![\"AFLW](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/06646e1986a4bb934f2ef7444507cd47.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nDaisy D’Arcy has produced a dazzling display as Gold Coast’s band of youngsters posted a three-point AFLW victory over Port Adelaide in a three-goal thriller.<\/p>\n
D’Arcy racked up 34 disposals and 694m gained as the Suns, featuring nine first-year players, posted their second win of the season with a 2.5 (17) to 1.8 (14) victory.<\/p>\n
Gemma Houghton scored Port Adelaide’s only goal of the match at the 9-minute mark of the opening quarter, with the Power held to just six behinds for the rest of the match.<\/p>\n
Sunny Lapin scored Gold Coast’s first goal in the opening term with a nice effort on the run, but the Suns trailed until Havana Harris kicked truly at the 11-minute mark of the third quarter.<\/p>\n
It would prove to be the match-winning goal, with neither side able to score a major in the final term as the blustery conditions took their toll.<\/p>\n
Port had one final chance to win the match with 30 seconds remaining, but Gold Coast was able to spoil what looked set to be a certain mark.<\/p>\n
D’Arcy was the standout player, but she received plenty of help from Niamh McLaughlin (24 disposals) and Charlie Rowbottom (22 disposals, 11 tackles).<\/p>\n
Suns coach Rhyce Shaw gave a rare blast at quarter-time, and his side responded by scraping out the gritty win.<\/p>\n
“We copped a spray, but that’s what we need sometimes,” D’Arcy told Fox Footy.<\/p>\n
“The message was to go out and play our game of footy. Obviously the weather conditions meant it was going to be scrappy.<\/p>\n
“The spray was to put our head down and get to it. I thought we did that well. I’m super proud of the girls to get the win and put the head down.”<\/p>\n
Abbey Dowrick racked up seven clearances from 15 disposals for Port, while Maria Moloney finished with 17 disposals, four clearances and 10 tackles.<\/p>\n
The Power’s Matilda Scholz was a force in the ruck with 15 disposals and 20 hitouts.<\/p>\n
The result left both Gold Coast and Port with 2-2 records.<\/p>\n
McDonald fires late as Bulldogs surge to stun Swans<\/p>\n
Three final-quarter goals from young forward Emma McDonald inspired the Western Bulldogs to a soaring 27-point win over Sydney.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Emma McDonald kicked three goals in the final quarter to guide the Bulldogs to victory. (Getty Images: AFL Photos\/Jonathan DiMaggio)<\/p>\n
Down by four points at three-quarter time, the Bulldogs surged home with the breeze by kicking five unanswered goals at the Whitten Oval to win 9.6 (60) to 5.3 (33).<\/p>\n
After two behinds in the first three quarters, McDonald starred with three goals in the final term in a coming-of-age performance.<\/p>\n
Rylie Wilcox also added a major in the last quarter to finish with three goals in a best-on-ground performance.<\/p>\n
Runner-up in the last two Bulldogs’ best-and-fairest counts, Wilcox had a game-high 26 disposals to go with her game-changing day in front of goal.<\/p>\n
Coming off a thrashing by relentless back-to-back premiers North Melbourne, the Bulldogs had to overcome a burst from Swans superstar Chloe Molloy.<\/p>\n
Down at half-time, the Swans hit the lead in the third term thanks to two goals from Molloy.<\/p>\n
It was Sydney’s first defeat of the season after it opened its campaign with big wins over Adelaide, Essendon and St Kilda.<\/p>\n
But injuries have started to catch up with the Swans, who are missing high-profile recruit Taylor Smith for at least another two games.<\/p>\n
Champion Kangaroos belt St Kilda<\/p>\n
The all-conquering North Melbourne destroyed struggling St Kilda by 92 points for a record-extending 31st-consecutive victory.<\/p>\n
The winless Saints registered the first behind of the match, but North predictably stepped up after that to win 14.15 (99) to 1.1 (7)<\/p>\n
Having not lost since the 2023 grand final, the Kangaroos predictably condemned St Kilda to a fourth-straight defeat to open their season that will heap further pressure on coach Nick Dal Santo.<\/p>\n
North spearhead Tahlia Randall starred with five goals, three coming in a second-half onslaught.<\/p>\n
Veteran forward Kate Shierlaw finished with four goals, firing early with three in the first half.<\/p>\n
Midfield maestros Ash Riddell (39 possessions, one goal) and Jasmine Garner (38, 11 clearances) were typically prolific, helping the Kangaroos dominate the clearances.<\/p>\n
Ash Richards was St Kilda’s sole goal-kicker, coming in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Lions beat GWS<\/p>\n
In the final game of the day, the Brisbane Lions had a 31-point win over GWS at Ipswich.<\/p>\n
Shanae Davidson kicked two for the Lions, as they ran out winners by 7.13 (55) to 3.6 (24).<\/p>\n
The win keeps the Lions on the fringe of the top eight, behind eighth-placed Richmond on percentage.<\/p>\n
AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daisy D’Arcy has produced a dazzling display as Gold Coast’s band of youngsters posted a three-point AFLW victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[25912,64,63,4026,3195,19545,85,21453],"class_list":["post-880870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-aflw","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bulldogs","tag-kangaroos","tag-saints","tag-sports","tag-swans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/880871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}