AFLW Insider: All the wash-up from the Adelaide and Port Adelaide camps after both Crows and the Power suffered Round 1 AFLW losses
The Advertiser takes you behind the scenes of South Australia’s two AFLW team – the Crows and Power – and all the wash-up from the clubs’ round 1 losses.
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Round 1 saw a new chapter written into South Australia’s footy history books, with Port Adelaide playing its first-ever AFLW game.
And it was big trip over to the West. The inside word from the Power camp is that everything went smoothly – largely thanks to an enormous effort from the team’s operations manager Rachael Sporn – even though it was a larger-than-normal travelling party, with two large buses needed to escort players, staff and their families from the hotel to Mineral Resources Park.
The night before, the team had came together to recognise the history-making game, with each debutant shown messages of support from their loved ones on a big screen.
The club also paid tribute to the 50-game milestone of Justine Mules. Word has it, there was not a dry eye in the room when Mules – the triple-premiership Crow who was recruited to be an inaugural Power player in the off-season – was honoured.
Despite the loss to West Coast in game one, the Power remains positive that the signs are there their side is not far away from a maiden win.
Meanwhile, reigning Crows club champion Anne Hatchard also played her 50th AFLW game on Friday night. Hatchard became the fourth Adelaide player to reach the 50-game milestone (behind Ebony Marinoff, Sarah Allan and Stevie-Lee Thompson) and despite being among the Crows’ best players, her side wasn’t able to get the win (the other three players all celebrated their milestone games with wins).
Scoreboard
Adelaide: 1.0 1.1 3.1 4.2 (26)
Melbourne: 1.4 2.5 4.6 6.8 (44)
Port Adelaide: 0.2 2.3 4.3 4.4 (28)
West Coast: 2.2 2.3 2.4 6.4 (40)
Numbers game (Top 10 champion data ranking points)
1. Maria Moloney – Power – 176
2. Liz McGrath – Power – 165
3. Jacqui Yorston – Power – 140
4. Anne Hatchard – Crows – 129
5. Chelsea Randall – Crows – 120
6. Abbey Dowrick – Power – 118
7. Chelsea Biddell – Crows – 116
8. Justine Mules – Power – 113
9. Ebony Marinoff – Crows – 110
10. Indy Tahau – Power – 102
The stats
-73
The number by which Adelaide lost the uncontested possession count against the Demons on Friday night. As coach Matthew Clarke observed: “That’s a number which is unsustainable in terms of trying to get a win. Their ability to absorb our pressure, to release that first handball and then flick it around, they did that consistently across the night. So, well played Melbourne and we need to address both getting our hands on the ball first, and then also our ability to manage that when your opponents get their hands on it first”.
21
There’s no denying Port’s Abbey Dowrick had a blistering debut against the Eagles, finishing her first AFLW game with 21 touches. This puts her fifth – and in exceptional company – for most disposals in an AFLW debut. The list is: W-Award winner Bri Davey (in 2017, playing for Carlton, with 26 touches), five-time All-Australian Karen Paxman (2017, Melbourne, 24), six-time All-Australian Emma Kearney (2017, Western Bulldogs, 23), and 2018’s No. 1 draft pick Nina Morrison (2019, Geelong, 22).
14
The number of touches Crows’ midfielder Ebony Marinoff had in Round 1. That’s her quietest game in terms of disposals since round 6, 2018, when she had seven touches against Greater Western Sydney. Last season, the 24-year-old averaged 24.2 disposals per game. Should be noted, however, that against the Demons she laid 10 tackles; the most of anyone from either team on the ground.
92
That’s how many team tackles Port Adelaide laid against the Eagles – the largest number across the league’s nine games on the weekend, which was pleasing to coaching staff. “The effort is there,” coach Lauren Arnell observed after the match.
Flying high
Mark of the week goes to Port’s Gemma Houghton, who used sure hands to take a running mark at the back of a pack of West Coast defenders at the top of the goalsquare early in the second term on Saturday. That mark gave the former Fremantle forward a shot on goal, which she kicked truly making her the first goal scorer in AFLW history for the Power.
Say What?
Matthew Clarke, Crows coach
“We were thoroughly beaten. At one stage there we had a shot to hit the front, but we probably would have been a bit of an unjust winner if we’d been able to snatch it. They were better than us across the whole game. The game is a great leveller and we got a level-lesson.”
Lauren Arnell, Power coach
“We had eight debutants and we were 11 points up at three-quarter time, but footy teaches you some pretty harsh lessons if you don’t stick to what we know we’re good at, we probably gave a little but away in the last quarter and we lost the game.”
Inside word
Word has it that Crows new Irish recruit Niamh Kelly, who’s come from Adelaide after three seasons with West Coast, is taking the crown from Stevie-Lee Thompson (also known as “Speedy-Lee”) as the fastest runner in the team. Thompson quipped after the game: “She’s double ‘Speedy-Lee!’. She’s got speed and hunger to get better, she’s definitely shown a lot in the last nine weeks (of pre-season) and being able to take her on board and do what she needs to do, it’s good to see.”
Fellow teammate Eloise Jones said Crows fans could expect to see more of Kelly: “I don’t think she got to fully highlight her speed (against Melbourne), I’m looking forward to when she does.”
Things we loved to see
Chelsea Randall played on ball in the middle of the ground during parts of Friday’s game and she looked back to her best. Clarke explained post-game why their courageous skipper was sent to centre bounces: “It felt as though Melbourne were on top in the contest in all areas of the ground, but it often starts in the midfield. So we put her in the mid. She’s been training there a little bit through the pre-season, and I thought she competed really strongly and gave us a different look.”
Randall was the highest ranked Adelaide player in the coaches’ votes post-match with three.
A rising star nod to Abbey Dowrick is the first feel-good story of the season. Dowrick nominated for the WA portion of the AFLW state-based draft in both 2020 and 2021 and was overlooked by the local teams there. She spent three weeks in Adelaide earlier this year playing for Woodville West-Torrens in the SANFLW, was offered a contract at Port, trained well during pre-season to earn her AFLW debut game, and then gets a Rising Star nomination to boot. Shows hard work pays off.
Casualty ward
Crows: Eloise Jones (corked thigh, played on)
Power: Erin Phillips (corked thigh, played on)
Up next
• Adelaide v Richmond, Saturday, September 3, Swinburne Centre, 11.10am (SA time)
• Port Adelaide v Western Bulldogs, Saturday, September 3, Alberton Oval, 1.10pm (SA time)
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