That was a big win, what’s the biggest thing you take out of it?
We’ve probably been questioned whether we can play our brand of footy against good teams. Adelaide are clearly a very good footy team so we were really pleased today that we stood up to the pressure they applied, kept applying our pressure and managed to score well. The score board obviously flattered us with the scoring shots being equal but we were really happy to play the way that we did and win as comfortably as we did.
It didn’t look like that in the first quarter, how did you see the first quarter play out?
I was still pretty comfortable in the first quarter, it was a real arm-wrestle but I thought our backs looked really strong even though they were under a bit of pressure. I thought they were holding up really well. Our mids were trying to move the ball well, but there were a couple of slight skill errors that weren’t missing the target, but were slowing down our ball movement which meant if you give Sarah Allan half a chance, she’s going to kill you in the backline. So you have to keep her moving and uncomfortable, and we didn’t do that in the first quarter. Once we had ball movement going better in the second and third quarters, we looked dangerous.
What really clicked after that?
I think our backs were great all day, our midfield were really good all day. It was the connection between our mids to each other which then gave us a good chance to kick to one-one-ones in the front half. Our forwards are very dangerous, they are very quick and quite smart. If we can give them some good looks at the footy, then we can score and that’s what we got going after quarter time.
There was typical physical leadership from Kiara Bowers with her tackling?
She had 10 at half time, I think she might have slowed down a bit after that. Because of her defensive work, she always keeps us in games and once the games open up, we can get our running game going. I’m not sure how many touches she ended up with but I’m pretty sure she would have had a fair bit of it. 23? It was a big day again from her in the midfield. She’s an underrated ball user as well and she used it really well when she had the chance.
Was it Kara Antonio before the game who declared Adelaide the premiership favourites?
Could have been. They are still the reigning premier, you can almost write off last year for them. It wasn’t their day today. I guarantee you they will be back. Similar to us they probably haven’t played two of the stronger teams to start the year. I am pretty sure they will be in the finals again and they will be a big challenge.
It’s a big statement that you’ve made today, isn’t it?
It is. We’ve been doing it for a while but haven’t maybe got the respect that we thought the girls deserve. Today, it is a big statement against a really good side. But we have to back it up now as there will be targets on our back. Similar to how we wanted to come after Adelaide, other teams will want to come after us so we have to live up to that challenge as well.
What do you make of the streak of 10 wins? Is it a mental boost?
We always try to tick off doing things for the first time. Last year we had never won an away game, and we did that. We still hadn’t beaten GWS, and earlier this year was the first time that we did that. This week was that we’d never beaten Adelaide. We always look for firsts to keep the girls ticking in their minds. The streak doesn’t really mean a lot, you’d give away all the streaks to win one Grand Final, which is what we are aiming for obviously. But it’s a nice thing for the girls to have, and all the staff who have worked in the program over that time.
What’s the next first?
There will be something there, the good thing is they are bit harder to find at the moment. We’ll definitely be looking for something else next week.
Do you know what the week holds?
It’s an ever-changing thing and we just have to be ready. We came over prepared to be two weeks away, or for longer than two weeks, three games away. The girls packed accordingly as we thought we could have been heading up to Queensland. However we have just been told that we are not, and we will be heading home on Tuesday. The girls were looking forward to maybe getting up to the Gold Coast for a couple of weeks, but they will have to rearrange their lives and get back to Perth and get stuck into Gold Coast next week. We’re really looking forward to that, the girls took the news well. They will just roll with the punches because that’s what you have to do. As we saw in the men’s competition, the sides that took on those challenges the best were the ones that performed the best. We want to make sure that we don’t have anything outside of our control influence the way we play so they have been really good in that regard.
Did you escape injury free?
I think so. We put a couple of players away towards the end of the game with calf tightness.
Heading back to Perth, are you shocked that it the solution?
To be honest yes, the AFL have done an amazing job in getting the fixturing going with the men’s season and I am sure they will think through a way for this as well. We were more than happy to play our block away. We had planned for that, but it’s not the case. I trust the AFL will be doing the right thing in thinking further head to make sure we can get this season underway. They have been really committed in saying they want to get this season to conclusion so we will do whatever we can to help that as long as the girls are playing footy, they will be happy. We will just keep doing what we need to do.
Does Evie Gooch know this yet?
Good question. I haven’t had a chance to tell her. She could have come this weekend if we knew we were only here for a weekend so I am glad we didn’t lose by two points! She will be fresh and ready to go next week as well. It’s going to be a headache at selection next week that’s for sure.
