On the result:

“They hung in there and so did we. I thought we played well in patches, but our midfield was really combative at contests which was good.

“You probably can’t underestimate a short turnaround after the flight back from Perth on Sunday…I was just really proud of the players for how they prepared and recovered coming into this game.

“It was a really significant win for us today.”

On Heidi Woodley’s performance:

“She’s been building. She’s a powerful, speedy player, and  is really good with ball in hand.

“I think every game she has gotten better and today she was rewarded for it.”

On forward-half pressure:

“From our point of view, we felt like we used the ball better which helped in the second half.

“Port dropped a player – it felt like they were hanging back a bit – so we were just smarter with ball in hand which also helped our entries.

“I’m really happy for some of the forwards – I thought Greggy (Elaine Grigg) was really good with her pressure today, Gav (Ellie Gavalas) played her role, Blackers (Ellie Blackburn) as well. They all had an impact on the game today.

“I’m really happy with what they are doing down there.”

On Keeley Hardingham up against Matilda Scholz:

“Keels was great. She was a really good competitor today and that’s all we asked her to do.

“Matilda is such an amazing ruck and athlete, and we knew that potentially she would have some dominance around centre bounce.

“I thought (Keeley) was able to halve a fair few contests, but also the work that our mids did at ground level, curbed (Matilda’s) impact significantly.”

On the stoppage clearance count:

“As I said, they are a really strong contest-clearance team and like to bring the pressure inside their bubble. We knew if we could match it with them, be really combative and try to halve as many as possible, that it would give us a really good look.

“It’s a real credit to the coaches – our midfield coach Pete, Cav, even Brendon Lade helping out – we were really able to put some time into their mids and follow through from there.”

On the run home:

“We’re 5-2, so we’re happy with where we are at.

“I still think we’ve got significant improvement in us, and have got another five games to prove that we can compete with the best.

“I think we’ve laid a really good foundation so far. Today is something to build on.”

On the biggest lessons from today:

“In the first half, we had enough of the ball especially in the first quarter, but just didn’t capitalise.

“All the stats looked good but the scoreboard wasn’t representative of that.

“I think we’re able to maximise those opportunities inside 50 in the second half, so was happy with the ability to finish off today.”