WHEN Port Adelaide senior coach Lauren Arnell arrived at Alberton at the beginning of May, it was fair to say the new recruit had her work cut out for her.

The Brisbane premiership player was trusted with the task of developing an elite-level program from the ground-up, with less than four months until Round 1.

Upon Arnell’s arrival, Erin Phillips and Ange Foley were the only players on the list, the club’s ‘W facility’ was still under construction and there was no firm start date for AFLW Season 7.

But, just six months later, after 10 weeks of pre-season training, two trial games, 10 minor rounds, 16 AFLW debutantes and three Rising Star nominees, it’s hard to believe the season has already come to an end.

Just days after the final siren sounded, signalling the end of the inaugural Port Adelaide women’s campaign, Arnell spent time reflecting on the season that was.

What were your season highlights?
Obviously the first game was amazing and all 30 players playing throughout the season including 16 debutantes. I think the first trip to Perth, that night before the game was pretty cool. Having all those players acknowledged (eight debutantes in Round 1) and (club president) David Koch, (general manager of football) Chris Davies and (board director) Christine Zeitz were all there – there was a lot of great support for the team in their first game. The first Never Tear Us Apart at Alberton was pretty cool… actually every single Never Tear Us Apart was really cool. Our three Rising Star nominations were really, really good. I loved how we celebrated Indigenous and Pride Rounds at Alberton. The first training night was a real highlight, as well as the Draft. There were so many highlights. The win against the Swans was obviously really special too.

What would you say is your proudest moment if you had to pick just one?
The win. Easy.

Who have you seen have the most growth throughout the season?
Ella Boag: Boagy for her on-field performances and her growth throughout the year. She was playing development at SANFL level earlier in the year and to then be in our top group of players in three of the four games she played, she was a real standout. It’s a credit to the work that she put in away from everyone else.

Hannah Ewings: Hannah was our first Draft pick but I’ve seen her go to a whole new level in terms of how meticulous she is in her off-field preparation, particularly in the last four and a half weeks of the season. It showed on field, which was the best part about it because sometimes you can look after your off-field stuff and it doesn’t pay off for a little while but that paid off instantly for Hannah. I’m really proud of how she’s turned up at the back end of the season.

Olivia Levicki: Liv has come up against some of the best rucks in the competition this season and she’s now played 10 total games of football. Her development has been huge and there is still so much room for growth.

Amelie Borg: Borgy’s still 17, just finished school and her attitude, her ability and her quiet self-confidence are great attributes. There’s no arrogance about how confident she is but she certainly backs herself in and I think that’s placed her really well to perform against some big bodies in AFLW.

Alex Ballard: Blex is one who has real respect from the playing group with how she goes about it, always seeking to improve herself and is open to feedback. When she’s challenged, she gets a resolve about her and a look in her eye where she knows she’s going to turn around and be better. That’s a key trait for our group to have and as a young player who was overlooked in her Draft year. She’s one that has had a real point to prove this season and will have another point to prove going into next year.

What has been the biggest challenge?
Everything felt rushed, all the time! I think everyone involved in any part of the program at any level of the footy club would have felt like that because one thing our club can be really proud of is that everyone does their best, all the time. Doing your best with really short timelines can be challenging. You constantly wish you had a little bit more time to do a whole range of things based on the timelines that we had, we were proud of everyone at the football club, both on and off the field.

Who was the toughest opponent the team played against?
The Doggies (Western Bulldogs) played quite good footy in Round 2 but I think North Melbourne was our toughest opponent. I thought we really played a very strong first half against North Melbourne and threw everything at them. They stood up as a far more experienced team and threw everything back at us in that second half and they showed how they are a very capable football side. North got the best of us. It was Pride Round too so that was memorable. I feel like it was a really good game of football and took a strong team to beat us at the end of the day.

What have you made of the Alberton crowd?
Very easily the best people, the best community and the best crowd in the whole comp. I loved hearing (North Melbourne senior coach) Darren Crocker say it was a ‘hostile environment’ playing at Alberton. The support that we’ve had, not just on game day but on training nights, from our people and our community has just been so special. Wins and losses has been a really challenging part of the season, but they keep turning up. You can see the care and passion from our people and you just want to keep doing better and better for them. I just love it – I get a little bit emotional every time I think about Never Tear Us Apart because you see the meaning of that for our community and you want to keep turning up and doing better for them.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023?
Continuity will allow for dramatic improvement in our performance. We are pretty keen to keep as much of our list together that we can and continue building on the connection that I’ve been talking about for months, on and off the field. I’m really excited and optimistic about what we can do in preparation for next season to put together a stronger, more consistent season for individuals and for our team.