Senior Coach Lisa Webb said her midfield ‘went to work’ in Fremantle’s eight-point win over Port Adelaide at Alberton Oval on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking to media post-game, Webb said she was pleased with the collective efforts from the midfield after a disappointing loss at home the week before.
“Our mids went to work today,” Webb said.
“I thought Hayley was really impressive and Gabby Newton was great in there. Mim did a great job against a really strong ruck as well.”
Webb gave special mention to Gabby O’Sullivan, who she felt took on the challenge of a position switch up.
“Gabby O’Sullivan I thought was really important for us,” Webb said.
“We played her at half back last week on a really dangerous forward, and then we said, ‘hey do you want to play midfield and forward’ and she’s just really balanced with her approach.
With the side trailing by seven-points at the start of the fourth quarter and yet to hit the lead in the match, Webb touched on some missed opportunities.
“Port played the conditions better in the first half. We knew what we needed to do; we just couldn’t execute,” Webb said.
“We had a pretty strong chat at half-time and put some measures in place to make sure we were a bit cleaner around the contest as well.
“Our kick-to-handball ratio wasn’t what we wanted it to be, so when we started putting it on the boot a bit more, we were able to get a bit more forward-half territory.
“We just had to chip away. We made some decisions that probably let us down that we would’ve liked back again, but I felt we were on the right path, they just needed a few things to click, and they did.”
Webb said the side will take more learnings from the match, as they look to take on Melbourne in week 4 of the 2024 NAB AFLW Season.
"I’m really proud of the group. I did challenge them – I thought they really stood up,” Webb said.
“It wasn’t easy out there, they (Port) are a great contested ball side, and they’ve got some great forwards as well.
“I still think there’s plenty of areas we could have improved on today.
“We want to go into every game ensuring we’ve got growth and learnings to take out of it.
“Next week will be another great challenge, and one we’re really looking forward to as well.”
