Port Adelaide senior coach Lauren Arnell said the learnings from early losses allowed the playing group to ‘trend upward’ from midway through the season, but the burn from missing finals is still fresh. 

The Power hit its straps late in the season, winning four of its last five games and finishing the year outside the top eight by percentage, with the group already motivated for what it can achieve in 2026. 

Speaking with the Adelaide media on Tuesday, Arnell discussed the growth in her young talent, evolving the team’s game style, and how she and her coaching group have reviewed the season as a whole. 

Arnell on the AFLW season 
“Obviously, the first half of the season, those first five or six games, we weren't at the best of ourselves, and then to be trending downwards at that point in time, and then to really trend up. And the style of footy just by the eye, and also the numbers tell us we were absolute top end of the comp in those last five weeks. And so there's this real disappointment and edge to missing out on finals and not playing right now. And there's also this incredible belief of what we're very clear on and what we're capable of, and we produced some exceptionally good footy in the second half of the year.” 

Arnell on the work her playing group has done 
“Yeah, the burn is fresh (to not be playing finals), for sure. And we also know we've got the youngest list in the comp this year, and the third lowest games played together as a group. And so despite that, the form we were in a week and a half ago and a month previous to that is exceptional. So I think you hear a lot that you're losing all your learning, and we don't always want to learn in that fashion, but I think the lessons will set us up for success. And certainly what I'm very pleased with our group around our coaches and our players in responding to that downward trend at that halfway point of the year. We saw some teams in a similar position go one way, and we saw ourselves with enormous amounts of work in connection and on the field… I think two years of a really tough off-season period for our players and working hard together, you see that start to pay off, and we put belief and trust in the group over the next six months, and when we do get back together formally, we put more hard work in together as a coaching group, we plan more strongly and add better layers of team defence, I think that will help the group and really attack 2026.” 

Arnell on rectifying the slow start to the season 
“It's something we've spoken about in review, and obviously it's only been a week and a half since we played the Giants. But I do think it's important to add layers of team D and also reflection around high performance. We've been the last wave of expansion, so we've been catching up and chasing and trying to close a gap in terms of high performance and bits and pieces of repeat high speed, and what we're capable of against the best teams, in terms of running out the game. And I think you would have seen that over the last year and a half, our group has closed that gap, especially this year, and we beat three of the teams in that second half of the year. We beat three teams who are still playing finals right now. So the high performance gap, I believe, is closed, and that's through an incredible amount of hard work from our players, and Anthony Gallomarino in particular, who is our High Performance Manager. And now it's like looking at, do we need to load up as heavily across the entire preseason in terms of training load? Can we look at ways to be a little bit fresher coming into the start of the year?” 

Arnell on list changes 
“We'll have three list spots over the next period of time. So obviously the rules say that we need to draft two players minimum. And I believe there's a pre-season draft period coming next year, which we don't have all the details on from the AFL just yet. But I do want to acknowledge the players that have left our program, they’ve been incredible contributors, all of them, to our club. And obviously, between Janelle Cuthbertson retiring, Alyssa Brook, Jaz Stewart and Coby Morgan, who didn't get an opportunity to play a game this year. They've all been incredible amongst our playing group, and I do want them to know that they've been significant contributors to our team. (Stewart) was a really tough one. Obviously, a deep midfield and players fighting for spots through that period. And yeah, she's shown a real ability to play at this level, and I do hope she gets another opportunity.” 

Arnell on whether she’s watching the AFLW finals 
“Yeah, the burn, the burn is burning currently. I watched a little bit here and there. I also put some time in with family that haven't necessarily had over the last half a year. Even a few texts between other people at other clubs who are playing finals. There's some significant belief that we would be able to do some damage at this point in time, and also a clear understanding that we didn't do enough in the first half of the year to have that opportunity.” 

Arnell on where her playing list is at 
“I think our list is in a really strong position. And we also go into a draft on December 15 with an idea of adding bits and pieces. And I think there's an element that still needs to unfold in terms of delisted free agents and those types of things that evolve over the next month or so. So there's a little bit of work to do. And also, it has only been a week and a half since we played the Giants in Round 12. 

“I think we've got a really strong backline (despite Janelle Cuthbertson’s retirement). It's possible we might need some more depth there, with Indy becoming the league leading goal kicker this year, which is something we should talk about too. I think having Indy Tahau as the league leading goal kicker, having played the first two and a half weeks as a defender, coming off an ACL return, and Gemma Houghton being second in the comp is enormous. So we're really, really happy with that. And also for Matilda Scholz alongside the two of them, to be nominated All-Australian is an incredible achievement for our young group.” 

Arnell on the keeping an exciting brand of football, while tightening defensively 
“I think it's important that we evolve our team D and certainly that the numbers of how we measure it are two very different stories, from the first six games to the second six games. I think we always want to be an exciting team to watch. I really enjoy getting that feedback from around the country on how we play, and we'll continue to do that. And we also need to tighten up our team D. That's core to our process next year. And I think we can get some good wins. Something I've spoken about a lot in the last three and a half years, is chasing a team that plays a finals brand of footy, which you would see that we do, and now we tighten up our team D to help that and minimise that score against.” 

Arnell on developing young players 
“It’s certainly by design, and you look to Naomi Maidment as our list manager, in the wave of expansion that we came in, we had six weeks when I moved to Adelaide to build this playing list. And so there's been enormous amount of change through our playing list until this period of time, and this year, to have minimal changes, and there's forced changes with AFL rules too, which we didn't necessarily want to have to do. We have to have two draft picks going into this year's draft. And so it's certainly by design to build a young group up, and it's meant that a lot of our training time, the high performance gap closing has been a really important part with a young group, and now it's like we've been putting huge amounts of time at training into contest, understanding each other's weapons in game style. I believe that last piece is team D and other programs do it in a different way. They've chased team D, a little bit of contest, and now they're trying to find offence where I'm really pleased with where our group is at. We know we've got the offensive and the contest weapons to win finals, but we do need to help the score board with stronger team D and a stronger model.” 

Arnell on who she is excited to see more growth in 
“The whole list is incredibly young, and I've been really pleased with a lot of the individual growth. In our last review meeting as a program last week, I asked everyone to stand up who played more than one role on the field this year, and I think two players were sitting down. So, we've seen enormous growth. Shineah Goody is one who spent the whole pre-season on a wing, all of last year, her first year in the comp on the wing, and then went inside from about Round 3 onwards, and has shown just enormous capacity to grow and a great attitude. Ash Woodland’s added inside mid to the main role, as well as a forward. Matilda Scholz has shown increasing capacity to go forward. I think she'll only get better in that space and Indy Tahau as well. So yeah, I'm really excited. I don’t want to miss Ella Heads in that also, she's been asked to play three different roles this year, and she's done it to an exceptionally high level as a new player in our team. I'm really excited about the versatility that we have in our side, and I have enormous trust in our players in this off-season period, which really is a six-month period of time.” 

Arnell on Lauren Young 
“Lots of Lauren's growth is behind the cameras, and behind that on field stuff. She's spent so much time working away every single day at her return from the knee, and she's grown so much as a person on and off field. And I think there's only really great things ahead for Lauren. I think if you work hard enough, good things come your way, and she she'll be the epitome of that. I think long term, Lauren can play higher up the ground. It would just be a question of her capacity and how quickly you accelerate that with her running. But she's certainly got some enormous contest weapons. She's spent an enormous amount of time in the gym in our program, and so she's super strong, and she's a very smart footballer.” 

Arnell on where the league is at 
“I think it's improving as we go and certainly the fixture dates are already out, which is an enormous help in terms of how we plan our pre-season. I'll be really interested in the wild card round. I think having a 12-round fixture, I think a wild card round becomes even more relevant in AFLW. So that's the piece I'm looking forward to, whether that gets added next year or the year after or the year after that. I'd love to see that in AFLW.” 

Arnell on North Melbourne’s dominance 
“I think North have set the standard over the last two years in particular, and even prior to that, they were building as a program from day one, and they've had enormous experience on their playing list. And I think Darren Crocker’s coached them exceptionally well. I love the style of footy they play. I can't wait to have another go at them next year.”