NORTH Melbourne won an eight-point armwrestle over Kuwarna at Norwood Oval on Kaurna land to regain top spot on the AFL Women’s ladder.

Across the night, both sides had periods of ascendancy, however for the Crows it was another wasteful performance in front of goal, as Danielle Ponter kicked three goals and two behinds, while Roo Kate Shierlaw was instrumental with two of her own.

North Melbourne kicked 6.5 compared to Kuwarna’s 4.9 in the contest, with the former’s pressure proving too much for the usually skilled goalkickers at the Crows. This loss will possible cost the side their chance at a double chance come finals time.

When asked after the match about his side’s inaccuracy, Kuwarna coach Matthew Clarke was full of praise for the Crows’ opponents.

“I think North Melbourne [were] just super efficient [and] we probably didn’t make the most of our opportunities, but they are on top [of the ladder] for a reason,” Clarke said.

“They were very good around the contest, I thought by the end of the game that it balanced out [and when] you look at the stats sheet, nearly all of them were pretty even.

“We ended up with nine inside 50 marks to two, which is usually a good marker of success but ultimately we just didn’t finish those plays.”

When prompted to explain the reason for the differential in being able to convert their inside 50s and scoring shots to goal, Clarke was happy with his team’s performance given the pressure applied by the Kangaroos.

“The accuracy clearly [was the difference], that doesn’t help but North to their credit, they were able to take it out the back and get some clear one-on-one opportunities, whereas most of our opportunities were more contested and more under pressure,” he said.

“We’ll have to have a quick look at whether our defensive shape sort of lost its way there but overall, I was actually pretty happy with the way we played in lots of elements but you are never really that happy when you get beaten.

“Ultimately, there’s probably two or three of them that you’d think that we’d probably knock over most regularly, but there was also a lot of density in the back half, so they had some cleaner looks than we had so that’s credit to them ultimately.”

On the other side of the coin, Darren Crocker‘s side is humming, going back to the top of the AFL Women’s ladder after the win. Being challenged in the final quarter, they were able to keep the Crows at bay.

“As a coach there’s always a sense of relief when you get challenged like that, I thought it was a really tight tough encounter,” Crocker admitted.

“[There was] not a lot of room, not a lot of space, but I also think that there’s been a lot of growth in our group this season.

“I thought the way that our team fought out that last quarter, they had to defend stoutly for that whole last quarter and I thought they did a really good job.”

For the Roos, it was the duo of Jasmine Garner and Ash Riddell that were the stars of the show.

Garner contributed on the scoreboard with two goals while netting 27 disposals and eight tackles, while Riddell had 25 touches, seven tackles and six clearances.

As a star of not only her side but the competition as a whole, Crocker gave Garner her flowers post-match after a match-winning display.

“Jas Garner, I’ve mentioned it before, she’s just a generational player,” he said.

“I’ll look back in a number of years time and just say that I was extremely lucky to coach probably one of the best, if not the best player to come into the competition at it’s infancy.

“The beautiful thing about Jas is that she’s so humble, she’s so driven, she just keeps working hard, she just wants to keep getting better, and it’s not so much for herself but it’s to try and take this team forward and that’s what we all love about her.

“She’s a great person and as we all know, she’s a terrific player.”