AFLW Week 7: All the action and news from Super Saturday

Hawthorn have won their seventh game of the AFLW season after a 66-point drubbing of West Coast. Keep up to date with all of Saturday’s action here.

AFLW surprise packets Hawthorn have provisionally taken top spot of the ladder after registering their biggest ever victory in a 66-point smashing of West Coast in Frankston on Saturday.

The first quarter was a tight affair, but from that moment on, it was all the Hawks who blew open the floodgates to kick the last 10 goals of the game and run out convincing winners.

The Hawks have been the story of the season so far under new coach Daniel Webster, and the 11.8 (74) to 1.2 (8) result was the latest thrilling chapter in what has been a remarkable breakout year for the club.

They are now assured a debut finals appearance, having extended their club record winning streak to five matches, and are shaping as a legitimate threat to the stranglehold that the old firm of Adelaide, Brisbane and North Melbourne have applied on the competition.

“Fundamentally for us ... we want to play finals, we want to win finals, we want to win premierships,” Webster said.

“That’s what we want to do. We’re not going to shy away from that.”

But he admitted he didn’t expect his team to be going so well at this stage of the season.

“A lot of that was built around not knowing what the group was going to be capable of,” Webster said.

“We said at the start we’re going to have a really open mind around what we could achieve and we’ve obviously done well to this point in time.”

The exciting and entertaining Hawks are the highest scoring team in the AFLW this season and have now registered their five biggest ever scores and wins in 2024.

The Hawks are a genuine threat in 2024. Picture: Getty Images

Under Webster, they continue to lead the way in how women’s footy should be played: attacking, free-flowing, quick and aggressive – attributes that were sorely lacking in the three-goal snooze fest that Essendon and the Western Bulldogs produced just 18 hours earlier.

Webster said that keeping the ball moving at all costs had been a big focus for his side.

“It was good to get a bit more free-flow football going and a bit more speed on the ball which we always like,” Webster said.

“We want to play fast where we can ... it’s something we want to continue to do and we think with our run that we’ve got, it suits how we want to play.”

Meanwhile, West Coast will probably need to win their last three matches to secure a maiden finals bow in coach Daisy Pearce’s first season in charge.

The AFLW legend described the heavy loss as a “step back” for her team.

“They were impressive,” Pearce said of the Hawks.

“Credit to Hawthorn and how quickly they’ve been able to develop. Their ability to work all across the field, their fundamentals, they were just clearly better than us.

“You can walk away from it dejected or go, ‘Well, there’s a really good blueprint as to how you can improve quickly’.

“We’ll be honest, it wasn’t our best performance, and we’ve got a lot of work to do ... and it’s our job not to shy away from it.

“As good sides do, they were just able to keep exploiting what we gave them ... a bit overwhelmed by Hawthorn’s work rate today.”

HAWKS OVERWHELM EAGLES

Hawthorn’s trademark relentless, breakneck game style was in full swing on Saturday and the Eagles stood no chance.

West Coast were overwhelmed and struggled to get out of their backline all day. Hawthorn set up superbly behind the ball, which was a key reason behind them smashing the Eagles for forward entries (50-17).

Despite finishing with more disposals (235-190), the Hawks also destroyed the Eagles in the tackle count (70-45), which underscored just how red-hot their pressure was.

The undisciplined Eagles also gave away far too many free kicks, especially in defence, and finished 10 behind in that ledger (26-16).

Emily Bates showed she is a class above. Picture: Getty Images

BRILLIANT BATES

Emily Bates was outstanding the Hawks, finishing with 22 disposals (12 contested), eight clearances and two goals, while key forward Aine McDonagh could’ve had a day out, but had to settle for 1.3, and two shots that failed to score, from her 20 possessions (14 contested).

Eliza West was also prominent, racking up 21 touches (16), nine clearances, seven tackles and a goal, while Irish star Aileen Gilroy was lethal with a game-high three goals from her 13 disposals.

GILROY MAGIC

Gilroy kicked the match off in spectacular style as her snap shot inside the first minute from 50m out on a sharp angle, while being tackled by West Coast captain Emma Swanson, dribbled past a diving Eagles defender in the pocket and miraculously kept bouncing all the way through for a goal.

HAWTHORN MRO WORRIES

The win could come at a cost for the Hawks because Jess Vukic might have something to worry about after her sling tackle on Jess Hosking forced the latter off with a blood nose late in the final quarter. And Ainslie Kemp might also be looked at for a strong push to Kellie Gibson’s chest which floored the West Coast forward for a long time and led to her being helped from the field in the hands of trainer in considerable pain.

Originally published as AFLW Week 7: All the action and news from Super Saturday