Port Adelaide showed promising signs against Essendon on Saturday, in the side’s first official practice match ahead of season seven of AFLW.
Despite a 20-point loss, the Power showed good cohesion in a dominant first half, led by forward Gemma Houghton (two goals), Maggie MacLachlan (one goal) and cross-coder Olivia Levicki (one goal).
Western Australian midfielder Abbey Dowrick threw herself into every contest at The Hangar, making her mark as the youngster to watch this season.
The 19-year-old’s contested inside work was exceptional, never shying away from the opportunity for a smother or hard tackle.
“Abbey Dowrick performed really well,” head coach Lauren Arnell said.
“I know Abs will only continue to get better as well. Gemma (Houghton) has had a really strong pre-season and is going well. Erin (Phillips) has come into the team and barely missed a beat and I think our backline, particularly early in the game when there was a bit of heat in there, they were able to execute well defensively and offensively.
“Across the team, there’s a lot of really big steps forward, particularly the midfield at stoppages, we were really happy with.”
Six key players were rested from half time, with Houghton, Jacqui Yorston, Ange Foley, Kate Surman, Indy Tahau and Justine Mules making way for fresh legs.
Tessa Doumanis was the only Port player to kick between the big sticks in the second half, supported by Ella Boag, who nailed her kick to hit Doumanis on the chest and get the ball inside 50.
In her first hit-out since returning from knee surgery, skipper Phillips showed why she is one of the most impressive players in the league, having a consistent presence around the ball.
“Erin is our captain and one of the most experienced players in the competition, so for her to get some run in the legs and to get back to AFLW level was great,” Arnell said.
“One really good thing about W is it gets better every year so each of our experienced players come in and we see a step up each time. So having Erin back who is arguably the best player in the competition is great for everybody.”
Port led by two goals at half-time, but the Bombers ran away in the second half, taking some risks and slotting six.
“We gave away some pretty simple scoring opportunities to Essendon in that second half, which we will take a lot of learning from and acknowledge that we’ve got a group of girls who are 18, 19, 20 (years old) and it’s really their second exposure at this level,” Arnell said.
“(I was) really happy with our ability to execute our game style and put out our strongest team in that first half and develop from last week against the Crows.
“For us, we had real purpose in making sure that all our fit players on our list had exposure today. We’ve been really happy with what we’ve been able to get out of today.”
Final score
Essendon 8.8.56
Port Adelaide 5.6.36
