THREE goals apiece to Poppy Stockwell and Aine McDonagh and a star turn by Lucy Wales have fired Hawthorn to an emphatic 32-point win against Port Adelaide at Alberton Oval.

Port led by 12 points at half-time, but the Hawks ratcheted up the pressure in the third term and rode a wave of momentum to the 10.5 (65) to 5.3 (33) win.

POWER v HAWKS Full match coverage and stats

Daniel Webster’s side lost Jasmine Fleming to a hamstring concern before the match, but roared to its first win of the season after kicking nine of the last 10 goals of the contest, including a four-goals-to-nil last quarter.

Wales and Matilda Scholz went head-to-head in an engrossing ruck duel and both were brilliant, Scholz finishing with 35 hitouts and Wales taking 10 marks and booting a goal.

In a blow for the Power, Indy Tahau was unable to see out the match after reporting knee soreness in the second quarter.

There was little to suggest the late flurry of goals in a first quarter that was a congested arm wrestle played largely between the arcs as the sides attempted to get the game on their terms.

With neither team able to conjure a goal, frustrations boiled over on the siren when a heated scuffle ensued after Abbey Dowrick bumped Hayley McLaughlin to the turf.

The altercation fired up Dowrick, who was the catalyst for a second-quarter onslaught by the home side.

She had a game-high 15 possessions by half-time, including three clearances, and showed tremendous strength to shake off two opponents and snap a superb goal.

Port led by as much as 19 points in the second term, but the Hawks managed a last-minute goal to Lauren Stone to bring the margin back to 12 points at the main break.

Emily Bates was instrumental with 11 tackles by three-quarter time as the visitors’ pressure forced the Power into skill errors and turnovers.

Stockwell’s two late majors were the feature of a four-goals-to-one term that flipped the script and sent Hawthorn into the last change with a seven-point lead that would not be surrendered.

Stockwell in the wars
Poppy Stockwell kicked her side’s first goal of the match in the second quarter, but she spent much of the term undergoing a head impact assessment after a fierce clash with Maria Moloney. She was cleared to return in the third quarter and was soon in the wars again, after Ella Heads crunched her in a marking contest. She slotted her second goal from the goal square from a 50m penalty and closed out the quarter with her third after Dowrick ran through the protected area and was whistled for another costly 50.

Concerns for Tahau
Indy Tahau kicked the first goal of the contest, a brilliant snap on the run early in the second quarter, but she left the game soon after. Last year’s AFLW leading goalkicker was seen having her left knee tested on the sidelines and didn’t emerge after the half-time break, with the club taking a cautious approach after she reported soreness. The 23-year-old overcame four surgeries on the same knee to claim last season’s goalkicking award with 25 majors.

Up next
Port Adelaide kicks off the action on Sunday 30 August, taking on the GWS Giants in Canberra in the early game that kicks off at 12:35pm AEST on Sunday, while the Hawks will face Collingwood at Victoria Park two hours later at 2:35pm AEST.

PORT ADELAIDE   0.1         4.3       5.3      5.3 (33)
HAWTHORN          0.1         2.3       6.4      10.5 (65)
 
GOALS
Port Adelaide: Young, Tahau, Pope, Houghton, Dowrick
Hawthorn: Stockwell 3, McDonagh 3, Stone 2, Wales, Bodey
 
BEST 
Port Adelaide: Scholz, Dowrick, Moloney, Young, Heads, Woodland
Hawthorn: Wales, Stone, Bates, Dupuy, Stockwell, McDonagh

INJURIES
Port Adelaide: Tahau (knee)
Hawthorn: Nil

LATE CHANGES 
Port Adelaide: Nil
Hawthorn: Jasmine Fleming (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Mikaylah Antony

Crowd: 2,706 at Alberton Oval