Port Adelaide senior coach Lauren Arnell was proud her side’s effort against a top-four team on Saturday Alberton Oval, but admits their slow start allowed Geelong to get on top. 

The game was a tale of two halves, with the Power struggling to contain the fast-moving Cats early, before emerging at half time and winning both the third and fourth quarters. 

“You reflect on how much more could we have stuck to our shape and our style in that first half versus how much better the second half was and then obviously the scoreboard, we left a few goals out there today, which is a touch disappointing,” Arnell said. 

“But then you (consider) the growth in the group, particularly from 12 months ago, but even from Round 1, Round 2 when you're coming up against top four teams. 

“We demanded a lot at half time as a coaching group and the ability to respond and trust and back the work you've done…we won that second half so you take belief from that as well and balance that with some frustration around the first half.” 

The half time message from Arnell and her coaching group was clear – the team was lacking urgency around the contest.  

“We lacked urgency in offensive and defensive transition so we lost a bit of shape around the contest, with high pressure that can happen,” she said. 

“To close down that uncontested mark they were generating, we knew that was coming, we just didn’t get it done in that first half so yeah, a bit more urgency without the ball and with the ball, I think really changed the game.” 

Geelong started the season strong, arriving at Alberton with two wins from three games, and after a loss to North Melbourne last weekend, they came out firing. 

“Obviously Geelong are a very good team, they're sitting fourth on the ladder and we knew we'd have to play even a level above the win last week against the Saints,” Arnell said. 

“We knew the Cats were the highest-pressure team in the comp coming into this week and with that level of pressure, we felt we were prepared for it. I think we moved away a little bit from our shape around the contest and they hurt us like good teams do.” 

Tall forward Indy Tahau went down in the second quarter after sustaining a knee injury, with Arnell fearing the worst, but hoping for the best. 

“She'll obviously have scans tomorrow,” Arnell said. 

“She couldn’t take part in the rest of the game so we've got everything crossed for her but at this stage, we will just wait on the scan. Indy's always positive, she's been great around the group so she's doing okay.” 

Marquee forward Gemma Houghton made a massive impact with three goals, 18 disposals and three clearances, while fellow forward Ashleigh Saint kicked her 50th career goal. 

“If you look at the output from (Gemma) today, she's definitely had a very good season so stepped up again today for us,” Arnell said. 

“(Ash’s milestone is) really special. She's two trial games and four actual AFLW games into her career at Port Adelaide and you know sometimes, particularly when you play a deeper tall forward role, it can take a lot of time to gel and find that groove with your teammates and she hasn’t missed a beat for us.  

“She's had a really good start to the year and I'm really pleased that she's with us at Port Adelaide.” 

Port Adelaide will take on West Coast at Mineral Resources Park on Friday night from 8:45pm ACST.