Insider Crows and Power’s Round 3 AFLW matches: Heroic goals, some eye-watering stats and all the off-field laughs
Go behind the AFLW Round 3 games of the Power and Adelaide as Liz Walsh dissects the important stats, the coaches’ thoughts and the highlights of the weekend.
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A win and not a loss: it was a mixed bag in Round 3.
Firstly, it delivered back-to-back wins for the Crows, who had a blistering final term on Saturday to run away from North Melbourne by 14 points at Unley Oval.
It had been more than 1200 days since Adelaide last played there and the fact they played a game there was close to a miracle, with Adelaide coach Matthew Clarke revealing before the match that Unley City Council staff had worked tirelessly for 48 hours to remove water from the ground that after rain submerged the grass on Thursday.
As for Port Adelaide, they’ll take solace from their thrilling draw against Carlton, spurred on by a four-goal second quarter, but to score only one point in the final half will leave them disappointed. They face Sydney at Alberton Oval on Saturday and will go into that game full of confidence.
Scoreboard:
Adelaide: 0.2 2.2 2.4 4.6 (30)
Nth Melbourne: 2.1 2.3 2.4 2.4 (16)
Port Adelaide: 0.1 4.2 4.3 4.3 (27)
Carlton: 2.1 2.1 3.1 4.3 (27)
Numbers Game
(Top 10 Champion data ranking points):
1. Ebony Marinoff – Crows – 225
2. Anne Hatchard – Crows – 197
3. Cailtin Gould – Crows – 195
4. Maria Moloney – Power – 163
5. Hannah Ewings – Power – 132
6. Danielle Ponter – Crows – 118
7. Chelsea Randall – Crows – 114
8. Abbey Dowrick – Power – 111
9. Teah Charlton – Crows – 109
10. Indy Tahau – Power – 104
The stats
31
The number of clearances This stat is very similar to the one that was picked out last week, but it’s significant. In Round 2, Adelaide recorded 30 clearances in their win against Richmond. Then in Round 3 they had 31 in their win over North Melbourne. The last time Adelaide had 30-plus clearances two games in a row was back in 2019, when they recorded 30 in their Round 7 and preliminary final wins. They set a team record for clearances with 33 in Round 3, 2020.
2
The number of goals kicked by Power forward Jade de Melo in the second quarter of Sunday’s match, making her the first Port AFLW player to kick multiple goals in a single game (also, her first goals at AFLW level). De Melo, who was picked up out of the SANFLW from North Adelaide’s premiership-winning side, played two games for Fremantle in 2018 and has now played all three games for Port in their inaugural season.
13
The number of tackles laid by Crows’ midfielder Ebony Marinoff to go along with her 29 touches and three marks. She scored an eye-watering 225 Champion Data ranking points. But Marinoff says there’s still room for personal improvement. “I think for me, just making sure that I’m winning the footy and if I’m not then I’m making sure my tackle pressure and my press is up because that’s when I’m playing my best footy,” she said on Monday.
33
The number of inside-50s Port Adelaide had in its draw with Carlton, a significant improvement than the 14 the side recorded the week before in its loss to the Western Bulldogs (which included none in the final term). The Power was +9 in the inside-50 count by the final siren; the first time Port has won the inside-50 count in an AFLW game (in Round 1 it was -2 and in Round 2 it was -19).
Say What?:
Matthew Clarke, Crows coach:
“I thought we were a bit shabby in the first half, we had plenty of bodies in there, but lacked a bit of communication and a little bit of clarity around who was on who and therefore we ended up with three or four in the air and no one at ground level at times. We can tighten that up, there’s no doubt. I thought it was a good game. It can be somewhat frustrating when it’s relatively low scoring, a two-goal apiece affair, but you’re thinking: ‘Actually, this is good footy’, just not a lot of impact on the scoreboard.”
Lauren Arnell, Power coach:
“It’s a frustrating result, however we just keep taking so much from every game we play. The growth and improvement, I think every single Port Adelaide person will see that today and our group can see the improvement themselves. We’re generating more and more belief in what we can do and what we’re capable of and there’s massive growth in that. So there’s that pride there, but the massive frustration there you create another opportunity to win a game, it’s not quite there. We’ll stick together and we’ll keep working towards that first win. I’m proud of them; we’ve still got work to do, we know we can do better.”
Inside word
* Word has it that away from the footy oval, Adelaide as a whole club is enjoying its second season in 2022, getting back into the swing of post-game events after a couple of seasons of Covid that cancelled the off-field functions. It’s understood that past players are also being heavily involved in these functions, with them being brought back to award the “Players’ player” each week.
* Meanwhile, word out of the Port Adelaide camp is that dynamic key forward Gemma Houghton is recovering well after ankle surgery that could keep her out of the game until about Round 7. But while she’s lost to the footy field, she’s not lost to humour – in fact, she found the funny side of the 27-a-piece draw between Port and Carlton in the fact that 27 is her playing number and perhaps everyone was missing her on-field presence and channelled the number she wears.
Things we loved to see
· Port’s Yasmin Duursma – sister of Power forward Xavier – made her AFLW debut on Sunday, and in doing so, the Duursma duo became the first brother-sister combo to play for the same South Australian AFL club.
· Danielle Ponter’s two-goal haul on Saturday was inspired. And rightly, her second goal in the final term – where she scooped up the ball under pressure just inside the forward 50, spun around to evade an opponent and then snapped truly at goal – was nominated for Round 3 Goal of the Year.
Casualty ward
Crows: Nil
Power: Nil
Up next
· Port Adelaide v Sydney, Saturday, September 17, Alberton Oval, 12.40pm (SA time)
· Adelaide v Collingwood, Sunday, September 18, Victoria Park, 11.40pm (SA time)
The Port Adelaide Football Club ticked another momentous occasion off its inaugural-season to-do list in Round 2, playing its first home game at Alberton Oval.
Duly, it was a sellout with close to 5500 heading to the ground to welcome the Power’s first women’s team.
Unfortunately the weather didn’t really come to the party, with light showers falling early and wind playing havoc with the team’s banner – as soon as it was lifted, the wind shredded the black plastic.
It was, however, wonderful to see the side head out onto the oval, through a guard of honour that featured club greats including Greg Phillips and Stephen Williams as well as current players including Ollie Wines (who was on crutches after off-season knee surgery).
The game was a disappointing to 19-point loss to the Western Bulldogs, marred by a horrific leg injury to Doggies’ Britney Gutnecht, which stopped the game for more than 45 minutes late in the second term.
According to the Bulldogs, Gutnecht underwent successful surgery in Adelaide on Sunday, and the club released footage of her on Tuesday beginning to walk down the hospital halls.
Meanwhile, reigning premiers Adelaide finally got their premiership defence off and running with a come-from-behind win over Richmond at Punt Rd.
It took Round 2 Rising Star nominee Abbie Ballard to kick two goals in the final eight minutes of the game to snatch the points from Richmond and Crows leadership group member Eloise Jones said the side showed great resilience to win, despite being down at every major break.
“In the past, typically if we’ve had fast starts then we’ve won the game, and if we’ve been a little bit behind, we tend to lose, so it was really exciting for us as a group to see that we can overcome things like that and that the game isn’t over until it’s over,” she said.
“To come from behind was really pleasing for everyone.”
Scoreboard
Adelaide: 2.0 3.0 3.1 5.6 (36)
Richmond: 2.2 3.2 4.3 4.3 (27)
Port Adelaide: 0.1 1.1 1.3 1.3 (9)
Western Bulldogs: 0.4 1.7 2.7 3.10 (28)
Numbers game
(Top 10 Champion data ranking points)
1. Ebony Marinoff – Crows – 176
2. Chelsea Randall – Crows – 170
3. Caitlin Gould – Crows – 160
4. Chelsea Biddell – Crows – 150
5. Anne Hatchard – Crows – 134
6. Sarah Allan – Crows – 117
7. Abbie Ballard – Crows – 114
8. Alex Ballard – Power – 111
9. Hannah Ewings – Power – 106
10. Abbey Dowrick – Power – 96
The stats
30
The number of clearances Adelaide had for the match: that’s the most number of clearances the Crows have recorded this year (through season six and seven). Of course, the number of clearances can be a result of how many stoppages there are throughout a game, so breaking it down the Crows won 30 of 44 stoppages (but to compare, in Round 1 against Melbourne the game had 48 stoppages – Adelaide winning 23 and the Demons winning 25). So, it’s fair to say the Crows won a lot at the contest against the Tigers. So, they’ll likely be a little disappointed with the 20 inside-50s they recorded after winning so much of the ball (they lost the inside-50 count 20-38). The +14 in clearances was the fifth-highest clearance differential recorded by the Crows in their 55 AFLW games to date.
15
The number of disposals recorded by the Power’s defender Alex Ballard – the most for any Port player in Saturday’s loss to the Bulldogs. Along with her four marks and one tackle, the Sturt product, was the highest-ranked Power player according to Champion Data ranking points. She is the sister of Gold Coast’s Charlie Ballard.
6
The number of tackles laid by Crows’ defender Sarah Allan. That’s a record-equalling game tackle count for the three-time All-Australian. Allan recorded six tackles in Round 9 earlier this year against Collingwood, and has equalled her career-best again.
0
The number of inside-50s Port Adelaide had in the final quarter against the Bulldogs. They lost the count 0-12 for the term and 14-33 for the game. Afterwards, coach Lauren Arnell addressed the lack of forward entries saying: “We had some issues connecting today, but I think largely it was around we gave up a lot of uncontested possession through the middle of the ground and we didn’t want to do that. It’s a bit of smarts with the footy, it’s a bit of pressure at the source in clearance and with more time, our players will connect better.” Port lost the uncontested possession count 129-59.
Flying high
Mark of the week goes to Port’s Ebony O’Dea who took a strong intercept mark deep in the back lines, which duly saw her nominated for the AFLW’s Round 2 mark of the week.
But sending an honourable mention Abbie Ballard’s way after she took a running intercept mark in the Crows’ forward arc with Adelaide behind and eight minutes left in the game. The mark had come off a Richmond kick-in and Ballard was nowhere near the target; until suddenly she was, plucking the ball and then kicking truly putting the crows within one point of Richmond.
Say What?
Matthew Clarke, Crows coach:
“We were well and truly in a bit of strife there in the third (quarter), but I thought we had the composure to stay calm at the break and reset and finish the game strongly … we’re very happy to get our first win. It was a really important day for our group because it’s a brand new season and to work through some adversity over the last week and to come out and be challenged again and to find a way to win was really important.”
Lauren Arnell, Power coach:
“Our work ethic and contested footy is something we base ourselves on, we lost contested footy today, Doggies are a good side and while I’m extremely disappointed with the result and so is the group, we had 5500 people packing out Alberton today and I’m watching a lot of young girls and boys and their families back on Alberton, that’s a positive. We got outplayed in a few areas and (Bulldogs midfield leading to 33 inside-50s) was one of them.”
Inside word
* Word has it that Amber Ward has a mum with a way with words. The 20-year-old, 176cm defender – who was traded from West Coast in the off-season – made her club debut against Richmond and in the rooms before the game, her mum gave a rousing speech, which has been well remembered by her teammates. Ward’s debut meant a lot to her parents, who are avid Crows supporters and were members of the Adelaide Cheer Squad, making banners for the AFL team while Ward was a youngster.
* Meanwhile, word out of the Port Adelaide camp is that Round 1’s Rising Star nominee Abbey Dowrick has been well supported by the club after the contest that resulted in the sickening leg fracture to Bulldogs’ Britney Gutnecht. Arnell said post-game: “For Abs, that’s a contest she creates and has created her whole life, I had a chat to her over the (game) phone when it happened and … from where I’m sitting, it’s a footy contest and it looks to be a really rubbish outcome for Brit, but we ask Abbey and all the Port Adelaide girls to continue to bring contest fairly.”
Things we loved to see
• With Richmond having a whopping 38 inside-50s, the Crows’ defence held up to restrict the Tigers to seven scoring shots (4.3 27). Crows defender Chelsea Biddell had 20 touches and looks to be continuing her season six resurgence in Adelaide’s backline.
• While the Port Adelaide side was disappointed to lose its first home game at Alberton, spirits lifted quickly after the match, with a function held in the club’s indoor centre afterwards, where players’ families – including many from interstate – came together to meet and mingle and cheer up the players.
Casualty ward
Crows: Nil
Power: Gemma Houghton (ankle, played on)
Up next
• Adelaide v North Melbourne, Saturday, September 10, Unley Oval, 12.10pm (SA time)
• Port Adelaide v Carlton, Sunday, September 11, Ikon Park, 11.40pm (SA time)
Originally published as Insider Crows and Power’s Round 3 AFLW matches: Heroic goals, some eye-watering stats and all the off-field laughs
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