AFLW 2020

Round: AFLW Pre-Season | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Semi Final

2020 Summary

CARLTON earned an AFL Women’s finals berth for the second year running under Daniel Harford, completing the feat of notching another finals win in the process before the season was cut short. Lauded for their ability to adapt and execute a range of gameplans, the Blues achieved their winningest campaign to date en route to finishing second in Conference B at 5-1. With four All Australian members and three Rising Star nominees littered across a talent-stacked squad, the foundation club is coming into its own and produced some memorable moments to relive in our season review. The Blues returned a near-bullet proof record in 2020, dented solely by the old enemy, Collingwood two weeks into the campaign. Dealt a relatively tough draw on the back of its grand final appearance in 2019, Carlton made the ideal start in providing a baptism of fire for the incoming Richmond side. Fast-forward to Round 3 and the young Bulldogs were next to be ticked off the list, with an iconic road win over Adelaide in a grand final rematch arguably the crown on Carlton’s year. Melbourne became the third foundation team to fall victim to the Blues, with Brisbane following come finals time after being outsmarted and outlasted. A team with terrific heart, the Baggers overcame some tricky obstacles along the way.

SEASON HIGH: Redemption in the grand final rematch - An historic 2019 season decider did not go the way of the Blues as they fell 45 points short of Adelaide, but the first meeting between the two sides produced a much different result, and an instant classic. On the road once again, Carlton joined the Crows on a 2-1 record and came in as a slight underdog despite the home side’s crushing injury blows. Behind at half-time, the Blues mustered something special to sneak ahead at the final break, holding on via its rock-solid defence and a game-sealing Darcy Vescio goal. Magic.

SEASON LOW: Going down to the old enemy for the first time. A fortnight before the Blues claimed their first-ever win over Adelaide, they suffered their maiden loss in arguably the most important fixture – against old enemy, Collingwood. Having accounted for the Pies in their previous three meetings, the Blues simply had no answers for Collingwood’s swift transition play and sturdy defence – who could forget Stacey Livingstone‘s job on Tayla Harris? In a bizarre twist, the Magpies pulled off the win even without ace recruit, Bri Davey, who went down with an injury scare in Round 1 after switching allegiances in the off-season.

The Rising Stars:
Arguably the most fearsome aspect of Carlton’s squad this season was the performance of their Under-21 talents, with McEvoy, Egan, and Wilson joining Prespakis as young guns in the elite category. McEvoy’s debut was one to savour, and the youngster continued to show flashes of her best throughout a season where she seemed unfazed by the step-up in competition. ‘Greg’ Egan also became an instant hit, thrown into the engine room and quickly becoming an asset with her physicality and ability to find the ball. Last, but not least is Wilson, who improved out of sight this season, particularly after her Round 4 return to the side. A strong key defender who marks confidently, Wilson was often the Blues’ last line of defence and made it a hat-trick of Rising Star nominees in Round 5.

VERDICT:
There is a lot to like about this Carlton side going forward, with its experienced foundation members aiding the development of some of the league’s most exciting young talents. The three-pronged tall attack up forward was exceptional, with the inside midfield grunt protecting a more-than-capable defensive unit. The flexibility of the side will hold it in good stead, with more finals victories surely again the goal going forward.

The Blues were peaking heading in to the Finals, only for the COVID-19 virus to end the season prematurely. The 2020 season was disrupted and then brought to an early end by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was formally declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020, prior to Round 6. The pandemic had the following effects on the season:
- All matches played from 14 March onwards were played to empty stadiums.
- The final two rounds of the home-and-away season were scratched and the finals brought forward by two weeks, being played based on ladder positions at the time.
- The finals series was expanded from six teams to eight. Under the original schedule, the top team in each conference was to advance directly to the preliminary finals while the second and third placed teams played off in semi-finals; but under the modified system, the fourth placed teams also qualified, and faced the first placed teams in semi-finals. Partway through the finals series, it was announced that no premiership will be awarded after the Victorian government announced a shutdown of all non-essential operations on 22 March 2020.

Four new teams, Gold Coast, Richmond, St Kilda and West Coast, joined the competition, bringing the total number of teams to fourteen. This followed on from the inclusion of Geelong and North Melbourne in the previous season.

Carlton Season Review - Sarah Black
The Grand Finalists from 2019 didn't disappoint in 2020, Carlton finishing the season as one of the form sides of the competition. We didn't get a chance to see how the mouth-watering preliminary final against North Melbourne would have played out, but there was no doubt of Carlton's flag credentials.

2020 finishing position: Second in Conference B, five wins, one loss, 151.8%. Qualified for preliminary final.

Best win: Carlton 6.4 (40) defeated Melbourne 3.6 (24) in round six.
An honourable mention to the round five victory over Adelaide, but the win against Melbourne in Alice Springs sewed up a home semi-final and reaffirmed Carlton's claims to the flag. The Blues were challenged and down at half-time, but responded in strong fashion.

Best individual performance: You could throw a blanket over most of Maddy Prespakis' season, but her game against Adelaide in round five was arguably the best. Her stats say twenty disposals, four marks and a goal, but that doesn't show the quality of opposition she was up against.

Club best and fairest candidates: Maddy Prespakis, Kerryn Harrington, Tayla Harris

NAB AFLW Rising Star nominations: Lucy McEvoy (round one), Grace Egan (round four), Charlotte Wilson (round five)

Debutants: Joanne Doonan, Grace Egan, Mua Laloifi, Lucy McEvoy, Brooke Vernon

Most improved: Taken with pick 27 in the 2018 NAB AFLW Draft, Charlotte Wilson played five games in her debut season of 2019, but took her game to a new level this year as her confidence grew. The defender played with composure and maturity beyond her years, averaging the third-most marks in the competition. Georgia Gee also took another step in 2020.

Star recruit: The Blues landed themselves arguably the steal of the draft with Mua Laloifi at pick 52. The 26-year-old former basketballer became an integral part of the team's backline, with her intercept and rebound key to the side's success.

Unsung hero: An inaugural member of Carlton's line-up, Nat Plane was an important part of the team's ball movement this year, providing a key link on the wing. Plane's average disposal increased from 6.5 to 12.3 this season.

What worked:
- Being adaptable to their opposition. With limited training hours available for pre-season, we rarely see teams roll out notably different game-plans week-to-week. But Carlton did just that against Adelaide, employing a high-marking game to beat the Crows.
- Darcy Vescio ventured further up the ground in 2020 and consequently had a much more consistent impact on matches. She still managed to cause havoc close to goal, but also brought teammates into the game with her clever decision-making across the top of the 50.

What needs improvement:
- Slow starts were an issue throughout the season, but ultimately only cost the Blues one game against Collingwood. On average, Carlton was only one point ahead of its opposition at half-time throughout the season.

Season in a song: Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You). The Kelly Clarkson classic fits Carlton well. The Blues lost skipper and best-and-fairest Brianna Davey to arch-rivals Collingwood but brought in two extra draft picks (including pick two, Lucy McEvoy) and had arguably a better season.

Early call for 2021: With just three players over 30 (Alison Downie, Katie Loynes and Jess Edwards), none of whom look like slowing down any time soon, expect much of the same from Carlton in 2021. A preliminary final – at the least – is definitely achievable.

Season rating: 9/10

Honours

AFLW Players Association Under 22 Team: Georgia Gee, Madison Prespakis, Charlotte Wilson

2020 Toyota AFL Women's All Australian team:
Defender: Kerryn Peterson
Midfielder: Madison Prespakis
Interchange: Tayla Harris

Ladder

The conference system utilised in the previous season was retained for this season, though it was expanded to cater for the additional teams. Seven teams were placed in each of the two conferences, with teams playing all their intra-conference rivals once and two cross-over matches against teams from the other conference, resulting in an 8-round home and away season. The placing of the teams was determined by the AFL with competitiveness, list assessments and the previous season's results in mind.

Conference A

Pos	Team	Win	Loss	Draw	Points	For	Against	%
1	North Melbourne	5	1	0	20	309	136	227.2
2	Greater Western Sydney	4	2	0	16	170	142	119.7
3	Brisbane	3	2	1	14	198	185	107.0
4	Gold Coast Suns	2	3	1	10	121	144	84.0
5	Geelong	2	4	0	8	211	261	80.8
6	Adelaide	2	4	0	8	180	224	80.4
7	Richmond	0	6	0	0	115	322	35.7

Conference B

Pos	Team	Win	Loss	Draw	Points	For	Against	%
1	Fremantle	6	0	0	24	277	179	154.7
2	Carlton	5	1	0	20	249	164	151.8
3	Melbourne	4	2	0	16	204	124	164.5
4	Collingwood	4	2	0	16	229	149	153.7
5	St Kilda	2	4	0	8	154	170	90.6
6	Western Bulldogs	1	5	0	4	179	246	72.8
7	West Coast Eagles	1	5	0	4	77	232	33.2

Finals Series

Semi Finals
North Melbourne 5.4 (34) d Collingwood 5.2.32
Greater Western Sydney 3.8 (26) d Melbourne 4.5 (29)
Fremantle 12.8 (80) d Gold Coast Suns 1.4 (10)
Carlton 6.8 (44) d Brisbane 2.3 (15)

Preliminary Finals
North Melbourne vs Carlton (cancelled due to Covid 19)
Fremantle vs Melbourne (cancelled due to Covid 19)