Ahead of a trip to Coffs Harbour this weekend AFLW senior coach Scott Gowans appeared in a weekly press conference.
He discussed the team's Round 2 performance and echoed the club's sentiments on Chloe Molloy's ACL injury. Scroll below to hear what he had to say.
On Round 2
"We're disappointed that we lost that one. I felt we started off slowly but then we got the game back on our terms in the second half. But it was too late, and if St Kilda had capitalised on those early opportunities, then we would have been way behind on the scoreboard."
On Chloe Molloy's ACL injury
"I think we're still trying to comprehend it. We're just disappointed for her, really. I mean, she's done so much work, she had a really good pre-season, got herself fit. And it's no secret, a lot of our game situational play revolves around Chloe. So, we've got to change that, which we've done today and yesterday. So, we've changed the way we've stretched up a little bit, and a couple of our set plays have changed.
"The next person in the group's now got to stand up. So, there's an opportunity for that as well."
On the importance of how Chloe wanted to share the news
"I think it was really important. It was more important from the performance point of view. But Chloe, being the leader she is, she was really strong on being around the group and just leading. And she was sensational. And you can't ask for more than that. So, we gave her the opportunity to do that.
"You've got to cope and be comfortable with unfair at times. And elite sport is unfair. And this is a classic example of it where we don't want it to happen but it's happened and now we've got to get on with it. And being a young group too, it does give the opportunity for us to develop and fast-track a couple of others in some pretty important roles within our team structure."
On how the setback affects the squad
"We've done a lot of work on connection and the 32 being part of a chain. We have links in our chain and she's one of those links and it's unbreakable.
"So this is a great challenge for that philosophy, not one that I want, by the way, but one that's happened. I'm really keen to see how our young leaders cope with this and bring it up, bring up another notch in their belts in stepping up and leading from the front."
On Chloe's new role this season
"We've had permission to use her as a match day role. I don't know what that looks like yet, but we'll definitely use her either in the box or down on the bench. It won't be this week, but for the next couple of weeks, when she's ready, we'll definitely give her a role. So she'll be around the group, which is super important. And just from a game sense education as well."
On playing Richmond in Coffs Harbour
"I had a good look at Richmond. They did very well against GWS. They've got a really good core group of players. And it's really important that our fans get to the game and support us. We're looking for a good turnout, nice and loud, to help get us over the line. But I think it'll be a good game of footy."
On the team's slow starts
"I'd rather start better. I think at one stage we were minus 17 contested possessions in the first quarter and a bit. And we ended up levelling that at the end of the game. And that was really important. So it was a great step in the right direction. Our metres gained were great. We had more disposals, more inside 50s, more metres gained. All those key stats for us. But it was all too little, too late. Particularly in W, the starts are really important."
On Brenna Tarrant's performance
"She's a classic example of just feeling more comfortable on the football field and playing on instinct, to be honest. Sometimes we want that instinct to be a little bit more team defence-wise. The next level of her game now is her ball use, just to get that up to an elite level. To get that part of her game right as well, she could be one of the best defenders in the competition."
On Maddy Collier and Alana Woodward
"We'll get clearance on Maddy tomorrow but she's ticked every box so far. Alana had the all-clear today so she's up for selection as well, which is great."
Join as an AFLW Coffs Member to receive a Grandstand ticket, a member pack, AND access to all remaining Sydney Swans AFLW home and away matches. All for just $65 for adults or $28 for juniors. Support the team here.
