MAKING the most of their home elimination final, Port Adelaide were convincing winners over Richmond on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continuing their seven-game winning streak, they won the contest by 24 points in a high-scoring affair. As a result of their 11.6 (72) score, Port Adelaide brought up their second-highest score in the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Port Adelaide forwards Gemma Houghton<\/a>, Ashleigh Saint<\/a> and Julia Teakle<\/a> were all influential in the game, with Houghton contributing the first and final goals, while Saint and Teakle added three and two goals each respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking to the media after the game, head coach Lauren Arnell was full of praise and pride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Oh it’s amazing, to think last week here, Round 11 beating the Giants in the last minute was incredible but to watch a complete performance against a very, very high quality side in Richmond, I’m so proud of our crew and pretty proud of the footy that got played today,” Arnell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I think to both teams, you watch two brands of footy that are actually quite similar, some exceptional players out there and I’m really, really proud of my group and I’m proud of the game that both teams were able to play today in a final.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making history with their first ever AFLW finals win after two previous seasons in the competition, she acknowledged how far they’ve come and where they can still get to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We’re stoked [and] we’ve come from a long way back too,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It’s been a lot of hard work by a lot of people and there’s a lot of staff, coaches and players that have been in this program in the first couple of years and not in it at the moment, just to acknowledge everyone that’s been building towards this point, but also understand that that is one final and a lot of the hard slog that we’ve had over the pre-season the previous two years has been about sustainable success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Right now in this moment we are so excited then it’s also about how can we get better next week because we’ve got another opportunity next week and growing this for sustainable success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We don’t want to be a flash in the pan here, but also in this moment [I’m] so proud of our group.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two of their big stars in the middle missed last game against the Giants, with ruck Matilda Scholz<\/a> and midfielder Abbey Dowrick<\/a> returning with a bang. Scholz had a game-high eight clearances and a team-high 18 disposals, while Dowrick had 17 disposals, seven tackles and seven clearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arnell highlighted their importance to the team, coupled with the fact that she believed her side played ‘a real team performance’ against the Tigers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Obviously it was difficult without them last week, it was disappointing that they weren’t able to play,” Arnell continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “To see them put their best foot forward out there, I know both are pretty tired at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I know both groups of players, they left it all out there today and obviously Matilda and Abbey make a significant difference to our team and honestly I think it was a real team performance today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We had ever single player stand up and play their role and that’s what’s required to play finals.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n