LAST weekend in the VFLW saw plenty of exciting results, and some that may play a telling role in how the season ends up.

In this week’s match of the round, it was Hawthorn who accounted for the Southern Saints in the Hawks’ first home match of the season.

The first quarter was one of swinging momentums. The Hawks had much of the early play but just couldn’t convert. They finally got their first goal on the board through Dominique Carbone after about seven minutes, as she threaded the ball home from the boundary.

Emma Humphries found their second goal a few minutes later, before Olivia Flanagan slotted one for the Saints only a minute later.

The Hawks then got their third through Isabelle Khoury and stopped at nothing to defender their lead, as Amelia Peck almost got the Saints’ second on the board but was denied by a brilliant diving save from Ellie McLinden.

At quarter time it was an 11-point lead to the Hawks.

The second quarter was a much lower scoring affair than the first. 

The Hawks got the first goal of the second term through Tamara Luke to extend their lead out to 17 points.

It then took until about four minutes to go for the second goal of the term, which went to the Saints after Rebecca Neaves kicked one from about 50m out. 

That would be it for the term as the margin remained at 11 points at the main break.

For all the good attacking work the Hawks did in the opening minutes of the third term, they just could not convert on the scoreboard.

It was a very even third term, with neither side able to put a goal on the board the entire term.

As both teams turned for home, the margin was 13 points.

The Saints through Kayla Ripari got the first goal of the last term to reduce the margin back down to seven points and bring some life back into this game.

The Hawks got one back through Luke after some poor defensive work from the Saints.

Luke then got her third to extend their margin to 19 points.

That was ultimately the final nail in the coffin for the Saints as the Hawks would go on to win by 21 points.

For the Hawks, Jenna Richardson was impressive all day on the last line of defence, while Luke really lifted in the last term and can take a lot of credit for the Hawks ultimately running away with the match.

Meanwhile for the Saints, Grace Buchan was particularly impressive across the half back line.

In other results:

Darebin’s good run of recent form came to an end at the hands of North Melbourne. Although the Falcons led for most of the game, they lost it towards the back end of the third term and North ran away with things after that.

Alyssa Mifsud was the only multiple goal kicker on the ground with two, while Reni Hicks, Annabel Scott and Jessica Mourney all picked up more then 20 touches.

Collingwood’s rocky premiership defence continues, this time going down to Geelong by 35 points. It was a seesawing contest early, but ultimately Geelong were just too strong and ran away with the match.

Melissa Bragg, Emily Ramsay and Matilda Zander all kicked two goals for their respective sides, while Laura Gardiner had a whopping 37 touches, and Paige Sheppard and Nicole Hales both had over 20 touches for their respective sides.

Essendon had another good win, this time downing Carlton by 46 points. The Bombers led from start to finish, and ultimately ran away with the match.

Mia-Rae Clifford kicked three goals for the Bombers, while Bella Ayre kicked two and Georgia Nanscawen racked up the possessions in the middle, finishing with 31.

Meanwhile for the Blues, Bry Gurr and Amelia Klingbeil both picked up 21 touches.

Casey’s undefeated run continues, this time defeating Williamstown by 21 points. Although the Seagulls came back at the Dees in the second term, the scoreless start really did them no favours.

Both Cara McCrossan and skipper Samantha Johnson booted two majors for the Dees, while Johnson and Jasmine Kawa were the respective leading ball getters for their sides with 22 touches each.

Port Melbourne registered its second win of the season while keeping the Western Bulldogs’ winless run intact. The Bulldogs did not score a goal until the last term so in the end were never really in the match scoreboard wise.

Sarah Dargan was the only multiple goal kicker on the ground with two, while Eliza Vale picked up 29 touches for the Dogs and Sophie Locke picked up 24 in her last game for the Borough.