The West Coast Eagles made an encouraging start to their pre-season campaign by overcoming expansion side Hawthorn by 29 points in a high-pressure game.

While it was a strong contest from both sides, it was West Coast that eventually came out on top 11.4 (70) to 6.5 (41) in a practice match at Mineral Resources Park.

After two months of preseason training, the match began with both sides attempting to win the contest early, but it was Emma Swanson who managed the first clearance of the game.

Aimee Schmidt hit the scoreboard early, slotting the first two goals of the match.

Beth Schilling stopped Hawthorn’s chances of scoring in the first quarter, with plenty of intercept marks. 

New draftee Mikayla Western kicked West Coast’s third goal with a brilliant snap from the pocket.

The second quarter started with a tight contest in the middle. The ball was drilled forward, unleashing forward Aisling McCarthy, who kicked the first goal of the quarter from 25 metres out on the run.

With West Coast already leading seven scoring shots to one, the Eagles were keen to keep their momentum going.

New draftee Abbygail Bushby set the tone, laying a huge tackle, getting the ball  free and handballing towards Shanae Davidson. Davidson then swooped on a loose ball and slotted it through for a goal from the pocket.  

Hawthorn began to fight back, kicking their three goals before half time break.

Hawthorn came out with pressure at the start of the third quarter adding six points to the scoreboard in the first 60 seconds.

It was Davidson who kicked West Coast’s first goal of the quarter, adding to her goal tally.

In a desperate effort to keep themselves in the game, Hawthorn kicked a goal with three minutes left on the clock.

Early in the third quarter a fantastic passage of play unfolded when ruckman Isabella Simmons took three bounces out of the middle and drilled the ball towards forward allowing Kate Bartlett to snap her second goal.

Bartlett managed to kick the final goal of the game giving West Coast a comfortable six-goal lead in the final minutes of the match.