LUCY MCEVOY'S assessment of Sunday afternoon’s one-point thriller against Essendon?

“A little bit tight for my liking.”

Speaking to SEN on Tuesday morning, while McEvoy would have preferred a more comfortable finish to her side’s Round 2 clash, she was proud of the Game Changers’ efforts to withstand opposition pressure.

“We had the lead heading into the last quarter, then gave up a few easy ones but we were able to hold on which is the main thing and we’ll take the four points,” McEvoy said.

06:32

McEvoy talks Essendon win, Indigenous Round

Lucy McEvoy joins Garry Lyon and Tim Watson on SEN Breakfast to chat about the one point win over Essendon as part of AFLW membership day.

McEvoy and the Blues weren’t surprised by Essendon’s strong showing, expecting the pressure to come along with a vocal home crowd.

“They recruited really well and watching their game last week against the Hawks, we knew that pressure was the main component of their game.

“We really felt that pressure in the third and the fourth, but we were able to hold up against it which was really pleasing from our perspective. With the players they’ve got, we knew they were going to be one of the stronger expansion sides.”

01:37

"We wear it with pride": Unveiling our season seven Indigenous guernsey

Hear from Kerryn Peterson, Gab Pound and 18-year-old Indigenous artist Brooke Sutton on what the design of our season seven Indigenous guernsey means to the Carlton Football Club.

McEvoy has strung together two strong performances, made all the more impressive by her early return from a pre-season shoulder injury.

“Three or four weeks after surgery, the recovery was really slow and I thought it would be a bit tight to get back to play when I wanted to,” she said.

“When I was able to get it moving and get running, everything started progressing really quickly and once I started contact I didn’t really have any hiccups.

“I had one test to pass before Round 1 and I think I was trying to push so hard on that strength test I thought I might pop something else. I was just glad I was able to get up and hopefully it holds up until the end of the season.”

Now Carlton’s focus shifts to next weekend – a clash with a second expansion side in as many weeks and a chance to celebrate Indigenous Round at home.

“It’s fantastic and we’re really thrilled to be able to be hosting at IKON Park this weekend. We’re really looking forward to celebrating Indigenous Round and pulling on the Indigenous guernsey and it will be a really exciting game against Port.”