The footy loving community in Cairns, and by extension the whole of North Queensland, were disappointed to lose their prized AFL premiership match when the 2019 AFL draw was released last year. However, far from taking a defeatist attitude, AFL Cairns has been involved in substantial talks with the NTFL about a potential team entering the Territory’s Premier League.

As reported in the Cairns Post, “The top echelon of AFL Cairns footballers are open to playing 12 months of the year if a Far North-based club is permitted to enter the Northern Territory Football League. AFL Cairns officials have held preliminary discussions about including a Cairns team.”

The Geelong Advertiser reported that, “AFL Cairns officials have held preliminary discussions about including a Far North-based team in the Northern Territory Football League competition. AFL Northern Territory CEO Stuart Totham is aware of the advances from Cairns that have progressed over the [summer].”

The Fremantle Dockers were too sharp for the Brisbane Lions, as they scored a 27-point victory at their first home match at Fremantle Oval on a beautiful day.

Lions were stronger than the Dockers in the first term and kicked three goals to one with the wind.

The Dockers had their chances when they had the football but could not capitalise. Nat Exon scored the first goal for the Lions and first of the match.

Soon after Sabrina Frederick-Traub set Jess Wuetschner up for goal and Wuetschner kicked the Lions second goal.

Image Source: @aflwomens

Dockers were able to get on the board with their first goal via Ashlee Atkins. Lions responded straightaway with a goal of their own from Ally Anderson.

At quarter time the Lions had an advantage of 11 points.

The Adelaide Crows ran away with the match late in the third quarter and were victors by 13 points over a defiant Carlton outfit at Ikon Park in perfect conditions.

Both the Crows and Blues played a high-scoring cracking match of AFLW with impressive skill and intent. There were 11 goals scored in the second half of the match.

Image Source: @FoxFooty

The Western Bulldogs notched up their second win of AFLW 3.0, as they defeated Geelong Cats by 18 points at the Whitten Oval in breezy conditions.

It was a hard slog to start the first quarter. Cats had a lot of the football especially in their forward half of the ground but had only a goal to show from it in the opening term.

The Dogs defense was under significant pressure in the first term. Phoebe McWilliams in her Cats debut nailed through the first goal of the match.

Aisling Utri was awarded with a 50m penalty and slotted through the opening goal for the Dogs. Cats were up by two points over the Western Bulldogs at quarter time.

Image Source: @FoxFooty

Melbourne pulled off a 17-point gutsy win over Collingwood at Victoria Park in windy conditions in front of 7,728 football fans.

Melbourne’s defense was amazing all match and they made it hard for Collingwood’s forwards to get a hold of the footy.

The Collingwood women’s team made their debut at Victoria Park and it was the first time both women’s teams played at the iconic ground.

Image Source: Getty Images

After a power-delayed start of 43 minutes due to a wild summer storm in Sydney for the second consecutive year at Drummoyne Oval, the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos were victors over the GWS Giants by 25 points.

Image Source: @northaflw

Image Source: AFL Women's 

Round 2 team lists have been released below

GWS Giants vs North Melbourne, Friday 8th February 7:15pm at Drummoyne Oval

GWS Giants Squad 

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	P.Randall	21	E.Swanson	17	P.Monahan	28
Half Backs	A.Farrugia - C	18	T.Hetherington	9	E.Brush	10
Centreline			A.Eva	2
Half Forwards	J.Dal Pos	7	J.Barclay	34	H.Zreika	24
Forwards	C.Bernardi	4	C.Staunton	13	Y.Bonner	27
Followers	E.McKinnon	23	C.Gum	26	R.Beeson	6
Interchange	N.Barr	8	L.Stephenson	12	E.Bennetts	22
	A.Parker	3	B.Perry	19
Emergencies	M.Collier	14	T.Mackrill	32
	EMG4	EMG4_NO

In: - E.Brush, J.Barclay, B.Perry

Out: - J.Hicks (Omitted), A.Schmidt (Injured), M.Collier (Omitted)

North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos Squad 

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	T.Randall	16	J.Grierson	19	E.Humphries	6
Half Backs	B.Gibson	18	D.Hardiman	31	J.Duffin	27
Centreline			E.Kearney - C	9
Half Forwards	K.Gillespie-Jones	5	J.Garner	25	J.Bruton	35
Forwards	S.Abbatangelo	1	M.Hope	23	K.Ashmore	10
Followers	E.King	60	J.Stanton	17	A.Riddell	7
Interchange	N.Bresnehan	12	J.Trend	21	E.King	4
	A.Drennan	8	D.Bateman	11
Emergencies	C.Munn	13	C.Haines	29
	EMG4	EMG4_NO

In: - E.King

Out: - G.Nanscawen

Collingwood vs Melbourne, Saturday 9th February 4:45pm at Victoria Park

Collingwood Squad 

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	S.Rowe	7	M.Cann	25	C.McIntos	6
Half Backs	G.Gourlay	32	S.D'Arcy	4	K.Lynch	16
Centreline			E.Hynes	11
Half Forwards	S.Livingstone	12	S.Casey	22	E.Grant	5
Forwards	J.Allen	6	A.Brazill	10	I.Ross	21
Followers	S.Layton	1	S.Chiocci - C	17	J.Lambert	13
Interchange	R.Schleicher	18	L.Butler	23	S.Dargan	46
	E.Fowler	15	B.Bonnici	8

Melbourne Squad

 

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	M.Downie	2	H.Cordner	21	C.Emonson	11
Half Backs	S.Lampard	8	C.Phillips	35	K.Smith	13
Centreline			E.O'Dea	5
Half Forwards	M.Gay	3	S.Scott	12	A.Newman	16
Forwards	E.Zanker	29	T.Cunningham	1	K.Hore	10
Followers	L.Pearce	15	L.Mithen	14	K.Paxman	4
Interchange	B.Jakobsson	7	T.Hanks	28	A.Kemp	36
	A.Guest	17	A.Woodland	19
Emergencies	M.Guerin	22	B.Patterson	24
	EMG4	EMG4_NO

 Ins: - A.Kemp, A.Guest

Outs: - S.Sloane, C.Whitfort

Western Bulldogs vs Geelong, Saturday 8th February 7:15pm at Whitten Oval

Western Bulldogs Squad

 

 

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	L.Birch	18	L.Spark	11	B.Hunt	21
Half Backs	N.Ferres	16	T.Ernst	19	H.Scott	22
Centreline			K.Lamb	27
Half Forwards	N.Callinan	10	K.Brennan	3	B.Toogood	28
Forwards	K.McLeod	6	E.Mackie	25	A.Utri	23
Followers	K.Rennie	24	M.Conti	8	E.Blackburn - C	2
Interchange	C.Moody	13	E.Brown	9	A.Gogos	36
	D.Berry	7	A.McCarthy	15
Emergencies	B.Smith	12	S.Karlson	26
	EMG4	EMG4_NO

Ins: - A.McCarthy

Outs: - B.Smith (Omitted) 

 Geelong Cats Squad

 

Position	Name	#	Name	#	Name	#
Backs	A.Teague	40	R.Goring - C	44	C.Blakeway	4
Half Backs	D.Taylor	28	M.McDonald	11	R.Webster	21
Centreline			R.Garing	12
Half Forwards	G.Clarke	17	M.Boyd	26	S.Van De Heuvel	27
Forwards	K.Darby	8	P.McWilliams	23	J.Ivey	5
Followers	A.O'Connor	14	J.Crockett-Grills	6	O.Purcell	16
Interchange	E.Hoare	46	M.Clifford	7	M.McMahon	24
	D.Orr	2	M.Keryk	45
Emergencies	M.Fogas	13	G.Rankin	10
	EMG4	EMG4_NO

Ins: - G.Clarke, P.McWilliams, E.Hoare

Outs: - N.Morrison (Injured), G.Rankin (Omitted), M.Fogas (Omitted) 

Friday 8 February, 7:15pm

GWS Giants vs North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos (Drummoyne Oval)

After a nail biting loss to the Brisbane Lions the GWS Giants will look to notch up their first win of AFLW 3.0 against early premiership favourites the North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos. The Giants will have their work cut out but can they come away victorious on Friday night in front of their home crowd. 

Saturday 9 February, 4:45pm

Collingwood vs Melbourne (Victoria Park)

Two teams coming off narrow defeats in Round 1. Collingwood losing by a point to newcomers Geelong and Melbourne losing by four points against a fast finishing Fremantle at Casey Fields. So with both teams winless expect a fiery contest, as they look for their first win of season three. 

After 16 rounds of the NTFL season, only Nightcliff and Southern Districts have locked in their finals bookings. But after costly losses on the weekend for the Darwin Buffaloes, Tiwi Bombers and Palmerston Magpies and an important win for Waratah have seen a fascinating race for finals places emerge.

The Buffaloes will reach the finals, but are now in danger of losing the double chance. The Tiwi Bombers must win at least one of their remaining matches to reach the finals, but would be better with two wins. Palmerston can get there if they win both remaining matches and other teams slip. In short, if a team steps on a snake they can drop badly. Win and they can climb the ladder to finals.

GWS Giants Alyce Parker and Geelong Cats Nina Morrison are both the Round 1 AFLW Rising Star Nominees. This nomination capped off an impressive debut for both Parker and Morrison respectively.

Parker accumulated 18 disposals at a 72 per cent disposal efficiency, 12 handballs, six kicks, four marks and three tackles in the close loss to the Brisbane Lions at the Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex last Sunday.

Image Source: Chris Hyde/Getty Images/AFL Media