If only they had listened to us

As we (belatedly) celebrate our second birthday, our reason for being has been validated by the footy media finally coming around to what the Hawks are trying to do.

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This is a slightly strange piece to be writing just 24 hours after a performance by Hawthorn as dispiriting as any this season, the belting from Gold Coast in which they kicked just two goals from late in the first term.

Sam Mitchell talked a good game in the lead-up, that the Hawks had studied what other teams had done coming off their bye and that some lessons had been learned. But all that took place after the bright opening 20 minutes was disappointing. He and his players did not walk the walk.

It was one of those bad days that Mitchell and Rob McCartney indicated would happen from time to time in 2023.

With a 4-10 record, it hasn’t been an objectively great season by the Hawks. They are mired in 16^th place and provided they win one, or perhaps two more games for the rest of the season, that’s where they will finish.

But as I wrote in the AFL Record earlier this year, Hawthorn might be experiencing one of the most enjoyable poor seasons in League history. The Eagles are terrible but beating them by a triple-digit margin offered Hawks fans a rare and well-deserved stress-free day of watching footy. Coming from behind to beat finals-bound St Kilda and Brisbane were great days at the footy and perhaps a sign of what’s to come.

Another memorable moment from season 2023

Beating the Lions in that fashion was so reminiscent of the 2005 win over them – Alastair Clarkson’s first win as coach of the club.

But what has also made the season so enjoyable are the feelings of “I told you so” that Hawthorn supporters, frankly, are entitled to feel.

Ever since the trade period concluded last October, supporters were lectured to by the footy commentariat that the club cut too deep by offloading Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara in the fashion they did. It was a mistake to let Jack Gunston go, they were told. Liam Shiels should have been kept for wisdom and experience. And on it went. The few Hawthorn people who dared offered a counter view were chopped down at the knees.

One of the mistakes we in the football media make all too often is to think we know more about the 18 clubs than do the supporters of those clubs. On that front I am often guilty as charged.

But with experience comes wisdom and understanding. I don’t have a massive knowledge of the playing list and the strengths of 17 of the 18 clubs. As a working football journalist, I learn what I need to know about every club for the sake of the story. But it means talking to teammates, coaches, football and media staff and even supporters in order to get up to speed about most clubs. I suspect it is the same for many of my AFL media colleagues.

Which is why the shrill calls around Hawthorn’s list management at the end of last season needed to be ignored. It is not always easy; the high-profile commentators making such calls have the platforms and therefore the mass audiences. It is interesting how many non-Hawthorn fans so willingly accepted the SEN/AFL Trade Radio narrative about the Hawks when they instantly dismiss the views those same commentators held about their own team.

But Hawthorn fans knew the team was going nowhere fast last year, even as Sam Mitchell immediately established his solid coaching credentials. Will Day,  Jai Newcombe, James Worpel, Conor Nash, Cam Mackenzie and others simply had to take over the midfield in order for the Hawks to start making progress.

Plenty of unseen work went in to this off-season

This is not a criticism of the commentators who were making the rash calls about the club and its list strategy. It is just the combination of there being a lot of hours of airtime to be filled and content to be created, while recognising the near-impossibility of being across every playing list in the competition in any sort of detail.

This time 12 months ago, I’m not sure several of the game’s leading commentators would have known Will Day from Doris Day.

Could have played half-back for the Hawks last year and several commentators wouldn't have noticed.

It is a reflection of the contracted media environment that we now live in and the lack of specialised beat reporting, mainly of the clubs in Victoria that fight for coverage in two daily newspapers, their digital products and a 24/7 sports radio station.

We started Hawks Insiders a bit more than two years ago because of a) the glut of misinformed commentary about the club (remember all the “Clarko masterclass” headlines?) and b) that aforementioned lack of beat reporting.

Two years on, not much has changed. Hawk fans still don’t think there is enough informed coverage of their club in the media, although the handover from Clarkson to Mitchell has led to much more transparency and a welcome willingness by the club to open its doors. Getting Mitchell on SEN Breakfast once a fortnight has been a brilliant move by the club.

But fans have enjoyed the mea culpas. Kane Cornes, David King, Caroline Wilson and Jake Niall have come to understand what the Hawks are attempting to do and have grudgingly and belatedly given it their tick of approval.

Of course, had they visited our humble little Substack throughout last summer, they might have come to the party that little bit earlier.

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