IN A NEW weekly addition we hear from each of the 18 coaches in the AFL Women’s and take a snippet of what they took from their respective matches.

Collingwood 4.9 (33) def. GWS Giants 4.1 (25)

Collingwood coach Sam Wright:

“They are always dangerous with the way that they move their hands. They probably got us in the contest the way they were able to come through the front of the contest early in the game. That, paired with some undisciplinary acts, it just burst the pressure bubble that we had them in to a certain extent.

“But I was really proud of the girls with the way they fought back and fought through system. The way that we managed to lock the ball in the forward half for the next three quarters. You look at the accuracy, but we can go to work on that. I think what’s harder to get in place is a system that works and that shone through today.”

GWS Giants coach Cam Bernasconi:

“I think the positive thing was we had to respond from last week, we weren’t happy with the way we played last week and a lot of that was around our pressure and our contest and I thought the girls were terrific in the way they responded and set the game at a high standard around our contested ball and our pressure.

“But then unfortunately just a few minor mistakes got our way and a couple of skill executions cost us. There’s an element of frustrated that we couldn’t sing the song, but as a coach you ask your players to respond and crack in and I thought they certainly did that.”

Melbourne 13.11 (89) def. St Kilda 2.3 (15)

Melbourne coach Mick Stinear:

“We’ve been really strong in the way that we compete around the ball, and I thought our group got the headstart in that area, used the ball really well, our forwards were first to move and got reward for effort early into a slight breeze, and then I thought the Saints had wrestle a bit of momentum back and outworked us for a bit in that first quarter.

“Then I thought that game started to open up, it was played on our terms. Third quarter went back to them a little bit and they started to use the ball and a few uncontested marks, and then I thought the group played out the game really well. Overall really pleased with the outcome.”

St Kilda coach Nick Dal Santo:

“I think the scoreboard probably reflected the way the day played out. We’re clearly really disappointed. We came here really clear on what the Dees do, and we knew they would challenge us, we really respect the way that they’ve gone about their football for a young time, well aware of how they played last week and thought they had a really solid performance.

“They basically controlled all three phases of the game, lead by their midfield. We really need to learn from this, we need to own it, identify the areas we might have done okay in. Clearly a lot of areas we need to tidy up and quickly. But we’ll learn from that and be better for the experience of playing against really good teams and we will come out in seven days time and try and make it look different.”

Gold Coast 3.3 (21) def. by Sydney 15.13 (103)

Gold Coast coach Rhyce Shaw:

“Disappointed’s probably a good word. Getting beaten by what you know is really hard. Full credit do them, they’re a really good football team, they’re going to do a lot of damage this year. Really well drilled, really impressive.

“For our girls, some lessons there for us I think. Because you shouldn’t sugarcoat these ones, but you’ve got to learn from them, especially in a W season, you’ve got to move on pretty quickly, but we’ll definitely learn from this one.”

Sydney coach Scott Gowans:

“It’s nice to play four quarters, now Gold Coast definitely had their moments and mindful they’re a very young and up-and-coming side as well. They’ll give cheek as they go along, and we’ve been in that position that they’re in. From our perspective I think it’s nice to play a game where you can get momentum and use it. That’s a sign of a developing side that’s heading in the right direction.”

Fremantle 5.5 (35) def. by Brisbane 17.3 (105)

Fremantle coach Lisa Webb:

“That was tough. They’re a seriously impressive side. They clearly were really dominant, we just couldn’t slow them down and obviously we kicked the first goal and then that was about it. They just outworked us all day, so obviously disappointing and I just said to the girls ‘a win against Port was great and we wanted to see where we were at, and coming up against a team like this’ but now we just need to look forward. We’re one and one but we’ve got a really big game next week so we’ve just got to look forward.”

Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich:

“Good to bounce back. Our group’s had a history of doing that so we thought today was going to be really, really tough given Freo’s form last week but so pleased with the way our crew bounced back.”

Hawthorn 3.12 (30) def. Carlton 2.10 (22)

Hawthorn coach Daniel Webster:

“Very happy to get the win. I thought that Carlton brought a lot of heat. I thought they were a little bit stronger in the contest. Obviously we controlled the game from a territory standpoint couldn’t score, they got us out the back a couple of times, but I think in terms of what we want to do and what we meant to be, we were a fair way away from that.”

Carlton coach Matthew Buck:

“You gotta take the good with the bad, so the resilience of the team to keep turning up at the contest and persist, persist was great. We worked on our resilience, it’s been a big piece that we’ve worked on and to see it get implemented was good, but also disappointed, you’ve got to take your moments so there will be a lot of learnings to come out of it as well.”

Richmond 3.3 (21) def. by Western Bulldogs 6.6 (42)

Richmond coach Ryan Ferguson:

“Tough, only because we just didn’t feel like we ever got anything going and the plans we went into the game we either didn’t execute consistently, or we didn’t have opportunities to execute but because our fundamentals were poor we gave away too many free kicks, we dropped marks when we were out, we fumbled and then we didn’t have the chance to use the space, so it just felt like we could never really get anything to get going.”

Western Bulldogs coach Tam Hyett:

“We thought we were doing a lot right in the first half, and I think we were able to finish off our work in the second half. Really good nourishment for the group because they’ve put in a mountain of work in the off-season and we know we’ve got a fair bit to go, but really good nourishment for them.”

North Melbourne 13.9 (87) def. Port Adelaide 2.3 (15)

North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker:

“Feeling really pleased to have won the first two games of the season and today in pretty comprehensive fashion was really pleasing. There were elements of the game that we didn’t look the way we wanted it to, it was a little bit up and back for our liking, but to still be able to score from the back half the way we did, to hold up for the majority of the game and come away with such a strong win is pretty good.”

Port Adelaide coach Lauren Arnell:

“I was certainly disappointed with the result. I think coming in if you look purely at the scoreboard we think we’re closer than that, and our performance in the first half wasn’t at the level we had prepared for.

“Certainly after half-time I think we got closer to the level that we’ve been preparing for a long period of time. Not able to capitalise on the scoreboard that we would have liked, but certainly can see the players working really hard to play this style of footy we’re asking of them, and we saw more of that in that second half.”

Essendon 4.7 (31) def. West Coast 4.2 (26)

Essendon coach Nat Wood:

“We particularly thought in the first half we weren’t making the best decisions ball in hand and we had some work to do in the second half with that and real credit to the players that I spoke to them about this inside in terms of they really stuck to the course and had really strong belief in the plan that we went out to execute and we were able to show some bravery to change angles in that third and try and open the game up and get some good looks.

“I thought we had good number of shots on goal, and weren’t able to get them through, but I thought our time in forward half and pressure up the front was really good.”

West Coast coach Daisy Pearce:

“We were pleased with the way they were able to be physical and hold up around the ball against a team that that’s their real strength so that shows great progress in that part of the game for us. I thought we were a little bit offensively going back at them, especially early in the game.

“Some of our pressure and good defence gave us opportunities to make them pay back the other way and for whatever reasons we’ll keep working with them to make sure they are free to play on instinct and go back on the game because we want to put a bit more on the scoreboard and play with a bit of freedom in that part of the game. 

Adelaide 10.5 (65) def. Geelong 3.9 (27)

Adelaide coach Matthew Clarke:

“Obviously the last quarter was outstanding, but Geelong would probably reasonably frustrated with owning a fair bit of the game with a fair bit of uncontested possessions and inside 50s all in their favour. A bit like us last week to be honest, we had a fair bit of it and couldn’t convert and they obviously couldn’t really take their chances, but fortunately we hung in, and when we got rolling obviously we had a really strong finish.”

Geelong coach Dan Lowther:

“Three quarters of good footy, and then the last quarter we just didn’t handle the heat that was put on us by Adelaide and their strong experienced players, our defence was under pressure for a good chunk of that back end of the game, and through weight of opportunities, they took those and maybe the difference was we just didn’t take ours when we had the opportunities to score as well. So they kicked straight, we don’t, they put pressure on and then the result is how it is.