PORT ADELAIDE is optimistic that ruck Matilda Scholz has avoided any serious injury after the young star sent a scare through the camp in the last quarter of the Power’s win over St Kilda on Friday night.
Scholz came from the field clutching at her right knee after colliding with an opponent mid-way through the last quarter of the 7.5 (47) to 5.2 (32) win at Alberton Oval.
Speaking after the win, coach Lauren Arnell said initial medical advice had cleared last week’s Telstra Rising Star nominee of anything too serious.
“(Her knee) seems structurally fine, and they'll scan it just to make sure it's okay,” Arnell explained.
“But (it) seems okay.”
The Power blitzed the Saints with a five-goal-to-one opening term, including two from Abbey Dowrick.
The gun midfielder was dominant throughout the contest, finishing with 18 disposals, 10 tackles and having nine clearances.
She was part of a tandem act in the middle with Scholz, who until her injury was one of the dominant players on the ground with a game high 22 disposals and 30 hit-outs as well as five clearances of her own.
Arnell was most pleased that her side appears over the slow starts which plagued it in the early stages of this season.
“A good start provides healthy confidence for the group, understanding you've still got a fair way of the game to go.
“Prior to the Collingwood game, we’d had some really slow starts for about four or five games so to have two in-a-row now where we start strong is positive for us.”
The win – Port’s fifth for the season - marked the first time in the club’s AFLW history that it had won four matches in-a-row.
It sees the club leapfrog the Saints into the top eight with two matches to play.
“(It’s) obviously significant to win four games in-a-row for us,” Arnell said. “It's important for us and I think the most important thing, and the focus that we've had is the growth in our game so to be able to see us win contested possession again and put a reasonable score on the board, I think we did leave a few out there tonight again, but to put reasonable score on the board and start the game well is another sign of growth for our group.
“I'm really proud of the group so far and we've also got a fair bit of work to go.”
Port Adelaide will next travel to the Gold Coast to face the Suns in the AFLW’s Indigenous Round before returning home to Alberton to host Greater Western Sydney to close the home-and-away season – games the side will likely go in as favourite for.
“If anyone's talking about us as favourites, it's a privilege. We've come a long way in two and a half years and so if that's where external people pitch us, that's great, but we just worry about our process in each game and getting better each week,” a typically focussed Arnell said.
“A big part of that, that I think everyone would know about our brand of footy now is our contest, and our pressure was high.
“We fell away a little bit in the third quarter on that but I think particularly in that first quarter… our front half pressure was exceptional and allowed us to maintain and provide a lot of scoring opportunities.”
