Power from Port smother Swans

A DOMINANT 11-goal victory over fellow expansion side Sydney, Port Adelaide was incredible in its inaugural AFL Women’s win in Round 4 of the competition. Boasting a young side with plenty of teenagers, Port Adelaide slammed home seven goals in the second half, while keeping the Swans to just two behinds for the match, in a 10.8 (68) to 0.2 (2) rout.

Port Adelaide coach Lauren Arnell said it was great to get the first win on the board, but the team would use it as a springboard going forward. When dwelling on her side’s performance, Arnell described her immense pride in the group and what it had been able to achieve in front of home fans at Alberton Oval.

“It feels so nice just to get reward for effort and what we’ve been talking about for four weeks now,” Arnell said. “Around applying ourselves for four quarters, sticking to the plan and actually playing four quarters of footy. “Watching our group put that together is something I’m really proud of.”

When asked if the four-quarter performance was a “vision” of what she was looking for in her group, Arnell said it was a “starting point”.

“I wouldn’t say it’s the best, we’ll get better,” she said. “We’ve been together 14 or 15 weeks now, we know we’re very capable of that and the challenge now is this is a starting point, not an end point. “We’ve got a win, we’ve finally got a win, it’s not that, it’s we can see what we’re capable of.”

Port Adelaide’s victory was based around its focus on winning the territory battle, the contested possessions and the tackles. Arnell said the side wanted to be the number one tackling team in the competition, and the Power certainly showed that again, laying 80 tackles to 54. They won the contested possession count by 34 (114-80) and dominated the inside 50s (40-12), with a plus-58 in disposals.

Leading from the front was young guns Hannah Ewings and Abbey Dowrick who combined for an impressive 43 disposals. Dowrick brought the heat leading her side in tackles (14), while Ewings laid eight, and picked up nine clearances and booted three goals in a starring role. Though Arnell said the pair was fantastic, she also paid credit to others who supported them well.

“I think our older group as well continue to get better and find their feet in this team which is really, really young,” she said. “For Ewings and Dowrick they very much lead the way but they had a lot of help. Olivia Levicki fourth game of footy, basketballer, she’s going up against serious bigs out there for the Swans and just played her role. “We had a lot of girls just playing their role and I think our captain (Erin Phillips) more than anyone played her role today.”

In terms of what her group was capable of going forward and what the win might do for belief, Arnell said it was important to not get too carried away with one win, and remain hungry to continue wanting more each week.

“I think we need to stay grounded, but it’s just more evidence of what we’re capable of, so we build on that,” she said.

Port Adelaide makes the long trek up against the inconsistent Gold Coast Suns on Sunday, September 25, but will face another challenge with the Suns unbeaten on the Gold Coast. On this occasion, the match will be played at Bond University rather than Metricon Stadium, adding a different feel to the match.

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