TONIGHT in the AFL Women’s sees the biggest challenge of Port Adelaide’s season to-date, as it takes on one of the premiership favourites North Melbourne at a ground the Power have never played at before.

5:05pm
Whitten Oval

Recent form

North Melbourne is in scintillating form at the moment and backed up from a bit of a hiccup in week two to make a statement in week three.

Port Adelaide meanwhile has shown glimpses of improvement so far this season, but ultimately still only has the one win to its name this season.

Last time they met

Despite the newness of Port Adelaide’s entry into the competition, the fixture designers like pitting the Power against North, with the 2024 season being the third in a row the two have met.

Last time these two met was back in Round 7 last year, and it was not a day the Power will want to remember particularly fondly. That particular afternoon, after a slow and even start from both sides, North Melbourne really kicked away in the second half to win by 63 points.

Key stat areas

Both sides prefer to kick the ball rather than handball it, so it will be interesting to see how those game styles clash.

Port is a slightly better centre clearance side than North so far this season, but North has been doing much better in the stoppage clearance.

North has been getting a lot more of the ball than Port has this season, so Port is going to really have to land its tackles tonight.

Key match up/s

It is going to be the battle of the big forwards tonight. Kate Shierlaw and Tahlia Randall up one end of the ground versus Ashleigh Saint and Julia Teakle up the other.

Both sets of players have had excellent starts to the season, and both sets of players will be crucial to their respective sides in their mission to get decent score on the board.