The move that set Port Adelaide semi-finalist Abbey Dowrick on fire

THREE QUARTERS of Saturday’s semi-final against Hawthorn, star Port Adelaide midfielder Abbey Dowrick had touched the ball just six times.

The Power were 22 points behind and struggling to develop their dangerous attacking style, built on contested football, and something had to change. During the meeting it was suggested that Dowrick should be deployed elsewhere, and a shift forward was the eventual result.

Dowrick then played a stunning final quarter, scoring two important goals from seven disposals and proving instrumental Port Adelaide’s come-from-behind victory.

“Abbey has probably been our best all year, especially in terms of yards gained, and didn’t feel her best all night. To go to her at three-quarter time, she had great support in the coaching group and Shane Grimm, our head of footy, to just say, ‘Hey, what else can we do with ‘Abs?'” Port Adelaide coach Lauren Arnell said in the aftermath of the win.

“It wasn’t just my idea, it was definitely the whole group’s idea to say, ‘Let’s swing her forward’… I think the whole team just got on with it, and really happy for Abbey too. I think it gives more confidence for Abs.” to know that even when you feel like there isn’t much left in the tank, there always is.”

For Dowrick, it simply came down to trust. In Arnell, the wider coaching staff and the system the Power have played in.

“I trust ‘Loz’ completely. She has been there from the start of my AFLW career and has just supported me in the process she has put in place,” Dowrick said. AFL.com.au.

“I think that’s why I’m so proud of her and the team. It just shows on the pitch now what kind of football we’re trying to play.

“So I’m doing what the coaches want…I couldn’t get my hands on much in the middle of the foot, and then I came forward and I felt like I had a little bit more freedom, I guess. I just had to run around a little bit more and put a little score on the board, which is cool.”

However, there is a world where Dowrick is not in this position as she has just clawed her way to a preliminary final and made history in Port Adelaide.

She was a very talented junior and took a step back from the game as a teenager after falling out of love with it.

Elite talent paths and high expectations had taken their toll. But a move from her home in Western Australia to South Australia in 2022 to reunite with sister Mackenzie, who was playing for Adelaide at the time, and a handful of SANFLW games with Woodville-West Torrens lifted the spirits for once of the game. more.

“My sister talked me into playing SANFLW and it all took off from there,” Dowrick said.

“I think it was probably best for me to leave Washington and start a new life. I haven’t looked back since. I enjoyed every moment I was in Adelaide.

“The girls and the staff just make it that much better and more fun because they’re like family. When you’re away from home it’s quite difficult, but they make it so much easier.”

The life she has built in South Australia includes a relationship – both on and off the field – with Matilda Scholz, the team’s star player. The key to their successes in football and life was the ability to separate the two.

“Me and Matilda had a bit of a relationship on the pitch, connections-wise, before we started dating. But we just do really well, I think, at separating our outdoor life and our football life. Footy is what we absolutely love , so we never let our relationship get in the way of that,” Dowrick said.

“Footy is footy, and our outdoor life is our outdoor life.”

However, keeping things separate hasn’t stopped Dowrick from admiring Scholz’s impressive performances on the field.

“She’s incredible,” Dowrick said.

“I mean, she shoots. Maybe Mark of the Year, we’ll just have to wait and see, but of course I’ll just sit there and smile. Proud of her, just like most girls.’

Now that attention has turned to the biggest match in Port Adelaide’s short AFLW history, Saturday’s preliminary final against minor premier North Melbourne, there is an air of confidence about Dowrick and her teammates.

It is not unearned confidence, or rashness. Instead, it’s a solid confidence in the foundation the club has laid in its three seasons in the league.

“We’ll give it our all, we’ll give it a good try. We’re a completely different team as I think it was round four when we got the hang of them,” Dowrick said.

“As we do every week, we’ll just do our homework again and then see what we want to show on the field. They’re a great team, but we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.” and go from there.

“It’s almost cool to be the underdog because people don’t expect that. And then when you come out, people are like, ‘Oh wait a minute, these Powergirls aren’t here to mess around.'”