“It’s very disappointing to come away from what has been such a great start and such a great run as well today,” Ward said post-match. “You could say we weren’t quite at the races. Coming off the park I think you could say we were second best in many duels, and that reflected on the scoreline at the end of the game.
“We had to impose ourselves, which we didn’t do as much as we did in other games. Any time we got any momentum, they slowed down their play. They took their time and bought their fouls, which ended up really slowing the momentum, and stopping us building any momentum.
“We didn’t have many chances, and we could have done better with them. Collectively we weren’t at the races, but we dust ourselves down and go again on Tuesday.”