Port Adelaide senior coach Lauren Arnell is looking for the lessons to be learned for her young side after every game.
A 50-point loss to one of the strongest teams in the competition on Saturday, certainly wasn’t the way the coach hoped the first home game would pan out, but the group will use the positives as they prepare for Round 3.
“Obviously a little bit disappointing to be beaten like that at Alberton,” said Arnell after the game.
“But one thing we know is we’ve been beaten by a very good team and we’ll take as many lessons out of it as we can.
“I think you always try and find the positives with a really young group. If you sit in the negative you don’t really get anywhere, so we’ll find the right positives and we’ll find the right learnings.”
Young ruck Matilda Scholz was a shining light for the Power, showing in just her second game at AFLW level that she has football smarts and talent to boot.
“She’s coming up against a premiership ruck in Tahlia Hickie so (it was her) second game of AFLW for Matilda and as an 18-year-old, I think there's plenty there for her too,” Arnell said.
“We're really proud of how she's approached her season already and looking forward to how much she can learn and grow in the weeks to come.”
Arnell conceded her group lacked in stoppage and contest on Saturday, with Brisbane able to attack the football, and the scoreboard.
“Stoppage and contest (is where we lost it), it's pretty straight forward really,” she said.
“I thought their tall forwards were exceptional today. We’ve got some pretty high quality older and younger defenders in the air and got pretty well beaten and contest. I think we know how fit the Lions have been for so long and just the class around the ball stood out for them today.
“We tried a few bits and pieces (against Brisbane forward Dakota Davidson). It probably didn’t help our pressure on the ball wasn't as high as we would like but Dakota had a really strong day and maximised on the conditions.”
Arnell’s group has started their NAB AFLW season against two of the most experienced clubs in the competition, but they’re determined to not let the losses get them down.
“I know the (Melbourne) Dees won the premiership last year, but between Adelaide and Brisbane, they've been the two most successful teams since the competition was born so to come up against them, (we’ll) take some positive lessons (out of those games),” Arnell said.
“There are some things we'd like to be doing better right now but we also understand we’re a young team with not heaps of time together like those two clubs have had.
“We also set a standard for ourselves that I don't think we quite met today at Alberton but you just have to make sure you take the learnings that you can and we are really looking forward to Round 3 and continuing to stay positive and aggressive in what we do.”
