Hawthorn secured a 38-point win over Carlton in its 2024 AFLW season opener, the first official game under new Senior Coach Daniel Webster.
Webster reflected on the game, speaking to the work put in during the pre-season, the game style the Hawks want to play, and the history-making scoreline.
See the key points from Webster’s press conference below.
On the result against Carlton
“It’s obviously fantastic, we put a lot of work in over the preseason to get to this point. And I thought the way the players performed today was awesome, especially in tricking conditions as well. The wind was clearly favouring one end so it’s going to be important when going against it how we’re going to not only defend the ground but score. We were able to kick a couple of goals into the breeze which I think is massive in these games, it just made it so much harder throughout but I thought we adapted really really well.”
On importance of McDonagh and Gilroy in forward structure
“Massively important. Aine (McDonagh) is a leader for us down there and is very good at setting other people up and the way Gilly (Aileen Gilroy) plays is just so hard at it as well as the run. So they’re two very influential players for us, they set the tone for us down there and makes the job for the others a lot easier.”
On the new game style
“Absolutely, we want to be good in all facets of the game. I think the good thing that I was pleased with today, to not only the conditions but the ground, like it’s obviously a bit longer and a bit skinner so you have to move the ball a different way. When we get on bigger wider grounds it gives you more opportunities and you have to set the ground slightly different so I think we definitely want to be a team that’s good at both and both link together as well.”
On Hawthorn’s highest score and biggest win in club history
“It’s just a nice thing for everyone really, there’s a lot of things that go into it from a lot of people and that goes back to the last two years as well. The amount of work that everyone’s done to set the list up and all the work Bec’s (Goddard) put in around the culture and that. I think that we’re just moving into that next phase hopefully, we want to be a team that can start to move up the ladder and win games and play like this, so I think it’s just the next part of our evolution that we’re trying to achieve as a football club.”
Watch Webster’s full post-match press conference below.
