After the off-season, footy is back in town this weekend with the much-anticipated return of the AFLW competition. Round 1 will see the debut matches for both Geelong and North Melbourne. It also sees the Western Bulldogs step onto the fields of battle to defend their 2018 premiership title.

As the women's game continues to grow, the footballing community cannot wait to see the women warriors take the field. This includes younger women and girls who dream themselves of playing for their club on the way to a career at the top.

Below is the AFLW promotional video released this week.

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It is a forlorn hope for St Mary’s. Two games out of the top five and a poor percentage with just three games to play means that the Saints can’t reach the NTFL Premier League finals. There just aren’t enough miracles left to make it happen. However, they can raise merry hell over the final three rounds, and they started last weekend against the Darwin Buffaloes.

Snapping a four game losing streak, the incentive was there for the Saints. If finals aren’t going to happen, let’s make life difficult for those in the running. Their victory over the Buffaloes saw them come from behind at the main break and kick eleven goals to two in the second half to run out 37 point winners. The loss for the Buffaloes may not see them miss finals, but it will give them the shakes, knowing they are far from invincible.

Gab Pound has called Carlton home since 2017 when she made her debut in Round 1 against Collingwood.

“You couldn’t describe it, it was just an insane feeling it was very surreal and emotional,” Pound said. “I’m getting emotional thinking about it right now.”

“It was amazing to not only play AFL but women’s sport I think, we were given a massive platform and people were interested in it. A filled up Ikon Park and we never expected that so pretty insane to get that amount of people coming and watching. It was a magical night and yes it was pretty insane.”

Image Source: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images AsiaPac

Fremantle Dockers AFLW best and fairest winner Ebony Antonio is primed and raring to go as the 2019 AFLW season is almost upon us.

Antonio debuted for the Dockers in Round 1, 2017 against the Western Bulldogs and it was a surreal feeling for her. “It’s hard to describe that feeling but yes I guess it was quite overwhelming,” Antonio said.

Image Source: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images AsiaPac

After bringing down the reigning premiers, the Tiwi Bombers will be reassessing their goals for the 2019 season. Their victory against the Southern Districts Crocs proved that they have the “A” game capable of reaching finals and causing havoc when they get there. But ahead is a period of developing consistency and belief – mixed with hard work – to finish the season well. Nevertheless, they now sit in fourth place and finals are theirs to lose.

Travelling to the Crocs home ground, and trailing at half time, the Bombers were up against it. But four unanswered third quarter goals saw the Bombers grab the lead and were good enough to increase that in the last quarter to win by 22 points. The loss was costly, though not terminal, for the Crocs as they lost their third game from their past four starts and need to regroup, answer the wake-up call and re-establish their premiership credentials.

The Western Bulldogs drafted 22-year-old Irish recruit Aisling McCarthy after she impressed at the Cross Coders program.

McCarthy was picked at no.23 in the draft.

“It was the middle of the night at home so I was quite tired but waited up eagerly to see if my name was going to be called out,” McCarthy said.

“I could not believe it when I was announced at pick 23 – it did not feel real until I actually landed in Melbourne a month ago.”

“I am delighted to have been selected by the Bulldogs, they are a great club with a great ethos and culture.” 

Image Source: @aish_mac

Nicola Barr, the inaugural number one draft pick for the AFLW has made a name for herself not only on the footy field but also off field too.

“I have recently graduated from the degree and am now working at Starlight Children’s foundation as well as taking a couple of spin classes each week,” Barr said.

“Balancing these things in addition to AFLW training can be quite a challenge at times! For me the best way to juggle these commitments is to ensure that while I am doing something to be completely focused on it," Barr said.

In this extraordinary story from Lucy Murray at ABC North West Queensland, the team from Lake Nash in the Northern Territory, their trials to simply get to a footy match are explored. If you like, it ould be called extreme car-pooling to get to a match each week. It is an amazing snapshot into what it takes to play footy in one of the most remote parts of Australia. 

The Lake Nash Young Guns footy team struggles for money to travel the 600km to their games, and if they do not get a kangaroo on the way to the game, they most likely play on empty stomachs. 

Alpurrurulam, or Lake Nash, as it is commonly known, is an Indigenous community on the Queensland–Northern Territory border. 

In the centre of town is a red dirt Australian Rules Football Oval, where the Lake Nash Young Guns can be seen training every evening. 

As they run, often barefoot, or in socks, they leave a trail of red dust behind them.

A thunderstorm and cloudburst, and a rampant Crocs outfit, were not enough to stop the Darwin Buffaloes from taking the four points in their match at TIO Stadium on Saturday. It was part of another exciting round that saw The Buffaloes grab a one point win, Palmerston held off Waratah by four points, The Tigers shook of a desperate Saints by 20 points and the Tiwi Bombers romped home by over 100 points against Wanderers.

Perhaps the match of the round, however, was the Buffaloes/Crocs clash. After a solid first half, where Darwin held a three-goal lead over Crocs at the main break, Southern Districts started to fight back in the second half to get to within seven points by the final change. But with a storm close, the final quarter was delayed until the all clear was given to resume. After the enforced break, Crocs kept coming, but Buffaloes held them off by just a solitary point.

Round 12 was played in the NTFL last weekend, the first round back after the Christmas/New Year break. Whilst fans were delighted to see the footy back again, the round has seen a tightening of ladder positions with top spot, top five and wooden spoon well and truly undecided and set for big finishes from all clubs over the remaining six rounds.

The Southern Districts Crocs are locked in a battle with the Nightcliff Tigers for top spot, both teams on ten wins. In third place, four games behind the leaders, the Darwin Buffaloes sit level with Waratah. Just outside the five on five wins are Palmerston, followed by the Tiwi Bombers on four wins and Wanderers on three.

On Saturday, the Tigers downed the Buffaloes by 14 points. The teams kept up a tight match to three-quarter time, with the final quarter set for one of the other side to break the game open. However, neither team goaled in the last quarter leaving the Tigers victors.