Port Adelaide senior coach Lauren Arnell says that while she was disappointed with the result against North Melbourne, there were positives to take away, including the opportunity to expose younger players to AFLW and the solid performance of the defenders.
Speaking to the media after the side’s Round 2 loss to the reigning premiers at Arden Street, Arnell said that despite the significant margin and the squad’s injury challenges, she was pleased with the side’s resilience and commitment to playing their way until the end.
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Arnell on the loss to North Melbourne
“We're disappointed with the result. I thought coming in, if you look purely at the scoreboard, we think we're closer than that, and our performance in the first half isn't at the level that we had prepared for. What I am pleased by is there have been opportunities for young players due to the significant injury challenges across our squad. I thought the debutants Lily Paterson and Chloe Gaunt performed well, and Jasmine Sowden played her second game too. Alissa Brooke, who was in and out of the side last year, provided as good a contest as anyone on the ground. So, there are some positive signs, and certainly after half time, we got closer to the level that we've been preparing for over a long period of time. We just weren’t able to capitalise on the scoreboard in the way that we would have liked. We could see the players working really hard to play the style of footy we're asking of them, and we saw more of that in the second half.”
Arnell on positional changes “We did a couple of little bits and pieces; Shineah Goody went inside, Ella Heads was on a wing a bit more and then on the inside, we saw Chloe Gaunt play a little bit more ruck, and Matilda Scholz went forward a little bit – so a few things to change during the game. We felt our midfield group around the contest, compared to last week around stoppage, was significantly better. You can have conversations around ‘do you drop one back or not?’ But I thought around stoppage we were okay – it's just on that turnover transition you get burnt by teams like this.”
Arnell on playing an offensive style
“We've certainly been very ambitious about that (playing offensive football) since day one in our group. I think absolute credit to our players. I think it would be easy as a football team, especially with the scoreboard at half time and with the way we showed up in the first half, to go into our shells. I'm pleased with the fact that we didn't do that at all, and we certainly saw some positive outcomes from it. It didn't necessarily lead to goals on the scoreboard, which is a disappointment, but I think the players are trying to play in the manner that we're asking of them, and that's a strong starting point.”
Arnell on the performance of the backline
“I think between Teagan Germech and Indy Tahau they kept Kate Shierlaw goalless until that last one out the back. That's Indy’s second game back from ACL, and Alissa Brooke has been huge in there. I think all our backs have shown a real ability to win contests and continue to improve.”
