Hawthorn coach Bec Goddard has praised her playing group for fighting back from a slow start to record their first interstate win.
Sydney came out firing at Henson Park with the first two goals of the game before the Hawks piled on the next five majors to record a 14-point win.
Goddard was proud of her players’ ability to dig deep and secure their second victory of the season.
“It’s real credit to the players because they got themselves out of that (slow start), they were the ones that did that work,” she said.
“They’ve got real character and showed a hell of a lot of resilience today and it makes you really proud as a coach when you see them all do that themselves.”
Making the win even sweeter was doing it in another state – something that the Hawks weren’t able to do last season.
Goddard said it was a “great feeling” to celebrate it with not just the players, but also the staff.
“We just had all the staff in the rooms do the song with us too because those are the moments you have to celebrate, especially when you’re a new team in the competition and all of the work that everyone puts in to make us great,” she said.
“Travelling interstate under those conditions, it was damn hot as well so I’m really proud of the win.”
Hawthorn was able to set up the win off the back of a dominant three goals to one behind third quarter.
Goddard highlighted a theme and a player that personified that theme post-game.
“We knew that the third quarter was probably our last chance to score heavily,” she said.
“The way we were going to score was going to be off the back of elite pressure.
“Players like Stratts (Kristy Stratton) did that unbelievably well today and set herself up to have some shots on goal.”
It was a breakout game for Kristy Stratton who scored two goals from her seven disposals to go with five score involvements, three tackles and an important goal assist.
The 26-year-old has been building up to a game like this with her early season form, averaging 10.3 disposals and 7.7 tackles from her seven appearances for the Hawks.
“I just said to her on the way down: That’s your best game’ and she said: ‘I just did my bit’ which is true, but in the previous weeks, we didn’t have the other support around her to be able to do that and show what she can do really well,” Goddard said when speaking about Stratton.
The Hawks will look to make it two from two in their 2023 Indigenous Guernseys on Friday night when they travel to Cazalys Stadium in Cairns for the first time to face Richmond.
