In AFLW round four, Liz keeps lamenting about having to learn what loss feels like, Stephanie complains again about the Dockers travelling every week, and we offer you some more reading.

Steph Says:

• I can’t BELIEVE Adelaide and Brisbane are the top of the ladder. The world is completely upside down, we are definitely in the darkest timeline.
• Even though the Dockers are definitely not going to make it to the GF of this first season, I am pretty sure I’m still going to go to the GF. Unless, of course, the GF ends up in Brisbane.
• Speaking of the Dockers, though, if I’m getting Newsletters once a week I want my membership merch! IT HAS BEEN MANY WEEKS.
• The Dockers are still travelling basically every week, and it’s very unfair.
• If Sydney had a team in the AFLW, they would be doing very well you know.
• She says, wistfully.

Liz Says:

• For the record, I’m quite resigned to a weekly cycle of Increasingly Desperate Hope Followed By Resigned Disappointment. I feel like a real Bulldogs fan now!
• I even bought a shirt, that’s how dedicated I am to the Disappointment Cycle Lifestyle.
• Also, I spent last week reading about Collingwood’s Moana Hope, and the general opinion that she was overrated and useless, so I was actually glad to see her live up to her potential. Even though I would have been okay with her kicking just that one goal at the start, and then the Bulldogs taking it from there.
• Anyway, a long losing streak makes eventual success all the sweeter. On a related note, large chunks of Footscray are STILL decorated for last year’s mens’ grand final, and it’s pretty sweet.
• What will we do if the GF ends up in Brisbane or Adelaide? Decamp to the house with the biggest TV and best internet connection, I guess.
• How much am I not cut out to actually play a sport? When Kate Sheahan did her knee — the podcast The Outer Sanctum had an interesting bit recently about how it turns out that female AFL players are more prone to knee injuries than men — my own knee started throbbing so badly that I iced it just for the placebo effect.
• I’m just, like, so sensitive and empathetic? *wipes a single crystalline tear from cheek*

Reading:

Steph also can’t believe she’s linking to Fox Sports: Bec Goddard is quickly becoming one of the most influential figures in the AFLW

OH UH: Collingwood’s AFLW debutant Kate Sheahan says career could be over after knee injury

Women’s sports like AFLW, netball reaching new heights while others languish

Girls-only football teams on the rise after the launch of AFLW

A Voice from the Stands: Our new normal