An 'emotionally taxing' win for Clarko
Spoons? They're for other clubs
ROUND 20: HAWTHORN 92, BRISBANE 80
📝 Main recap:
One of the most tumultuous weeks in Hawthorn’s history ended up, oddly enough, with a stirring win against a top six side in Brisbane at UTAS in Launceston.
Could anyone really see this happening? Not any of us at Hawks Insiders, who unanimously tipped against Hawthorn. But, as has been the blueprint for most 2021, this team has the knack for pulling a rabbit out of a hat when the odds seem stacked against us. We’ve rolled the high flying Swans, the top eight chasing Giants, the Premiership fancied Demons (still feels weird saying that) and now the Lions, who had their eyes firmly set on the top four.
Losing games we should win. Absolutely bossing games we shouldn’t. That has been the pattern for a strange season, but from the opening minutes of the first quarter you could just sense we were on.
We rushed out to a four goal lead at quarter time and then built on that to go into the final break NINE goals in front. While a late charge from the Lions ended up pegging the final margin back to just two goals, the Hawks can take a lot out of a solid three quarter effort in which we played an exciting brand of fluid, freewheeling footy.
There are a few technical reasons behind the win - we worked harder than the Lions and moved the ball so much better across the ground - but football is a game played above the shoulders and it was clear this group was playing for pride.
“It’s been a big week, it’s been emotionally pretty taxing,” admitted Jaeger O’Meara in his post match interview. “So really proud of the guys to band together and bring that sort of effort.”
O’Meara has been criticised for his post-match interviews in the past, in which he described the midfield group he’s an integral part of as “embarrassing”, but he was inspirational on the day, leading the disposal count for the Hawks with 35 and chipping in with a goal.
On paper, there may be little to play for as we head into the final three rounds, but you get a sense this group is wanting to give Clarko the send off he deserves. Tanking for draft picks? That’s not in Hawthorn’s DNA, despite what everyone is saying about hot SANFL prospect Jason Horne.
We may be limping to the line with the succession plan in tatters and some of our best players out, but the spirit and pride in this group bodes well for 2022. You just get the feeling there’s not a single player in this group who wants their name attached to the club’s first spoon since 1965.
✂️ Snippet of the match
With the ball deep in Brisbane’s forward 50 midway through the third quarter, Burgoyne scraps the ball out to the Bruest, who works his way back and sets off a chain of scintillating footy led by Jaeger in beast mode (see below). His fend-off/benchpress allows him to literally bounce off his opponent, before pulling off an audacious one handed bounce. He gets the ball out to Chad, who then loops it over to the hard running Moore, who then hits Tim O’Brien lace out for an easy set shot. This could possibly be Hawthorn’s best passage of play for 2021, and a blueprint for how we should move the ball going forward.
🍔 Ash’s 10 key takeaways (bonus one for a win)
There’s a fair argument to say Hawthorn sold the farm twice over to bring Jaeger O’Meara and Chad Wingard to the club and Alastair Clarkson’s move to eschew the draft between 2017 and 2019 might be a contributing factor for where the club is now. But the pair were magnificent against Brisbane on Sunday and played a huge part in the fifth win for the year.
O’Meara was in beast mode with the stiff arms and broken tackles. It was his best game for the year. But Wingard was inspirational. He played well last week, too, but that was lost in the wash-up after his, ahem, heated discussion with Jacob Koschitzke. He can be a soft target, Wingard, but he set the tone for the Hawks early on and he was at pains to make sure every interaction with his teammates was 100 per cent positive.
Conor Nash in the midfield? He showed some signs at Box Hill the last few weeks and he followed that up with one of his better games at AFL level against the Lions. He lacks a bit of polish, but he’s a power athlete and at 197cm, he just gives the Hawthorn midfield a different look. It would be great to know whether this was an Alastair Clarkson or Sam Mitchell call. Nash is probably still borderline to remain on the list next season, but let’s give him three more games in the guts to see what he’s got.
When the game was up for grabs – the first three quarters – the backline was outstanding. Sam Frost played a terrific game, Blake Hardwick and Jack Scrimshaw were also very good. This unit is sneakily good now and could be anything next year when the reinforcements return.
Hated seeing Luke Breust hurting his knee and fingers crossed it will be a season ending injury and nothing more. He was taking Brandon Starcevich to the cleaners before his injury. Having missed seven games in 10 years, he has been the most durable Hawk of all. The All-Australian forward pocket? David King seemed to think he could be.
If Dylan Moore doesn’t have a new, two-year contract by the end of the season then the Hawks deserve to lose him.
The win was just the tonic Hawthorn needed after an awful week. It leaves the Hawks a game and 10 per cent clear of the Kangaroos, who have Richmond, Sydney and Adelaide to come. The spoon is looking unlikely, but they could finish as high as 15th.
"They're the first bunch of guys that can pull on the jumper and show the football world - and certainly our supporters - that this club's got some heart." Nice words from Clarkson afterwards. It has been a difficult time to be a Hawthorn supporter, and well done to the coach for acknowledging that. Was it just me or did he sound a little emotional post-game? And why are there still whispers that he might yet pull the pin this week?
Also interesting to hear these words from Chris Fagan afterwards: "I'm not there so I don't know all the inner workings, I'm only making an observation from a distance, but it just seems to me it could have happened in a better way. I would've thought of all the coaches in the AFL that the one guy that might've had the opportunity to go out on his terms and with a little bit of dignity would have been 'Clarko'.”
The takeaway from that? Sunday was a good day for the club, but the stench of the last few weeks won’t disappear any time soon. With games against the Dogs and the Tigers till to come, what will Luke Beveridge and especially, Clarkson’s best mate Damien Hardwick have to say?
Superstar/Rising Star/Falling Star
⭐️ Superstar - Chad Wingard
Not quite sure that the word Superstar does him justice. A lazy 32 disposals, two goals, seven marks, seven tackles, nine score involvements and six inside-50s. Chad was everywhere and while at times he seemed to lose a yard of pace running forward, it is because he didn’t stop all day. Added polish when in the middle and class when up forward. And the way he spoke in his post-match interview suggests he is fully invested in the kids, the club, and the direction forward.
💫 Rising star - Ned Reeves
We were teased earlier in the year with the Reeves/McEvoy ruck combination, and now it looks like it’s here to stay. Spent nearly 60% of the game in the ruck, and performed well in nullifying the influence of big Oscar McInerney. Plenty of one-percenters, intercepts, tackles and more importantly hit-outs to advantage - are we watching the budding matches of our next Premiership ruckman? Has a great test next week against Brodie Grundy.
🤷♂️ Falling star - Kane Cornes
For the first time in history, not one player in our player ratings released earlier today had a player scoring below 5/10 - everyone earned a pass. So the falling star for this week goes to none other than Kane Cornes who put on record that we have the worst list in the competition with absolutely no talent coming through. And a huge shoutout to Rohan Connolly for calling him out, too.
Unsung Heroes & Scapegoat
👼 Unsung Hero: Conor Nash
Possibly his best game in brown and gold, Nash was finally given his chance in the guts throughout the day, and added a different dynamic to our midfield group. Was hard, smart and tackled all day - in the top three tacklers on the ground with nine. 12 contested possessions in his 23 total, seven clearances and five score involvements - let him play the rest of the year through the guts and see how he goes.
🔪 🐐 Scapegoat: C’mon guys. Do we really have to? Can we just enjoy the win for once?
The Obligatory Ladder Check-In
Well well well. Looks like we are one to blow our own Horne (see what we did there?)! Unlikely to finish on the bottom of the ladder now, and with Collingwood and Richmond as part of our final three games, finishing up to 14th is not unrealistic.
Current forecast 2022 draft picks of note: #2, #20, #23 (Collingwood’s second round selection which has drifted after their unlikely win against the Eagles).
News & Notes
Sam Mitchell may be ‘unproven’ at a senior level, but Box Hill continue to obliterate teams in the VFL. After a sluggish start, the Hawks ran out 63-point winners over Collingwood’s VFL side in blustering conditions at Olympic Park. That’s six on the trot now for Mitchell’s side, with an average winning margin of 74 points 😱
Stats via hawthornfc.com.au. The Hawthorn faithful held its collective breath when Luke Breust went down clutching his knee after attempting to steal Mark Of The Year off TO’B in the third quarter. But if body language is anything to go by, he seems to have escaped the dreaded injury that shan't be named and the fact he was walking unassisted after the siren seems to back that up. Clarko also seemed to think it wasn’t too serious in the post-match, but of course we won’t know until the scans come back 🤞
As the fallout from last week continues, Mick Malthouse - the archetype of the failed succession plan - has chimed in with a little anecdote about bumping into Justin Reeves at his local cafe (listen below). “He said, quite frankly, he’s a victim as much as anyone in this,” Malthouse told ABC Sport. Make of that what you will.
Speaking to SEN Drive, Dermott Brereton said Sam Mitchell was the architect of Nash’s move to the middle at VFL level, which in turn translated into his best game for the club on Sunday. Is he the contested midfield bull we’ve been missing? Derm seems to think so. “That’s Sam Mitchell’s player,” he told Bob Murphy and Andy Maher.
Clarko Press Conference Bingo
✅ Really pleasing
✅ The whips were cracking
✅ Give ourselves a chance
✅ Really pleased
✅ We’re all custodians
✅ It’s been a great journey
What They Said
🗣️ Chad Wingard
“We had three quarters of really good footy, and I wouldn’t say we let ourselves down but we just weren’t consistent.”
“It been a bit of a theme throughout the year with just one quarter letting us down, and we would have had a few more wins on the board this year if we played some four quarters games throughout the year.”
“We are still a young team and we’re still learning but it was good to beat a quality team - credit to them they came back in the last quarter and we were lucky enough to hold on.”
“I think we had 44 tackles in the first half and it’s something that Clarko brought up - our pressure was there and its the backbone of our game, our tackling. We knew that if we put enough pressure on them that they were going to hack balls out of their D50 and we really got reward from that.”
🗣️ Conor Nash
“It’s pretty obvious what went down and the first three quarters were very good for us, our tackling and our hunt was very good all day and that was a big focus for us just to pressure them at the source.”
“We lowered our colours a bit in that last quarter which ids disappointing, but a win is a win and for the week that we’ve had at the footy club its a bug thing for us.”
“We have said to ourselves we have a month of games left and we can turn our toes up and sulk a bit, but we need to get something out of this year and build towards next year as well.”
“We are looking for those little signs to show that we’re on the up which we saw today, so that’s what we’re focussing on for the next month.”
🗣️ Jaeger O’Meara
“Really proud of the boys’ effort after such a big week - it’s been emotionally pretty taxing, so really proud of the guys effort to band together and bring together that sort of effort and performance.”
“They’re a quality side Brisbane - they haven’t been going enormously well the past couple of weeks, but they’re a really quality side that will do some damage in September, and I’m super proud of the players’ effort today.”
“We’ve been getting hammered as a club publicly and we’re not immune to that as a playing group. We’ve had a number of chats throughout the week to stick together - that’s all we can do is stick fat together and as I said before we managed to do that.”
“Even the VFL boys yesterday had a really good win, and I’m super proud of the club.”