Albany’s Sophie McDonald draws praise in first game of the season, helping quell star Crow Erin Phillips

Albany key defender Sophie McDonald returned to the West Coast Eagles AFLW team in impressive fashion but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 33-point defeat at the hands of the Adelaide Crows on Saturday.
McDonald played five matches for the Eagles last season and was an emergency in the opening two weeks of the 2022 before being brought into the round three team to face the Crows at the Swinburne Centre in Melbourne.
The 21-year-old was set the big task of quelling Crows star Erin Phillips in attack, limiting her to one goal from 18 possessions.
Playing deep in defence, McDonald had seven touches, three of which were contested, and went at 100 per cent kicking efficiency.
She finished with seven intercepts, three tackles and two marks to be a standout in her first game of the season.
The Eagles backline was under plenty of pressure in the 6.6 (42) to 1.3 (9) defeat as they had to deal with 36 inside-50 entries from the Crows, with Pingrup’s Belinda Smith collecting seven disposals and four marks for the losing side.

Eagles coach Michael Prior said there were positive signs in the loss to the Crows, including the display from McDonald.
“I thought ‘Soph Mac’ coming into the team down back played a pivotal role,” he said.
“She took some intercept marks, she used the ball really well coming out of our back half.”
Denmark tall Parris Laurie was used in the ruck and up forward and finished with 13 possessions, five intercepts and seven marks, including three contested.

She also had six hit-outs and one clearance.
The Eagles kicked their only goal of the game in the opening term through Aimee Schmidt and trailed by one point at the first break.
However the Crows extended that margin to 13 points by half-time and kicked two goals in the third term to all but end any hope of an Eagles comeback.
The Eagles will now face St Kilda in round four at Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Saturday.
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