Hawthorn's purple patch ended by the purple haze

After a promising month of footy Hawthorn limped to the line against Freo

Subscribe to Hawks Insiders for news, match recaps, exclusive pods, player ratings, and insights into all things Hawthorn Football Club.

ROUND 24: HAWTHORN 8.8 (56), FREMANTLE 14.9 (93)

📝 Main recap:

Well, it wasn’t the end we wanted, but one we probably deserved.

This team is 16th for a reason, despite a promising month of footy that saw wins over the Bulldogs and Collingwood, and an — don’t say it, don’t say it — honourable loss against Melbourne.  

As much as we wanted to believe otherwise, our late season form — while giving us genuine hope we’re on the right track — was a bit of a false economy. 

It meant expectations were high in our final fixture of the year against the Dockers at the MCG. But Freo have had the wood over us since 2019, and despite a similar age profile are arguably ahead of us in terms of their development. 

That being said, the Dockers didn’t look like a finals proposition either. It was the kind of dour, poor quality, late season dead rubber where both teams looked like they were mentally on holiday. 

Physically at the MCG. Mentally here.

Despite getting out to a quick two goal lead in the opening stages, the Hawks looked sloppy with the ball going forward. Meanwhile the Dockers ran hard and used it well by foot, carving us up through the corridor, using the full width of the ‘G to their advantage, and hitting up leading targets with ease. 

We were +11 for turnovers on the day, which was telling. As was our inability to stick tackles, with the Dockers +19 at the end of the game. 

Save for Luke Breust (doing Luke Breust things), our forward line looked inexperienced and experimental, with Sicily and Scrimshaw rotating though. It wasn’t just our inability to hit targets, but our lack of forward pressure that hurt. Our inability to lock things in our F50 allowed the Dockers’ speedy half-back flankers to run it out with ease. 

It was a real grind of a game in the end (Karl Amon’s words) that wasn’t easy on the eye. But there’s more than enough to take out of the past month to believe we’ll be making our way up the ladder, and past 16th spot, next year.

So for the final time in 2023, let’s get into it then…

✂️ Snippet of the match #1:

Loves. A. Goal. Especially off the deck. Dylan Moore read this beautifully off the pack, fumbled, found a gap between two Freo defenders, and slotted it nicely.

✂️ Snippet of the match #2:

A great heads-up play by Jack Scrimshaw to spot an advancing Amon after earning a free kick just outside 50 and hearing the call. Was there ever any doubt once it left his boot? Karl’s flushed a few like this in 2023 and this is one of the many reasons we were do determined to get him. More of this next year please.

🍔 Ash’s key takeaways:

1.  Saturday at the MCG served as a timely reminder of where the Hawks are at. They’re on a journey and are nowhere near their final destination. Come the end of the season, the ladder didn’t lie.

2.  It was probably as poor a performance as we have seen for a couple of months. Save for a quarter here or there, they’ve been in good form since the North Melbourne game in round 17. They were due a stinker and against the Dockers, we got it.

3. What the last fortnight has also shown is that the Hawks need their best players fit and firing in order to be super-competitive. One of Lewis or Jai Newcombe plays against Melbourne last week, and they might have pinched it. On Saturday, Lewis was really missed.

4. The other player they cannot afford to be without is, of course, James Sicily. He was magnificent once again against Fremantle. Not even the Sicily-haters on the All Australian panel — and there must be a few based on last year’s outcome — can deny him this year. He’ll look fetching in that green blazer.

“James Sicily in a green All Australian blazer”. AI generated art has a loooooooong way to go.

5.  Seven wins in 2023 was a pretty good effort all things considered. Getting to 10 wins next year will be tough. But they’re no chance if Lewis doesn’t play 20 or so games.

6.  The pre-game confidence might have been misguided. The Dockers have won three of their last five at the MCG and now, six straight against the Hawks. They are officially a bogey team.

7. There wasn’t a whole lot else to be gleaned from Saturday. The midfield was pretty good once again – Will Day, Jai Newcombe, James Worpel and Conor Nash were in the top eight or so players for the Hawks once again.

8.  The backline held up all things considered, but forward of the ball is where the focus needs to be. And if Chris Newman becomes coach of Richmond — let’s hope he does because he’s been excellent at Hawthorn — that group will have its third coach in as many years.

9.  Josh Weddle was exciting. Can’t believe one of our brethren reckoned he was looking tired and needed a rest. His positioning and game awareness needs work, but Peter Burge must be licking his lips with anticipation at having an entire pre-season to mould him. What a beast he will become.

The Weddle waddle. It’s a thing of beauty, isn’t it?

10.  Not sure why Brandon Ryan played when he clearly isn’t fit. He’s an intriguing prospect, but he wasn’t right to go. One reason might be that they wanted to keep Max Ramsden right for Box Hill.

11.  27,000 fans at the MCG didn’t get the rousing finish they wanted. But it was a healthy crowd figure nonetheless. Not sure whether they qualify for ‘sleeping giant’ status but once they become a true finals contender, the MCG will be rocking every time the Hawks play.

12.  It is not quite the end of the season. Box Hill earned the double chance and will play next week against Werribee with several Hawthorn-listed players eligible to play. And AFLW kicks off next week as well. That team warmed our hearts at times last season when barracking for the Hawks was especially hard sledding.

Our AFLW fixture. Get around it.

⭐️ Superstar - Dylan Moore

The vice-captain saved arguably his best game for last and was one of only a few to apply defensive pressure all day. 23 pressure acts (second highest for the Hawks) and six tackles (equal highest for the Hawks) showed his commitment to the cause throughout, while at the same time racking up 27 disposals and hitting the scoreboard (1.2) on another day he kicks three goals and that’s a perfect game.

💫 Rising star - Josh Weddle

Apologies to Jai Serong, who was very solid in definitely his best AFL performance to date, but Weddle was another who stood up when others didn’t (are you sensing a theme?). Weddle never stopped trying and felt like he had the ball more than his 16 disposals indicated. Hawthorn’s run was restricted by the Dockers and Weddle — a first year player — was one who tried desperately to generate it. A solid outing and a fantastic first up season for the kid.

🤷‍♂️ Falling star - Harry Morrison

It wasn’t a great day for Morrison, but he wasn’t alone. In the team for his decision making and disposal, both were uncharacteristically poor on Saturday. Morrison and Ward were given a hiding by Frederick and Henry on the wings of the ‘G, and if nothing else comes out of this game, Hawthorn should be on the phone to Henry’s manager telling him there’s a spot in this Hawthorn side every week if he wants it.

👼 Unsung Hero - Blake Hardwick

Blake Hardwick did what Blake Hardwick does. Amid the chaos he was calm, clean and professional all day (outside of a few attempted torps). Hardwick is possibly the unsung hero of the competition, let alone this Hawthorn team. He again proved it on Saturday, finishing his season with 25 disposals and 10 marks in a very polished performance.

🪜 Ladder check in 

We knew we’d be 16th for quite some time now, so no surprises here. We’ve all heard the “best team out of the eight” narrative that some have been saying in the media, but when you look at things objectively we’re three spots and one win down on 2022. Make of that what you will. While there were plenty of positives to take out of 2023 and some big scalps in wins over Collingwood, St Kilda and Brisbane, improving that ladder position has to be a focus next year if we’re even thinking about playing finals in 2025.

🎤 Sammy press conference bingo 

• “We didn’t have the energy and the spark.”  ✅

• “It was going to be a grind of a game.”  ✅

• “We couldn’t find a way.”  ✅

• “There was part of me that was thinking about the big picture.”  ✅

• “We’re not interested in ducking into the finals.” ✅

• “We’re 16th.” ✅

• “You need things you do week in, week out.” ✅

• “Our list profile is where we want it to be.” ✅

• “Clarity of understanding creates consistency.”  ✅

• “The clarity of the future is there.”  ✅

• “Key players playing constantly together.” ✅

• “Our goal is not to make finals — it’s to win Premierships.” ✅

🗣️ What they said - Karl Amon (HI post game exclusive)

“We wanted to end the year really well on a big high. We knew the game was going to be a grind but we just couldn't get over it for some reason. They play a very defensive brand of football and I guess they kind of suffocated us really, and we just couldn't generate some ball movement which was disappointing to end the year on that note.

“I mean, if you look at the back half of our year, I think we've grown as a group, we've grown as a club, and it's really exciting for next year to take that forward.”

Listen to the HI exclusive post game interview with Karl below:

🗣️ What they said - James Sicily

“Not the way we wanted to finish off the season but if you look at it as a whole, we did pretty well — we exceeded expectations of others. Internally we were quite optimistic of what we could still produce for the year but we knew clearly what they [Freo] wanted to do — the game style that they play — but we just couldn’t execute.  It’s disappointing getting between from what you know.”

🗣️ What they said - Dylan Moore

“To lose today was frustrating in a way because Freo is so similar to us in their age demographic. We feel like we’re going to have a lot of battles with them in the years to come. But I think that’s sixth in a row that they’ve got us, so we’re looking forward to turning that around.”

---

Follow Hawks Insiders on Twitter and Facebook.