AFLW 2018 Round 1: The Team

AFLW 2018 Round 1 COLLINGWOOD v CARLTON  Time & Place: Friday February 2, 7:45pm EDT Princes Park TV: 7mate / Foxtel 7.40pm EDT Weather: Min 14 Max 24 Chance of rain 10%: < 1mm Wind: SSW 16kph Betting: Collingwood $2.76 Carlton $1.45

B: S.Casey 22, S.Livingstone 12, C.McIntosh 20

HB: S.Chiocci 17, C.Edwards 1, E.Grant 5

C: M.Hope 23

HF: B.Bonnici 8, S.D'Arcy 4, C.Molloy 2

F: C.Bernardi 6, J.Garner 43, J.Duffin 27

Foll: E.King 60, J.Lambert 13, A.Barden 38

I/C: I.Ross 21, E.Hynes 11, S.Dargan 46, M.Kuys 9, B.White 33

Emg: R.Schleicher 18, H.Whitford 28

The Age Collingwood president Eddie McGuire's head "may just burst" if their women's team manages to upset the old enemy Carlton in the AFLW season opener at Princes Park on Friday night, according to Magpies captain Steph Chiocci. The Blues have been touted as competition favourites this year, having added star players Tayla Harris and Nicola Stevens from the Brisbane Lions and Collingwood respectively via last year's trade period. The captains' survey tipped Carlton to make the grand final and they are warm favourites to account for Collingwood in round one. Conversely, the Magpies are on the sixth line of betting to win the premiership in the eight-team competition, but flying under the radar suits Chiocci just fine – and taking the wind out of Carlton's sails is her sole focus. "I'm actually loving that we've got some doubters out there," Chiocci told Fairfax Media. "It takes the pressure off us and we just take it in our stride. We're happy with how we've been preparing, we've learned a lot from last year." Chiocci added she "couldn't care less" about starting underdogs against the Blues this week, either. "We've got a job to do. We learned a lot from [the corresponding fixture] last year, I think we were a bit overawed by the situation being that it was the first ever game," she said. "Whilst it was a really good event for women's footy, we didn't take home the chocolates which is what we're trying to do ... we'll be a lot calmer and a lot more composed this year." Both Chiocci and her Carlton counterpart Brianna Davey were excited about the season opener and both were hoping for another lockout as there was for the season opener last year when more than 24,000 spectators flocked to the Blues' home base to watch the teams play in the historic first AFLW match. "I'm probably less nervous than I was last year and the feeling amongst the group's really good. I think we just can't wait to kick off the season," Chiocci said. Davey added: "Hopefully we get a huge crowd again, that would be lovely". "Last year they told us 15,000 (fans) were going to show up and then it completely exceeded expectations so it could be the same case where they could be expecting hopefully the same number but we get even more knocking on the door at the gates." As for Carlton's favouritism for the match, Davey was keen to play that down. "(We're) putting our energy into the there and the now and ignoring anything too external because we don't want that to affect the way we approach the game," Davey said. And she certainly wasn't having any of the talk that her team was a flag contender. "It's a bit early I reckon," she said. "Definitely we'll block out that sort of hype. It's nice and it's nice to hear, but at the end of the day we'll take it week by week and just go with that. "I think GWS looks like a bit of a dark horse, considering especially their result in the practice match [against the Brisbane Lions], they'll be interesting to watch for sure."