Anywhere, any time
... but Kanga coach wants home final
NORTH Melbourne’s AFLW coach Scott Gowans says the club’s partnership with Tasmania has been a “blessing” and he would love for his topof-the-ladder Kangaroos to play a final in Tasmania.
The Kangas are on top of table after consecutive wins over Carlton in the opening round at North Hobart Oval, GWS Giants in Sydney, and reigning premier Western Bulldogs in Launceston on Friday night.
More than 5000 fans turned out for their inaugural game in Hobart and 3123 saw them in Launceston _ the side’s only two games in Tasmania.
Gowans would be happy to return for a final in Tassie.
“Yeah for sure. I haven’t heard what they are going to do with all of that yet but I’m sure the AFL will chat about that,” he said.
“I’d be very comfortable playing in a final or a grand final anywhere, it just falls to preparing the best you can – it’s the old cliché, anywhere any time.”
North Melbourne has eight Tasmanians on its AFLW list _ Brittany Gibson, Daria Bannister, Emma Humphries, Jessie Williams, Maddison Smith, Nicole Bresnehan and twins Chloe and Libby Haines.
Gowans said they have fitted in beautifully.
“When they train at Arden Street you actually can’t tell the difference from a fitness and skill point of view. They just blend in, so I think it has worked to a tee,” he said.
“The Tasmanian partnership is a blessing for us.
“It has given us the oppor- tunity to travel for two our games in Hobart and Launceston in the past three weeks.
“What that means is come finals time, if we have to travel to play it holds no fears for us because we are used to it.”
North Melbourne is undefeated heading into its round four clash with Melbourne at Casey Fields on Sunday.
Gowans is reluctant to accept premiership favouritism approaching the half-way point of the season.
“From our internal statistics, our game is about a six out of 10 with what we are try- ing to achieve with our processes, which sounds crazy when you beat the reigning premier but for us we’ve got a long way to go with our improvement,”
“To be premiership favourite we have to make sure the next four weeks are really strong.
“If that means we finish on top and have a shot at a premiership, that’s fantastic.
“We’re not in it to come second, so if we get the opportunity we will be very blessed and we’ll give it a red hot crack.”