Hawthorn Senior Coach Daniel Webster said his team would benefit from the lessons learnt following their 26-point loss against Adelaide at Thomas Farms Oval on Sunday afternoon.
In the first-ever clash between the Hawks and the Crows, it was the home side who proved too strong on the day, ending Hawthorn’s undefeated start to the season.
Webster spoke about the challenges and tests that came from the game in his post-match press conference.
We summarised his key points below.
On the game
“A lot of lessons learnt today. When you play one of the best sides in the competition, that’s generally what you get out of it. I thought it was a very contested game and hot early. Obviously the wind was a bit tricky to adjust to. We started okay, that second quarter really hurt us when they got on top. We were a little bit reactive and sat back a bit as opposed to kind of getting after the game and putting pressure on them. Their better players got rolling and obviously (Danielle) Ponter’s kicked five and (Ebony) Marinoff as per usual got her hands on it a lot. They’re obviously a tough team.”
On the wind
“Whenever you start with it and kind of don’t maximise it, it’s always difficult. The last quarter showed we can score the other way. As I said, in the second quarter was where a lot of damage was done.”
On the contest
“I thought definitely the first two and a half quarters, they were more consistent in around the contest. I think they were definitely on top in contested footy early. Obviously with the free kick count, we hurt ourselves a lot and some poor contest and ill discipline at times as well. You just can’t do that against anyone, let alone one of the best teams in the competition.”
On the Hawks’ start to the season
“It’s been a good start to get two out of the three but we know we’ve got to keep improving. There’s a lot left in what we’ve got and what we’re doing so yeah, it’s a matter of bouncing back. We’re starting to head into the compressed fixture part of the season which will be challenges every team’s got to face but we’re looking forward to it. The more footy we play, the better. We’re ready to get going for next week.”
On taking learnings from the match
“Going into the game, we knew it was going to be a big test and we knew we were going to learn a lot about ourselves. There’s so much newness to what we’re doing in our squad and how we’re playing so to have a test like this early in the season is magnificent for us. If we go about it the right way and we learn from and build off it, then we’ll be a dangerous side. It’s on us to take those lessons and learnings and get better.”
Watch Webster’s full post-match press conference below.
