Fremantle’s first loss of the NAB AFL Women’s season will provide a number of important lessons, according to senior coach Trent Cooper.
Freo faced difficult conditions on a humid and wet Saturday night at TIO Stadium in Darwin in their 42-point loss to Adelaide.
Cooper said it was Adelaide’s ability to dominate the clearances that allowed the Crows to run out 9.11 (65) to 3.5 (23) victors.
“The clearances tell the story, (Adelaide led) 28 to nine, that was where the game was won and lost,” Cooper said.
“Our backs tried really hard and our forwards looked really dangerous but at that level of clearance wins, Adelaide were going to be impossible to hold up.”
Cooper said there were plenty of lessons to take from Fremantle’s first loss of the season.
“It’s a good learning experience for us…we came up here a few weeks ago (in the pre-season) and lost and we improved from that, so we’re looking to do exactly the same from this loss,” Cooper said.
“With the nature of AFLW, everyone is learning, so it’s just who is learning quicker and improving quicker.”
Fremantle stuck with the Crows until half-time, trailing by just three points at the main break.
Adelaide were kept under pressure in the third quarter with Fremantle’s backline restricting the Crows to just one goal for the term.
It wasn’t until the final quarter that Adelaide were able to seal their win with a dominant final term.
Fremantle captain Kara Donnellan said she was confident the team could reset for next Sunday’s clash against the Western Bulldogs at Fremantle Oval.
“It’s never great losing but you’ve got to bounce back quickly,” Donnellan said.
“The competition is so quick and the turnaround’s pretty quick…we face the Bulldogs in eight days which we will be ready for.”
