Micro Noises 159: Records tumble again
Pies post new record
One of the great things about the inauguration of a whole new football league is the number of records that are set and broken in its early days. Round six of AFL Women's continued the tradition, with Collingwood leading the way last Sunday. In their first game at their home ground, Olympic Park Oval, the Magpies thrashed GWS by 36 points, 7.13 (55) to 3.1 (19).
Now we could adopt a smartypants approach and announce that Collingwood's score was the highest ever recorded in an AFLW match at the venue... and we will: Collingwood's score of 7.13 (55) was the highest ever kicked at Olympic Park Oval and 36 points was the greatest ever margin recorded in an AFL Women's match at the ground.
But the Magpies' achievement was in fact far more momentous than that. That score - 7.13 (55) - was in fact the highest score of the season so far at any venue, thus making it the highest score in AFLW history, edging out the 8.6 (54) kicked by Collingwood's arch rival Carlton only a week earlier.
But wait, there's more
Indeed there is more. Collingwood's 7.13 comprised 20 shots at goal, also an AFLW record. It eclipsed the 16 shots had by Adelaide two weeks earlier, the Crows kicking 6.10 in their win over Fremantle in round four.
The Magpies' winning margin of 36 points was another AFL Women's record, equalling that of Adelaide's in round one, which was also against the Giants.
One record from round five that we failed to mention in last week's Micro Noises was the aggregate score of the Carlton v Western Bulldogs march. The two sides combined for a total of 102 points, smashing the 86-point aggregate record set by GWS and Fremantle in round three.
Another bolt from the blue (and white)
Could the 2017 season see another bolter get up and win the flag, as the Western Bulldogs did last year? Recent history suggests, yes - specifically, recent pre-season history. And who will be the bolter? North Melbourne. The Kangaroos did play finals football in 2016 but are widely tipped to suffer a big fall down the ladder, with the retirement of four club stalwarts, including AFL games record-holder Brent Harvey.
But a little bit of a dig into recent pre-season results suggests the opposite could well be the case for North Melbourne. Aggregating the outcomes of the AFL's pre-season matches and creating a ladder based on the results sees the Roos slotting into 10th place with its 2-1 record and a percentage of 94.27. A look back at the pre-season ladders of 2015 and 2016 reveals that Hawthorn, which won the flag in 2015 finished 10th in that year's pre-season competition, while last year's 10th-placed team at the end of the pre-season comp was the Western Bulldogs—and we all know how it ended for the Doggies last September.
The difference between North and the other two sides is that the Kangaroos attained 10th place with a 2-1 record, while Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs' 10th-place finishes were achieved with 1-2 records.
But if you ignore the win-loss discrepancies and focus purely on the pre-season ladder placings, the team you should be putting your house on is North Melbourne.
Postcodes of the week
The Western Bulldogs women's side showed great resilience in the third quarter of their match against Brisbane last Saturday, coming from 17 points behind at half time to trail by just four points at the last change of ends. The Dogs' come-back appropriately saw them behind 2.4 to 2.8, with 2428 being the postcode of Boomerang Beach. Ultimately though, the Bulldogs did not add to their three-quarter time score of 2.4, remaining 2.4 by match's end, a fitting acknowledgement of the Lions' number one place on the ladder. 2424 is, of course, the postcode of Number One.
Ridiculous footy anagram of the week
Down at Bulldog Land, with ruckmen Jordan Roughead and Tom Campbell unlikely to play because of injury, there's talk that Tim English might make his debut in the Dogs' round one match against Collingwood next Friday. Coach Luke Beveridge admits to the possibility, although he has aired concerns about the fact that English needs to add some weight to his very light frame. So slim is TIM ENGLISH, above and especially below the waist, we wouldn't be surprised if he introduces himself via his own anagram: Hi, I'M "THIN LEGS".
Micro Noises is Andrew Gigacz's regular, quirky look at all things footy. The name Micro Noises is an anagram of Enrico Misso, who played one game for St Kilda in 1985. He remains the only Enrico and the only Misso to have played footy at the highest level.
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