Wings clipped, but only slightly

As a club, the Hawks had a rough weekend in South Australia

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ROUND 3: CROWS 9.4 (58) def HAWKS 4.8 (32) 

📝 Main recap:

It was a devastating weekend in Adelaide with the women's team going down to the Crows by 26 points in our first loss of the season. 

Despite the loss, there's still a lot that we can be proud of. Given that Adelaide are one of the foundational powerhouse teams of the W, playing them at their undefeated home ground of Unley Oval was always going to be a big challenge for us. 

Adelaide's Danielle Ponter had a day out, kicking five goals, but we never let up our pressure against the Crows led by an impressive performance from our returning captain Emily Bates. 

🧐 Things we like to see — Emily Bates (pretty simple)

After being a late out last week with calf tightness, captain Emily Bates was back in full swing. She recorded an equal team-high 28 disposals, an equal game-high six tackles, 13 contested possessions and one goal. She was our best player on the ground and polled four votes in the ALFCA AFLW Champion Player of the Year voting. 

Em Bates = star

🧐 Things we like to see — Jas Fleming, a rapidly rising star

Following a great performance against the Pies last week, Jas backed it up with another impressive game against the Crows. She collected an equal team-high 28 disposals, tied with Bates, a game-high eight inside 50s and an equal team-high five score involvements. It was exciting to see her able to match the pace of premiership players like Ebony Marinoff and Chelsea Randall. 

🧐 Things we like to see — Tamara Smith’s first AFLW goal

We love a defender sneaking forward and kicking truly.

Tam Smith. Loves a goal.

Defensive lynchpin and inaugural Hawk Tamara Smith kicked her first ever AFLW goal from a set shot following a 50-metre penalty to put us on the board in the opening quarter of the match. 

🧐 Things we like to see — Plenty more Mack to come

The sourness of the loss didn't last for long as we found out on Monday morning that defender Mackenzie Eardley has signed a long-term deal until the end of 2027. Eardley has proved herself a force to be reckoned with and securing her for the future is a massive win for the club. 

On deciding to stay at Hawthorn, Mack said, 'I just feel like I belong here and like I said I couldn't imagine myself anywhere else and I just can't wait to see where the club goes from here.' 

🧐 Things we like to see — Tackling pressure

Led by Mackenzie Eardley with an equal-game high eight tackles, it was fantastic to see us apply pressure to the Crows even as the game got away from us, beating them on tackles 69-51. Even after Adelaide's onslaught of goals in the second quarter, we remained competitive until the last minute against one of the biggest teams in the competition. 

define: Mack Attack

📈 Room for Improvement - Marking

Marking has been a big area where we have struggled in the past and it was evident again against the Crows. We got outmarked 60-43 and particularly on contested marks 6-1. 

📈 Room for Improvement - Keeping up with the pace

The Crows operate at a higher level than we do. Their game is clearly faster and cleaner. We need to develop quicker decision-making skills to keep up with teams who are capable of playing at a faster pace. We often did well to get the ball but the Crows would quickly make us pay if we didn't move it on fast enough. 

🤕 Injury watch

After sustaining an injury against the Pies last week, Casey Sherriff has undergone surgery on her leg and ankle. Her return date is unknown. 

Bridie Hipwell also came away from the game in Adelaide with lower leg soreness but has been named to face St Kilda this week. 

🏅 Final Score

ADELAIDE 1.1 5.3 7.4 9.4 (58) 
HAWTHORN 1.2 1.2 2.5 4.8 (32) 

GOALS 
Adelaide: Ponter 5, Gould 2, Charlton, Levy 
Hawthorn: Smith, Bates, McDonagh, Breed 

📉 The ladder check-in

We slipped from first to fifth placed on the ladder at the end of Round 3.

🆙⏭️ What’s up next?

We've made three changes to our line-up for this week's game against St Kilda at Moorabbin Oval on Saturday afternoon (September 21, 2:05pm). Kristy Stratton returns from a hamstring injury, Louise Stephenson will play her first game for the Hawks this season and Laura Elliott has been recalled after playing against the Blues. 

Missing out after going to Adelaide are first-year Hawks Jess Vukic and Hayley McLaughlin as well as Charlotte Baskaran. 

This will be our third time playing St Kilda in as many seasons. In 2022 (Season 7), we lost to them by 53 points but a year later in 2023, we only went down by nine points. 

St Kilda currently sit top of the ladder as one of only two teams to win all three opening games having smashed Gold Coast by 54 points in Round 1, beat Sydney by 16 points in Round 2 and Essendon by eight points in Round 3. They finished 9th last season, only missing finals by 4.6%. 

This game will be another challenge for us. Players to watch include forward Jesse Wardlaw, who kicked two goals and had 17 disposals against Gold Coast in Round 1, and defender Serene Watson, who had a game-high 22 disposals against Essendon last week. 

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