NORTH Melbourne coach Darren Crocker has admitted Friday night's clash with Port Adelaide "wasn't the ideal fixturing" for his side.
The Roos played a home game at the Western Bulldogs' home ground of Mission Whitten Oval, rather than their true home base of Arden Street, due to the broadcast quality lights, and netted a crowd of 943 vocal Roos fans.
ROOS V POWER Full match details and stats
Compounding the location, the match was fixtured for 5:05pm AEST due to the AFL preliminary final taking place at 7:40pm in Sydney, and heavy rain fell for much of the game.
"Friday night game, five o'clock, out at Whitten Oval. Could be our home game, some time scheduled over the weekend at Arden Street, potentially a time that's more conducive to getting crowds there," Crocker said post-match.
"We regularly pack out Arden Street given the right fixturing of times, so that's an AFL question about fixturing us out at Whitten Oval at five o'clock on Friday night."
His Roos are one of the form teams of the competition, undefeated four matches in and boasting a host of AFLW stars. They won't let fixturing, or weather, deter them from the goal of going one better this year, after losing the Grand Final to Brisbane last year.
"We'll just keep fronting up no matter who it is, when it is, where it is. That's pretty much our mantra," Crocker said.
"We'll just try to come and bring our best football and our best identity whenever we have to play and whoever, and wherever. But yeah, I think from a scheduling perspective, it wasn't the ideal fixturing for us."
Amidst North Melbourne's 36-point win, a tackle from small forward Alice O'Loughlin is likely to receive some scrutiny, despite being the recipient of a holding the ball free kick at the time. O'Loughlin was suspended after a dangerous tackle against Brisbane back in week one.
In the second quarter, O'Loughlin caught Power defender Ebony O'Dea cold, but was a little overzealous with the tackle, which included a clear slinging motion.
O'Dea remonstrated, unhappy with the treatment, resulting in a 50m penalty paid to O'Loughlin.
"We've spoken (to) Alice after a previous one, which at the time we thought she was a little bit unlucky, but we also do understand that she's just got to temper her tackling technique a little bit," Crocker said.
"It's such a difficult one because you want them to play with strong intent and I just find that it can really vary from player to player in regards to who can hold themselves up, who's a little bit stronger than another player.
"Personally, I don't think she should have anything to worry about."
Port Adelaide coach Lauren Arnell admitted that she was "surprised" it was a free kick against O'Dea in the moment, but didn't comment on any potential match review scrutiny.
