St Kilda’s Hannah Priest is a force to be reckoned with

The mature-aged recruit had played only two seasons of football before being drafted to the Saints in 2020. The Mildura-born defender has showed her prowess in the back line and today was no different. Taking four key marks and collecting a solid 10 disposals, Priest was an impressive asset to her side yet again.

With the early loss of young up-and-coming defender Tarni White with a suspected ACL injury, Priest and her backline fought until the end to test the experience of the Fremantle forwards.

And although today’s loss leaves a sour taste in her mouth, Priest’s ability to intercept under pressure and never lose her opponent is something all Saints and AFLW fans should be excited to follow along with.

Dockers have the Dash… Just

The win can be attested to the speed in the legs of the Freo girls, but only just. Their pace saw the Saints lift their game to another level, proving the Dockers are still the benchmark of the AFLW Competition.

The ever-experienced Kiara Bowers was strong, collecting 13 disposals and laying a massive 12 tackles to get her side over the line.

The run and carry of the whole side is a skill that not many other sides have been able to match, but the Saints pushed them to their limit today.

Despite St Kilda collecting 85 more disposals than the Dockers, the latter utilised the ball efficiently in order to scrap over the line. They remain undefeated, but they’ll need to step their game up to the next level if they want to be a danger during the finals.

Saints are on the Rise

In only their fourth AFLW match in their history, the Saints again took their game to another level and almost had the undefeated Dockers beat.

Saints Coach Peta Searle reminded her side that they have only played a handful of matches and that their efforts against a veteran Freo side is something they should be proud of.

Rosie Dillon, with 18 disposals, was pivotal for her young side, applying a new level of pressure (seven tackles) and forcing Fremantle to find another gear to scrape through for the four points.

Young Liv Vesely, with her one goal and 14 touches, has also led from the front. Despite the two injuries to Kate McCarthy and Tarni White early in the match, the Saints kept themselves right in the contest until the last minute, so should use this heartbreaking loss as strength to build on in the near future.