A lacklustre Fremantle side has gone down by 33 points to Adelaide in the Club's first home game of the year.
Held goalless for the contest, Fremantle struggled to gain ascendancy moving forward, consistently meeting a well-organised Adelaide defensive line that denied any clean looks at goal.
“It was really tough. Full credit to the Crows—they are a powerhouse. The way they play, they’re an incredible team, and they beat us on the day,” Fremantle defender Ash Brazill said post-match.
“As much as it hurts that we’ve lost like that in week two... if you're going to have a loss like that, you want it to happen early (in the season) so you can learn from it.”
It is the first time the Club has been held goalless since round eight of season seven in the AFLW competition.
The margin could have been greater if not for a resilient Fremantle backline that held the Crows to just 17 points at the halfway mark despite being behind on the inside 50 count all afternoon.
“Especially in the first half, I feel like the ball was coming in every few seconds, every few minutes, and the backline held up really well,” Brazill reflected.
“Obviously, we let a few slip in that second half, but I think our communications were positive towards each other. We were able to give direct communication out there as to who was on whom and what went wrong.
“The fact that we could feel what was going wrong in the moment is a good sign. We’ve just got to be able to fix it on the spot, be courageous when we have the ball rather than just hack-kicking it out—we need to chip it forward and use our legs.”
Brazill, whose team-high 18 disposals and experienced leadership were a highlight on Fremantle’s dour day, reflected on her positive short time at the Club.
“As soon as I walked through the doors of this Club, I felt instantly welcomed, and it's no different out there. I feel like the girls have my back,” Brazill said.
Looking ahead, Fremantle will now face Port Adelaide on Saturday 14 September at Adelaide Oval.
“I think we just need to go back and focus on ourselves. We focused on Adelaide this week, but I think this week all focus will be on us - what went wrong, what we didn’t do well.
“The Port Adelaide and Adelaide game last week was really close, so we know that Port are a really good team as well. We know it will be tough.”
