AFLW senior coach Michael Prior is pleased West Coast applied the lessons learned from two tough losses during the team’s first win of the season against St Kilda at Trevor Barker Beach Oval.

After narrowly losing out to Gold Coast and Geelong in the final few minutes of the game, Prior focussed on locking the ball in and creating more scoring opportunities, which the players put into practice in the round five clash.

After three weeks in a Melbourne hub, the group was pleased to get some reward for effort before boarding a flight back to Perth, and hope to carry the momentum into a clash against Collingwood on Sunday at Mineral Resources Park.

“It’s obviously really pleasing for the players and the whole travel party – 50 that came across – important for our family and friends back home and our partners, that we come away with a win,” Prior said.

“We spoke a lot about our last couple of minutes down in Geelong last week, we went through it, we learned.

“Some of the things we went through, really put into play in that last two minutes so really pleasing for the girls and to have a win is outstanding.

“We’ve got a bit of confidence out of that coming into our next game.”

Despite St Kilda’s repeat inside 50 entries in the final quarter – and the three minor scores that came with them – West Coast were able to hold onto the lead and secure their first four premiership points of the season.

The final few minutes of the match saw a tense battle inside the Saints’ forward line, but the Eagles held firm and finished with a tackle efficiency of 73% in the final quarter to record their first away victory across three years in the competition.

“It wasn’t pleasant up in the coaches box, but I think when I saw what they were doing and their mentality and what they learned from last game, to put it into practice, I was pretty comfortable that we’d come away with it,” Prior said.

“It was just pleasing that they were able to put into practice what they learned last week.”

West Coast’s midfielders stood up across the match, with Dana Hooker earning herself best Eagle afield and a spot in the AFL Women’s Team of the Week after an impressive 20 disposals and 13 contested possessions.

Skipper Emma Swanson also collected 19 disposals and six tackles and earned a place in the AFL Women’s Team of the Week, while Sarah Lakay also looked good in her third match as an Eagle.

“I think our midfield group really stood up,” Prior said.

“’Swanny’s’ had a fantastic year and continues to lead, I thought Charlie Thomas grew again today, and we asked her to do a few different things than what she’s done in the last few games.

“We continue to see the growth of Sarah Lakay in the ruck, and the thing that’s continued to help us in our last two games is our forward 50 pressure, it’s really increased and we were able to lock the ball in there and score off the back of that.

“She took that mark late in the game and had the poise to take her time and run down the clock a little bit, so from a girl that’s playing her third game, that’s really important.

“That’s what she was brought into the side to do.”