Kuwarna secured its second win in a row when it prevailed against Hawthorn at the Kennedy Community Centre on Sunday afternoon.
It was the visitors’ first away triumph under new Senior Coach Ryan Davis and was built on a commanding start to the match against the Hawks.
Despite entering the game as the underdogs, in week two of Indigenous Round, Kuwarna held a 34-point lead at the main break and thwarted off a fourth-quarter fightback from the Hawks to win 10.7(67) to 5.9 (39).
Davis touched on the following points post-game.
A strong four-quarter performance
Kuwarna flew out of the blocks in the Round Four clash against Hawthorn, kicking 4.2, while holding the hosts to just one goal for the term.
The visitors then held the Hawks to just two points in the second quarter, and 1.1 in the third.
Kuwarna was, however, challenged in the final term, but withstood the tide and pegged the momentum back its way.
Davis said the result was proof of how hard the players had been working to adapt to the new game style.
“That was a really good four-quarter effort from the playing group, we’ve been working towards that for quite a while now,” Davis said.
“(Just) the reward for effort - to see the pressure and the structure and the tactics that we put in place come to fruition today was really good.
“It's extremely important to be able to shift in those modes, depending on the momentum shifts of the game.
“The conditions played a part in that, so being able to to play different styles with and against the breeze, and then in red time and things like that, the players adapted really well to the conditions, but also were able to flip into different modes quite well.”
Milestones and debuts celebrated
Kuwarna midfielders Sarah Goodwin and Teah Charlton notched their 50th and 75th AFLW game respectively, while draftee Lucy Waye made her debut.
Goodwin continued her strong early season form in the engine room finishing with a team-high 25 disposals, 13 contested possessions, four intercepts, and four score involvements.
Charlton amassed 18 disposals, seven contested possessions, and four score involvements.
Waye, meanwhile, enjoyed a solid debut booting a goal in the first quarter.
Davis said he was pleased the trio notched a win in their special games.
“To celebrate a debutant in Lucy Waye, and the 50-gamer Sarah Goodwin, and Teah Charlton playing her 75th, so it was really nice to get the win for those girls,” Davis said.
Defenders stand tall
Davis heaped plenty of praise on his backline, with the likes of Sarah Allan, Chelsea Biddell and Eloise Jones working hard to repel at times an avalanche of Hawthorn attacks.
Biddell finished with 18 disposals, seven contested possessions, and nine intercepts, while Allan had five tackles and four intercepts.
“Our backs are really playing some seriously good football at the moment,” Davis said.
“They're a really cohesive unit, but then when you have big moments all game with (Chelsea) Biddell playing on one of the inform players of the competition and being able to win the majority of her football.
“I thought Sarah Allan did a fantastic job on their superstar as well.
“She did kick three goals, but I thought they were really hard to come by, so she had a lot of contests, and Sarah was able to repel a lot of them.”
On to the next one
Kuwarna will now turn its attention to a home clash against Geelong at Unley Oval next Saturday afternoon.
The team will be hoping to secure a third win and continue to make moves up the ladder when it faces the seventh-placed Cats.
Davis said players and coaches should enjoy Sunday’s victory but would also need to quickly move on to the next game.
“It was important for us to win on the road, coming away, getting together, galvanising the group and then being able to put on a performance like that was really critical for us,” Davis said.
“We’ll enjoy the flights back, review it as we would normally, and then roll into the Geelong Cats at Unley next week.”
Kuwarna faces Geelong at Unley Oval on Saturday, September 12, at 2.35pm.
Tickets available here.
