By Hannah Kennelly and Roy Ward
When the siren blared after Port Adelaide’s remarkable one-point semi-final win over Hawthorn last week, the camera immediately cut to Power’s biggest fan, 10-month-old Marlie.
The daughter of Port Adelaide coach Lauren Arnell was oblivious to the thunderous celebrations around her, smiling happily in her teal and black guernsey.
Port Adelaide coach Lauren Arnell and her daughter Marlie.Credit: Matt Sampson
“Not too many things faze Marlie, other than not getting her way and not eating when she’s hungry,” Arnell said.
“To have her in such a wild atmosphere and around big groups of incredible people in this footy team, it’s actually such a special thing, and she seems to be absolutely loving it.”
Arnell was pregnant throughout the 2023 season and gave birth to Marlie in January this year. She returned to work five months later in time for Port’s pre-season training.
“I knew it would be challenging, but it certainly challenges me in new ways every single day,” she said of motherhood. “I think you learn so much about yourself and how you can show up … even on an enormous lack of sleep.
Arnell and Marlie during the elimination final. Credit: Matt Sampson
“The close circle and village that we have around us is crucial in being able to show up and do what we do ... it’s an incredibly amazing thing to be a parent, but you do need people around you to help.”
Last Saturday, Port came back from a 22-point deficit to clinch a thrilling one-point win over the stunned Hawks – the biggest comeback in AFLW history.
At three-quarter-time, Arnell asked her players a simple question.
“I said to them, ‘Do we think we can do it?’ and every single player looked me in the eye and said, ‘Yes we can’,” she said. “They’re a very resilient group.”
Port Adelaide players celebrate their stunning semi-final win over Hawthorn.Credit: Getty Images
The victory took Port’s winning streak to eight consecutive games and catapulted them to their first preliminary final – a far cry from their 15th-place finish in 2023.
Former player and commentator Kate McCarthy said Port’s semi-final victory was a credit to Arnell, who has helped them develop an “attacking, exciting” style of footy that builds momentum.
“I’ve made calculated decisions to put enormous amounts of time into our team’s offensive connection,” Arnell said.
“When you’ve got such limited time for our playing group to connect in a short fixture ... we have overloaded on offence for the last three to four years ... we want to be able to beat finals teams and be able to score against finals teams.
Arnell is the first former AFLW player to hold a senior coaching position.Credit: AFL Photos
“... Now we’re left with Adelaide, North Melbourne and Brisbane, who have been easily the most successful teams in the competition, it’s enormously rewarding for our players, coaches and staff.”
Arnell is an important figure in AFLW history, debuting as Carlton’s inaugural captain in 2017 and moving to the Brisbane Lions the following year.
She retired in 2021 after winning a premiership with the Lions and was appointed as Port Adelaide’s inaugural AFLW coach in 2022 – the first former AFLW player to hold a senior coaching position.
For Arnell, the transition to coach was made easier for having played under Brisbane Lions coach Craig Starcevich.
Lauren Arnell celebrates during the round 1 match between Carlton Blues and Collingwood Magpies at Ikon Park in 2017. Credit: Michael Dodge
“When I first landed at Brisbane I was 32 years old, certainly Carlton had felt that I was at the very back-end of my career ... so it took a bit of time for Craig and I to build trust in each other, but once it was there, I absolutely played my best football,” she said.
“That’s definitely something I carried into my coaching.”
Arnell is happy coaching from the sidelines, but occasionally missed the thill and physicality of playing.
“The only time I miss it [playing] is when there’s a bit of extra physicality swinging towards my playing group, I do feel like I want to go out there and stick up for them,” she said. “Obviously, I’d never do that though.”
On Saturday, Power will face minor premiers North Melbourne at Ikon Park at 3.05pm in a preliminary final.
“North are obviously such a strong team ... an exceptional playing list who are really well-connected, particularly that midfield,” Arnell said. “I love the way they play footy, so it should be a great game.”
Arnell’s wife Lexi Edwards and baby Marlie will travel to Melbourne for the game, decked out in Power merch to cheer on the team.
Arnell said her daughter’s birth has altered the way she approaches her role as coach and how she interacts with players.
“In high-performance sport, there’s some pretty cutthroat things and selection and list management is one of the things that really challenges me,” she said.
“You invest in people so heavily … but the rules say you can’t keep everyone on your list every year ... those things are really challenging and can take away the human element. I think having Marlie … my players see me as not just a coach, but also as a mum.”
Kearney returns for do-or-die final
Roy Ward
The heat will be on North Melbourne in more ways than one on Saturday as they chase a return to the AFLW grand final.
The undefeated Roos have been the league’s most consistent team this season and will host Port Adelaide in a preliminary final at Ikon Park in scorching conditions, with the weather bureau predicting a maximum temperature of 36 degrees.
North Melbourne captain Emma Kearney is primed to return for her side’s preliminary final against Port Adelaide on Saturday.Credit: AFL Photos
The Power have taken all before them in the second half of the season, winning eight consecutive games including a stunning 22-point comeback to beat Hawthorn in last Saturday’s semi-final.
Star Roos midfielder Ash Riddell is confident her side has the composure to handle any adverse momentum swings.
“We back our system and structure but also our understanding of game state and knowing when to slow things down to get momentum back on our terms,” Riddell said on Thursday.
“I think we’ve trained that really well and, hopefully, we can showcase that on the weekend.”
While the Roos captured headlines early in the season for playing through torrential rain in several games, the players believe facing Brisbane in hot conditions in round one was the ideal dry run for Saturday.
North Melbourne takes on Port Adelaide at a wet and windy Whitten Oval in September.Credit: Getty Images
The club staff have been working all week hydrating players and preparing ways to keep the players’ body temperatures down on game day with ice vests and ice bags under their arms.
“We had a lot of rain this year but we did have a very hot game against Brisbane in round one and there was a lot of pressure, lot of hunger in that game, so it was similar to a finals game,” Roos player Jasmine Ferguson said.
“Our staff are number one when it comes to hot weather and they’ve been getting fluid into us all week - round one in Brisbane was a great test run for this weekend.”
The Roos made a big call in bringing back skipper Emma Kearney after a hamstring injury and Kearney is ready to go.
“Yeah the hammy’s good,” Kearney said on Thursday.
“I’ve gone through a bit of a vigorous rehab, it’s been long, bit of a rollercoaster at times, but feeling really fresh and looking forward to Saturday.”
Roos All-Australian squad member Kate Shierlaw said Kearney ticked every box while she also recalled her side had faced Port in torrential rain in September.
North Melbourne’s Kate Shierlaw.Credit: Getty Images
“The last time we played Port it was some of the worst weather [rain] I’ve ever played in, Saturday might be the same but the complete opposite,” Shierlaw said with a laugh.
“I’ve had more of a behind-the-scenes look at how hard Emma has worked and the patience she had to show - it will be really special to have her back and, hopefully, she can just slot straight back in without having to be anything remarkable, just play her role.”
The Roos fell just short in their first grand final appearance last year, now they desperate to earn a return.
“We’re super hungry,” Ferguson said.
“We’ve been in finals but we haven’t got the job done. We want to go after it and hopefully get that premiership. We are hungrier than anyone, we have a lot of fire in the belly. We are here to get the preliminary final win and hopefully look forward from there.”
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