Have the Hawks got their mojo back?
The tone has been reset with an unexpected win against the Dogs
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ROUND 13: HAWTHORN 12.9 (81), DOGS 8.11 (59)
There’s nothing like a backs-against-the-wall performance to jolt your season back into gear.
After a week of media pile-on, the Hawks answered in the best way possible — with an unexpected Prime Time win over the top-eight-chasing Bulldogs. That’s three in a row against the Dogs now, and while there were some excellent patches of play, what stood out most was the adversity we overcame just to get over the line.
With the season apparently on the brink (if you believed the headlines anyway), Hawthorn came in off a six-day break, without captain James Sicily, minus Nick Watson — a late withdrawal due to illness — and with three fresh faces: Sam Butler, Max Ramsden, and Seamus Mitchell, all playing their first senior games of 2025.
And yet, we still found a way.
A lot of that came down to pressure. A paltry 38 tackles were rightly put under the microscope against the Pies last week — but the Hawks turned the pressure gauge up considerably. Our 82 tackles on Saturday night were among our highest for the year.
Last week we asked, “Where’s the fun?”, and the Hawks answered in the best way possible with Chol and Gini leading the way.
The midfield — led by Meek and Newcombe — more than held their own against a Dogs engine room that, on paper at least, should’ve had the edge. And down back, we looked more balanced. Seamus Mitchell slotted in seamlessly and hardly lost a 1:1, and Hardwick quietly went about doing what he does best. Permanent back for the rest of the season please Sammy 🙏
The final margin of 22 points flattered the Bulldogs. In truth, it was a comprehensive performance — and the best possible result for a side that’s starting to add mental resilience to its ever-expanding bag of tricks.
🕵🏻♂️ 14 Observations from Prinsy
Finally, the Hawks bring the pressure. The ‘pressure rating’ for the Hawks last weekend against Collingwood hovered in the 150s, which is horrible. This week was much better with the rating in the early 200s for the majority. No coincidence that when you bring the pressure, you get reward for effort.
We discussed on the Instant Reaction pod but there’s effort, and then there’s effort. The Hawks really brought their effort on Thursday night. It’s far too simplistic to say that’s what won them the game, but I can promise you it went a long way.
When you think of pressure and effort, you often think of tackling. The Hawks had 82 tackles against the Dogs, that’s more than the last two weeks combined. That mid week chat really paid off.
Keep ‘em in boys. It was the one percenters that was really noticeable. The hand in the contest to stop a handball out. Blocking for a teammate. Butler, Morrison and Ward with chase down tackles to either win fee kicks or effect the disposal. Chol and Ginnivan with taps to advance in general play. The one percenters were game changing.
Josh Ward, take a bow. Team high disposals, clean for the vast majority of the night, no really glaring and costly errors and just a classy, balanced game. You’ve got the coaches trust when you start each half in the centre.
Contributors on every line this week, and that’s what wins games. Chol was phenomenal up forward, and Ramsden helped our structure. The small forwards found multiple ways to contribute, the mids beat the Dogs mids, our backline looked as clean and composed as we’ve seen all season.
This was a team picked specifically to nullify the Bulldogs, and it worked. Smaller back half meant more run and carry, the extra tall kept the Bulldogs defenders honest in the air which in turn allowed our smalls to go to work.
Fast starts haven’t been our forte, and have often been our Achilles heel, so it was nice to have a quality first quarter for a change. It set the tone for the game.
Josh Weddle, Joe Webble, Josh Peddle, John Wembley. Call him whatever you want, I’ll call him an emerging star of the game.
He said post-match that it was his best defensive performance in Hawthorn colours but Mabior Chol’s offensive impact was incredible. Four goals, two goal assists and six score involvements from his 11 disposals. His bad is pretty ordinary but his good is very, very good.
Dylan Moore played an incredible captain’s performance. Had been in patchy form in the lead up to assuming the captaincy this round. Great leaders stand up regardless of form, and Moore showed just how much this club meant to him.
Shout out Sam Butler. First AFL game in over 400 days, and his first quarter was elite. Finished with 14 disposals, five tackles and two goal assists. A really good first up effort, hopefully he gets 3-4 weeks to establish himself, because he offers something different to our other mids.
Reward for effort is something all of us in the HI WhatsApp group were worried about in the second and third quarters. Thankfully just when it seemed like we would be ‘punished’ for poor repeat entries, the Hawks managed to navigate their way effectively to goal at critical times. Those buffers were needed.
This team looked fantastic, and when you factor in Mitch Lewis, Calsher Dear, Cam Mackenzie, Will Day, James Sicily, Jack Scrimshaw, Nick Watson, Luke Breust are all waiting in the wings, that’s some serious selection pressure in coming weeks/rounds.
🧐 Things we like to see #1: Weddle turning on the jets
We’re not sure what’s more impressive here — the pick up, or the way he just burned off two Dogs players like they were witches’ hats. This is where our #23 is at his best — using his freakish athletic talents to put teams to the sword. And how about the finish too if you don’t mind. No kicking short to the top of the square this time.
🧐 Things we like to see #2: ‘Lazy’ Chol
Send this to anyone who still thinks Big Marbs is lazy. Chol had to make up a good 20 metres to win this contest before snapping truly. It was a pivotal moment in the third that summed up his game and gave the Hawks the momentum.
🧐 Things we like to see #3: The disrespect from Gini
A lot has been made of Gini’s decision to show the ball to the Dogs before kicking an important goal in the fourth quarter — and it even divided his teammates. Big Marbs said he wasn’t a fan post game, but Dylan Moore offered this impassioned defence in an interview with ABC Radio:
“That’s Gini being Gini. When Gini is at his best, he’s showboating a bit, he’s causing a little bit of frustration in the opposition. I absolutely love that.”
Whether you agree with Gini’s showboating or not, let’s all just appreciate the footy IQ and hard running that put him in this position in the first place. A speculative CMac kick off half-back opened the ground up, and Gini didn’t just win a 50-50 contest, he torched two Dogs in the process on his way into an open goal. Special shout out to Marbs too for keeping up with him and shepherding Dale (who is no slouch ) out of the contest.
🧐 Things we like to see #4: NRL coaches in the box … wait, what?!
Keen NRL fans would’ve noticed none other than North Queensland Cowboys Coach Todd Payten in the coaches box.
In his post match interview Sammy said it was all in spirit of cross-code knowledge sharing from the two coaches, who struck up a friendship in the pre-season.
“He was part of the preparation for the game. I'm looking forward to chatting to him about what he learned, but more importantly for me, what he thinks we can improve on and how we can do things better. He has a fairly different demeanour to what I have, so learning from him is something I have taken a lot of growth from my coaching from Todd.”
⭐️ Best on ground: Mabior Chol
This could’ve gone to Jai or Ward or Meek, but it’s hard to go past Big Marbs, who was the dominant forward on the ground. It wasn’t just the four straight goals. It was the manner in which he scored them — leading up, chasing players’ down, contested grabs. His colours were clearly lowered against the Pies, but Marbs responded in the best way possible — by getting to work. He’s quietly putting together an excellent season, and the selection of Ramsden shows how much better he plays when he has another big forward as a foil.
💫 Rising star: Josh Ward
Unlucky to miss his first BOG in HI history. Clearly loves playing the Dogs — his breakout performance came against them in the Elimination Final last year. Has flown under the radar a bit this year, but is developing beautifully and has worked his backside off to go ahead of Cam Mackenzie in the pecking order.
👼 Unsung hero: Jarman Impey
We’ve come to know and love Jars for his electric play off the backline, but his cameo as a pressure forward in the second half proved pivotal, not just in stopping the Dogs run off half back, but offensively as well. The less said about his over ambitious set shot the better, but he took his chance well and his “rock the baby” cele (a tribute to his newborn son Zion) provided the most wholesome moment of the match. Is ‘switch Jars forward’ the new ‘switch Hardwick forward’? Sammy certainly has options.
🤯 Under pressure: Finn Magginnes
It sure is tough singling anyone out after a win like that. Finn played his role as a defensive forward well, helping to nullify the Dogs run off half back, but with just two kicks for the game — both of which missed targets — and with competition for spots heating up, Sammy may consider alternatives who can hurt you both ways. Then again Finn could play a lockdown role on the Crows’ best mid Jordan Dawson next week. We certainly don’t envy the selectors for next round.
🎤 Sammy said what!?
“[Pressure and physicality] was a clear focus for us coming into the game, to create a game that would enable that so part of it is player attitude, but part of it is the way we set up the game as well.”
“Even if we had of lost the game, I think we showed tonight what our best can look like.”
“We probably weren’t as potent as we would’ve liked, I think we had close to 60 inside 50s but could only but 81 points on the board.”
“Butsy [Sam Butler] is a great story, he is a great young lad who works enormously hard … he has a great engine, great work rate, he’s a great tackler, he has played three games as a midfielder in five years, so to get that performance out of him was better than we thought.”
“So Jarsy hasn’t done that for quite a while [play forward], but I thought he really gave us something, not just his running power and his aerial presence which he’s a great mark for his size but I think his smarts and his vibrancy really created something in the front half.”
🗣️ Final word…
⏭️ Next week:
The Hawks head to Launceston for a Friday night showdown against the Adelaide Crows at UTAS Stadium. This match marks Launceston’s first-ever Friday night AFL game, adding a historic touch to an already pivotal encounter.
The Crows had a big win over the Lions but would certainly be banged up from what was a bruising encounter. They look certain to be without midfielder James Peatling who faces a one-game ban for rough conduct.
With the Crows currently sitting in the top 4, this is a huge chance for the Hawks to claw their way up the ladder before the bye.
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What was learnt:
1. Whilst found wanting against the elite, we are more than capable in our the next weight division – As mentioned in the lead up into this run of games, these three games were classed as three-point games – Lions and Pies on track record and ability whilst the Dogs being a direct competitor for ladder positions made this one as another test. Considering, the fact that our depth was being further tested as we moved to play our 34th player for the season (3rd most behind Saints & Port/Ess eq. 2nd) to be able to exert so much control over the way the game was played meant that this test was passed with flying colours. Having said that, the Dogs’ form line isn’t all that flattering in contests against top 8 sides.
2. The Big 4 are transforming into the Flexible 5 – With the run of form that Ward has shown over the past 5-6 weeks, it is becoming clear that he is being rewarded for his work with a consistent starting role in the CBAs. Further to this, it actually provides Hale as the midfield coach with some variations as to how he employs this group. In this game, it meant that Nash started on the wing at times with more details as to how this plays out below. Ward’s point of difference to the Big 4 is twofold at least: a) being left footed he provides an alternate route out of the clearances and a couple of times in the centre square, as the sweeper, he handballed forward to Newcombe catching the Dogs offside in the contest; and b) in general play, his capacity to cover the ground at reasonable pace and with neat kicking, he hits a 20-30m pass, then runs to provide the overlap option with another disposal of similar or longer making it a 100+ metres game play. This season he looks better placed to run to the right side as well time his run to take full advantage of this. This style of play is in the mode of Robert Harvey, Dane Swan or Adam Treloar and they all had/have the same failing that from time to time their disposals miss targets. For me, I also give him credit in using his non-dominant side, which means that forwards know when and where to leave, even if the kick isn’t strong, it at least ensures that the forwards don’t have to double lead. A dirty entry inside our F50 suits the small forwards. If Butler establishes his spot with his pace, he can then provide another point of difference to our midfield mix.
3. Clean hands in the midfield and disruption on the opposition – As we discussed in the mid-week pod, the need for our mids to have clean hands in the contested ball situation to ensure that we could compete with one of the better midfields in the comp was essential and this proved to be the case. Similarly, the level of pressure our mids put on the Dogs’ mids meant that we disrupted their clearance work. It was evident that there was the inner ring for ground ball contests supported by an outer ring which meant that the Dogs had to work feverishly to get a clean clearance. With scoring from stoppage being their strength this season, it was a major win. Equally, to have Libba play as a half back in the second half is not something I recall happening previously.
4. Meek was majestic – If Meek has played a better game, then it would only be marginally better. Recognising that English's style of play is one that Meek has had issues with previously, so early in the first quarter, English played a smart game in the throw-ins when the ball hit the ground, he moved to the other side of the pack and acted as the first receiver and/or conduit to a mid (Bontempelli at least twice) for the clearance. Meek became aware of this and then either engaged English physically not allowing him to sneak off or take the ball the out of the air with either a dirty clearance or forcing another ball-up. Taking 4 contested marks wasn’t just a season high, but these marks were in situations that were important to the momentum of the game. Some may take issue with English taking a mark on the lead in their F50, but I would argue that a more agile defender should have matched the lead, leaving Meek to cover the square or a winger should have filled the leading lane.
5. Exiting from defensive contests returned to a 2024 tactic – In the D50, it looked as though we returned to a tactic that we used effectively last season but has been less obvious this year i.e. having a defensive sweeper behind ground ball contests and providing a safe release point when we won the ball. This does a few things – we have some protection should the Dogs win the ball; and when we win it, we can feed it back to a player who has some space and a little more time to find a target down the field. This season I think the tactic has been to handball forward or laterally, so going backwards also meant that the Dogs couldn’t exert direct pressure to disrupt these clearances.
6. Chol’s room to move (how Chol could be used to the best of his ability) – This game provided an insight into how Chol could make the best of his skill set. Being given space to move inside F50, particularly on an inexperienced opponent, his athleticism in an open forward line for his size would have them looking around for help. When you look at his own goals as well as his score involvements, when he has space to work in, Chol becomes a handful as distinct from having to jump three deep over a pack. He isn’t Carey, but he does have a skill set that could be more productive for the team which a few HIs would like to see tested.
Observations:
• Has Moore played a bad game when he was the acting captain?
• For those who want Weddle to be played further up the ground, you do need to appreciate the capacity for him to run through the lines and his long kicking is a skill set not common amongst the playing group. Equally, given he tries to play on a small/medium forward, his ability to be 3rd man up or float across the pack for an intercept mark is valuable, particularly with Sicily and Scrimshaw out.
• Hardwick took a half to reacquaint himself to his defensive role with an ineffective spoil that gave the Dogs a goal and giving his opponent too much leg rope in the centre square requiring another spoil where he lost his feet, fortunately they blew their chance. After half-time, he was back on track.
• Both wingers played strong defensive games supporting the back 6 as well as keeping their width. This is probably the first time that they have been working in unison. D’Ambrosio did butcher a forward pass in the 3rd quarter for no explicable reason.
• One of the concerns previously with Mitchell was his decision making and execution by foot, even at BH, he is prone to an execution error by foot, however he played to his strengths as evidenced below.
• The high half forwards whilst important didn’t really hit the scoreboard with 3 goals between Ginnivan, Macdonald and Moore comparable to Newcombe, Nash & Weddle.
• Jiath has the attributes to be the sub, however at times, he again becomes unpredictable with his execution which can leave his teammates out of position or needing to cover for him.
• With the depth of the list being given opportunities, and some to return in the coming weeks, if players don’t make a compelling argument to keep their spot, they may well find themselves taking a turn at BH.
• TOG % - Bottom 5 (leaving out subs): Butler 68%, C. Macdonald 73%, Ginnivan 73%, Nash 76%, Newcombe 76%. (Battle 93% & Weddle 92% highest.)
• Kicking efficiency (DE): Chol 100% (91), Weddle 92% (94), Morrison 91% (91) Mitchell 86% (80), Hardwick 80% (82).
Moore 50% (77) Macdonald 50% (60) Ramsden 40% (44), Meek 29% (53), Butler 29% (64), Maginness 0% (55)
Starting 4: (CBA/CC)
1st Qrt: Newcombe (19/6) Worpel (14/0) Ward (17/1)
2nd Qrt: Newcombe Worpel Ward
3rd Qrt: Newcombe Ward Nash (14/0)
4th Qrt: Newcombe Ward Nash
Meek 20/1 Butler 8/0 Chol 3/0 Ramsden 1/0
As mentioned earlier, the expansion to the “Flexible 5” meant that for this game, Nash found himself on a wing during the first half. Interestingly, after half time, his CBAs increased, admittedly Worpel was subbed off by then, however, I also wonder if this was a strategic move to keep him fresh to cover Bontempelli after half-time on the basis that he was the player who could turn the game in the Dogs’ favour. As it was, we only ran 5 midfielders through the centre square.
In total, there were 24 CBAs with the spread by quarter (7/7/6/4) as follows:
Newcombe 5/7/4/3 Ward 4/5/4/4 Nash 4/2/5/3 Butler 3/1/2/2 Worpel 5/6/3/sub
You’ll note that both Nash & Ward each only missed two CBAs in the second half with Newcombe missing three. Nash attended less than 50% in the first half.
Great summary. The pressure is key to us playing Hokball. It allowed us to control the tempo of the game when the ball got free from congestion. Ultimately pressure is what wins finals and glad to see the boys bring it. Next stop bringing heat to the Cows in Launceston.