AFTER a slow start to the contest left Port Adelaide scoreless at quarter time, many were concerned that Lauren Arnell‘s side was going to come back from Perth without the premiership points. Her team then kept the Eagles without a score in the second quarter to overrun them to finish 13-point winners come the final siren.

Continuing their trademark of building pressure and thriving off the turnovers of their opponents, Port Adelaide showed how impressive they can be despite a slow start. Speaking to media after the game, Arnell spoke about how she got her team firing after their lapse in the first quarter.

“I gave them a little bit to be fair at quarter time, I think our first quarters in the last month haven’t been great and so it’s something that we’ve spoken about a lot,” Arnell said.

“We need to address [it] again because our first quarter starts haven’t been great. What gives us confidence is the ability to respond and I think the hard work put in by the group [has shown up].

“[It’s been] particularly over the last probably nine or ten months where we challenged them in the off-season last year to go away and urgently get fitter and do the work [and] we’ve seeing that pay off.

“[It’s also after] four games in 16 days and in the back end too, after three travels being wins, I think you can see the group’s worked exceptionally hard and we just have to continue to be diligent and trust our style of game.”

Kicking five consecutive goals either side of the main break, Arnell was proud of her side’s ability to fight back. It’s the first time the club has won two games back-to-back, something that is not lost on their coach.

“I think that was our 27th game as a team, and that’s our first time that we’ve [had] two wins in a row, and off the back of four games in 16 days, three of those being travel,” she continued.

“We’ve played two games in Melbourne, one at home which we won against Carlton, which was less than a week ago, and we come to Perth and get our first win in Perth.

“[That’s] now our first block of two wins in a row so I’m just really proud of the group.”

For Port Adelaide it was the efforts of three goalkickers that helped them seal the win. First year player Caitlin Wendland and league stalwarts Gemma Houghton and Justine Mules-Robinson each contributed two goals in the game.

Houghton was a force defensively in the forwardline applying five tackles, while also taking three marks and adding a goal assist.

“Gemma’s stringing together, the [last] four games we’re talking about, she’s been really, really good,” Arnell said.

“I think she’s well complimented by the rest of the forwards to be fair, they’re all actually playing their role really well and it’s so pleasing to see Gemma hitting the scoreboard in the last few games.”

A former Crow, acting Port Adelaide captain Mules-Robinson is the first Port AFLW player to have played 75 games in the league. Having played against her as a player, Arnell spoke about the type of person she is on and off-the-field.

“When I talk about Gemma [Houghton] being complimented by the forwards, Justine Mules-Robinson is a big part of that,” she continued.

“I don’t think she’d be the most talked about [on the] broadcast or anything like that but she’s our skipper right now with Janelle Cuthbertson out with an ACL.

“There’s no more selfless person that I’ve played with or coached in footy, and her influence in that space and her resilience on and off field is exceptional for a young group.

“To see her get on the scoreboard, when largely her role is usually the defensive stuff and getting to ground level and helping out the talls, those two goals in that moment in time in the game were crucial.

“I’m just so stoked for her, like someone like that to have played 75 games in our league, for so many seasons where there’s short seasons as well, it’s an absolute testament to her character and I’m so pleased for her that the girls got the win today.”

One shining light in that performance for West Coast was their young gun Ella Roberts. She was the best on ground for the Eagles, with a first quarter that simply stunned her coach.

At the conclusion of the game, Roberts had a game-high 27 disposals, one goal, 11 marks, two tackles and two clearances to go with 423 metres gained.

Eagles coach Daisy Pearce spoke about her star midfielder/forward.

“She was incredible,” Pearce said. “The opposition are going to keep putting time into her and the great thing about Ella is that she’s a competitor, she takes all that in her stride and sort of sees it as a compliment.

“Her ability to impact as a forward and a mid makes life difficult in terms of finding a match up for her and I mean her first quarter was unbelievable.

“It’s a pleasure to watch I think for all of us, not just the fans that came out but she’ll have things that she’ll go away and work on as well.

“I mean she got a bit stuck and we rotated [as a] forward and mid in that second quarter where we were getting no time in [our] forward half [and] it sort of hung her out to dry a little bit cause the ball wasn’t getting down there.

“It’s a constant in our coaching box, is she best as a forward or mid at any given time, so sometimes the way of the game will mean we want her around the ball and other times we sort of want her to get forward and be dangerous there.

“Maybe in that second quarter we missed her a little bit because she was forward and we weren’t able to get any time in [our] forward half.”