Yartapuulti senior coach Lauren Arnell is looking forward to testing her side against “one of the best” when the Power takes on North Melbourne at Arden Street this Sunday.
The Power will travel to Arden Street this weekend to take on second-placed Kangaroos in Round 7 of AFLW.
Arnell spoke to Adelaide media on Thursday to discuss selection, the club’s First Nations guernsey, the growth within the group and the exciting challenge facing North Melbourne.
Arnell on the last four Rounds
“A key factor for us knowing that we are 16 games in as a whole team – 10 games last year and six this year – is a lot of the work we put in is on field growth and development and there’s also the big aspect of culture and standards that we have to continue building to keep improving.”
Arnell on growth within the playing group
“You have to look at the growth that we are making and it’s difficult to see at times when you lose a game like we did against Sydney last weekend, but for us we’re sitting sixth in the competition for scores we generate. Knowing the fixture we’ve had and the quality of teams we’ve played, being sixth in the comp in being able to generate score is a huge indicator of growth for us. The unfortunate bit of that is we’ve been inaccurate and so 3.12 against any team in any game, you’re unlikely to win. The disappointment comes from the result and in building a young program you’ve got to focus on the progress too.”
Arnell on selection
“There are a number of changes this week. Really disappointing actually in that we’ve got two forced changes and three omissions.
“Really disappointed to lose Janelle (Cuthbertson) with a finger injury. She’s been an absolute warrior for us and the leadership she’s added to our group off-field has been immeasurable and still continues to do that now even though she knows the season is done for her unfortunately. She’s been banged up, she had cracked ribs, concussion, late start to pre-season and just about every part of her body has been severely banged up over this period of time and to watch the way that she performed after her knee injury on Saturday for the remainder of the game I think teaches a lot to our group and shows real strength and courage in leadership. I’m really grateful for what Janelle has been able to offer and what she’ll continue to offer moving forward.
“Maggie MacLachlan will come out with an ankle injury from the weekend and then we’ve made three omissions as well, Lily Johnson, Hannah Ewings and Litonya Cockatoo-Motlap will come out of the team.
“Hannah won our best-and-fairest last year and was the League Rising Star, but unfortunately for Hannah she’s fallen behind the values and standards required for our group and this is impacting her performance. We’ve had some strong conversations and also supportive conversations as well and it’s going to feel really heavy for Hannah, particularly this week, so another element of this is really getting behind her to support her to return to the values and standards required to be considered for selection.”
Arnell on North Melbourne
“We had a really cracking game here at Alberton against North Melbourne last season and it actually formed a benchmark for us heading into the off season. They’re an exceptional team and they play a brand of footy that we aspire to play for four quarters. They open the game up, high scoring, win contests, win clearance, so we’re genuinely excited to play against a really good, high quality team. We get a chance to test where we’re at not just from results perspective but also their brand of footy is something we really aspire to so it’s going to be great to test ourselves against one of the best.”
Arnell on Yartapuulti's First Nations guernsey for this week
“Our team is the highest represented within the W competition of First Nations players. Gemma Houghton and Tjunkaya Ken, who’s a local artist, have co-designed the jumper. It’s an incredible story about two sisters and two women coming together and learning and supporting each other through a journey and it really correlates nicely with our group and is deeply meaningful, particularly for Gemma. So to be wearing that jumper at any point is really special and to have five First Nations players on our list and the work we do as a team and as a football club it means so much to our group.”