The West Coast Eagles AFLW side made history today with their biggest win to date against the Geelong Cats.
Coach Daniel Pratt credited the consistent four-quarter effort by the side, which has been a focal point for the season.
“I’m just really proud of the work they’ve done over the past six or seven weeks, our coaches have been working really hard to build some resilience.” Pratt said.
“The standards we’ve been implementing during training really flowed into the game. It looked a bit more structured today and I was really happy with that.”
The Eagles held a minor lead at quarter-time after kicking four behinds and holding the Cats scoreless, but it was Imahra Cameron’s effort in the second quarter that really lit up the field.
The full-forward snapped three between the big sticks to become only the seventh player in AFLW history to score three goals in a quarter.
Cameron also made history for the club as the first Eagles AFLW player to kick multiple goals in a game.
“We’ve known she’s a really good player for a long time, it’s just getting it in for her,” Pratt said.
“I’ve been happy with her effort against Gold Coast, she did some really special things that wouldn’t have been noticed on the vision, so it’s good for her to get some reward for effort today.”
Pratt also credited the Irish trio in Aisling McCarthy, Grace Kelly and Niamh Kelly.
The Kelly sisters took home two goals each, as well as combining for 30 disposals, while McCarthy hit the mark with 19 disposals and three tackles.
She also took home her first win of the season after being sidelined with a leg injury against Gold Coast.
Captain Emma Swanson also assisted in the victory, topping the Eagles’ charts for disposals (21), marks (six), and tackles (eight).
“She’s (McCarthy) so tough, the injury looked really severe and it could’ve been as well, she’s been able to come back and perform.” Pratt said.
“Along with ‘Swanny’ (Emma Swanson) she was probably our best player today, but there were so many other leaders that did well.
“We’re really happy to have the Irish girls, they impacted the game today again. They just play sport how it’s meant to be played, so they just go and enjoy themselves and take risks.
“Some of the kicks they do, where I’ve come from with the men is like, that’s a risky place to kick it, but they take it on and if it comes off we’re looking dangerous, and if it doesn’t our backs were able to win it back for us today, so I’m happy for the girls to keep taking the game on.”
And while Grace Kelly was sidelined with groin tightness late in the fourth, Pratt assured Eagles fans not to fret ahead of the match-up against Richmond.
“It’s a no-risk policy with Grace, we took a couple of the other girls off as well. We’ve got a six-day break then we’ve got to travel," Pratt said.
The team will pack their bags for Punt Road this Sunday as a more experienced side.
“The games starting to come to them a bit more and they’re starting to understand football a little bit better.” Pratt said.
“The good teams are able to score quickly and we were able to do that today, we scored eight goals after quarter time and I don’t think we’ve kicked eight goals after the quarter this season.
“Most of our goals have been coming from the first quarter, so continue the pressure and continue getting it in there was really pleasing.
“We’re just focusing on improvement and growth. I think it’s about how we go about it, if we had a loss today and went about it like that, it would’ve been a step forward for us.
“It’s going to be no different for our last two games, we respect every team we play.
"We’ve got to be at our best to win, but if we play like that and the result doesn’t go our way, I think we’re heading in the right direction.”
