JUST eight sides remain in the competition after the last round of AFLW action. Here’s what the 18 AFL Women’s coaches had to say following their respective Round 12 matches.

Hawthorn 2.6 (18) def. by North Melbourne 10.7 (67)

Hawthorn coach Daniel Webster:

“They’re obviously a very good side, I think that’s what stood out. I was pretty happy with most of it outside of the third quarter. They were clinical with their opportunities when they had it. We lost that quarter by 30 and lost the game by 49 so outside of that, I thought our pressure, our work rate was good. Basically the difference was the fundamentals, they’re just so clean and once they get it out in space, their ability to use the football is a lot superior to what ours was. As I said, I was pretty happy with a lot of our stuff and I think we’ll improve off the back of that.”

North Melbourne coach Darren Crocker:

“I think it was really good preparation for what’s to come. Hawthorn’s pressure early in the game was really high, pressure in contest. We did well to just to stick at the way we needed to play. We changed a couple of things at quarter time just simplified a little bit for us, it’s a very narrow ground which I thought allowed us to get on top and wear them down. Our third quarter was outstanding and they really challenged again in the last quarter so I feel like it was a really good preparation for the next few weeks.”

West Coast 3.4 (22) def. by Carlton 6.6 (42)

West Coast coach Daisy Pearce:

“Tough. I mean to be in a position where you’re disappointed because you didn’t win through to finals because that’s where we want to be. You risk it emotionally when you go all-in and I’m proud of the girls for doing that. They’re a bit disappointed but we sit and wait now there’s still a chance a few results go our way, but obviously a bit of disappointment with the result tonight.”

Carlton coach Matthew Buck:

“Super thrilled and proud of our group. It’s been a journey I guess over the three years I’ve had the position that we’ve chased so much and it started with our high performance habits. Its funny our high performance habits off a five day break to come to Perth and play it’s 9pm at home when we start, to acclimatise, credit to our players the way they look after themselves, and Steve Moore our high performance manager sets them up to get them here and we had pretty much a full list to pick from tonight as well so it’s super proud coach at the moment.”

GWS Giants 3.6 (24) def. by Port Adelaide 11.15 (81)

GWS Giants coach Cam Bernasconi:

“I just think our inability to play four quarters and I just think around the contest over the last two weeks especially we’ve just fallen away and that’s going to happen with a younger group, it’s only done one or two preseasons. I just think physically we’ve struggled around contest and clearance for parts of the year. But the last few weeks and today the girls looked pretty cooked. A lot to like again the way we had moments of the game but pretty disappointing and I feel for the girls to not have a better result than that today.”

Port Adelaide coach Lauren Arnell:

“I think such an incredible moment and a significant milestone to be the first ever 100th goalkicker in the league. We are so proud of Gemma, we’re proud she’s a Port Adelaide player and you could see from her teammate’s reaction how pleased they are for her as well, and I think as much as its an individual milestone, certainly this team and how connected they are have continued to that, and it’s a great feeling for them. It’s a nice way to finish, obviously disappointed we’re not playing finals it seems this year, but very special moment for Gem and the team.”

Richmond 3.7 (25) def. by Gold Coast 5.9 (39)

Richmond coach Ryan Ferguson:

“It was a tough battle, it was an armwrestle most of the day and between the arcs. Probably neither team got fluency in the game the way that either team would have liked, and then I felt like the season that both teams have had and I think the season that Gold Coast have had, they were really buoyed by a couple of key momentum shifts of where they just felt their traction in the game and I thought they’ve been working their backsides off to try and build what they want to build and to get that momentum and probably we felt it in the opposite direction I would have thought.

“Key moments on whether we missed a shot, I know they missed some as well. Execution, I felt we gave away too many free kicks, and when we had chances to execute and we did, we looked good, but there was too many times it broke down and whether it was decision making or execution. Ultimately we tried our guts out and it didn’t quite play out the way we wanted it to today.”

Gold Coast coach Rhyce Shaw:

“We played some pretty good footy. I thought we lost a bit of control in that third quarter and that was probably what put us under the pump a bit, we didn’t control the footy, we didn’t control the contest and they started to get on top. Last quarter we did a really good job, we setup how we wanted to set up, we controlled the ground, controlled the ball and then we got going which was really pleasing.”

Sydney 1.5 (11) def. by Essendon 2.2 (14)

Sydney coach Scott Gowans:

“It was a contested game of footy, we gave great effort but we had 100 tackles in that game and we just tried to get the game on oru terms a number of times but Essendon just stuck fat I suppose and really just fot the game on their terms more than we did. We ended up with more territory and more inside 50s in the whole thing but sometimes in these conditions its just that ability to contest to contest and we probably made some errors in those areas, and we probably got the territory in that last quarter but just couldn’t find the goal we needed to break them open and look credit to Essendon I thought they were fantastic, it’s disappointing and we know we’re on a journey but the journey’s hit a pothole today.”

Essendon coach Nat Wood:

“I guess the start was a little bit different but our group’s really good at as long as we’re transparent with them. It was our first rain delay situation as well so we were sifting through it as well. We made sure we had that transparency with the players and told them when to have some down time and when to get ready to go and then our focus was to be really strong around the ball, Sydney are a good contested team, good clearance team, we knew that we’ve got some good balance around the clearances and we thought if we could equalise or win contested possession and clearance numbers we could put ourselves right in the game and that paid out today.”

Geelong 6.9 (45) def. by Melbourne 9.5 (59)

Geelong coach Dan Lowther:

“It was great to see both teams lining up there for Meg and Darbs and Shelley as well. It just shows the respect that all players have had over an umber of years particularly with the connection to Melbourne as well. They played well the girls too which I’m really proud of that they’ll remember the occasion for the good things and maybe not the 14-point loss. Really thankful to Melbourne the way they responded to do that after the game.”

Melbourne coach Mick Stinear:

“I thought it was a really good contest tonight, the Cats were very good. Compared to last year really really happy with the home and away season we’ve had and the work that’s gone into it. Look forward to our next challenge, but I feel like we’ve got a lot of learnings to come out of the season, but you’ve got to wipe the slate clean and start again. Tonight put us in a really good spot to start again next week.”

Collingwood 5.2 (32) def. by Brisbane 6.16 (52)

Collingwood coach Sam Wright:

“I think for us, you want to see if the fight’s there. You want to see there’s still progression in your system and its always nervewracking when you rock up and Britt Bonnici doesn’t quite get up. We’ve extended our list in terms of playing everybody that’s available, or almost everybody that’s available from that point of view.

“You just want to see those two things come together, the fight and the system. I’m really proud of the girls, I thought the progression’s there and its a bit like our season. You can see the progression’s there, its just more consistency in execution to get the success from that, so that’s how I saw the game. Brisbane, quality side, lot of All-Australians, almost at full strength. We were happy, not satisfied.”

Brisbane coach Craig Starcevich:

“Sort of job done really. I mean difficult situation playing late in the fixture and knowing what the scenario was, just tick the box, get the job done and move onto next week. Book your spot in third and get ready for the next opponent.”

St Kilda 4.3 (27) def. by Western Bulldogs 10.12 (72)

St Kilda coach Nick Dal Santo:

“I thought from the very first centre square bounce we gave away a free kick. I think maybe two or three possessions later they’re having a shot at goal. I thought our start was sloppy, we put ourselves under pressure early and we never got into any flow. I thought the Bulldogs played a really aggressive, combative brand of football, they beat us in the contested possession, the beat us in the clearances and I thought they used the ball better, so full credit to them. We’re probably a little bit disappointed with our 90 minutes of work today, but also know we’ve got an opportunity to play some extra football next week which we’re also excited about.”

Western Bulldogs coach Tam Hyett:

“It was a big focus for us. I think we’ve been really up and down with our starts but we knew that if we could bring our contest, our pressure from the start, and then connect in that forward half, that generally sets us up for a good game.”

Adelaide 4.5 (29) def. Fremantle 2.5 (17)

Adelaide coach Matthew Clarke:

“I was actually just looking at the stats sheet and there’s lineball on just about everything. I think they had us for inside 50s but other than that, its pretty much an even game. But perhaps we were just a little bit more efficient with our opportunities ahead of the ball. Good game of footy.”

Fremantle coach Lisa Webb:

“That was difficult. We certainly had a really strong plan that we wanted to execute against a really good team. I think this time last year we were a fair way off. We’ve certainly improved, but we put ourselves in a position to be able to win the game and absolute disappointment comes from that. “