WHILE Port Adelaide defender Janelle Cuthbertson has found a new home at Alberton, the new recruit can’t hide her excitement ahead of the team’s trip to Perth this week. 

Since joining the Power from Fremantle, the co-vice-captain has been a critical part of a young backline across the first four games, adding maturity and composure. 

Cuthbertson spoke to the Adelaide media on Tuesday covering Indy Tahau’s injury, Ashleigh Saint’s one-match ban and playing against West Coast this Friday night. 

Cuthbertson on Ashleigh Saint’s on-match ban 
“Obviously a pretty eventful weekend with a few things going on. Spoke to Ash this morning, she's obviously a little bit disappointed with the outcome but my understanding is the club are weighing up the details at the moment and deciding what to do, whether or not they challenge it. Obviously, we would love to have Ash out there on the weekend but we'll leave that up to the club to work through.” 

Cuthbertson on Saint’s impact on the side 
“She's so important, you look at the last couple of games and the impact that she's able to have playing that key forward role. She's obviously so strong in the contest and I think she's linking up really well with Gemma (Houghton) so she's obviously a really important part of our team and like I said, we'd love to have her out there this weekend.” 

Cuthbertson on Indy Tahau’s ACL rupture 
“Really unfortunate with the news with Indy. I haven’t actually seen her (since) but my understanding is she's actually pretty positive, she sent a really nice message to the group last night just about how she's going to really attack her rehab and we'll wrap our arms around her. It's pretty challenging to see one of your own go down with an ACL but like I said, we'll wrap our arms around her and help her get through that rehab as best we can. 

“In AFLW, we’re such a tight knit group and I think it really brings the group closer together in a way and the cohesion amongst the group is really important. She's one of our own and we'll get around her as best we can and do everything we can to support her through it and help her over the next 12 months.” 

Cuthbertson on playing in Perth this week 
“Heading back to Perth so I’m really excited to get home. There are obviously a few girls from WA so there will be a little bit of familiarity within the group. It will be nice to get back home to Perth and see some family and play the West Coast Eagles. We obviously had a bit of a derby with the Eagles playing at Fremantle for a couple of years so I've played them a fair bit but for me, it's another game, I'll treat it like any other game and go in there and attack it as best we can but it will be nice to go back to Perth and play.” 

Cuthbertson on taking on West Coast 
“I mean, we want to go into every game thinking we can win it, but West Coast are going to be hungry, they're chasing their first win so we're not going to take them lightly. We need to bring our best football and our best brand for four quarters definitely.” 

Cuthbertson on Alberton home games 
“It's been amazing, I've absolutely loved the home games here at Alberton, the crowd have been phenomenal. The atmosphere feels really electric and it kind of gives me chills every time we run out. I had my family over for the weekend and they said the same thing, when Never Tear Us Apart came on, they absolutely loved it so it's a real special environment out here and we really want to get a win for our home fans in the coming weeks because it's a really special place. 

Cuthbertson on the backline 
“We've got a really diverse group in the backline. Dunny's (Hannah Dunn) obviously got a lot of experience coming over from the Gold Coast, then you've got Blexy (Alex Ballard) and Borgy (Amelie Borg) who are quite young but really natural footballers. We're gelling quite well and working out how to play to each other's strengths which is really important and I think over time, that will continue to evolve and come to fruition so that's really exciting.” 

Cuthbertson on the new CBA deal 
“It's awesome, just to have that certainty over the next five years around what that looks like is really important and for the young girls, it's great that we get a pay increase, but also the additional support and resources that are going to fall around the program is really important as we push toward full time professionalism. Super exiting that that's done now and there's no uncertainty for the next (few years) as to when the season is or what things look like so it's a really good time to be involved.”