Is the rebuild still on track?
A disappointing loss to the Suns has us contemplating a question everyone is too afraid to ask
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ROUND 5: GOLD COAST 16.13 (109), HAWTHORN 8.8 (56)
📝 Main recap:
There are bad days at the footy and then there’s whatever the Hawks dished up against the Suns on Saturday night.
Of course, even the most optimistic of supporter can accept bad days at the footy at this stage of the rebuild. But is it too much to walk away from the game with something akin to a warm hug that tells you “everything is going to be OK”? You know? A Josh Weddle running bounce. A Jai Newcombe broken tackle. Cam Mackenzie hitting a forward lace out. A hanger from Chol. Something? Anything?
We’ve come to accept a lot of late as Hawthorn supporters. We’ve been patient. We’ve fully bought into Sammy’s vision and a multi-year rebuild. We understand this year isn’t about wins but progress. But the performance against the Gold Coast Suns — who admittedly have been given concession after concession in a bid to make them a relevant club — left even the most glass half full supporters wondering whether the rebuild is even on track.
The stats don’t lie.
-96 disposals
-20 inside 50s
-10 clearances
-5 centre clearances
-17 for tackles
-7 tackles in forward 50
Setting aside the fact we couldn’t get our hands on it, the last two are arguably the most damning. It spoke to a distinct lack of intensity around the contest, as the Hawks struggled to hold tackles, break tackles, and put any pressure on the Suns whatsoever. When Mac Andrew shoved Jack Ginnivan to the ground in the first quarter, it’s telling he casually jogged off without a single Hawks player sticking up for their teammate.
It’s no wonder Dylan Moore warned his teammates to bring mouth guards to training in his post match interview.
Aside from a small handful of players, the vast majority of this list has gone backwards over the first five rounds of the season. Is that a product of coaching? Or of a group of players who have drunk their own post season “no limits” bathwater?
And still a bigger question hangs over this team and coaching staff: Is the rebuild still on track?
With a game against fellow cellar dwellers North on the horizon, we’ll get some answers to those questions by this time next week.
🧐 Things we like to see — hold your tackles
Josh Weddle’s crunching tackle on Matthew Rowell in the first quarter was the prototype for what we expect when hunting a player with the ball. He was rewarded with a holding the ball free kick, but tackles of this quality were few and far between across the whole game. Made this a memorable moment from Saturday night.
👑 The King - Ginni 🎯
Fast becoming THE favourite of brown and gold fans all over Australia, there was plenty of love for our #33 at the People First Stadium against the Suns. And he delivers at least one moment of class each week. This goal was stock standard and he nailed a 180 with his dart celebration that followed.
🕵🏻♂️ Weissy’s observations from up north
1. I can’t remember a game in recent memory I have been so disappointed sitting at a game of footy. It was genuinely one of those matches that you remember forever — for all the wrong reasons.
2. Not sure where footy is heading up in the Gold Coast. An official crowd figure of 13,900 (so literally half the stadium) was in attendance in what were perfect conditions on a Saturday night in school holidays. The city is buzzing but the stadium atmosphere was very dull.
3. Nearly as dull as Mabior Chol’s performance. Could have had 10 marks and kicked four goals and made his former team regret their decision to let him walk. Actually, maybe he couldn’t have.
4. Only 56 touches for the entire team in the first quarter and 14 of our starting 22 with five touches or less in the first half of football alone. Never seen anything like it.
5. Not too many positives to take out of the game at People First Stadium. Anyone who tries to tell you there were plenty needs a check-up.
6. Finn Maginness may have been one of the positives and with three goals and nine marks was maybe the only player to get a pass mark. But he touched it 16 times at 56% disposal efficiency — and that was the same old problem the knockers have had on him up until now. Yes his presence as our only contributing forward was significant but his ball use was deplorable.
7. Will Day and Cam Mackenzie — together with Sam Mitchell — all looked devastated on the bench after the game. Clearly aware of just how bad that game of footy was.
8. Speaking of Sam Mitchell — he will learn from the things that, on reflection, do not work. Like putting Jai Newcombe on the bench to start the game and playing him deep forward for most of the first term. After his performance last week, let the bull out of the gate in the guts. Baffling decision.
9. Who would have thought at the start of the season our defensive line would have been the best group of players each week. Our midfield unit had another ‘mare.
10. Hard to make too many changes through the middle given the depth or lack thereof at Box Hill. Reckon we give the core unit one more decent crack at North before changes become needed.
11. Is it a positive that we get to play North Melbourne this week? Win and there is some solace — some reward for the good parts of the season thus far. Lose and it will be absolute mayhem.
🕵🏻♂️ And some from Ash down south
1. The Hawks were always at long odds to win this one — bogey ground, young team, talent deficiency, back-to-back six days games outside Victoria — so anyone who forked out their hard earned cash to travel to the game is a f… sorry, Weissy!
2. Hawthorn’s starts have been abysmal all year, so what happens in the first 60 seconds? A goal to the Suns. It was effectively game over there and then.
3. Is there a coaching element to these wretched starts? There has to be.
4. Plenty else about the key moments of the game, and where it all went wrong, will be dissected elsewhere in this column but the umpiring was generally rubbish and the Hawks got the wrong end of most of it. Happy for Sam Mitchell to go all Howard Beale and incur the $20,000 fine from the AFL. That’s about 25 cents per member. I’d happily pay my share.
5. The Ginnivan Tax was on full display when Mac Andrew cannoned into our man Jack right in front of Andrew Stephens and the free was not paid. Well done to Campbell Brown on Channel Seven for calling it out as “a free kick every day of the week” while all Luke Darcy could do was have a giggle and defend the umpire. Sadly, that’s Hawthorn in 2024, a sideshow to the real thing and you cannot blame Channel Seven for looking at the club and drawing a line through it for the rest of 2024 when the remaining schedule is released.
6. The big picture for Hawthorn is utterly depressing. The number of players who have clearly improved can be counted on one hand — James Worpel and Sam Frost for certain and probably Jack Scrimshaw as well. Henry Hustwaite looks to be a keeper. Then it gets hard.
7. It was disappointing that after a lacklustre set of practice matches, the Hawks then took off most of the first week before the Essendon game. Perhaps under the CBA rules, they had no choice. Certainly Essendon trained all the way through.
8. So it was comforting to hear Mitchell say post-game there will be no let-up this week despite the eight-day break and the opportunity to freshen up. The old-school “bring your mouthguard to training” dictum is timely and for as team that trains under the statue of John Kennedy and this week will honour Allan Jeans as a Legend of the club, it is most appropriate. They would expect nothing else.
9. Sam Mitchell had a nasty edge as a player. It is time for him to coach in the same fashion.
Heaven help us all if the Hawks lose to North next week.
⭐️ Best on ground — Finn Maginness
The fact Finn was our BOG going at 56% disposal efficiency truly says it all. There are plenty of things you can fault Maginness on, but unlike some of his teammates on Saturday night, his effort and intensity is always there. 16 disposals, 7 marks and three goals is a very good return for Maginness. If he could only fix his kicking (when it’s not for goal).
💫 Rising star — Henry Hustwaite
It’s not hard to see why it was Hustwaite, who only came on in the second half and still finished with more disposals than Conor Nash and Jai Newcombe. Hustwaite’s disposal efficiency wasn’t great, but he managed to get first hands on the football, which is more than we can say for those around him.
👼 Unsung hero — Jack Scrimshaw
The ask on Scrimshaw has been too much all year. He’s being asked to play as a key defender, but he hasn’t stopped trying throughout. Often overmatched and undersized, Scrimshaw has had to get his hands dirty (which has been something he hasn’t been known for) but he has consistently produced the required effort. Kudos to Scrim.
🤯 Under pressure — Conor Nash
If we’re being honest, this list could probably contains quite a few names after the weekend. The glaring one is Nash and the fall from grace he has had from 2023 to today. 10 disposals from a midfielder in a full game of football just isn’t enough, and the same can be said for his partner in crime, Jai Newcombe. Nash needs to stand up quickly, or he may find himself in the VFL.
👀 Box Hill watch — Josh Bennetts and Jack O’Sullivan
The young Hawks duo have started their respective seasons well, despite O’Sullivan having to overcome injury. Box Hill were comprehensively beaten by the Gold Coast Reserves, but Bennetts finished with 22 disposals and 1.2 goals, while O’Sullivan collected 14 disposals, six marks and kicked two goals. Hawthorn’s small forwards might be feeling the heat from these two potential debutants.
😡 Angry Brad’s early call
🎤 Sammy said what!?
“I am so disappointed — we should be well past games like that.”
“We lost every aspect of the game.”
“There was not a single aspect of that game that went in our favour.”
“I think if you’re not good in the contest and you’re not willing to consistently handle the pressure of the opposition, I think we’re probably the easiest team to put pressure on because we invite it ourselves.”
“Our ball handling, our handball skills — I think we had 35 ineffective handballs out of 100, and their pressure was good but we have to be better than that.”
“It’s a completely unacceptable way to play and we should be past that.”
“That’s as bad as we’ve played in a really long time.”
🗣️ Final words — James Sicily
“We all felt pretty embarrassed with the result today. We didn’t handle the conditions, our ball handling and appetite for the contest wasn’t good enough.”
“I am supposed to be the leader of the group and I wasn’t good enough at all today.”
“I think as a group we are all going to look in the mirror after today and try and get better.”
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What was learnt i.e. for this week, what was known:
1. Speed kills – Leg speed from the contest will kill teams that don’t have breakaway players who either make space when their team has possession or have the capacity to chase down/pressure the opposition. Our midfield just doesn’t have this capacity. If you watched the first twenty minutes of the Box Hill game, you would have seen the issue that was to come. The potential replacements aren’t, in the short-term, going to address this situation. This is where the availability of CJ and Day for his agility are coming home to roost.
2. Clean hands are a given for quality ball control – A corollary of the previous point is the need for clean hands to allow for a chain of possessions, particularly from the contest. This game highlighted the need for this skill to become innate rather than an inconsistent skill set.
3. Our forward & back halves are “small” – With only Chol & Ramsden playing as key talls, this meant that taking on Collins, Ballard, Andrew & Lukosius, given Maginness “tagged” Flanders, this meant Hardwick, Moore, Ginnivan & CMac were playing “tall”. Added to this, the structure of pushing either CMac or Moore to the midfield meant that any forward entry had to be precise. Given the mids couldn’t provide the necessary clean inside 50 entries to a hit up lead, the Suns were able to manipulate the match ups to suit themselves. As to the backs, again with King, Walter (195cm) & Read all being taller than any of “tall” defenders (and as agile), the backs were up against it. Taking this into account, they once again applied themselves to the task.
4. Our midfield don’t understand Einstein’s theory of insanity – the number of times that both Worpel and Newcombe thought that they could beat the second tackle after beating the first was mind boggling. Having beaten the first tackler on some occasions, they just needed to get the ball forward. If the Pies game showed anything, a chaos entry was more likely to be effective than seeking the perfect pass. Think of how Hardwick was able to react quicker to some of these rushed entries.
Observations:
• Undoubtedly a disappointing outcome, however it wasn’t as dismal as the match against the Swans in the early part of last year. Whilst there is a higher expectation this year, the body of evidence isn’t there to justify the claim to be better than last year at this stage.
• Interesting that pre-game supporters were arguing that Nash had to take Rowell, given the way he plays wouldn’t work for Maginness, the stats and the eye indicate that Nash did impact on the performance of Rowell. The fact that Anderson and Miller were able to get off the chain demonstrated that our midfield working as a group have much to do from a defensive perspective.
• With the small forward structure, the lack of forward pressure was disappointing as evidenced by the capacity of the Suns’ defenders to switch play in their defensive 50.
• Playing Ramsden in the ruck for the better part of the last quarter showed Sam was prepared to try to gain something from the game i.e. see what Ramsden has to offer. His work in the air around the ground is much superior to either Meek or Reeves. As to whether Meek was injured or rested in the last quarter, not playing him forward at that stage of the game meant Sicily going forward which I doubt was a learning experience for anyone. Sam also had Moore in the centre square looking to inject some spread from contest I’d suggest. The problem here is that the days of a 177cm midfielder having an impact in the centre square are an exception eg. Neale, Serong. It was “interesting” that CMac didn’t have one centre square attendance.
• Credit to Finn for his ability to make a contest and to hit the scoreboard after a shaky start. Flanders certainly had plenty of possessions, however aside from the first centre square clearance, they were in general play in the back half and rarely forward of centre.
Starting 4:
1st Qrt: Nash (22); Worpel (14); Ward (6)
2nd Qrt: Nash; Worpel; Newcombe (16)
3rd Qrt: Worpel; Newcombe; Hustwaite (13)
4th Qrt: Nash; Newcombe; Moore (9)
(Meek 22/Ramsden 6/ Mackenzie 6)
The issue of the week – who’s coming in?
With the tsunami of disappointment, there is the “call” to make changes, but we actually need to look at who is available to come in and then whether they would be addressing the problem(s) – both real or perceived. These are the listed players who played with BH on Saturday:
Morrison – midfielder/small defender (brings more experience.)
Reeves – ruck (not an appreciable difference to Meek.)
Gunston – tall forward (brings experience, but at the expense of Ramsden?)
Stephens – inside midfielder (similar skill set to the current inside mids.)
Ryan – marking medium defender (debut)
Serong – tall defender (taller and more a marking interceptor than a running one.)
Dear – tall forward (debut)
Bennetts – small forward 178cm (debut)
B. Macdonald – medium defender (may provide more aggressive running from behind.)
O’Sullivan – small forward 177cm (debut)
Tucker – ruckman (debut)
Mick makes a number of great points (as usual). The lack of leg speed and run from behind is stark and has been noticeable all season. It has highlighted the importance of CJ and Will Day, who while not necessarily explosive, has great evasion skills and is very quick to react.
A few thoughts:
1. As noted, the lack of speed and run from behind continues to be an issue. Aside from Weddle, our lack of support run has been a real standout this season. I'm not sure whether, after an interrupted pre-season, Bailey McDonald is ready for senior footy, but we have to look at him reasonably soon and we really have to get Impey and Seamus running.
2. There's a noticeable lack of intensity this season and I guess there's plenty of theories as to why that might be - young players just happy to be getting a game, getting ahead of ourselves after a solid back half of 2023 for example - but it is unacceptable to play with such little pressure on the opposition. In terms of seeing a real shift in our intensity, I am hopeful that this was the game we had to have.
3. On a similar note, there's so many players that are well below their capability - why that is, who knows. Is there any merit in one or two positional changes to try and trigger some spark - could Cam Mackenzie be given a few games playing at half back - his composure and kicking could be an asset and he wouldn't be the first young midfielder to benefit from a spell playing behind the ball. While Amon is getting the ball, and yes he had big metres gained last week, he isn't providing run from behind, his disposal numbers are flattered by the kick ins he takes and we aren't generating ball movement from his possessions. Is it worth playing him back on the wing? Connor Mac started the season pretty well, but is clearly struggling. We hear talk of his potential to play as a forward-midfielder hybrid, but rarely see him give midfield minutes. Is it worth changing that mix to something to a 50-50 split?
4. Yes, Finn kicked 3 goals and had a real dip, but what is his role in our team, as it changes each week. One week he's the sub, one week he's on Daicos but not in a hard tag role and one week he's playing as a defensive forward. This is disruptive for both him and the team. If he plays, it has to be in an on-ball role stopping the opposition's best midfielder. More to the point though, is he really the guy we want to invest in right now, because doing so only detracts from the development of Ward, Mackenzie and Hustwaite.
5. In a funny way, the loss of Denver has hurt as playing him as a third tall up forward, with the flexibility of swinging to defence if necessary, could have been handy, especially while Lewis has been out.
6. While it was terribly disappointing, I don't think we'll be the only team that is on the receiving end of a whacking up there at that time of day. It's just about the toughest away fixture in the competition.
I remain of the view that we've been pretty good this season and at the risk of raising a controversial subject - expected score - going into this game we were 1-3 with a % of 90 (based on expected score). Unfortunately, there has been a number of 15-20 minute periods within games that has been very costly. On Saturday night, regrettably, it was an entire game where we were dominated. I am prepared to consign this loss to being "one of those days" (which as Campbell Brown noted does happen to young teams) but that will only be the case if we see some greater consistency of effort and genuine signs of development.
Last year, we saw Jai and Will Day really take their games to a new level and in the second half of the season, we saw the team start to gel and play competitively against most opposition. We are only 5 rounds into the season and there's 18 to go. Let's hope that later in the season, we're lauding the development of a number of individuals and some real improvement as a team.