ESSENDON has triumphed in the battle of the new Victorian expansion sides, seeing off Hawthorn by 26 points at Marvel Stadium.

The Bombers were the better side for most of the night, looking incredibly threatening inside their forward 50 but lacking that final bit of polish to fully punish the Hawks in the 7.11 (53) to 4.3 (27) victory.

BOMBERS v HAWKS Full match coverage and stats

Hawthorn was well structured around the ground throughout the game, but disposal and decision-making was at times an issue for the fledgling side, who had nine previously listed AFLW players to the Bombers' 14.

Dangerous Hawks small forward Zoe Barbakos provided the highlight of the second quarter, running onto an Aileen Gilroy long bomb and wheeling around Ellyse Gamble to snap truly.

The Bombers carried a 10-point lead into half-time, having been a touch cleaner going into attack, but struggling to clear the ball when it was in Hawthorn's 50.

The Hawks kicked two quick goals to open the third through Sarah Perkins and Barbakos, drawing level with the inaccurate Bombers, until defender-turned-ruck Dani Marshall set sail with a 45m set shot.

The dam wall burst somewhat in the final minutes of the match, with Georgia Gee's creativity finding fellow ex-Blue Maddy Prespakis and Sophie Alexander also snapping truly.

Prespakis (26 disposals, six clearances) found a stack of the footy in the middle of the ground, while counterpart Tilly Lucas-Rodd's secondary running efforts caught the eye in her 16 touches.

The overhead marking and sharp kicking of Bombers draftee Paige Scott made it look like she'd been in the AFLW for several years, rather than having turned 18 in April, and former Demons spearhead Tegan Cunningham looked at home in defence for the Hawks. 

A Wales of a time

Flying somewhat under the radar in the NAB AFLW Draft after Zoe and Lauren Wakfer stole the family headlines, twins Steph and Lucy Wales were drafted to Essendon and Hawthorn, respectively. The pair made their AFLW debuts on Saturday night, and while Lucy didn't take the opening bounce against Steph, the pair went head-to-head plenty of times throughout the night. The Wales are the second AFLW ruck twins, following Breann and Celine Moody.

ESSENDON        2.1     3.6     4.9     7.11     (53)
HAWTHORN     1.2      2.2     4.3     4.3     (27)

GOALS
Essendon: Toogood 2, Wuetschner, Scott, Marshall, Prespakis, Alexander
Hawthorn: Barbakos 2, Locke, Perkins

BEST 
Essendon: Prespakis, Scott, Toogood, Vogt, Marshall
Hawthorn: Lucas-Rodd, Luke, Barbakos, Smith, Cunningham

INJURIES 
Essendon: Nil
Hawthorn: Nil 

 Reports: Nil

Crowd: 12,092 at Marvel Stadium