Hawthorn AFLW backline coach Steph Binder was impressed with the side’s grind to get the win against Brisbane away from home, highlighting the depth in personnel and the brown and gold recruits.

Binder joined 3WBC’s Balls and All to discuss the Hawks Round 1 win over Brisbane, how Keely Coyne and Najwa Allen impressed her on club debut, as well as her work with Box Hill’s VFLW side.

Click here to listen to Steph Binder's full 3WBC interview HERE!

We summarised a few of the key points below.

On the Hawks Round 1 win

“The result in the end was amazing. To be honest to go up there, to travel and play in the heat and to be a few of our players down was really pleasing. I don’t think we were quite at our best, we were a little bit fumbly at times and we couldn’t quite move the ball the way we’d like to, but we were really resilient and we knew it was going to be a grind and we just kept going, absorbed a lot of pressure and were lucky to come away with the win in the end. But the upside of what we have still to come is the exciting part of it.”

On the depth of the group

“We’re really confident in our game plan and our structures that regardless of who we have out on the park, we’re really confident that they’ll be able to play their role and we play as a team and really confident in how we go about it. So really pleasing without the likes of Gilly (Aileen Gilroy), and Mack (Mackenzie Eardley) and Richo (Jenna Richardson), it just gives other opportunities and everyone played really well over the weekend.”

On Keely Coyne and Najwa Allen's club debut

“Keels has just been so impressive, she’s been training mostly in the backline with me, so I was really pleased to see her get a game. But we had to shuffle the decks around and she played out on the wing, so to come into a position she hasn’t played a lot in, she’s just so coachable and she’s a sponge and she takes everything in. I was really happy to have her on the wing because I knew she’s be running our defensive patterns for us. Keels is great, she’s going to be a very good player for us in the future.”

“Naj is an absolute ripper, much like Keels she’s just fit in seamlessly into the backline. She brings so much experience because she’s a premiership player, and I just love that she’s so willing to take on all the information and really give us some feedback as well and share all her knowledge. She’s come in and she’s really strong in the contest, she reads the game well, she helps us in attack. I thought she was great so really pleased to have her in the backline.”

On her with work the VFLW side / Box Hill’s finals campaign

“I just love the VFL competition. So I was really lucky when I got to Hawthorn, I spoke with Sony (Michael Ericson) and asked if I could be involved in the program and he’s been great, just happy to have me in any capacity. So before the AFLW program started I was there a lot more, going to trainings and now that AFLW’s on I’ve taken a bit of a step back but pretty much any role they need filled, I put my hand up straight away. So I was the runner the other week, I’m there on the bench with the headsets or just yelling and screaming, I just absolutely love it.”

“I was there for the first part of the game and then had to head off to the AFLW scrimmage. The first quarter I was so impressed with Box Hill, we had 75% of the ball, we were just pressing really hard and getting lots of front half turnovers but we just weren’t making the most of our re-entries going inside forward 50. So despite having all the play we couldn’t put any scoreboard pressure on, and Collinwood on the flipside really burnt us on transition and really pulled away in the second and third terms. By all accounts, as we tend to do, we came back in the fourth quarter but against such a quality team against Collingwood, we just left the run a little too late. So, disappointing result in the end and now have the battle with a really good outfit in North Melbourne to hopefully progress to the Grand Final. But I know Sony and the crew will be putting a lot of work into what they need to do to prepare. North Melbourne is a very good side but so is Box Hill, so it should be a ripper on the weekend.”

On Round 2 v Carlton

“I’m really looking forward to it, I legitimately love Frankston, so to get down to Kinetic Stadium for our first home game and to have our home crowd there, the community of Frankston really get behind us so that’s super exciting, and to do that under lights adds an extra element I guess. Carlton looked really good in their Round 1 win, you can see they’re putting a bit more speed on the ball, so it should be a really exciting game. And hopefully the unique ground at Frankston, we’ll be able to make that a bit of a fortress, so really looking forward to it.”