AFLW Senior Assistant Coach & Female Academy Coach Baker Denneman provides insight into the week-to-week of our AFLW team thanks to Bird in Hand.

Heading into this week, we see it as a great opportunity to implement the key takeaways from the Gold Coast and test ourselves against another expansion side in Essendon.

Essendon are coming off a few tough weeks, but have showed plenty of promise throughout the duration of the season, and ultimately have one of the inform players in the competition in Madison Prespaskis.

Looking back at the week that has been, North Melbourne gave us plenty of learnings, and we looked to implement the key growths in our game against Gold Coast, while also understanding the contested nature in which they like to play.

The game started on even terms, and we won the arm wrestle early, but unfortunately the continued nature of contest to contest, enabled Gold Coast to regain ascendancy on the ball, and generate play forward.

In saying that, we had our moments, and chances, but couldn’t capitalise.

As tough as it was, it gave the playing group plenty of learnings and the understanding that we are getting opportunities, and something will continue to look to build and grow on.

While we didn’t come away with the result on the scoreboard, there have been plenty of improvements over the weeks and there were plenty of positives from the weekend.

One of our leaders, Rebecca Privitelli was classy in her return to the side after returning from illness. She continues to impress up front and kicked two goals, her second effort capped off with a classy set shot.

On the other hand, young draftees Montana Ham and Sofia Hurley have continued to impress in their inaugural seasons.

Montana continues to shine each week and had some critical moments in the game that our members and fans can continue to look forward to. 16 disposals, 8 kicks and 6 tackles capped off a performance that also earnt votes from the coaches.

In just her seventh game of AFLW, Hurley also showed her game awareness, skills and defensive prowess with a game high 10 tackles.

Throughout the majority of our games this year, we have been able to compete early at the contest and put some serious first quarter pressure on teams. The next step for us as a group is being able to sustain this pressure for 4 quarters. The game is one that is heavily dominated by momentum, and moments. We need to ensure we win the moments, and can impact when we have momentum, and sustain oppositions from scoring when they have it. Our playing group is continuing to learn and grow through these experiences, and it will hold us in good stead moving forward.

This weekend marks AFLW Pride round, and the first time the playing group will run out in the club’s Pride Guernsey.

It’s a special moment for the club, and CEO Tom Harley expressed this through his comments earlier this week; “Our club is incredibly proud of the work we have done to ensure everyone feels safe, welcome, and included at the football,” Harley said.

“Through initiatives such as the launch of our DAP, being the first professional sporting club to participate in the Mardi Gras Parade, and of course having our men’s team play in the Pride Game for the past seven years, we have been able to demonstrate a continued commitment to LGBTIQA+ communities.”

“We are thrilled to be taking another step in that journey and can’t wait to see our women’s team run out in our Pride Guernsey as part of the AFLW’s Pride Round.” 

As mentioned above, Ikon Park, 3:10pm on Saturday afternoon against Essendon provides a fantastic opportunity for our playing group to put our best foot forward, play the way that we want to play, and ultimately look for our first win as a football club. 

This weekly piece is brought to you by AFLW partner Bird in Hand. To learn more about the club's partnership with Bird in Hand, click HERE.