North Melbourne were rocked by a “ridiculous” jumper clash early against the Western Bulldogs, but it didn’t stop the reigning AFLW champions from marching to a 30th straight win.
The Roos overcame what was described as a “farcical” uniform clash that left players struggling to spot a teammate to run out 11.4 (70) to 3.5 (23) winners in Launceston.
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They kicked nine of the game’s final 10 goals to ensure their incredible win streak rolled on.
“The Roos had to get down and dirty to win number 30,” Fox Footy’s Kelli Underwood said.
But the upset was brewing early when the Roos, who hadn’t lost a match in almost three years, were uncharacteristically guilty of turnovers as coach Darren Crocker conceded the jumper clash was playing a part.
“The girls are saying that,” he said.
“It’s been a little bit difficult but anyway, that’s something for us to improve going forward.”
“So even the coach, the great Darren Crocker has admitted it’s a real issue for these two teams today,” Fox Footy’s Kelli Underwood said.
“There’s little surprise there players are challenged by it,” Daniel Harford added in commentary.
The jumper clash was caused by the two teams wearing their Indigenous Round jumpers – both teams in blue and white tops, but made harder by the fact they were all in blue shorts and blue socks.
The only difference was a patch of red on the Dogs’ player jumpers.
“The blue shorts as well! Unhelpful,” Harford said.
“And blue socks as well! Wear some white socks or some red socks! It’s a bit tricky (to see which team is which),” Chyloe Kurdas added.
Underwood described the situation as “ridiculous” and warned you wouldn’t see such an obvious clash in the men’s game.
“Goodness me,” she said.
“Obviously wearing their Indigenous jumpers … (but) this is ridiculous.”
Harford questioned how the clash could have been approved by the AFL in the lead up to the UTAS contest.
“This goes to the AFL during the week,” the former AFLW coach said.
“I’ve seen the sheets the AFL send out, looking at who is going to wear what.
“Surely they look at this and go – we have a problem here.”
“They are literally giving it each other because they are confused by these jumpers,” Underwood added.
“Especially under pressure too – you’ve got so much white on each jumper and white really catches your eye as it moves past,” Kurdas replied.
“It’s very hard to pick out the red in amongst the white and blue across both jumpers.”
The situation was so comical, Underwood called for someone to run out training bibs in the hopes of helping players.
“Can we get some bibs? Surely someone’s got orange bibs out there?” she said.
“The pink and green training bibs that all have got. Could drop a few of those around?” Harford suggested.
“Maybe a jumper change at half time,” Kurdas added.
“Brad Johnson is worried, he’s just text me – what’s going on with these jumpers?” Harford shared of the Bulldogs’ great’s message.
“It wouldn’t happen in men’s footy,” Underwood replied.
“They are ALL Kangaroos jumpers.”
The jumper clash proved a distraction to the Bulldogs’ bid to become the first AFLW team to defeat the Kangaroos since December 2023.
Speaking after the win, Roos star Kate Shierlaw conceded it was tough to spot a teammate given the uniform bungle.
“To be honest, it was really challenging,” she told Fox Footy.
“(But) the same thing for the Bulldogs, so it wasn’t any different for them as well.”