Adelaide Crows coach Bec Goddard thrilled with opening round win

ADELAIDE players responded to coach Bec Goddard’s call for them to make life uncomfortable for the opposition with an ultra-aggressive attack on the body and ball in their six-goal win over GWS.

Adelaide Crows coach Bec Goddard sings the song with her team. Picture Sarah Reed

ADELAIDE players responded to coach Bec Goddard’s call for them to make life uncomfortable for the opposition with an ultra-aggressive attack on the body and ball in Saturday’s six-goal win over GWS.

Goddard praised her team and the 9250 fans who packed Thebarton Oval for the historic women’s league clash, describing it as an emotional experience.

“We spoke before the game how we wanted to be uncomfortable to play against and that’s how we want to be remembered this season – that it hurt to play the Adelaide Crows and we think we executed that to a tee today,” she said.

“It (women’s footy) is its own brand of footy, and I’ve said before I’d love to see women’s footy talked about in its own conversation rather than having it compared all the time.

“We thought we were really aggressive - we’ve been doing a lot of work on that over the pre-season and if you look at the free-kick count you’ll see both teams were pinged a bit for their levels of over-eagerness with tackling.

“But you don’t want to change that - you want them to approach the contest the same way and clean it up where it needs to be.”

Goddard said the win was a perfect start to the competition ahead of a six-day turnaround to play the Western Bulldogs in Melbourne.

“We thought it was a real team effort. Some parts of the team speak louder and that’s their role, but everyone played the role that we wanted,” she said.

Goddard also revealed she wrote a letter to every player on the list during the week and yesterday spoke about her message to key forward Sarah Perkins, who kicked a big goal in the final term.

“She’s a big presence on the field and I wish you could see what she does in the changerooms and just how she talks to the players,” Goddard said.

“(In) Sarah’s note I thanked her for coming to the Crows. It would have been easy for her to stay and get picked with free agency in Melbourne and it was a big move for her.

“She has a point to prove as to why she didn’t get drafted there (in Melbourne) and the impact she has had on our list, her football IQ. . . I think she will become a crowd hero.”