PORT ADELAIDE midfielder Jacqui Yorston admits she was overwhelmed with emotion following her side’s thumping 66-point victory over Sydney on Saturday.
In what was the AFLW team’s historic first win, the thought of being part of such a significant moment was not lost on the 21-year-old.
“I actually had to hold back tears at times, just because of how proud we are to be Port Adelaide players,” Yorston said.
“Obviously the history we've learned over the past 16 weeks is massive but the amount of people that are proud of us that we don’t even know, the community that we do this for is massive, and for us to be able to (win), we were so happy.
“(We play) for our community. The way they stuck around and clapped after the (Round Two) Bulldogs game when we didn’t play our best game of footy and then to see that we can show up for our community and for our fans and for our families makes us really proud.”
The Power’s first win was punctuated by standout performances from midfield duo and Rising Star nominees Abbey Dowrick and Hannah Ewings.
“The way that they can read the ball off the contest is just second to none,” Yorston said of the teenage pair.
“The way that they attack the footy and especially Abbey's ability to get the touches but also get the tackles, with her 14 tackles and 25 touches or something like that is just crazy for a first-year player. The two of them work so well together – it’s a testament to the culture that we have. Building our group from the ground up after 16 weeks of being together and to put a performance like that together is just crazy.”
In the lead-up to Round Four, the team felt like it was verging on the cusp of a win and was pleased to finally see reward for effort.
“It helps us build into what the rest of the season looks like, we felt like it was coming,” Yorston said.
“We had a couple of strong games the first couple of rounds, but the simplest thing is we finally clicked as a group, which is really exciting.
“(We learned) that the footy that we play is exciting and when we do put in our four-quarter effort we can play exactly the way that we want to and we can win games of footy…our contested footy (is our strength) and we've got the skills to transition it down the field.”
While the win was one to be remembered, Yorston and her teammates are staying grounded and keeping things in perspective.
“(Senior coach) Loz (Arnell) obviously said enjoy the win, you want to be happy about it,” she said.
“We had review yesterday, talked through it, see the good, see the not so good, obviously there's always stuff to learn from footy but we've now got a job to do next week. The win was great but at the end of the day it's only Round Four.”
The chance to be part of the inaugural Port Adelaide women’s team is special to Yorston and is something that’s still sinking in.
“It gives you goosebumps to be honest,” she said.
“It's crazy… you walk through the museum (at the club) and you see what it was like 150 years ago but then to know that we'll go up there, that there will be photos of us in that museum as the first ever…it's pretty awesome to know that when people walk through there they'll see us and hopefully get that same feeling.”
