{"id":268880,"date":"2025-11-07T13:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268880\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T13:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T13:43:07","slug":"kangaroos-defeat-hawks-by-39-points-in-first-aflw-qualifying-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/268880\/","title":{"rendered":"Kangaroos defeat Hawks by 39 points in first AFLW qualifying final"},"content":{"rendered":"

North Melbourne has notched up its 25th straight win and secured a home preliminary final after steamrolling an injury-ravaged Hawthorn side by 39 points.<\/p>\n

It was all North Melbourne on the scoreboard at Princes Park, with the defending premiers holding Hawthorn goalless in a 5.12 (42) to 0.3 (3) qualifying final victory on Friday night.<\/p>\n

The Kangaroos earn a week off, while the Hawks are tossed into a sudden-death semifinal against the winners of Saturday’s elimination final between Carlton and West Coast.<\/p>\n

The reigning premiers had thrashed Hawthorn by 49 points last week to eclipse Geelong’s VFL\/AFL record of 23 straight victories.<\/p>\n

Hawthorn refused to be blown away again on Friday and remained close until injury carnage struck in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

Hawks forward Kaitlyn Ashmore went down first with a calf injury, before Emily Everist (concussion) and Laura Elliott (chest) followed.<\/p>\n

North Melbourne’s powerhouse duo Jasmine Garner (26 disposals, four clearances) and Ash Riddell (26, two) had their usual impact in a tight contest, while Erika O’Shea and Libby Birch shone in defence.<\/p>\n

Eliza West (24, four) again led the way for Hawthorn, but the star midfielder lacked support around the contest.<\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that’s making headlines.<\/p>\n

Just as they had started last week at Frankston Oval, the Kangaroos kept the Hawks goalless to take a 10-point lead at quarter-time.<\/p>\n

It was the 50th time in North’s winning streak that the defending premiers had held a side goalless in a quarter.<\/p>\n

But Hawthorn did well to limit scoreboard damage this time around, with Kim Rennie kicking the first \u2014 and only \u2014 goal of the opening term after six straight forward entries for North Melbourne.<\/p>\n

The Kangaroos made uncharacteristic mistakes under Hawthorn’s pressure, and Emma King fluffed her chance to extend the lead by sending her after-the-siren shot into the post.<\/p>\n

Aine McDonagh’s wayward shot at goal notched Hawthorn’s first score in the second quarter, before the star Irishwoman sent a scare through the Hawks camp after suffering a head clash with North defender Jasmine Ferguson.<\/p>\n

McDonagh \u2014 who re-signed with the Hawks on a two-year deal this week \u2014 was assessed on the sidelines and was able to return to the fray before half-time.<\/p>\n

While Hawthorn couldn’t cut the deficit any further, North couldn’t convert its chances.<\/p>\n

Blaithin Bogue had her own opportunity after the half-time siren but also sprayed her shot, with Kangaroos forward Alice O’Loughlin kicking the sole goal to help build the home side’s lead to 18 points.<\/p>\n

There were plenty of spot fires late in the third quarter, with the Princes Park crowd roaring to life after a tussle between Greta Bodey and Emma Kearney outside of the contest.<\/p>\n

McDonagh went down clutching her right knee in agony after colliding with fellow Irishwoman and North star Erika O’Shea before the end of the third quarter, but the Hawks forward refused to be ruled out of the game.<\/p>\n

Najwa Allen tried to spark the Hawks with desperation in defence, but North Melbourne finally broke away and slammed through three goals in the final term.<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"North Melbourne has notched up its 25th straight win and secured a home preliminary final after steamrolling an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[25912,64,9512,63,16118,6854,7492,3195,6855,7204,64903,85],"class_list":["post-268880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-aflw","tag-au","tag-aussie-rules","tag-australia","tag-hawks","tag-hawthorn","tag-hawthorn-hawks","tag-kangaroos","tag-north-melbourne","tag-north-melbourne-kangaroos","tag-qualifying-final","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}