WAGGA footballer Dougal Howard enjoyed a special moment in his fledging AFL career at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday night.
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Howard celebrated the first AFL win as he helped Port Adelaide to an important victory over Richmond in the round six clash.
The 20-year-old was thrown in the deep end for his second AFL game when the Power dropped regular ruckman Matthew Lobbe in favour of Howard.
He went up against experienced Richmond ruck pairing Ivan Maric and Shaun Hampson and played an important role in the Power’s 35-point victory.
Howard told The Daily Advertiser it was a memorable night.
“It was pretty exciting,” Howard said.
“I was pretty nervous leading up to it. I guess I dreamt about playing on the MCG and to do it for the first time on Saturday night footy was pretty exciting.
“It was a pretty awesome experience and it was great to get a win.
“We have been working very hard the last few weeks so it was good to get the four points.”
Howard had eight disposals, took two marks and made four tackles in a promising second AFL game.
The East Wagga-Kooringal and Wagga Tigers junior was marking himself harshly on Sunday.
“I was disappointed with my individual performance but it’s still early days and I’ve got a lot to learn and improve on from the game (on Saturday night),” he said.
“It’s not as much about the individual as it is about the team and we got the win.”
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley did not share Howard’s thoughts on his own performance and mentioned in the post-game press conference how pleased he was with the role he played.
“Dougal came in and worked really hard,” Hinkley said.
Howard said the highlight of the night was enjoying the win with his teammates.
“Getting the win and coming off at the end with the boys, it was all smiles I think,” he said.
“It’s a great bunch of mates, I’ve made some really good mates over here and it was good getting around each other after the win.”
The win over Richmond took some pressure off Port Adelaide.
It has them three wins and three losses from the opening six games and into 11th spot on the ladder.
“It’s been a really tough couple of weeks,” Howard said.
“With the few injuries we had last night, a few big names out, everyone stood up last night and played team footy.”
Howard believes he will take plenty from the experience.
“I was pretty nervous going in, going up against two other ruckman (in Maric and Hampson),” he said.
“It was a massive learning experience for me, to go up against two ruckmen bigger than me and learn what to do and how to take my game to the next level.
“I was pretty disappointed with my performance but I’m only going to get better from the experience.”