WHAT do AFLW clubs owe fans and the broader competition?

Friday night's match between Essendon and the Western Bulldogs brought a number of issues surrounding the development of the AFLW competition into sharp focus.

Is there an onus on clubs to play entertaining football to grow interest in the game?

Can fans begrudge teams for doing whatever it takes to minimise the opposition scoring, even if it creates a dour contest?

How can young players learn from – and enjoy playing – a one-dimensional game plan?

And how much of a toll did the recent mid-week footy period have to do with it?

It's a multilayered affair, with no simple solutions.

The education piece

Firstly, at a micro level – Bulldogs coach Tam Hyett said the first three quarters of the game played out exactly as the team's brains trust had envisioned, choking the run out of the Bombers. But is a very defensive game-style the right way to go, even with a side building from the ground floor?

The young, inexperienced Bulldogs are in a development phase right now, meaning every training session and match is an opportunity for the group to learn.

Coaches across all levels of footy will typically build a team out in layers, often starting with defence, and then move into attacking styles of play. So, it’s unsurprising to see the Dogs focusing on defending in their first season under Hyett.

"The game looked how we wanted it to look pre-game," Hyett said post-match.

"Forward of the ball, we just had no connection, so that's a disappointing thing but again, we're in a strong education phase so, another opportunity to educate the players."

But what we saw on Friday night was a step further than simply learning a defensive system. Instead, the Bulldogs flooded their defensive 50 with little attacking spread evident once the ball was won.

"(I) probably was surprised in the second quarter when (the Bulldogs) had the wind that they were still putting numbers back," Essendon coach Natalie Wood said after the game.

"(It) told us pretty clearly that that's what they wanted to do, and really clog up our ability to score."

Hyett's defence-first focus isn't under examination; rather it's the style in which it's being employed, and what the group is learning from sending maximum numbers behind the ball. 

Instead of learning a system upon which the club can consider its brand at some point in the future, it is learning that heavy numbers are the only way to defend the ground.

There is certainly a place in footy for sending numbers behind the play, particularly in AFLW where games are often impacted by significant wind, but generally that is one defender designated to that role, or wingers sliding back to support.

From there, those numbers are expected to help stop the opposition from scoring, and – the key element – then generate attacking run of their own.

Elite teams like Adelaide, Brisbane, North Melbourne, and more recently, Hawthorn, have shown how to do that, both in the past and this season.

Against Essendon, the Bulldogs recorded the equal-fifth lowest inside-50 count of the season to date, and their 20 was well below the season average of 31.6 inside 50s per game.

On Friday, it appeared the Western Bulldogs were almost wholly focused on stopping Essendon's attack, and little else. And with so many numbers living in the defensive half of the ground, on the few occasions the Dogs did get the ball inside their own attacking 50, there was limited forward representation.

It was not a method that showed off a desire to kick a winning score. Instead, the Dogs were heavily focused on simply preventing the opposition side from scoring enough to win.

Mid-week footy fatigue, or tactics?

Zooming out a little, how much of an influence did the recent mid-week footy period have on the game? Has the fatigue of a regular season been compounded by the condensed period?

While there’s no question mid-week footy and short breaks have impacted the quality of some matches, the Dogs are not the only club affected.

Some normally high-flying sides have shown uncharacteristic signs of fatigue in recent weeks, with Melbourne and Adelaide – normally premier sides of the competition – playing out a stodgy game on Wednesday night, kicking just 30 points between them.

It was the (already injury-hit) Dees' third game in 13 days, and the Crows' third in just 11 days, the latter a shadow of their normal selves.

Sydney and Geelong played out a tough affair in 30C weather last weekend, with both teams struggling to break out of a jog at the end of the third term, let alone the last.

While a glance at the Western Bulldogs' fixture breakdown – playing their third game in 15 days – suggests fatigue may have been a factor in tactics, the Dogs had a six-day break before playing the Bombers. Therefore, cumulative fatigue (harder to measure from our comfy seats on the couch) may have been an issue.

Mid-week footy was introduced as a way to increase the number of games played without compromising the season’s timeslot, but if it's having an adverse effect on the quality of the product – thereby having a knock-on effect on attendance and viewership – extending the playing window may be the better option for the future.

What we owe to each other (and football)

Finally, there’s the macro view. What do clubs owe in terms of building the wider competition? How much of a lens can they realistically be expected to have on growing an audience through fast, attractive football, versus an individual, winning focus?

Veteran senior coaches – including Craig Starcevich, Scott Gowans, Matthew Clarke and Mick Stinear – have often spoken about the need to play attractive football to help with the wider development of the league.

It’s a balancing act, with teams generally wanting to maximise their chances of winning, while also having a larger obligation to bedding down the competition in the wider consciousness.

Compared to the men’s competition, the AFLW is newer and less-established, meaning - rightly or wrongly - there are additional responsibilities attached to both teams and the League.

It's also easier for coaches who have built an established and successful team to embrace the concept of "fast flowing, free-wheeling" footy, while less experienced coaches tend to employ a defence-first mentality, as we saw so often in the early days of the AFLW competition.

Gowans has often spoken about his willingness to go down swinging, rather than get involved in a dreary, congested match with the ball bouncing between the arcs, a sentiment backed up by Geelong coach Dan Lowther during pre-season.

"We increased our scoring last year off the back of our ball movement and style," Lowther said.

"Let's see more of that, let's see more of the ball living in our front half, let's see the ball hitting the scoreboard, and our forward structure supporting that as well."

Stinear has another element to add to the mix, pointing out the need to keep his playing group engaged through fun footy, and espousing creativity as a key component to securing four points.

"From my point of view, you have to give the team the best possible chance of winning. But then you've also got to manage the team as well – the team's love of the game, their passion and enjoyment and bring out their spirit as well," he said after Melbourne's win over St Kilda.

"That's what you have to grapple with. For our team, personally, if we went overly defensive, you'd probably snuff out their spirit and creativity, so you've got to work with that – still give you a chance to be in every game, and there's times where you need to defend and defend hard to keep a lead or against the breeze.

"But in terms of our group, you want to harness that creativity and give them a chance to express themselves and you've got a responsibility for the fans to come to the game and enjoy themselves as well. It's a delicate balance."

However the coaches don’t bear the sole responsibility of dictating how AFLW games look, with the players and the League also having a role to play in this.

Starcevich has a left-field layer to add to the mix when it comes to encouraging an attractive game-style: a quick whistle from the umpires.

"We don't play in stadiums with roofs or anything like that, so we don't get that luxury," Starcevich said after the Lions win against Carlton on a wet Saturday night at Ikon Park.

"I thought it was unnecessarily congested at times due to the officiating work, we need to be on things quicker and pay some free kicks when they're there, just open the game up and make it more of a spectacle, but that's me looking through my lens.

"I want the game to be attractive and open, and I think we need more parties to jump on to help us with that."

It’s not an issue peculiar to AFLW, with the AFL having previously changed rules and rule interpretations in the men's competition to reduce congestion and facilitate free-flowing football.

Where to from here?

OVERLY defensive game-plans have tended to sort themselves out over the short history of the AFLW, with the development of Geelong under Lowther a prime example of layering education and tweaking approaches.

The Cats won one game in Paul Hood’s final season in charge, two in Lowther’s first, and seven in his second, on the back of a focus on attacking football.

The AFL’s new general manager of women’s footy, Emma Moore, has said she is keen to sit back, observe and listen in her first season at the helm, before making what will be key decisions around the future of the competition.

What this means for the future of mid-week footy is uncertain, but it's clear players, coaches and staff have struggled with the physical and mental load associated with its current form, with the short breaks the most pressing issue.

The AFL therefore has to make some strong decisions to provide a clear path forward, while for the clubs, the right combination of education and approach is key because - as already demonstrated by the more experienced footy departments – attractive footy is important for the players, fans and the AFLW.