AFLW Season Preview: Is finals on the cards?

New coach, new captain, new belief.

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The latest member of the Hawks Insiders team JULIA FARAGHER previews the AFLW Season.

Our third season in the AFLW is about to begin and there has never been a more exciting time to be a supporter of the Hawthorn women’s team.

It’s gearing up to be an absolutely massive season. We won both of our two pre-season outings by record margins and we have a new coach Daniel Webster and new captain Emily Bates. Even though we only have 10 weeks of home and away to enjoy the footy, the Hawks are set to make a mark on the AFLW this year.

I’m so thrilled to be reporting for duty as your new Hawks Insiders AFLW correspondent. As a lifelong Hawks fan, my credentials include:

• Getting snowed on at the 2019 game against GWS at Manuka Oval;

• Tearing up as Sophie Locke kicked our first goal at Docklands Stadium in 2022; and

• Driving 16 hours there and back to Adelaide for Gather Round earlier this year.

Welcome to the HI family Julia!

Our season kicks off this Sunday afternoon (September 1, 1.05pm) at Frankston Park with our first ever outing against Carlton.

New leadership

There’s plenty of new faces at Hawthorn this AFLW season as new coach Daniel Webster takes over from our inaugural coach Bec Goddard who retired from coaching at the end of last season. Webster was an assistant coach at Brisbane for the last two seasons, including as midfield coach of last year’s AFLW premiership team. He also led the Aspley Hornets to back-to-back premierships in the men’s QAFL. 

Daniel Webster: A new voice in the box.

Joining Webster is our new captain Emily Bates, hot off her Hawthorn AFLW Best and Fairest win last year. Bates joined Hawthorn ahead of the 2023 season from Brisbane, where she was a premiership player in the 2021 side. She was also the AFLW Best and Fairest winner in Season 6 (2022) and is a three-time All-Australian. Needless to say, she’s a phenomenal player and I can’t wait to see her lead out our team in 2024.

New recruit Eliza West is our new vice-captain while outgoing captain Tilly Lucas-Rodd remains in the leadership group alongside Jasmine Fleming and Jenna Richardson.

This group means business.

Last season

In 2023, we won three out of 10 games and finished 14th on the ladder. Our three wins came against the Western Bulldogs in Round 2 (seven points), Sydney in Round 7 (14 points and our first interstate win) and Port Adelaide in Round 9 (eight points).

Despite being boosted by the arrival of Emily Bates and Greta Bodey from Brisbane’s premiership side, on the face of the stats it looked pretty similar to our 2022 season where we also finished with three wins. But as a young club, we were still finding our feet and showed a lot of promise even in games where we weren’t as good at hitting the scoreboard.

Pre-season performance

After losing every pre-season game across our first two seasons, we won both our match simulation game against Essendon and our practice match against Sydney this year.

It’s a pretty great start to 2024 and hopefully we can take that winning energy through to the season. Both Essendon and Sydney played finals last year so it’s great to know we’re competitive against good sides.

In our first on field appearance since the season ended eight months ago last November, we beat Essendon in the match simulation game by 15 points. Highlights include our accuracy in front of goal (9.1) and Aine McDonagh’s impressive three goal haul.

Aine McDonagh looks set for a big season.

We beat Sydney at the SCG in the practice match by 49 points. Such an absolutely dominant performance should fill us with confidence for the season. 49 points is our biggest winning margin ever, with two goals each from Aine McDonagh and Bridie Hipwell. Our defensive efforts also improved, restricting the Swans to a single goal each quarter.

The first game

We kick off our season with a home game against Carlton. It will be the first time we ever play Carlton in the AFLW. They have a long history in the AFLW as an inaugural club from the first season in 2017 but we’ve amassed a great list in only our third season. This is a really good chance to start off 2024 with a great performance as Carlton only banked one more win than us last year.

We have three players set to debut: Mikayla Williamson, Jess Vukic and Laura Stone. Laura Stone and Jess Vukic were both recruited from the Eastern Ranges during the expansion pre-signing period at the end of the 2023 season while Mikayla Williamson was selected at Pick 17 in the 2023 national draft.

New recruits Eliza West and Casey Sherriff, both traded from Melbourne, will run out in the brown and gold for the first time. It will be particularly exciting to see Sherriff in action for us given that she grew up as a Hawthorn supporter.

We’re missing Mackenzie Eardley (quad), Sophie Locke (knee) and Kristy Stratton (hamstring) due to injury.

This season

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, we will play a total of 11 games across 10 weeks of the home and away season. 

We’re set to face four new teams we’ve never played before: after Carlton comes Collingwood (Round 2), Adelaide (Round 3) and Gold Coast (Round 6.1).

There are plenty of chances for hometown fans to see Hawthorn play in Victoria with eight games taking place in our home state. We have interstate trips booked to Adelaide and Perth, plus our home game up in Cairns at Cazalys Stadium.

Could we play finals twice in one year?

Gemma Bastiani from afl.com.au has tipped Hawthorn to play finals for the first time in 2024. Let’s dare to dream: it’s going to be an exciting third season of AFLW and there’s never been a better time to get on board.

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