Reigning premiers North Melbourne thrashes Carlton by 53 points, while Port Adelaide is stunned by an umpiring decision in its narrow loss to Geelong.<\/p>\n
Yet in round one, they were shocked with a 22-point defeat to St Kilda after scoring just two goals.<\/p>\n
Original Crow and now star player Anne Hatchard said it was a defeat that was hard to take.<\/p>\n
“[It] kind of just really hit because, I guess we didn’t go in too confident, but I don’t think we really expected what happened out in the field. We weren’t, I guess, prepared for it. So that kind of hit hard,” Hatchard told ABC Sport.<\/p>\n
Adelaide currently sits sixth after a 3-2 start and will face Gold Coast on Sunday afternoon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Adelaide were shocked with a 22-point defeat to St Kilda in round one after scoring just two goals (Getty: Daniel Pockett)<\/p>\n
After the Saints, the Crows immediately bounced back the following weekend with a 38-point win against Geelong, thanks to a fourth-quarter seven-goal blitz.<\/p>\n
They then beat GWS by 32 points after a four-goal opening quarter – they only kicked three goals over the next three quarters.<\/p>\n
Then ending the winning run, they suffered their second loss of the season to the reigning grand finalists Brisbane by three points in round four.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t until they defeated Hawthorn by 21 points last weekend that Hatchard said they had a complete four-quarter performance.<\/p>\n
“Whenever you get a loss, it’s like, ‘OK, what can we do now? What do we need to do?’ Everyone gets a bit frantic,” Hatchard said.<\/p>\n
“So it’s nice having that win against the Hawks, who are a very, very strong team.<\/p>\n
“They started four and zip. To come out and get that win just gave our girls a lot of confidence and that belief that we can do it when we play our footy.”<\/p>\n
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Anne Hatchard said the Crows’ victory against the Hawks was her side’s most-complete four-quarter performance this year. (Getty: Morgan Hancock)<\/p>\n
The AFLW season runs from August to November, with preseason practice matches the month prior, meaning teams don’t get to see or play each other for seven months of the year.<\/p>\n
Top sides like the Crows can often come out of preseason and be struck by how much the competition has evolved.<\/p>\n
Last season it was Melbourne – currently third after a 4-1 start – who finished ninth and missed finals. They had only dropped two games for the entire 2023 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“These teams just keep coming and coming. Especially the Saints. I was super impressed with how they came out and played. They were such a unit \u2026 We just have to keep trying to get better and better,” Hatchard said.<\/p>\n