HIGH-FLYING Hawthorn has beaten an injury-ravaged Melbourne by six points to rise to the top of the AFLW ladder and leave the Demons' finals hopes hanging by a thread.

In-form Melbourne, on a four-game winning streak, were up against it when superstar skipper Kate Hore (quad) and defender Gabby Colvin (concussion) were withdrawn before the game.

HAWKS v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats

Now Melbourne's finals hopes are in the balance after the Hawks fought out a 3.5 (23) to 2.5 (17) win, their seventh victory on the bounce, at Cazaly's Stadium in Cairns.

The Demons (20 points) are up against it as they sit behind seventh-placed Fremantle and eighth-placed Essendon, who are yet to play this round, on percentage.

Hawthorn (36 points) are two points ahead of North Melbourne, who play third-placed Adelaide on Friday night. The Hawks next play Richmond next Sunday.

In Hore's absence, Blaithin Mackin (22 disposals), Sinead Goldrick, Eliza McNamara (23 touches), Olivia Purcell and Tyla Hanks stood tall.

But Hawthorn skipper Emily Bates (20 disposals) starred, along with young gun Jasmine Fleming (22 touches), former Demon Eliza West (25 disposals) and stalwart Tilly Lucas-Rodd (23 disposals).

In Indigenous round, Tiwi defender Mattea Breed took a genuine mark-of-the-year contender over Georgia Gall in the third quarter.

But the Hawks will sweat on the match review officer's assessment of Mackenzie Eardley's dangerous dumping tackle on Goldrick in the third term.

The Demons dominated early proceedings and took full advantage when Gall kicked the opening goal from a strong contested mark.

Bridie Hipwell responded from a free kick shortly afterwards, before Fleming put the Hawks in front, delivering a six-point lead at quarter-time.

Aine McDonagh extended Hawthorn's lead to 13 at the main break as the Demons struggled to handle the Hawks' surging, slick ball movement.

The Hawks couldn't put Melbourne away despite dominating the third term, and gun forward Alyssa Bannan kept the Demons within touching distance at the final change.

But the Demons couldn't pull off the required comeback.

Dees duo withdrawn late
The complexion of the game changed an hour before the first bounce when prolific ballwinner and captain Kate Hore and important defender Gab Colvin were withdrawn from the match. It left the bulk of the inside work to vice-captain Tyla Hanks, and stretched Melbourne's backline against Hawthorn's tall forwards. Hore has a minor quad strain and Melbourne are hopeful she won't miss next Saturday's crucial clash with Collingwood. Demons AFLW boss Jessie Mulholland said Hore had "awareness in her quad" after Tuesday's training and got through their final session, but pulled up sore on Thursday morning. "We have taken a precautionary approach with Kate, and are hopeful she will only be sidelined for tonight’s game," Mulholland said in a club statement released on Thursday evening. Colvin was due to return from concussion but suffered a head knock at training and is back in concussion protocols.

Say what?
"[We're] shattered at the loss. Obviously we came up here to win. We left our run a little too late, didn't connect as well as we would have liked forward of centre. Four weeks ago, we were down and out, and we put out heads down and worked. We're proud of what we produced tonight, but it makes things hard for our finals chances. But we're not going anywhere, we're going to keep working and evolving. Next week we're going to finish off as strong as we can and hand it over to the footy gods from there."  - Narrm coach Mick Stinear.

"It's all the hard stuff that [Eliza West] does that really sets her apart. Obviously a challenging day for her too, playing her old side, same as Casey Sherriff, and would have been a big build-up for both of them so hats off to them both, they handled it really well and Westy's performance was first class." - Hawthorn coach Daniel Webster.

Up next
The Demons face Collingwood in what could be their final match of the 2024 season on Saturday at 1.05pm AEDT, while the Hawks face another in-form side in Richmond on Sunday at 3.05pm AEDT.

HAWTHORN      2.0    3.2    3.5    3.5 (23)
MELBOURNE     1.0    1.1    2.2    2.5 (17)

GOALS
Hawthorn: Hipwell, Fleming, McDonagh
Melbourne: Gall, Bannan

BEST
Hawthorn: Fleming, West, Lucas-Rodd, Bates
Melbourne: McNamara, Hanks, Goldrick, Mackin

INJURIES
Hawthorn: Nil
Melbourne: Goldrick (head knock)

LATE CHANGES
Hawthorn: Nil
Melbourne: Kate Hore (quad) and Gabby Colvin (concussion) replaced in selected side by Saraid Taylor and Lily Johnson