switch Sunday afternoon 305 kickoff this is probably game of the round um Grand Final rematch from last year the Lions took the Premiership by 17 points in the end over the kangaroos um in what was a game that I won't say was controlled by North Melbourne but they LED for certainly a large portion of the match um but that last quarter was really good by Brisbane their tall forwards took over the game and um kicked kicked them away a bit so in the regular season both teams finished seven and3 kangaroos were third brisban were fourth um kangaroos percentage of 224.210 offensive team out of the two but the the defense of the kangaroos was insane they only conceded 213 points in their 10 games of the regular season so we're only conceding 21 points per match meanwhile they're scoring 40 48 basically points per match so um yeah they just controlled every match really uh made finals fell at the last hurdle both teams had their chances in that one and in the end Brisbane got over the line um certainly not convincing but their last quarter was very very good um so yeah that's what I think is game of the round um both these two teams are the two favorites to win the Premiership this year Brisbane slightly ahead of North Melbourne um it's an important match for both teams because as we kind of mentioned it's only an 11 game season um if you get off to a bad start you lose your first one it's not certainly not impossible let's be honest but um certainly put you on the back foot and all of a sudden if you do lose this first one puts a lot of pressure on your second week cuz unlike the men's game where Brisbane lose their first three and they've still got 20 games to make it up um in this one you lose your first three you pretty much can't put another foot wrong for the rest of the year if you want to make finals um and neither of these two teams have the easiest week to um brisban have Melbourne in Melbourne next week and North Melbourne play jalong next week so not easy games by any stretch of the imagination or based on what we expect to happen this season it's going to be um the first couple weeks is certainly going to be learning about a lot of a lot of the changes because you see a lot more debutants in uh aflw each year there's a lot for every team happening this weekend um it's going to be going to be be very important I guess to watch these first couple games first couple rounds and really find out where teams are and um as the season goes we'll probably get a better understanding of that um but yeah that's my analysis for week one that's all the matches we'll be doing this every week the next aflw episode will be next um next Thursday or Friday morning going Live on YouTube and Spotify we'll be doing all n matches um for round two we'll also be doing a review of all nine matches from round one so stick around it should be good um I'm looking forward to the to the season it should be should be a lot of fun um certainly fill the hole of the Men season coming coming to a wrap um over the following next or the following week or so um without any further Ado let's jump into my tips for aflw week one here they are as we said game one Sydney I'm going to beat Collingwood my heart says Collingwood but my tip says Sydney um Richmond to beat West Coast in a close one I think West Coast hopefully can show some improvement on last year but Richmond do have some very good players so I wouldn't um wouldn't be surprised if they won by a lot more than that uh gws to beat the Bulldogs by 15 we we' got to see Bulldogs they're a completely different team than last year and I'm not convinced it's going to be in a good way but we'll wait and see um how that plays out on the weekend Idan to be freem manal by 20 uh go Coast in a close one against silda July at uh at their home ground against Melbourne in what should be I've said 20 points it it's an important game for both teams uh either team could win that one Adelaide should be way too good for Port Adela I think in most facets of this game uh Hawthorne to beat Colton by 15 and then rounding out the weekend in the Grand Final rematch I've gone Brisbane by three points um Brisbane I kind of kind of have a sort of soft spot for CU they were uh my second team I guess last year once Callingwood would knocked out I was going for Brisbane in the finals and they did get over the line so um even though I won't be supporting them in the men's competition this final series um well not at first at least um I will be supporting them kind of in the women's Collingwood will always be my number one team though um yeah that's everything for this episode of all Aussie rules podcast this is episode 54 don't forget to tune back in Monday's episode will be our uh AFL men's week one finals preview episode so go check that out it should be a cracker there so much good football coming up both in the men's and women's games um also if you haven't already go to my YouTube check out the videos where posting we're posting end of season reviews every day um at time of recording all Australian team has not been announced just yet but it will be in the next hour or so um but I have posted a video yesterday of my all Australian first and second team so go check that out leave a comment on any mistakes that you think I made uh appreciate you for tuning in this has been all Loy rules this is podcast episode 54 we'll be back on Monday thanks for for tuning in catch you next time