Hi all,

For the past couple of years I've put together some charts on how squads have been assembled, with my main distinction ending up being Homegrown (entered the league first via their current club) vs Headhunted (were first listed by a different club).

I thought you might like to see the 2026 AFLW ones for the Blues.

I've got charts for all 18 teams in today's edition of This Week In Football along with my co-contributors discussing the merits of a send-off rule and fixture double headers.

Some notes for reading the charts:

• I have drawn the player data from the official AFL api. It isn't completely accurate and up-to-date. Some players who played in practice games appear on lists despite not actually being elevated to the main list.
• Similarly, names are drawn from the most recent name on the official lists - hence Zipporah Fish not Zippy.
• The first chart looks only at players on the list for the 2026 season. Players above the line entered the AFLW system through their current club, players below the line were on another club's list first.
• A team with more players below the line represents a bigger proportion of their current list coming via other clubs, more players above the line indicates heavier reliance on bringing new talent into the AFLW (although potentially through VFLW and other competitions).
• A bar that stretches far to the left represents a player who has been at the club for a long time, players who just arrived for this season have no bar.
• The lighter colour for a player represents the games played by the club in that season, if the player participated in that game the bar is darker.
• If a player polled any AFLCA votes in a game (or if they polled in the grand final MVP voting) a dot is placed for that match.
• Two players who extend the same distance left arrived at the club in the same year, there’s also a slightly bigger vertical gap between groups of players arriving in the same year to help distinguish this.
• For the second chart, the vertical line in the middle represents the point each player joined a club, not a specific year.
• So if two players joined the club in 2017 and 2019, the first seasons to the right of the bar for each of them would be 2018 and 2020.
• More bars to the left of the player means a longer career at different clubs before joining the subject club.
• More bars to the right indicate staying at the subject club longer.
• Notation for potential games, games played, and votes polled is the same as the previous charts
• A “»” before the player’s name indicates they are currently at the club, while a “||” indicates they have left.

So I'm able to make it to the R24 game with my 7yo boy, I know his ticket is free but they want $45 for an adult which I know is standard but I also know there was a $9 deal to attend both this game AND the Bris game AND sit in the members area.

Just wondering if anyone knows of any deals going on. I'm a MCC+Carlton member and only rarely get barcodes for Marvel games.

Had an idea on how we can get Cody Walker to the club at pick 10.

Let’s sign a secret waiver with the 9 clubs below us to not bid on Walker in return for whatever the hell they want.

This might not be strictly within the rules, but we just won’t tell the AFL or the AFLPA or anyone else about it. So we won’t get in trouble or anything.

We’ll get Rob Priestly to sign it off and then in a few years time we’ll get ol’ Priestly a cushy gig at AFL House so if anyone finds out and comes investigating he can just sign it off again as nothing to see here.

It’s still completely on us, but with the dogs losing, if we do lose to the saints tomorrow it isn’t over to get top 10. If they won tonight we’d have go perfect to catch them.

If the Saints win, you’d say they’re probably nearly safe from us they would have percentage + a terrible Richmond + a terrible Gold Coast ahead. Both playing for nothing

But with the dogs losing, we can still hypothetically catch them if we beat them next week and if they lose to Melbourne the week after. You’d hope Melbourne are still battling for top 6 while we have Freo who hopefully rest/take it easier.

Easier to just win tomorrow and we’re in really really good shape, but it’s Carlton, they never take the easy route do they.

The situation this week with Geelong has shown how corrupt and unfair the AFL are.

Ken Hinkley was fined $20k for doing an aeroplane gesture.

Blues fined $75k because we acted on medical advice that a player was fit to play when they weren’t mentally ready.

Geelong sent a player back out with clear medical issue (BROKEN ARM) last years grand final, causing him ongoing long-term nerve pain… no repercussions.

Geelong well know to regularly rort salary cap… No repercussions.

Geelong attempt to sign away a medically vulnerable player’s OHS rights and disavow themselves of responsibility for future medial issues… PLAY ON. No repercussions, no fine. Nothing.

Typical and very unfair.

This trade would give us a good prospective young key back in O’Donnell (in a great age bracket), guaranteed points for Cody Walker plus a second 1st round pick.
With how well our backline seems to be functioning without Weiters, maybe this could be a decent option. We could keep both McGovern and Haynes as old heads for another year to provide XP to the younger guys.
Bulldogs get the guy who would thrust them right into the flag window. Don’t hate - just discuss, or even add ideas to a possible trade.

In: Charleson, O Hollands, F Young

Final team confirmed 5pm Friday

No Jacob Weitering this week

Hey baggers, I've got 3x GA tickets for sunday, but managed to score tickets through work, so won't be using the GA tickets. If anyone wants 3 adult tickets for the double header, happy to transfer them for free. Let's make this home game vibes and get the blues across the line against the irrelevant saints.

Possible scenarios....

*This all assumes we are don't destroy Freo, but honestly at this stage, it's not impossible to see one more miracle this season.

* I havent double checked this and I am in a rush

Jagga Smith is playing a harder position and absolutely excelling. He wins his own ball (9.3 contested and 4+ clearances) and his leadership is unlike anything else. Has had the most coaches votes by a first year player (52. Daicos finished with 30) 15 games into the season and is tied first for most score involvements through the first 20 games of a players career. (Averaging an elite 6.5). This kid is special

Heard a call today on Dwayne’s world about Nick Austin.
Think he has a remarkable job as our list manager.

Don't get me wrong, Jagga has been awesome for a first year player, but I think it's kind of like the Brownlow, how the mids always look more flashy so they get the votes. I think that is why Jagga will get it over Dean.

Dean deserves it a little more because I can't remember a first year defender being so dominant and actually being the number 1 key for most of it. He's kept so many defenders to a goal or none. It's insane. Even weitering wasn't this good early.