AFLW round seven: Dons downed by Daisy’s Eagles, IKON Park hosts double-header

Essendon remain winless after seven rounds after West Coast defeated the Bombers by 10 points at Windy Hill on grand final eve.

Eagles star Ella Roberts had 31 touches in her 50th game, bursting through the middle, outrunning opponents and setting up goals.

Essendon finished strongly, winning the contested possession in the last quarter, but could not prevent West Coast from notching their third win of the season, and third in a row.

A lasting image was of West Coast’s Abbygail Bushby following a classy left-footed goal with a striking, hip thrusting celebration.

Geelong brought Hawthorn crashing back to earth and surged to second place on the AFLW ladder with a comprehensive 36-point victory on Thursday night at GMHBA Stadium.

The Hawks were on a high after last week becoming the first team in more than 1000 days to beat back-to-back premiers North Melbourne.

But Geelong kicked five of six opening-quarter goals to seize early control and never looked troubled in a 12.10 (82) to 7.4 (46) win, their sixth on the bounce.

The win came off the back of midfield dominance.

When it comes to dealing with pressure and expectation, Demons skipper Kate Hore has had her moments.

One that stands out from the rest was when she took over the captaincy from AFLW great Daisy Pearce, who remains among her strongest influences.

Hore has since grown into one of the AFLW’s most-respected captains and leading players, and on Friday night she will run out for her 100th game – becoming the first Demon to do so.

“Has Daisy Pearce been a big influence on my career?” Hore repeated with a laugh when asked about Pearce.

Concerned by three clubs remaining winless midway through the AFLW season, competition boss Laura Kane won’t rule out assistance packages for battling Essendon, Collingwood and St Kilda.

Six games into the regular season, the trio are yet to fire a shot and their finals hopes are effectively over.

“Clearly we don’t want to see that in our competition,” Kane said on Wednesday.

“I’ve said this a number of times: we want the bottom to get better. The top is really good.

THURSDAY
Geelong v Hawthorn, GMHBA Stadium 7.15pm (AEST)

FRIDAY
Essendon v West Coast, Windy Hill, 12.05pm (AEST)
Western Bulldogs v Port Adelaide, Whitten Oval, 2.05pm (AEST)
Carlton v Richmond, IKON Park, 4pm (AEST)
Melbourne v North Melbourne, IKON Park, 7.15pm (AEST)

SUNDAY
Collingwood v GWS, Victoria Park, 1.05pm (AEST)
Adelaide v Fremantle, Unley Oval, 1.05pm (AEST)
Sydney v Brisbane Lions, Henson Park, 3.05pm (AEST)
Gold Coast v St Kilda, People First Stadium, 5.05pm (AEST)

Hello everyone and welcome to our AFLW live blog for round seven.

We will house game stories, AFLW news and other developments for round seven in this blog.