Adelaide ruck Jess Foley says Anne Hatchard was on another level during record-breaking AFLW game
Crows ruck Jess Foley has praised the development of midfielder Anne Hatchard after she set a new mark for the most disposals in an AFLW game in Round 1 against Brisbane Lions.
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Anne Hatchard’s transformation on and off the field has been much hyped, so not a single one of her Adelaide teammates was surprised the dynamic midfielder set a new AFLW record for most disposals during Saturday’s 13-point loss to Brisbane.
Ruck Jess Foley said Hatchard — who has overhauled her diet and perfected her footy skills over the course of 18 months — was incredible as she worked her way to a record-breaking 35 disposals (18 kicks, 17 handballs, nine marks, one hit out and six tackles).
In the process, Hatchard beat teammate Ebony Marinoff’s previous record of 33 touches set in round 3 last year against Geelong.
“She was playing on another level,” Foley said from the subdued Adelaide changerooms after the game.
“But we knew it was coming, she’s looked so fit, she’s done so much work in the off-season, so we were expecting that to happen.”
Hatchard said of her effort: “I guess it’s pretty cool, coming from season one where I didn’t really touch the ball much, getting a bit fitter and being able to run around the midfield is pretty cool, but in the end we did lose.”
Brisbane started the match with two quick goals while limiting the Crows forward movement as rain set in, leaving the reigning premiers scoreless until midway through the second term.
In the end, those two early goals were the difference.
“We’re a bit disappointed early on with our contest and the way we came out in the game, we thought in the first five minutes they got the jump on us … but at the same time, we’ve got lots to work on and there were lots of positives in the game,” Foley said.
“We can be sad for a day, but then we get back to work.”
Foley, whose 24 hit-outs were important for Adelaide, said what was pleasing from the Crows’ perspective, was the improvement around the contest as the game went on, the defence which stood up under Lions pressure and the seven debutants who will be all the better for their first run.
Foley said, certainly, the slippery conditions made it tougher for the travelling Crows who’d not had much pre-season wet-weather footy in which to prepare.
But she said the side would take plenty of positives out of their 13-point loss to the Lions.
“Certainly there are a lot of things to work on out of today and sometimes you can’t see all of the areas that you’re lacking in until you get into games,” she said.
“There were plenty of positives and I think we’ll all be looking forward to getting out there again next week.”
A relief is also that the club came through the game without adding any new names to its injury list.
“Given the situation we were in during the week having to bring in top-up players we can’t really afford any more injuries,” Foley said.
“Certainly if we can keep a relatively similar group together and get a few people back from injury in the next few weeks that will help us.”
But coach Matthew Clarke wasn’t using his extensive injury list (he had only 21 of his 30 players fit for round one) as any excuse for the loss.
“Overall, injuries had very little to do with that outcome,” he said.
“(Brisbane) just played a really good game, particularly played the conditions really well.
“We were second to the ball at times.”