GEORGIE PARKER: AFLW stars like Ash Riddell, Jasmine Garner would make State of Origin a fierce contest

With the AFLW at its halfway point, here are my five hot takes on the season so far.

1. The leading contender for best and fairest medal at the halfway point of the season is Kangaroo Ash Riddell.

She’s coming off a 44-touch match — beating her own (joint with Ally Anderson) record of 43, at a disposal efficiency of 73 per cent. And she is doing it during a match that runs for two-thirds the length of an AFL making these numbers absolutely absurd. This isn’t an anomaly either. She’s averaging 37.5 disposals this year, nine above her career average.

It’s crazy to think that you could be Jasmine Garner and have a game of 31 touches and kick two goals, and still not be the best player on the ground.

2. This could be a total mozz, but it’s looking as though North, whose win streak is now at 19 games, won’t lose a game of footy in two seasons.

This is completely unprecedented. Two seasons of AFLW, including finals is 28 games, but if it happens it will eclipse Geelong’s record of 23 consecutive wins in the AFL, and needs to be celebrated accordingly. They have the personnel.

They have the game style. And, more importantly, they don’t have a team below them with the ability to beat them. They are sitting on top, with a percentage of 363.2, and the only team to get within five goals of them is Brisbane, who were the last team to beat them, back in 2023 in the grand final.

This is a dynasty in the making and giving a club with little success in the AFL something huge to smile about.

You just wonder what the noise would be if it were a Collingwood or Carlton doing something like this.

3. An AFLW State of Origin is an absolute must.

With the AFL announcing the State of Origin for the men, the AFLW simply must follow. Why? Well firstly, the women have much more to gain from this than the men do, with much less to lose.

The women would have an opportunity (much like in the NRLW) to show naysayers what the best in the league can do. This could only ever be positive to the league.

You also just know the players would give 110 per cent in an AFLW Origin match.

One being that they aren’t on million-dollar contracts so the clubs may to pressure them to go easy to avoid injury, and if it was played at the same time as the men in February, the risk of injury doesn’t seem so threatening. Contrast that with the men where you have a feeling it will be a good game of Oztag with clubs and players fearful of injury.

The risk versus reward is much better for the women, so seems like an absolute no-brainer to have and one the women will put their all in to.

4. At Victoria Park there is dog poo on the field, potholes and last year it even an enormous water leak, then there is Henson Park in Sydney.

The Swans are leading the way with attendance and game day experience.

It’s the perfect balance of a local feel for the fans, but a professional environment for the players. Part of it is Sydney not having to share its AFLW fans with multiple competitors in the same area, but the other is the product they’re putting out both on the park and off is second to none.

It helps they have superstars like Chloe Molloy kicking bags, who even the biggest anti-AFLW fans couldn’t say isn’t exciting to watch.

5. Both the broadcasters and the AFL have missed an absolute trick with not showing any footy on Thursday nights the past couple of weeks.

What is usually one of the biggest nights of footy throughout the season had nothing during the men’s final in a slot that would have been perfect for some marquee AFL match ups. It could have been an opportunity for the AFLW to show their game to habitual viewers of the men’s game and hopefully could have translated into some new fans of the league.

Thankfully this week there’s a Thursday night match and a festival style of footy for the women on Friday to make up for it, but anyone can see it was a huge miss.