It wasn't pretty, but we got the job done
Recapping our first win over the Demons since Cyril was in the squad
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ROUND 9: HAWTHORN 13.13 (91), DEMONS 7.14 (56)
We heard it plenty of times over the past week - a nine-game streak of not beating the Demons harking back to early in the 2018 season, fresh on supporters mind heading into round eight.
And this one had some eerie feels throughout the first three-quarters - a strong sense that perhaps our recent poor history against the red and blue was going to continue.
At three-quarter time the task was simple. Bank the four points and move on.
Despite the first 90 minutes of footy, to not only bank the win but to do it in Hokball style in the last term was definitely very pleasing.
Clear your September. We are playing finals in 2025. But how far we go may depend on the next five rounds of footy and how we go against some of the better teams in the competition.
It wasn’t pretty for a while a the MCG in glorious sunshine on Saturday, but to head into Saturday night 7-2 at this point in the season is a magnificent achievement.
Let’s look back at how it all unfolded in front of 50,000-plus fans and enjoy the work we have done to have us set in the top-four for now.
🕵🏻♂️ Some Obs from Ash
Not sure who brought down who to their level, but the first three quarters on Saturday were an especially hard watch.
The feeling at half-time was that the Hawks deserved to be behind and 30 minutes later probably should have led by three goals. As their coach Simon Goodwin said afterwards, it might been as well as they’ve played all year. But the last quarter was a different story. And it might have been the best quarter the Hawks have put together for the year. Once Jack Gunston opened his account in the final quarter, Hok Ball was back. And it was sublime.
Most Hawthorn people have lumped the last three weeks together. It was a time to ‘have a lick of the ice cream’, grab some percentage and iron out some kinks ahead of a difficult part of the fixture.
Certainly if you’d been offered a 35-point win over Melbourne before walking into the MCG, you’d have gladly taken it. Same with 65 points against the Tigers the week before. 50 point win against West Coast? Should have been 80.
So what have we learned after three weeks of taking care of business?The Hawks have depth. None of Josh Ward, CJ nor Jack Gunston were in the best 23 at the start of the year but they have each grabbed their opportunities with both hands and will be tough to displace from the side. They bat deep.
Jack Ginnivan and Massimo D’Ambrosio are best 23 players who were down on form, but the last three weeks have allowed them to find some form again.
Josh Weddle has added another weapon to his repertoire – consistency. What a star he is becoming. That last quarter goal was something special.
The reinforcements are back at the right time. Tom Barrass and Jack Scrimshaw will stiffen the backline considerably. Cam McKenzie adds class to the midfield. Conor Nash waits one more week, but you’d want him for the Brisbane and Collingwood games especially. And don’t forget Hawthorn’s change of fortunes last year once Calsher Dear was injected into the side.
Sam Mitchell is embracing the challenge of a) facing the Suns and b) playing in Darwin on a five-day break. The match committee was already deliberating within 30 minutes of the final siren as to who might not be getting on the plane.
Shame Jarman Impey won’t be playing but its baby central at the Hawks this year and now it is his turn to become a dad. Good luck Jars.
Traveling on Monday suggests nothing being left to chance and giving the players every chance to acclimatise. And while the Hawks gave Melbourne their full attention this week, you just feel the Suns game is one that has been circled in the calendar for some time and after the terrible outing against them last year also represents unfinished business.
Enough with Blake Hardwick as a forward. Mitchell loves versatility and pulling various levers, but he’s a better defender than forward and the last fortnight has demonstrated that.
Max Gawn is a superstar and for a time threatened to take the game apart. But early and late he was less of a factor. It was the least dominant he has been against the Hawks for several years.
It was good to beat Melbourne - a team that has beaten Hawthorn too often, too easily for too many years. It’s been a good test of taking care of business for Hawthorn - Essendon and Sydney - are two that come to mind. Let’s hope the Suns are next.
Gold Coast. Brisbane. Collingwood. Western Bulldogs. Adelaide. Everyone will have their own view on how many of them the Hawks will or need to win, but what will be abundantly clear after this challenging run is whether they can win the flag. Bring it on.
🧐 Things we like to see #1: Gunston kicking the sealer
Hard to tell what he was thinking when he decided to play on under pressure 45 metres out in the final quarter, but regardless, we approve. Following on from his 500th last week, another three goals to Jack including this cracker to seal the game - our veteran keeps getting better every week.
🧐 Things we like to see #2: The Next Gen
Not sure who this little legend is, but he obviously enjoyed the Gunston goal. And while this game was eminently forgettable for us veteran nuffs, we can’t for a second forget that somewhere in the crowd is a next gen Hawks fan having the time of their life.
🧐 Things we like to see #3: Weddle’s World
It’s Josh Weddle’s world, we just livin’ in it. Our young superstar’s all-action final quarter was truly something to behold. Seven disposals, four score involvements and this ridiculous goal. Just when it looked like he was about to get crunched, Weddle stuck the big paw out, tapped it to Finn, who gave off the handball receive, only for
⭐️ Best on ground: James Worpel
One of few players that could honestly say that they gave their all in the first half - racking up 17 touches across the opening two terms despite a 15-minute quiet patch in the second. A huge tackle and strong overhead mark with the game on the line in the final quarter added to his performance, finishing the match with 28 touches, 10 tackles, seven score involvements and six clearances. Huge performance.
💫 Rising star: Josh Ward
Two or three moments that Ward would like to take back that had supporters heads in cupped hands. But those moments aside, Ward put in a decent performance with 22 touches and a wonderful goal on the run nine minutes into the third quarter. Still just 21 years of age, Ward has played every game since missing Opening Round against the Swans, and averages 21 disposals in the eights games he has played in 2025. The beneficiary of having spots with the likes of Will Day and Connor Nash missing matches, but valuable games being added to his career experience.
👼 Unsung hero: Changkuoth Jiath
Very good fortnight of footy from CJ and played out the game as our most consistent defender and running back. Managed 507 metres gained which was our second highest tally, a whopping game-high 12 intercept possessions and nine score involvements which was the second most on the ground. Oh yeah - he also had 25 touches, nine marks, six inside 50’s and five rebounds from 50. We like this CJ - welcome back.
🤯 Under pressure: Henry Hustwaite
In an early tactical substitute on Saturday our coaching team decided to inject some pace into the game bringing Bailey Macdonald into proceedings after the half time break. Henry Hustwaite was the player to make way having registered just eight touches in the first half as well as three clangers. While it would be nice to see him get an indefinite run of first-team football, he is likely to make way as part of the wholesale changes expected as we head north to Darwin - must be a little nervous.
🎤 Sammy said what!?
“It was always going to be a difficult game and I was as frustrated as anyone at three-quarter time.”
“We just couldn’t get anything going and the game was a bit of a mess from both sides, but I was looking at the centre bounces and it was Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, Picket and I was thinking - it’s probably a bit harder than you’re thinking against the quality of talent that they had in there.”
“I think we stuck with the same thing for a long time and thought that eventually we would break the game open and it happened in the last quarter.”
“The last part of the game it opened up a bit and that seemed to suit us a bit more.”
“We know we need to be able to compete in different manners - we’ve set our season up quite well at this stage as far as the ladder goes.”
“Have we played absolutely scintillating footy? A couple of times this year and some quarters and for periods of games I think we have, but we haven’t put together this striking amazing footy that’s blowing teams away.”
🗣️ The final word: Josh Ward
“We weren’t quite ourselves. We sort of backed ourselves in that we’re a fit side, worked hard over the summer, and we'd be able to run it out in the last quarter…
“It felt like we were beating ourselves almost just with basic skill errors, not playing the way we want to play. Obviously they were playing well, but it felt like it was more on us to just lift our effort.”
⏭️ Next week:
Well - it is more like this week isn’t it?
A five day break and a Thursday night clash against the Gold Coast Suns up in Darwin awaits.
We will travel up today to acclimatise in what will be as tough a task as there is, and will likely rest a few players for the journey.
But we think that while we may not go in as favourites to win the game (for just the second time this season), coming home with the four premiership points is not out of the realms of possibility.
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What was learnt:
1. Midfield match ups demonstrated issues with our midfield depth – With Newcombe and Oliver going head-to-head (not sure it was a tag as much as an old-fashioned contest) and Worpel taking Petracca, this left Ward and Hustwaite matching up on Pickett and Rivers. Whilst the midfield clearances didn’t look to be particularly important in direct scoring opportunities, they did provide for territory advantage, however it was in the defensive/offensive transition that they had a bigger impact, most obviously in the first half. The capacity for Pickett to burst from stoppage or as the outlet from the contest was a key factor in Melbourne’s ability to dominate the inside 50 count in the 2nd quarter. Mitchell recognised this at half-time by subbing Hustwaite sending Maginness to Petracca, moving Worpel across to Pickett/Rivers but more significantly bringing Moore into the rotation trying to match their breakaway speed. The lack of a midfielder with breakaway speed is one of the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.
2. Sticking/making tackles – With 44 tackles for the game (season average 63.6), we looked to be playing bruise free footy let alone knowing what the stats were for effective tackles. Without the pressure on the ball carrier, the defenders were facing an uphill battle with the opposition able to provide clean entries to their forwards, the issue for them being that their delivery was poor. Think back to how many times we faced the overlap run which forced the defenders to come forward in an attempt to disrupt their ball movement.
3. Scoring opportunities from wide angles is not a sustainable method to win – Again, for the first three quarters, all too often, our scoring opportunities were from spots with angles tighter than 45 degrees and I’m guessing a probability of less than 50% irrespective of how reliable the goal kickers are. Being able to generate scoring chances where the player’s shoulders are square to the goal face was shown up in the last quarter.
4. Unforced errors were running rife – There appeared to be a Bermuda Triangle operating across the defensive end of the centre square kicking to the Punt Rd goals where Worpel in the clear coming out of D50 literally handballed to no one where Ward earlier had missed a short centring pass in the same part of the ground.
5. Kick outs/exiting defensive 50 still no answers but some actions – Again, our capacity to exit the D50 from kick outs was an issue with Gawn being able to take strong contested marks regularly. At least this week, the option to the open side was tried a little more regularly and not just with the open side runner tactic. Would it be too simplistic on occasions to have Meek go to the open side and see what the opposition ruck man does, given many sides prefer to keep their tall marking forward behind the ball, in case we win possession?
Observations:
• Battle on the run kicking inside F50 is still a watch. He is looking a little like Worpel – when he looks at the 30-40m option his execution is better than 40+m. KE 62%
• Jiath’s closing speed in the back half is important providing extra coverage, particularly in marking contests. His execution by foot is still a work in progress.
• Meek’s work in the ruck contests shouldn’t be overlooked in terms of not allowing Gawn to give his mids silver service. No doubt around the ground, Gawn had his measure.
• Connor Macdonald hasn’t quite returned from injury as well as he played before his time out of the game.
• B. Macdonald started as sub again, but with Impey out next week, he may well get a starting spot. Having said that he does provide more flexibility as the sub option.
• Again, Weddle’s impact on the scoreboard has more often come when he has played behind the ball rather than starting as a forward.
• Hardwick’s ability to play as a defender is still an ace up the sleeve of the coaches.
• A couple of times when we had inside 50 opportunities when Chol was off the ground, it highlighted the need to get another marking option in the F50 notwithstanding how well Gunston has played as a roving tall option.
• Hustwaite as a ruck option around the ground wasn’t as effective as Nash in that role.
• The “neutral” observers on Watson may focus on his celebrations, how he goes into contests, but don’t appear to look at his defensive work rate. Interesting this week, he wasn’t put into the centre square.
• TOG % - Bottom 4 (leaving out subs): Breust 53%, Ward 72% C. Macdonald 74% Worpel 76%. (Maginness highest at 97% - first time I can recall not being a defender.)
• Kicking efficiency (DE): Amon 100% (100), Hardwick 90% (94), Weddle 89% (96), Sicily 85% (88), Moore 50% (67), Gunston 55% (50), Newcombe 57% (84).
Starting 4: (CBA/CC)
1st Qrt: Newcombe (20/2) Worpel (18/3) Ward (16/0)
2nd Qrt: Newcombe Worpel Hustwaite (8/1)
3rd Qrt: Newcombe Worpel Moore (10/2 all 2nd half)
4th Qrt: Newcombe Worpel Ward
Meek 19/0 Chol 5/0
Note: Based on rucks CBA’s - there were 11 CBAs in the first half which means Hustwaite was in for 72% of them. 13 CBA’s in 2nd half – Moore 77%.
After having two weeks to bed down a centre square system against teams that don’t have quality midfielders now, this game certainly gave an insight into the depth of the midfield at the moment. Notable that only 5 players were in the CBAs – season low.
Issue for the week:
The Suns are high scoring team this season particularly against teams that have been known for their defensive pressure, so being able to pressure their midfield and impede quality inside 50’s will assist our defenders in conditions that will be difficult. Defensively, we rank 3rd on points against, so our back half has held up its end of the bargain thus far.
5 week rolling ladder
Rd For Agst %
5 91 81 111.82%
6 87 83 105.05%
7 90 81 111.11%
8 96 78 123.14%
9 99 76 129.66%