Hawthorn AFLW Senior Coach Bec Goddard has highlighted how young her side still is when reflecting on her team's 59-point loss to Melbourne on Friday night.
Despite the heavy defeat, a couple of positives out of the game were that the Hawks won the inside 50 count by one and were able to create some promising passages of play.
However, that hard work resulted in just one goal and five behinds for the night.
Questioned about the side’s inside 50 efficiency, Goddard said it was more of a case of inexperience than anything else.
“I don’t look at it as efficiency, I look at it as young players trying to find their way,” she said.
“It’s not like we’re wasteful and we’re just missing set shots or anything like that, it’s more about more movement and delivery inside in the first place.”
Another positive from the game was the team’s pressure, according to Goddard.
“The pressure was really good,” she said.
“If you also said to me at the start of the night that we were going to have one more inside 50 than them, I would’ve said: ‘What?’ so yeah there are a couple of good things.
“If you look at where we were at six weeks ago when we played them (in a practice match) to where we are now, we were much better.”
Irishwoman Aine McDonagh was the sole goalkicker on the night for the Hawks, taking her tally for the season to four majors.
In the process, she became the side’s leading goalkicker not only for the season but in the club’s AFLW history – surpassing former vice-captain Jess Duffin with a total of eight majors across two seasons.
“Aine each week is becoming a much better player,” Goddard said.
“If you consider this time last year, she played two games, like not even that, so what she’s now able to do is pretty incredible.
“She gets up, she gets on with it every week as most Irish players do.”
Hawthorn returns to Kinetic Stadium, Frankston for a second straight week when it takes on Brisbane on Sunday afternoon.
Tickets for the game start from just $10 while kids enter for free.
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