How do you like them (Tasmanian) apples?
A brilliant win on the Apple Isle by our young warriors, knocking over a big flag fancy
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ROUND 10: HAWTHORN 117, BRISBANE 112
📝 Main recap:
The Port win on the road was “a thing of beauty”. The Geelong nail biter was “one for the ages”. But was that our best win of the season?
Aside from a few nervy final moments, there were so many positives to take out of our five point win over the Lions that this post was almost too long to send.
We’ll focus on the individual moments soon, but that win was built off the back of an even four quarter effort from our 22, which is something we haven’t really managed this year. Jai Newcombe, James Sicily and Tom Michell were the clear architects of that win, but there were important cameos all over the ground - from Chad Wingard’s mercurial three goal haul to Dimma Hardwick’s defensive heroics.
We were treated to Frostball on the wing, up forward, and wherever else Sammy Mitchell allowed him to roam, while Liam Shiels played an immense lock down role on Lachie Neale that will undoubtedly help him reach that magical 250 mark.
In 2021 under Clarko, we pinched wins from better teams with disciplined performances that negated the opposition’s game style, but this win was testament to the exciting brand of end-to-end footy we’re playing under Sammy.
Only some injury concerns to Day and Lynch soured a victory that should be properly celebrated as a coming-of-age moment from a club that is rebuilding fast.
✂️ Snippet of the match (I):
It was a moment that needed a composed, measured and thumping shot at goal - and in our time of need it was exactly what our key talisman that delivered.
After receiving a free kick thanks to Dayne Zorko running too far with the ball, Mitch Lewis went back beyond 50, took a couple of steps to his right as he ran in, and absolutely split the middle.
The brilliant set shot gave us a 16-point buffer and Hawks fans across the country were definitely grateful for the additional breathing space.
✂️ Snippet of the match (II):
It was a defining moment in the final quarter of the game - and boy did Jai have a few defining moments throughout.
Halfway through the fourth term, Newcombe was the beneficiary of a lucky ricocheted ball before he single handedly made the decision to take the game on and break it open.
Seeing Darcy Fort ahead of him, Jai backed himself putting on the afterburners, scorching around Fort, and delivering a long, raking ball deep inside 50 that ultimately resulted in a Luke Breust goal and a nine point lead.
🍒 You never forget your first (I):
It just wasn’t to be last week for Sam Butler as he fluffed his chance in the goal square against the Tigers to kick his first goal in the AFL.
But he made no mistake of it this week. In the second term, he was on the end of a terrific handball from Jacob Koschitzke just 30 metres from goal.
After making sure he hadn’t spent it before he got it, Butler beautifully rocked around and snapped across his body on the right foot to put it through the big sticks.
And as always - it was so wonderful to see everyone get around him.
🍒 You never forget your first (II):
And now for something a little bit different … not quite his first career goal, but Sam Frost managed to snag his first goal for Hawthorn - kicking beautifully after pulling in an excellent contested mark. It was an interesting sight seeing Frosty in the forward line - a sight that we’d be happy to see the back of.
🍔 Ash’s key takeaways
The operating philosophy at Hawthorn this year has been plain for all to see – play the kids. It might have cost the team a win or two, with the Carlton and Essendon games coming to mind. But Sam Mitchell demonstrated his smarts once again on Sunday. Liam Shiels and Daniel Howe added some bigger bodies and experience to the side and both played their part in a fantastic win. Connor MacDonald, Finn Maginness (both omitted) and Josh Ward (concussion protocols) are part of Hawthorn’s future, but no harm was done by them sitting this one out. The Hawks needed the win more than getting another game into them.
Shiels was superb on Lachie Neale. Some of the 2020 Brownlow medallist’s clearance work was breathtaking, especially early, but he ended up with 25 possessions, below his season average of 32 and he never took the game apart as he threatened to. Shiels doesn’t have much left in the tank, but his work on Sunday reminded what an outstanding, if unsung, hero of Hawthorn he is. He and Luke Breust should get to 250 games together in a fortnight against Collingwood at the MCG and what an occasion it will be.
Another sign of Sam Mitchell’s emerging genius? He recognised that Tom Mitchell needed a week off last week. Never mind that he missed the Richmond game, when he would have been more than handy, the coach knows a listless midfielder when he sees one, and he also promised this week that Tom Mitchell had his energy back, would start in the midfield and likely play very well. Tick, tick, tick.
It is amazing what a Sunday afternoon game on free-to-air TV does. Another brilliant game from Jai Newcombe and all of a sudden, it is not just Hawthorn supporters who are aboard the ‘Jai for the Rising Star’ bandwagon. Apparently, he is now into second favouritism, but at the rate he is going, he’ll win it in a canter.
To beat Brisbane, you need all your midfielders going, and both Jaeger O’Meara and Conor ‘Bash ‘N Crash’ Nash did well. A blow-out threatened early, but after 10 minutes the Hawks started to get the game played on their terms and O’Meara and Nash played their part.
Loved the game of Chad Wingard. Three goals in the Sir Doug Nicholls Round.
Mitch Lewis was Hawthorn’s best forward. Four goals, including the monster from outside 50 in the final quarter. His confidence grows by the week and so does the trust his teammates up the ground have in him.
Sam Butler looked miles off AFL level last week on debut but was much better this time and he finished with two goals. He will be worth persisting for the next few weeks. The best first-year award at the Hawks this year is shaping as a tight-run contest.
The backline conceded 17 goals, but given the Lions had 61 inside 50s, it held up reasonably well. The challenge this week was Brisbane’s abundance of quality medium and small forwards, which explains why Sam Frost played in the forward line. James Sicily could have gone back to being the floating third defender, but he was deployed on Eric Hipwood and he destroyed him.
The downer of the day was that Will Day hurt his ankle once again. It is becoming the body part that lets him down the most and fingers are crossed it is nowhere near as bad as the dual ankle injuries that pretty much wiped out all of his 2021 season. He is struggling to put together more than four or five games on the trot. He’s not Xavier Ellis, though. At least not yet, but we have some mild concerns.
The new X-Man? And Max Lynch came off late with a head injury and looked really distressed as he walked off the ground. He played his best game for the club on Sunday and at least gave the Hawks a contest in the ruck. With news that he’s likely to miss the next game at least due to concussion protocols, it means the club’s only three ruckmen will all be sidelined at once. The mid-season draft cannot come quickly enough.
Three of Hawthorn’s wins this year have come against flag aspirants at the time. Port Adelaide was the best in my opinion, but it is understandable why many would think this was the best of the lot this season.
That’s three straight wins for Hawthorn over Brisbane. Sorry Fages. Bad luck, Hodgey. Commiserations, Birch. Not sure what the mood is over at Lions Insiders, but they’ll have surely noted that the last three games against the Hawks have all been on Hawthorn’s home deck, either the MCG or UTAS. They’ll be requesting the Hawks at the Gabba next year and rightfully so.
The Hawks face a short week and a trip to Darwin, in which a few activities are planned as well as the game. As great a win as this was over the Lions, Gold Coast will be a tough ask with a less than ideal build-up and potentially no recognised ruckman to go up against the in-form Jarrod Witts. Not discounting that, both the Suns and Magpies are beatable over the next two weeks. Who knows, the Hawks might get to 6-6 and somehow still themselves in the race for the eight.
Superstar/Rising Star/Falling Star
⭐️ Superstar - Tom Mitchell
We have been asking for one of our senior midfielders to really step up for weeks, and this week Titch did just that - rivalling Jai Newcombe for the most important player on the ground. Mitchell was always going to spend majority of the game in the guts (as expressed by Sam Mitchell mid-week), and he played one of his trademark games that we have come to know and love.
Finishing with 36 touches, a goal, nine clearances and seven tackles, it was another Tom Mitchell masterclass - releasing Jai so the pair could work in tandem as they bullied their way to 16 clearances of the team’s 43.
💫 Rising star - Mitch Lewis
In a weekend where the media have been frothing over Charlie Curnow and Max King, our very own young forward prodigy proved again why he should be in the conversation as one of the best prospects in the competition.
Lewis managed to kick four goals straight which were part of his seven score involvements for the day - with his fourth goal to seal the match in the final quarter (see above) a real top shelf effort.
Despite missing three matches this season Lewis has crept up to 10th on the season goal kicking leaderboard, and the best goal accuracy of anyone in the top-10.
Developing beautifully, and could become anything.
🤷♂️ Falling star - Will Day
How this hurts. We forecast this as a problem in the pre-season, but now there is a genuine concern about one of the players we had been expecting to pin our rebuilding dreams on. And while it is not all exactly doom and gloom just yet, the murmurs and concerns are now growing a little louder
Not much transparency from the club yet as to the severity of Day’s ankle injury so we are just going to have to wait - but it is likely more weeks on the sidelines and likely more anguish.
Looking back at the poll we ran in February, a huge number of our followers suggested they were not worried about Day’s body holding up - wonder what the poll would look like now (note to self: run the poll again!).
Unsung Hero & Scapegoat
👼 Unsung Hero - Blake Hardwick
He may only have recorded 11 touches and five marks for the day, but it was his work minding dangerous Lions forward Charlie Cameron that should earn Dimma more plaudits than he is likely to receive.
While Cameron finished the day with three goals next to his name, he had two of them fairly early into the second quarter and only touched the ball six times.
The work that Hardwick did to nullify his presence and hold the Hawk backline together was outstanding - and a role worthy of recognition as a match-winning performance.
🔪 🐐 Scapegoat - Kyle Hartigan
What’s the point? This is one of the few takes from the outer in relation to Kyle Hartigan playing his first game of the season as the starting medical-sub.
The decision to name a hulking defender as the sub was a puzzling one - especially when you consider the decision to play Sam Frost as a forward.
Previously a key part of our backline, Hartigan came on as the sub for Will Day and despite getting a quarter of football under his belt, failed to trouble the statisticians.
You can’t help but feel that for a game like this one (and in the future), a running sub would be more valuable.
The Obligatory Ladder Check In
Sitting quite cosy now in 13th spot on the table, jumping two games clear of the Bombers (again, how on earth did we lose to them?) and one game ahead of the Giants and Crows. With a game this week against the Suns, a win should take us up to 12th position at the end of round 11.
News & Notes
The siren to end the first quarter came as Charlie Cameron was getting set to have a shot at goal. And not for the first time, the Tasmanian in charge of pressing the siren’s buzzer was front and centre as the siren kept going, and going, and going. It went for 11 seconds - a ridiculous amount of time to be blowing it for.
According to afl.com.au’s Josh Gabelich both Max Lynch and Will Day will likely miss the trip to the NT to face the Suns. As previously mentioned, Lynch has entered into concussion protocols after further tests upon returning home on Monday, while Day has re-injured the same ankle that interrupted his start to the season, although this is thought to be a “jarring issue” rather than anything serious. As for our #1 ruck Ned Reeves, Gabelich says he is unlikely, but hasn’t been completely ruled out. “Reeves has been undergoing a strengthening and mobility program since he injured his shoulder in round five,” he says.
Sammy Press Conference Bingo
I was really proud of the boys ✅
Played with a high level of effort and intent ✅
We’ve got a lot of work to do on our game ✅
Today was just another step on our journey ✅
I was really pleased ✅
What They Said
🗣️ Tom Mitchell
“It was a pretty special win. Obviously they came pretty hard towards the end and we had a few nervous moments towards the end, but to get a win against Brisbane is pretty good.”
“We got the message with the last centre bounce that there was three seconds to go so you’re never quite sure but to fight back from where we were in the game was an awesome effort.”
“[We’re] very proud and I think the fans will be very proud as well. I feel like we’ve competed in every game except probably the St Kilda game but we’ve had the chance to win in pretty much every game and we’ve had a lapse in a few games that have cost us but today we put it all together.”
You can't understate the value of a Liam Shiels AKA the best captain we never had. Particularly in the absence of Big Boy, he makes those young mids stand taller at the stoppage.
Couldn't agree more that the mid-season draft could not come soon enough. I myself think we need to look at a pure ruckman, I know a lot of weight is put on having a ruck who can play multiple positions, but heck, if we can get a bloke who can ruck 25 minutes a quarter, for 4 quarters resting on the bench, I'd be happy.
Now, the jury is out on which state league is the best, SANFL or VFL, but I am confident they stock the best crop of non-AFL listed ruckmen.
Depending on if we are just looking for a one season back fill, or a player for a few more years here are some names to consider.
1. A guy we know, Keegan Brooksby (32, 197cm, 99kg), we know what we can expect from him, we know he's a competitive beast and he's still playing good footy at South Adelaide, when he's not working at the Hawks - Great insurance policy.
2. Harry Boyd (24, 198cm, 108kg), @Norwood FC. No one has ever seen him and The Incredible Hulk in the same room. I'm not sure it's a coincidence, he is an immoveable object who covers the ground extremely well and gets his hands on the footy a hell of lot for a bloke who looks like he has been sent back in time to fight the autobots (I think I'm mixing up my movie references).
3. Nic Minchin (26, 200cm 98kg) @ Glenelg FC. Runs all day and get's better as the day goes on. As for his ruck work - he's got a lot of Robbie Campbell about him, while his statistical output might not ever catch the eye of recruiters - He doesn't get beaten, not to say he wins every tap at worst he halves the contest and the one's he wins are to advantage - a pure ruckman who is very strong down the line. - A 5 minute chop out per quarter from Kosi would be all he needs.
Starting to worry about Day and his ankle. Just unable to get any consistency with time on the ground. I hope we can get him right. Give him all the time he needs.