Fears of a potential ACL injury to captain Janelle Cuthbertson has soured Port Adelaide’s commanding 40-point AFLW victory over the battling Western Bulldogs at the MCG.<\/p>\n
Key forward Julia Teakle kicked four goals as the Power responded to their first-round showdown loss to Adelaide to claim a 7.4 (46) to 0.6 (6) win and get their season off the mark.<\/p>\n
Bulldogs star Ellie Blackburn appeared to suffer a shoulder injury in a heavy hit from Port Adelaide’s Ebony O’Dea in the third term but played on.<\/p>\n
The game was moved from Whitten Oval to the MCG, and switched from a standalone game to a double header with the AFL elimination final between the Bulldogs and Hawthorn later on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Bulldogs coach Tamara Hyett admitted the bigger stage was a challenge for her younger group, while the MCG probably wasn’t properly kitted out for double headers, in terms of dressing rooms.<\/p>\n
“Not just yet. We are in the cricket nets,” Hyett said. “But that’s OK – we’ve been in worse in women’s football, I can tell you that.<\/p>\n
“So the cricket nets might be an upgrade from eight years ago to be honest.<\/p>\n
“Look, we know that we’ve got a lot of work to do but we’re ticking little boxes along the way and the experience that the girls will gain from tonight is probably paramount.”<\/p>\n
Former Bulldog Kirsty Lamb kicked two goals while forward Gemma Houghton was influential.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs went goalless and have kicked just one goal across two games after a first-round thumping from GWS.<\/p>\n
Hyett conceded closing the gap to better teams wasn’t “a quick fix” and it would probably take two to three years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fears of a potential ACL injury to captain Janelle Cuthbertson has soured Port Adelaide’s commanding 40-point AFLW victory over the battling Western Bulldogs at the MCG. Key forward Julia Teakle kicked four goals as the Power responded to their first-round showdown loss to Adelaide to claim a 7.4 (46) to 0.6 (6) win and get […]<\/p>\n