‘Stop the game’: Horrendous jumper clash ruins AFLW blockbuster

Saturday’s AFLW blockbuster battle between the undefeated North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs has been made almost unwatchable by a significant jumper clash between the two teams.

The AFLW is celebrating Indigenous Round this week, with all 18 teams wearing specially designed guernseys to celebrate.

Evidently, these jumpers weren’t designed with the fixture in mind, given the Kangaroos and Bulldogs were both wearing predominantly white and blue tops, with blue shorts and blue socks.

In 2022, the league did away with white shorts for women’s footy games due to a request from players and clubs. This has led to some challenges however in terms of alleviating jumper clashes.

Wide shots of the game taking place in Launceston made it almost impossible to tell which team had the ball, while Kangaroos coach Darren Crocker stated his side was struggling to differentiate players at quarter time.

“The girls are saying that (there is a jumper clash), that it’s been a little bit difficult, but anyway, that’s something to improve going forward,” Crocker told Fox Footy.

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Former Carlton AFLW coach Daniel Harford and lead commentator Kelli Underwood were bemused with the issue during the first quarter.

“It’s unhelpful,” Harford said.

“This goes to the AFL during the week. They look at who is going to wear what. Surely they look at it and go ‘we’ve got a problem here’.”

Underwood added: “Bit of a jumper clash out there. My goodness me”.

Many frustrated fans have expressed their annoyance on social media as well, including former Collingwood captain Steph Chiocci.

The AFL Women’s official X account was forced to hide a number of replies calling out the clash.

Leading AFL reporter Mark Stevens meanwhile suggested stopping the match and starting again with new guernseys.

Many fans felt the game, ultimately won by North Melbourne, was ruined by the significant jumper clash.