AFLW 2024: West Coast struggle to contain Fremantle in dominant match simulation display

West Coast have been overrun by cross-town rivals Fremantle Dockers, who cruised to a 56-point victory in an official match simulation session at Mineral Resources Park on Friday night. The visitors put on a dominant display in the 80-minute session leading at every break and holding the Eagles goalless for the first half to record a comfortable 10.11 (71) to 2.3 (15) win under lights. The Dockers were clinical from the opening bounce with the ball spending the majority of the game inside their forward 50 as the home side struggled to contain Irish forward Aine Tighe who booted three goals. West Coast defender Sasha Goranova successfully returned to the field for the first time since rupturing her ACL last season and said while the margin did not favour her side there were plenty of positives to take from the hit-out. “I think regardless of the scoreboard it was good to see we had moments where we were able to switch on,” she said. “To see that we can turn it around and we can play good footy, its just a matter of doing it for longer periods of time now.” It was a physical contest typical of a western derby, and tempers flared, but Goranova said they were expecting the heat and embraced the opportunity. “We always know its going to be a hot and physical game, that’s just the rivalry we have,” she said. “I guess we also wanted to play a physical brand, because that’s just how we want to play footy – regardless of who it was we would have gone just as hard.” The Eagles came out with increased intensity in the second half as Mikayla Western kicked her side’s first goal in the third term and midfielder Abbygail Bushby added to the tally snapping a goal in the last quarter. New recruits Roxy Roux, Georgie Cleaver and Octavia Di Donato all impressed in their first game wearing the blue and yellow jumper and Goranova believes her side learnt some valuable lessons from the match. “When we hunt the ball we do really well and then when we get a bit of speed on the ball we connect well together,” she said. “I think we first just need to focus on winning the ball and then we can play our brand of footy, you can’t play good footy if you’re not getting the ball.” West Coast will play St Kilda in pre-season match at Mineral Resources Park on Friday at 1.30pm in preparation for their round one clash against Richmond.