West Coast head of women’s football Michelle Cowan says she’s noticed a shift in hunger and maturity from the playing group, as the Eagles are on the fringes of making their first AFLW finals.
Daisy Pearce’s side let an opportunity to lock in a maiden finals appearance last weekend against a fired-up Sydney side, sending the push for finals to the final round in a must-win game against Carlton.
With the Eagles on the cusp of finals, Cowan says West Coast has unfinished business and is hungry to make club history.
“The way that I’ve seen them approach every round, when we’ve won, they’re happy, but they’re unsatisfied,” she told SportFM.
“It’s that want to play finals football and that hunger to continue to progress and really state our claim in this competition. I can see a different set of that hunger within the team.
“When we’ve lost, the losses have really hurt them. They’ve wanted to know why and then get to work and improve. It’s been a really big shift in maturity this year.
“We used to win our games and celebrate them for a while, but you can just see it’s unfinished business for us. We just want more and more, and we want to play finals football.”
Last weekend, the Eagles suffered a huge blow, losing star midfielder Ella Roberts last minute to a hamstring injury. The midfielder looks set to return Friday after making it through Wednesday’s main training session unscathed.
However, speedster Mikayla Western is no certainty for the Carlton clash, after being sent away for scans after tweaking her knee.
Rising Star Nominee Jess Rentsch will also be benched after failing to overturn her one-match rough conduct suspension for a tackle against Sydney’s Montana Ham.
Cowan says the outcome was disappointing, but says it was a good learning curve for the young player.
“We had to go through the process with Jess as a young 19-year-old, which was a good process for us to go through,” she said.
“We were really convinced and confident that it was a legal tackle, and obviously, the tribunal saw it differently.
“Jess has been great about that result. She’s eager to watch the game on Friday night and support her teammates. No doubt someone else gets their opportunity to step into the team and perform.”
West Coast, placed seventh, can still guarantee its place in the finals with a win against Carlton on Friday in a quasi-elimination final under the lights of Leederville Oval. A win would also see them jump into the top six and in contention for a possible home final.
However, should Friday’s result not fall in their favour, they’ll need Essendon to beat Sydney. If Sydney wins, they could be knocked out by the winner of the Adelaide vs Fremantle clash on Sunday afternoon.
Should the unspeakable happen to West Coast, Cowan says the women’s program has still taken a massive step in the right direction.
“To see the Lucia Painter come through and get some games under her belt, Kayla Dagleish and Charlotte Riggs as well, getting their opportunities to play and perform has been fantastic to see,” she said.
“They’re only going to be better for it, having another 12 games under their belt next season and keep playing them at the highest level to get exposed to the game.
“We’re building something really special here. We’re really confident in Jordy (Loxley), our list manager, in the work that he’s doing to continue to build this team.
“We’ve had great progress, and I’ve seen it as a very successful season, but we are hungry to play finals.”
IMAGE: AFL.com.au