ONE OF the biggest talking points to emerge from the first round the NAB AFL Women's competition was the lack of scoring.

Although, reaction to the opening round has generally been positive, detractors have pointed to the fact only 28 goals were kicked in the four matches and the losers (Collingwood, Greater Western Sydney, Fremantle and Melbourne) managed to kick just one goal each.

Critics have used those figures as evidence there aren't enough quality players to support a national league.

Earlier this week, AFL game and market development manager Simon Lethlean acknowledged the AFL had known low scores were a possibility but said the League wasn't particularly concerned.

"It's been part of women's football that the scoring hasn't been high for a little while," he said on radio station SEN.

"It's not a massive concern, but it's certainly a 'watch out' and we'll do what we can to help with scoring being improved as best we can."

Interestingly, the scoring from round one of AFLW actions bears an eerie resemblance to scoring in inaugural round of the Victorian Football League in 1897.

In the first League game 120 years ago, Fitzroy defeated Carlton with a score of 6.13 (49) to 2.4 (16). Compare that to the result of the AFLW opener, with Carlton posting 7.4 (46) to Collingwood's 1.5 (11).

But the similarities don't end there. In the first VFL round, the eight teams (Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, South Melbourne and St Kilda) kicked only 34 goals between them, just six more than the AFLW clubs last weekend.

By the end of the first VFL season, there were still only about 10 goals kicked per game.

At state level, scoring in women's football is generally much higher than what we saw last week and in some of the AFL women's exhibition series matches in recent years.

Last season, the VFL Women's competition averaged around 20 goals per game. Games are played over four 25-minute quarters while the AFLW features four 15-minute quarters plus limited time-on.

The scoring was also higher last year in South Australia and Western Australia, with the SAWFL and WAWFL competitions averaging about 16 and 14 goals a game respectively in four 20-minute quarters.

The high scoring, however, needs to be put in context. In the VFLW last season, for example, 16 of the 18 rounds featured at least one game where the winning margin was more than 100 points.

The high scoring in some state league competitions and the quality of the play in last year's all-stars exhibition game in September might have created unrealistic expectations for some fans watching the AFLW.

Last year, over one million people tuned in to watch 44 of the best players from across the country and they were treated to a great contest between the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne, with 21 goals kicked on the night.

Those 44 players are spread across eight teams instead of two, there are a host of players trying footy for the fist time and others are simply young and inexperienced. Therefore, high expectations were always going to be hard to meet.

Western Bulldogs coach Paul Groves believes the football community needs to be realistic about the early stages of the competition and what the 200-plus players are capable of.

"We've just got to let it play out. It's going to be such a different comp in two years time," he said after the Bulldogs' win over Fremantle.

"It's going to be a completely different game style once these girls play more and more at this level."

Adelaide coach Bec Goddard expressed a similar sentiment, but added that it was "dangerous" to continue comparing women's football to the men's game.

"I'd love to see women's footy talked about in its own conversation, rather than having it compared [to the men's] all the time," she said after the Crows' round one win over the GWS Giants.

"It is its own brand of footy."

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