North Melbourne has made four changes ahead of its challenging clash with Box Hill at Fenjiu Stadium on Saturday.

The Roos are coming off a tough defeat to the Swans at Henson Park and will be looking for their first win since Good Friday, while the Hawks will be keen to remain unbeaten after four strong wins in a row to kick off the 2024 VFLW season.

Brooke Slaney has been named to play her first game of the year, and is joined by the returning Mara McSweeney who was a late out last week due to a foot injury.

After both were unavailable last week, small forward Felicity Theodore and defender Amanda Ling also return to the team.

Sarah Hosking, Kiara Delia, Georgia Nicholas, and Tricia Cowan are the four who make way.

Bouncedown on Saturday is scheduled for 11.30am AEST.

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Round 5

Saturday, April 20
Box Hill v North Melbourne at Fenjiu Stadium, 11.30am AEST

Box Hill has handed a third straight defeat to North Melbourne, proving too good for the Roos at Fenjiu Stadium on Saturday to win by 50 points.

The Roos began the game strong and brought the contest to the undefeated Hawks, but the class of Box Hill was too much as it claimed an 11.11 (77) to 4.3 (27) victory.

Midfielder Audrey Rhodes got the Kangas off the mark for the morning, kicking the first goal of the game within the opening minute.

"I thought we started the game OK, we were able to move the ball fairly freely at the start," VFLW coach Brett Gourley told NMFC Media.

"But (Box Hill) was just able to gain some ascendancy. I thought throughout the second and third quarters Box Hill was quite clearly the better team."

A goal on the brink of quarter-time gave the Hawks all the momentum at the beginning of the second quarter, with their calmness and composure shining through as they skipped out to a 27-point lead going into half-time.

HAWKS v KANGAROOS Full match coverage and stats

"Another team (Box Hill) that's played seven AFLW-listed players against us today - it's a great experience for our girls and we'll take a lot of learnings out of the game and continue to get better," Gourley said.

Late in the third quarter, Felicity Theodore snuck one home to break a run of seven straight goals by the Hawks, but the home side quickly got back on top, not allowing the Roos to build on their first major since the end of the opening term.

Renee Tierney battled hard all game and tallied one goal, 20 disposals, five marks, and four clearances. In the engine room was Rhodes who stood out with one goal, 17 disposals, five tackles, and four clearances before leaving the field due to an injury.

"In the last quarter we were able to generate a little bit of momentum and have the ball in our forward half," Gourley said.

"We fumbled the ball a little bit through the middle of the ground and turned the ball over quite a few times under a bit of pressure.

"We'll continue to work on our ball movement and our transition game. It's a really important one for us to work on this week on the track.

"It was obviously not the result that we wanted this week, we were really hoping to be able to challenge them a little more than what we did."

As the afternoon went on, Tricia Cowan, Rhodes and Matilda Zander all picked up knocks and were unable to play out the game, Grainne McLaughlin managed to return despite spending an extended period on the bench after a collision.

BOX HILL HAWKS     3.0    6.5    9.7    11.11  (77)     
NORTH MELBOURNE    2.1    2.2    3.3    4.3  (27)     

GOALS
Box Hill Hawks: Luke 3, Hipwell 2, McLaughlin, Matin, Everist, Dillon, Collingwood
North Melbourne: Tierney, Theodore, Rhodes, Dojiok

BEST
North Melbourne: Tierney, Di Cosmo, Rhodes, Jackson, McSweeney, Meier