IN a clash between first and third on the ladder, the Crows defeated Hawthorn by 26 points in their first meeting in the competition.

It was a hot contested game early with the Hawks able to keep level with the Crows in the midfield to lead by one point at quarter time.

Hawthorn coach Daniel Webster was proud of his side’s efforts in being able to keep themselves in the contest early although he credited two of Adelaide’s big guns with being able to take the game away.

Crows forward Danielle Ponter kicked a career-high and club-high five goals, while Ebony Marinoff continues to go from strength-to-strength with 33 disposals, four marks, seven tackles and six clearances.

“I thought it was a very contested game and hot early,” Webster said.

“Obviously the wind was a bit tricky to adjust to and we started okay [but] that second quarter was the one that really hurt us and they got on top.

“We were probably a bit reactive I think and sat back a little bit as opposed to kind of getting after the game and putting pressure on them and their better players got rolling.

“Ponter had a big influence kicking five [goals] and Marinoff as per usual got her hands on it a lot so obviously they are a tough team.

“I thought fundamentally there were too many big contests early on in the game and then we were on the back foot kind of chasing from there.”

When questioned about where they lost the game, Webster pointed at the inability to maximise their use of the clear scoring end of the ground, as well as some ill-discipline from his players.

“I thought definitely the first two and a half quarters, they were more consistent in and around the contest. I think they were on top in contested footy early [but] by the end of the game we were just in front,” he said.

“Obviously [when it came to] the free kick count, we hurt ourselves a lot with poor contest and some ill discipline at times as well and you just can’t do that against anyone as I said let alone the best teams in the competition.

“We will take a lot of learnings from that, and we need to and we need to improve off the back of that and I think if we do we are definitely heading in the right direction.”

The Hawks have had a hot start to their third AFLW campaign winning their two prior matches against Carlton (38 point win) and Collingwood (47 point win). The Crows presented a litmus test to see whether the Hawks were contenders or pretenders, the ability to take it up to the Crows shows they are the former.

Webster described the challenge that awaited them on Sunday afternoon.

“I think 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,” Webster continued.

“There’s so much newness to what we are doing and our squad and how we are playing so to have a test like this time of the season, [it’s] magnificent for us.

“If we go about it the right way, we can learn from and build off it then I think we will be a really dangerous side so it’s on us to take those lessons and the learnings and get better.”

From an Adelaide point of view, it was a solid win against a formidable opponent that they had never faced before, who had the players that could seriously test them in the midfield stakes.

Crows head coach Matthew Clarke spoke post-game about their star forward Ponter’s five-goal haul.

“It was a great performance, and I thought obviously the goals were outstanding but some of her work around the contest [and] at stoppage was equally as good.

“We know she’s a very talented player for a long period of time and she’s stood up for us in some really big games so it was good for her to have a day out.”

61 games into her career, the 24-year-old forward has now started to relish more time in the midfield rotation as a point of difference for Clarke’s side. When looking at her improvement as a player, Clarke reflected on how she’s developed albeit in a different position to her first two games at the level.

“Her first two AFLW games I played her in the backline, can you believe that?” Clarke chuckled.

“I mustn’t be a very good coach, but clearly [she’s got] sublime skills and really good game awareness, like she understands the game really well and makes really good decisions.

“It’s been a lot of fun to watch her play.”

The only part of the game that was disappointing for the Crows was the injury to utility Eloise Jones. Playing forward at the moment, Jones has been a great asset all over the ground with her run and carry as well as her physicality.

The prognosis after the match was not ideal, with Clarke not hiding the fact that it could be a significant stint out of the game for Jones.

“It’s an achilles, which is not great so we obviously just wait for the scans but [it’s] not looking wonderful at this stage,” he said.

We have our fingers crossed but we are also realistic that it could be significant.

“She was actually in pretty good spirits, it’s just basically try and stay in the moment and we don’t know for sure so while we’re concerned, she was still in pretty good spirits.”

When asked about their start to the season, the coach was happy with his team’s effort. Beating crosstown rivals Port Adelaide, going over to Western Australia and thumping the Dockers, to getting on top of the Hawks, the Crows continue to find ways to win.

“Ultimately we are pretty happy with the start, clearly we’ve said a few times it’s the AFLW and it’s a really short season and therefore the ability to get a couple of wins on the board early in the season is really important,” he said.

“As everyone’s highlighted this season we’ve got this period where we will have a compressed fixture, we’re actually really looking forward to that.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun but it will throw different challenges at teams so to have three wins on the board early is great.”