Four rounds without a win was enough for Fremantle captain Hayley Miller as she willed her team over the line with a three-point victory in Thursday’s RAC Derby at Optus Stadium.
Miller’s 26 disposal and six tackle performance earned her the best on ground honours in the clash, the first time teammate Kiara Bowers hasn’t topped the voting in four RAC Derbies.
Get your tickets for our round six clash with Melbourne at Freo Oval here!
And it took a herculean effort to top Bowers, who amassed 18 tackles to go with her 17 disposals.
“To Turbo’s credit, she was incredible out there today,” Miller said.
“For me, I just went out there and I really desperately wanted the win for the team and for the new girls who haven’t experienced it.
“I gave it everything I had and I’m lucky enough to be wearing the medal now.”
After a three-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in round three and a draw in round four against Carlton, Miller and her teammates weren’t going to let another result slip as they continued to attack after West Coast pulled within a point with four minutes to play.
Miller was thrilled with how Freo closed the game out.
This 🥺 #foreverfreo pic.twitter.com/2AoFI0w3j9
— Fremantle Dockers (@freodockers) September 22, 2022
“It’s been a really tough start to the season when you’re not winning and then coming so close in a draw,” Miller said.
“The girls, to their credit, bounced back and really fought out the end part of the game when we were challenged a lot, I’m really proud of them all.”
Fremantle’s season is well and truly alive heading into next week’s home game against Melbourne at Fremantle Oval.
They are currently two points out of the top eight, however the rest of the league have a game in hand, meaning they are likely to have a 1.5 game deficit after the round with five games to play.
Vote now for your Crypto.com Defining Player from today's match!
Miller said the team can use their momentum to finish the season strong.
“It was awesome, for those girls to sing the song for the time and we can take that that into next week,” Miller said.
“We know what it takes to win and we’ll take the belief and the confidence from that.
“It was a bit of a shaky song, we haven’t sung it for a while and lot of them haven’t sung it before but this is just the start and we’ll get it right.”
