AN INTRIGUING day of AFL Women’s action takes place on Sunday with four games across the country including three in Victoria. We take a deeper dive into the Essendon-West Coast contest with both sides winning in Round 1.

NEED TO KNOW

Date: Sunday, August 24
Venue: Windy Hill
Time: 2:35pm local

TEAMS

Essendon:

West Coast:

CHANGES

Essendon has not made a change from its dominant Round 1 win over GWS Giants, while for the Eagles, they have gone a little smaller to tackle the Bombers. Handing first round draftee from 2023 Kayley Kavanagh a debut – after the ex-Calder midfielder missed last year with an ACL injury – alongside Kellie Gibson, West Coast has dropped Sarah Lakay along with the injured Beth Schilling (foot).

MISSING IN ACTION

The Bombers have a trio of players gone for the year, but those who have a chance of returning include reigning best and fairest winner Maddison Gay, and draftee Sophie Strong. Tall Brooke Brown is about six weeks away recovering from bone stress. West Coast’s pair of draftees Charlotte Riggs (wrist) and Lucy Boyd (ankle) will miss another couple of weeks or so, while Annabel Johnson and Belinda Smith are the other other injured, with Schilling gone for the season.

WHERE THE GAME WILL BE WON

Essendon looked outstanding in the opening round of action, and will be wary about the impact that both Eagles star Ella Roberts and top 10 draft pick Lucia Painter can have. The pair kicked all of West Coast’s goals last week so shutting them down will be priority number one. The Eagles’ depth through the middle which includes the returning Dana Hooker as well as Isabella Lewis will ensure plenty of rotations, as Madison Prespakis and Georgia Nanscawen will look to get on top of the contested work.

The speed of Jessica Rentsch and Jaide Britton between the inside and outside will aim to get the game on the Eagles’ terms with a fast tempo, though they are well aware it can open them up the other way. Essendon showed some serious potency last week in the form of all teh draftees as Holly Ridewood was brilliant in the front half. If Essendon can get Sophie Alexander and Bonnie Toogood to fire, it will be a huge problem for the Eagles.

West Coast still has a tall side despite dropping two talls, but a lot are able to play across multiple positions. The Bombers will look to use their own speed to transition down the ground with Georgia Gee and Amy Gaylor two that possess plenty of that. Couple them with exciting young gun Grace Belloni, and the Bombers will be confident they can give their forwards plenty of looks inside 50 tomorrow.

PREDICTION

Essendon looked the slightly more polished side last week and will be confident at home in front of a big crowd. If the Bombers can get off to a good start and restrict the amount of looks that the Eagles get, they will likely come away with the four points. West Coast should give them a challenge though, so expect it to be fairly tight.

Essendon by 11 points.

AROUND THE GROUNDS

Kicking off the day’s action is Richmond and Western Bulldogs at Ikon Park with both teams coming off Round 1 losses. The Bulldogs have not made a change, but the Tigers have recalled Beth Lynch who replaces Ally Dallaway.

Across the city at Arden Street, the rampaging Roos take on Port Adelaide with both teams making a couple of changes. The Power have lost Piper Window and Amelie Borg to injury, handing debuts to both Chloe Gaunt. North Melbourne are also down a couple of troops with Nicole Bresnehan and Bella Eddey injured, replaced in the side by Vikki Wall and Tessa Boyd.

In the last match of Round 2, Adelaide has swung the axe in a bid to bounce back from a disappointing loss to St Kilda, making five changes to the side. While both Teah Charlton and Hannah Munyard are injured, the Crows added a further three omissions to the outs with Kayleigh Cronin, Hannah Ewings and Rachelle Martin all omitted. Coming into the side is crucial experience in Chelsea Randall and Stevie-Lee Thompson, as well as Kiera Mueller, Keeley Kustermann and Amy Boyle-Carr.

The Cats have also made a few changes with the injured Kate Darby joined by omitted pair Caitlin Thorne and Zali Friswell on the sidelines. The trio to come in are talls Erica Fowler and Chantal Mason, as well as extra running power in Bella Smith.