Bates to join AFLW-100 club as Hawks come home

Emily Bates commemorative t-shirts are everywhere at Hawthorn, ahead of the player and her club making history this Sunday.

The Hawks captain will join the select group of AFLW players to reach 100 games - regarded as the equivalent of 300 in the AFL - when the Hawks host Adelaide.

It will also be the debut AFLW match at the club's new Kennedy Community Centre in suburban Dingley. Hawthorn haven't played a senior VFL, AFL or AFLW match at their home base since they left Glenferrie in 1973.

So a fortnight after Jack Gunston was ambushed at his pre-300 game media conference with teammates holding up Gunston masks, Bates was greeted by a sea of t-shirts celebrating her upcoming milestone at Tuesday morning's presser.

Among her teammates in the audience was Hawthorn's AFL coach Sam Mitchell, a big fan. Bates noted Gunston had also been seen wearing her t-shirt.

Bates, 30, was a foundation Brisbane player when the league started and she moved to Hawthorn for the 2023 season.

The midfielder has maintained her status as one of the AFLW's marquee players, winning a flag with the Lions and famously having coach Craig Starcevich do a "shoey" when Bates won the league's 2022 best-and-fairest award.

When the league started in 2017, it was just an eight-game season. Now all 18 clubs have teams and the push continues for a full-time competition.

"You never thought you'd probably reach that," Bates said of the 100 milestone.

"You didn't even really have that as a train of thought - you were so grateful to be part of it.

"That's the evolution of AFLW. Early days, we were just so grateful to be here, whereas now it's a professional competition.

Bates and her best friend Greta Bodey moved to Hawthorn in its second AFLW year as key recruits. While the focus at Brisbane was more about improving her own performance, at the Hawks it is growing the game.

"It's on all of us to actually grow the competition, not just let four clubs dominate while the others struggle," she said.

"We were excited to see what we could do at this club and bring others with us."