Despite the result in the round one AFLW RAC Derby, Michael Prior praised his Eagles team and their efforts in their narrow loss to Fremantle.
The Eagles fought back after Freo got off to a fast start but couldn't hit the lead late in the 4.3 (27) to 2.7 (19) defeat.
“Disappointing not to get the result, eight points in it, we had a couple more scoring shots than what they did,” Prior said.
“I thought our effort and intensity around the footy was pretty strong all day.
“The pressure factor was right up, as was theirs, but if we keep playing like that, it’s going to hold us in good stead to get some wins in the upcoming weeks.”
Exciting West Coast talent Ella Roberts was awarded the RAC Derby medal for the best on ground performance of the afternoon, finishing with a game-high 24 disposals, becoming the first Eagles AFLW player to ever win the medal.
“She’s had a fantastic pre-season,” Prior said.
“It’s just up to us to juggle where she plays, does she play forward or does she play in the midfield.
“We mixed it up a little bit today with her and she performed really well, and that’s the type of player we know that she is, and we’ll get around her for that, we love that.”
Sunday’s AFLW RAC Derby was the sixth time the two teams have met, the Eagles unable to record a win against their cross-town rivals so far, but Prior said he looks forward to their next contest.
“They’ve obviously won six now and we haven’t got one so we’ll just stand up to them with whatever they bring and I think we did that really well today,” Prior said.
“We look forward to getting a win but we think we’re coming at a rate of knots, it would have been nice to get across the line today but the next time we play it could be a different result so we look forward to it.
“Our hit and out contest stuff was really strong all day, in the first half the centre-bounce clearances went their way so it was in their forward half straight away.
“We needed to turn that around and get it in our front half but I thought our contest was strong all day.”
In a boost for the developing Eagles squad, new recruit Amy Franklin faced her former side for the first time and kicked her first goal in the blue and gold, while Kellie Gibson, Shanae Davison and Lauren Wakfer all made successful returns from ACL injuries that saw them sidelined last season.
“It was great to see Amy Franklin get a goal and great to see ‘Gibbo’ get a goal,” Prior said.
It was really pleasing to get a game into ‘Gibbo’ with her knee, Lauren Wakfer coming off a knee last year and Shanae Davison as well.
“All three ACL girls got through the game really well and played good footy for us.
“We’d love those three in particular to be part of our team the whole season this year and years to come, so we look forward to them delivering some good things for us.”
