Are you not entertained?
A huge win over the Tigers set up by a first half slapping
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R19: HAWKS 18.14 (122) def TIGERS 6.16 (52)
Let’s get one thing out of the way.
Yes, we all would’ve loved to have walked away from the MCG after a 100-point demolition.
There were moments where it genuinely looked on the cards. The Hawks had Richmond completely overwhelmed, Nick Watson and Mitch Lewis were kicking bags, the ball was pinging from one end of the ground to the other, and every time the Tigers threatened to build a passage of play, Hawthorn simply took it back.
Instead, the margin settled at 70. And honestly? That’s perfectly fine.
This wasn’t a second-half fadeout. It was a football club that knew exactly where the game sat and managed it accordingly.
Jack Ginnivan didn’t play a minute after half-time. Not because he had to, but because Hawthorn could afford not to. As Sam Mitchell explained afterwards, the injury wasn’t serious enough to force him out, but with the result under control, why wouldn’t you bank a fresh half of football ahead of the run home?
“Without being disrespectful to Richmond, we thought that the game was in control and we knew we had a player that would benefit from only playing a half.”
That mindset says plenty about where this club is right now.
This is no longer a team desperately chasing percentage or trying to prove it can be flat track bullies. It’s a side confident enough to manage minutes, rotate through its depth and keep one eye on September without ever taking its foot completely off the accelerator.
There was still plenty to enjoy. Josh Battle, Nick Watson and Josh Weddle slotted straight back into the side like they’d never left. Jarman Impey orchestrated wave after wave of attack with his run and carry. Ollie Greeves and Noah Mraz celebrated their first AFL goals. Will McCabe, Harry Morrison and Ned Reeves all strengthened their case for more senior opportunities.
Are you not entertained?
🕵🏻♂️ Observations from Ash
1. Two weeks. Two stress free days at the footy. This we like.
2. Not a whole lot to complain about for Hawthorn fans on Sunday. Even a turgid final quarter was enlivened inside the last minute with goals to Mabior Chol and Noah Mraz.
3. Quite the day for ‘first goals in Hawks colours’. Josh Battle got his after nearly two years at the club, with a lovely left foot snap. Ollie Greeves with a smile as large as the MCG after an excellent tackle and then Mraz kicking one out of his derrière in the last 10 seconds.
4. And Will McCabe’s second goal in League footy was almost identical to his first. A bomb outside 50 metres.
5. Seen enough from McCabe and Greeves to suggest they should be re-signed ASAP. McCabe could be that tall wingman that seems to be in vogue and that the Hawks passed on when they let Jai Serong goes.
6. Greeves has something and the traits he showed at under 18 level when he was seriously elite, can be found in fits and spurts at AFL level. Give him two summers and he could be anything.
7. And as for Mraz, he has 10-year Hawk written all over him. Missing Jack Scrimshaw less by the week. Hope the Rising Star panel works through all the obligatory GWS and Gold Coast players and he gets his dues soon.
8. The two-and-a-half weeks off for Nick Watson worked a treat. He looked superb. Reckon Jai Newcombe could do with the freshen up next week and maybe James Sicily, to clear the mind as much as anything. He was a bit harshly treated, but he needs to be better.
9. Tom Barrass took Tom Lynch to the cleaners, but that is not the Tom Lynch who used to terrorise the Hawks. Five weeks and counting for him …
10. One day, a team will put some time and effort into Blake Hardwick. I’d still back him to be in Hawthorn’s best five when that happens.
11. Thought Connor Macdonald and Josh Ward had excellent games. Mitch Lewis was outstanding in the first half and was staring a personal best in the face at the half. Fair play to Mitch as he drives his contract price up by the week. Craig McRae would have liked what he saw!
12. I’m not disappointed with Jack Gunston but he’s not quite the player he was before the foot injury. Never write off a champion but I reckon he’s only 50-50 to play next year.
13. Essendon next week. It would be great to grind the Bombers into the dust but it’s probably the last chance to try some things before a dress rehearsal against North and the massive game, potentially for second place at the Gabba against the Lions.
👏 Things we like to see #1: Welcome back Wiz
You just knew what was going to happen with the Wizard put the jets on and burned two opponents on his way to one of the goals of the year. There are shades of Buddy Franklin in the way he goes about it. A lethal finisher and an endless bag of tricks.
👏 Things we like to see #2: McCabe only kicks bangers
From a similar position to the sealer against Port, but just on the opposite side. Had a chance to kick two late in the game, but made a meal of it. Maybe he really only does kick bangers?
🍒 You’ll never forget your first #1: Ollie Greeves
A new cult figure has arrived. The goal itself wasn’t too much to write home about, but the reaction says it all. Greeves plays with a sense of joy that is infectious. The fact he was mobbed by his teammates including those just coming onto the ground speaks volume of the kind of well-liked character he is already. As does his social post post game, which is just about the most wholesome thing you’ll ever see. Never change, Ollie.
🍒 You’ll never forget your first #2: Noah Mraz
Took him three tries, but Mraz finally snuck through his first ever goal for the Hawks just before the siren. Enjoyed his ruck cameo in the last, but not sure we’ll see another snag from our young star for some time yet.
🍒 You’ll never forget your first #3: Josh Battle
And special mention to lifelong Hawk Josh Battle who kicked his first for the Hawks after 40 games. Thought we were signing a “swingman”? 😉
⭐ Best on ground: Mitch Lewis + Jarman Impey
Ben who? In what is becoming a career defining season for Lewis, this game is clearly his peak to date. Lewis was the dominant tall on the ground, especially early, kicking four first quarter goals. Richmond aren’t a good side, but Noah Balta is a quality defender, and Lewis made him look second rate at times. Retaining Lewis should be one of Mark McKenzie’s key priorities as we head towards the end of the season, and you better believe there’s room for both Mitch and Ben in Hawthorn’s front half.
We couldn’t split it this week (and no, the coaches votes didn’t have any impact 😉) so we’ve awarded two BOGs, and Daddy Jars is our other winner. Impey was EVERYWHERE early and he finished the game with 34 disposals (26! kicks), 11 marks and Darren Levin’s favourite, 680 metres gained. A massive outing for the now outright games record holder in the number 4 jersey at Hawthorn.
🔥 Unsung hero: Connor Macdonald
Another week, another unsung hero who could be considered unlucky to not get the major gong. Croc was exceptional when the ‘heat’ was in the game early. His link up play was on point, and he seemed to be involved in everything good that Hawthorn did forward of centre. 33 disposals, 10 marks, two clearances and four goal assists. That’s a decent fair afternoon at work.
💫 Rising star: Ollie Greeves
Look, if we’re being honest, Noah Mraz was again the best of the youngsters this week (and he’s carving out a seriously good reputation early in his career) but we’re going with the happiest man at Hawthorn, Ollie Greeves. His numbers aren’t exceptional, finishing with 14 disposals, eight marks, a clearance, a goal and a goal assist, but there were glimpses of his strength, power, IQ and kicking throughout. His first two games have provided some exciting glimpses.
😬 Under pressure: Ummm no one?
The troops are slowly returning, so in time we will see players like Greeves, McCabe and maybe even Mraz drop back to the reserves. There were signs that Mitchell may get creative to keep these players in the side though, McCabe played some wing, and was joined back a combination of Sicily and Battle, allowing Mraz to play as a key back. Mraz also played the last quarter in the ruck, with Meek resting. It’s a great problem to have.
🎤 Sammy said what!?
“We thought we controlled the ball pretty well and were able to hit the scoreboard in the first half and took the game away from them pretty quickly. So a fair bit of management went on after that, which was pleasing to get in-season.”
“The way that they defended Jack [Gunston], I thought they overdefended him at times and that opened up some gaps and some holes for Mitch in particular and then Nick as well.”
“When he [Mitch Lewis] has had his injuries, he’s had a really good attitude about it and he’s tried to commit to the rehab in the right way. And then once he’s got back, staying back has been important for him.”
“We’ve tried Noah in the ruck a couple of times. He ended up having three shots and kicked his first goal, which was pretty special, but that’s something we’re sort of looking at.”
“The percentage is not vital for us. We need to keep getting better.”
“One of the areas that we think potentially could be an opportunity for us is on the wing. So whether it’s second ruck wing, or pushing one of the defenders forward, we think there’s some opportunity there.”
On Jack Ginnivan’s reaction to being subbed: “He wasn’t too pleased. I told him to go and have a shower. He’s a bit sad at me.”
On Nick Watson’s interaction with the crowd: “He kicked a goal a minute later, as he does, and went back to them pretty quickly. That’s typical Nick for you. I think it puts bums on seats, doesn’t it?”
No idea why Watson would be giving it to the crowd…
🗣️ Final Word: Massimo D’Ambrosio
“We’ve got a lot of good things in place at the moment, but we need to still learn and get better every week.
“Mitch is driving that and, as players, we’re driving that for each other. We’re really happy with a few things, but a lot of things to be working on.”
❓ Question Of The Week
📆 Next Week: A resurgent Bombers 😉
The Hawks stay at the ‘G and have a six day break, as they host the freshly 17th placed Bombers after their first win in a long long time this past weekend against GWS.
Hawthorn will have second spot in their sights, so there cannot be any let up this weekend, but no extra motivation should be needed when it comes to the old enemy right?
A group of Hawks Insiders faithful will be speaking at the pre-match function of the Hawthorn Confreres group (check them out via the link).
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What was learnt?
1. Setting up with 8 defender rotation provides a tactical opportunity – Predominately throughout the season we’ve used a template of 7D/6M +2R/8F, however with form of Mraz who has not warranted being dropped and the return of Battle and Weddle, we were carrying an extra defensive option. Then when in the first half, the Tigers looked to push their half forwards to the contest, our defensive structure wasn’t being challenged allowing both Sicily and Battle to spend time on the wing. This proved to be effective as both hit the scoreboard and more significantly allowed us to use the open side as an effective kick-in option as there was faith that they could both win one-on-one marking contests. As to whether it is a sustainable strategy is attached to the 2-ruck role, listening to Mitchell, it would appear unlikely to be Option A in the coming weeks but does have merit for future consideration on a horses for courses argument.
2. Return of Weddle a case of not appreciating what was missed with his overlap run – As regular readers would know the issue of our wing structure has been a source of concern, however with Weddle’s return, we regained our outside running option as he is quicker and more daring than either D’Ambrosio or Morrison. Effectively, they become the defensive player when Weddle does venture on his weaving runs forward. This also complements Impey’s dashes that are more aligned to the centre corridor than the outside of the ground which throws opposition defences into a quandary as to which path will be taken for their defensive set ups.
3. If the opposition push their forwards deep and leave both Impey and Hardwick free best of luck to them – Early on it appeared that Yze may have gone to school on our game against the Pies earlier in the year when they pushed players deep, leaving Elliott and two others as targets in the forward line that kept Hardwick busy. The Tigers couldn’t control their exits and didn’t have forward targets that warranted attention from either Impey or Hardwick, so they were able to pick their exits from half back and provide damaging entries back into our F50.
4. C. Macdonald’s pre-season preparation came to the fore – Much was made of Macdonald becoming a regular in the midfield rotation which Mitchell was quick to shut down and has held fast to for most of the season. Now with both Nash and Day out, Macdonald was released into the rotation even though the stats don’t quite reflect this. But when you break them down into halves, Macdonald went to 9/16 CBAs in the first half and he has rarely gone close to 50% CBA this season.
5. Greeves doesn’t have a midfield licence yet – Like many, with Day out and no midfielder coming in, there was an interest to see Greeves become part of the midfield rotations. The early indicator was there in the pre-game warm ups, Greeves was with the forwards rather than the mids. Given the way the game played out, after half time there was a strong expectation of Greeves getting his chance, but as was the case last week, he only went in there for the last four CBAs. Having said that, there were a couple of occasions in the game which perhaps indicate the areas of his game that need to be improved – not hangable offences in themselves, but there is a high bar. Both in the last quarter, early to the mid part of it, we had a chain of possessions on the Warne wing which left Greeves as the potential finisher of the movement – the handball from Moore was about a pace in front of him and rather than push to take it on the full, he let it bounce hoping it would bounce up for him which it didn’t and then wasn’t able to gather it before it went out of bounds. The other was a mark he dropped at the D50 line, having spent the ball before he had secured it. What was a concern here was that he put his hands to head as to if to say what have I done and didn’t make a play on the ball which the Tigers took advantage of and scored a goal. The mantra of don’t make two mistakes in a row has relevance and reflects a need to become focused on the task at hand than the emotional response to an error.
Observations:
• In game time management may mean that some players won’t miss games as they are resting in game e.g. Ginnivan; 4th quarter TOG% - Meek 18%; Newcombe 49%; Watson 55% plus Weddle playing forward in that quarter.
• Mackenzie was the one midfielder who couldn’t impose himself on the game in the first half when we were running rife through the middle. In the first quarter, he had a good look going inside F50 but elected to kick with the outside of his right foot rather than his left and was intercepted. Later in the game, he did use his left foot. He also had a couple of moments in the 2nd quarter which may be reviewed.
• B. Macdonald must improve on his kicking if he wants remain in the defensive rotation, particularly with Amon to return at some stage.
• Mraz is making the most of every opportunity. I’m not sure taking centre square contests is good for his health!
• McCabe’s changed role was a consequence of the 8-man defensive rotation as he lost his wing role and became a high half forward at 197cm with a good engine, he could be an interesting match up. His field kicking was a little off hitting leading targets going inside F50. Being able to convert from 50m and the angle is a tick to his game. Even the one later where he fell short wasn’t a terrible choice either.
• Gunston was quick to realise that the Tigers were flooding back to block his leading lanes and probably ventured higher than he had for most of the season, allowing Lewis space to work in with a mismatch on Balta who is prepared to give a long leash to his opponents.
• Meek looked to enjoy a player of similar ilk to himself and had a good around the ground impact on the game, particularly in general play where he gave the first option at all times.
• Even with Watson and Lewis both kicking 5 goals, we still had 10 goal kickers which is a nice spread.
• 0 disposals quarters – 4th : Newcombe (screen shot the AFL app!)
• Tackle count by quarter – 13/12; 13/15; 22/11; 20/12 (68/50). Given the way the game played out, the tackle count reflected a commitment to pressure the opposition.
• I50 count/score by quarter 14/7 (2.2/2.0); 12/13 (3.1/0.1); 16/11 (5.4/2.2); 15/14 (5.6/2.0)
• Disposal count: 118/81; 110/57; 118/88; 85/106 (431/329). The slight issue here was 230/201 kick/handball ratio – this is higher than usual. The 3rd quarter looks to have created the imbalance.
• TOG % Bottom 5 (plus rucks): Ginnivan 41%; Meek 65%; Greeves 67%; BMacdonald 70%; McCabe 72%; Mackenzie 73%; Newcombe & Watson 74% (Gunston 93% highest – unusual for a forward to be the highest.)
• Kicking efficiency (DE): Hardwick 93%/14 (95); Battle 92%/13 (85); Impey 89%/26 (88); Morrison 86%/7 (95); Barrass 86%/7 (93)
Moore 42%/12 (71); Mraz 46%/13 (56); Newcombe 50%/10 (63); Lewis 55%/11 (62); Greeves 57%/7 (71)
Starting 4: (CBA/% total CBA/CC)
1st Qrt.: Meek (18/67/1) Newcombe (19/70/3) Ward (20/74/1) Mackenzie (19/70/2)
2nd Qrt: Meek Newcombe Ward Macdonald (12/44/0)
3rd Qrt: Meek Newcombe Ward Mackenzie
4th Qrt: Meek Newcombe Mackenzie Macdonald
Chol (5/19/2) Mraz (4/15/1) Greeves (4/15/0) Watson (4/15/0) Moore (3/11/0)
(D’Ambrosio 1 centre clearance)
27 CBAs/11 clearances (Opposition:11 Neutral:5)
Quarter: 2/4; 5/2; 2/2; 2/3
With Newcombe's 4th quarter TOG 49% Ward led the CBAs, however Newcombe still led the centre clearances. The pre-season work of C. Macdonald came to the fore today with Day & Nash out, given he played forward for the latter part of 4th quarter. Whilst he didn't register a CC, he was clean around these contests providing opportunities for others. It looks as though Greeves is yet to earn the full trust of the coaches, it was really a 4-player rotation with Moore and Watson going in for cameos. For a dominant scoreboard, the CC were equal reflecting the pressure around the contest that generated turnover scores. Mraz was certainly an enthusiastic chop out for Meek in the last quarter. Rucks combined had 4 CCs, given D'Ambrosio had another, the inside mids had 6 CCs.
Watch for the season
Gunston 1 goals – 50m penalty
Issue for the week:
Playing another side at the bottom of the ladder, there may be a want to rest players and to try a couple more tactics, but at the same time, you don’t want to mess with the flow of the team in the lead up to a couple of key games and create some poor habits. At times, there was wastefulness in the way we moved the ball at times, and this was before the last quarter which was an in time experimental period.
Gunners was the best player at the club for last 18 months. He definitely plays on and goes out when he wants to, which won’t be at seasons end. If we win flag he might call it. Won’t if we don’t.