WALYALUP AFL Women’s coach Lisa Webb refuted claims her side was at a “crisis moment” when asked post-match following the Dockers’ 100-point defeat at the hands of North Melbourne. The record-breaking loss – and highest score conceded – followed on from Fremantle’s 78-point shellacking at the hands of Brisbane a week earlier.

Despite it meaning the Dockers have conceded the first and fifth highest opposition score in the past two weeks, Webb was direct in saying the club was “not at all” in a crisis, and she backed her side to find its “best footy” sooner, rather than later.

“I can understand outsiders looking in, but they probably just don’t understand the connection and the beliefs that this group has got,” she said. “They’re two premiership teams, they’re super in what they can do and we’ve been off, so we need to really dig deep to find why that is and get back to our best footy. I don’t think it’s far away, but obviously disappointing.”

A mix of disappointment and frustration was evident in the post-match press conference, with Webb pressed on why she felt the team was not “far away” from producing its best footy given the magnitude of the past fortnight’s losses.

“Because they’re two very good teams and we haven’t been at our best,” she explained. “They’re moving the ball too easily, we haven’t been defending the ball like we would have liked and that’s not us, so obviously there’s stats that we’re winning which we obviously don’t read into because we’re getting smashed by a fair margin.

“We need to get back to the stuff that we know we can do really well, we stay really connected as we always do, and we just need to fight tooth-and-nail and I know we will, but it’s a bitter pill to swallow.”

DOCKERS’ PAST FORTNIGHT

Webb said her side won the first possession, clearances (33-25) and hitouts (30-16), but it was the outside ball where the Dockers got obliterated. North Melbourne had a whopping 213 uncontested possessions to 131, finding 75 marks to 44 – including 22-6 inside 50 – as part of a 46-19 inside 50 differential.

“We really need to get back to what we  can do well as a group to be able to defend the ground better and that also comes with the way that we use the ball,” she said. “We’re turning it over in areas which is harder to defend, so we just need to get back to it.”

The Fremantle coach conceded there was “no simple fix” to the side’s outside issues and crumbling forward structures, but she backed in her players saying the group was “determined” to turn it around.

“We’re disappointed but we’re three rounds in we’ve got a lot of time to make change and I’m confident we will,” she said.

“We’re all in. “Obviously me being the coach, all of our program, we are all in. We’re a very connected group, there’s no finger pointing, we are absolutely going to find solutions to this and we will bounce back.

“I can understand that if you’re not within the four walls you might look at that differently, but we’ve got strong believers, we’ve got Ange Stannett and our leadership group who I was just with, they’re fantastic. We’ll bounce back, but just got to work through this one today.”

The Dockers head to Henson Park on Sunday where they tackle the Swans before heading back to Western Australia for the Derby against West Coast on September 14.