One for the ages
A win against Geelong that will live long in the memory for so many reasons
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ROUND 5: HAWTHORN 92, GEELONG 80
📝 Main recap:
Fans belting out the team song in the stairwells. Daryl Braithwaite’s ‘The Horses’ being pumped in the MCG foyer. Strangers embracing and high fiving each other at the final siren. Is this September?
We’re only in mid-April and it’s just round five, but there was a finals-like atmosphere at the ‘G as a developing Hawthorn side prevailed over arch rivals Geelong in yet another Easter Monday thriller by 12 points.
Geelong have been in a “Premiership window” for quite some time now, and it’s safe to say Hawthorn has been rank outsiders in this fixture since a rather infamous qualifying final loss in 2017. But whatever our ladder position (both current or predicted), Hawthorn generally finds another gear against the Cats, making this arguably the greatest football rivalry of the modern era.
We came close in the same fixture last year, going down by just five; had an unexpected victory in 2019; and who could forget those pair of famous wins in 2018 when Roughie snapped a winning point and Jaeger kicked the sealer?
But there was something different about this victory. Perhaps because it marked the beginning of a new era under Sam Mitchell, but also because of the sheer determination shown by all 22 out there to get us over the line.
The conditions were wet and the Geelong bodies were seasoned and well drilled, but in the end it came down to a game of 1:1 contests, won or halved by a group of players who decided not to read the script or the “reality check” op-eds following the St Kilda loss (ours included).
What makes this victory even sweeter is the fact there were 10 players out there who had yet to notch even 50 games of AFL footy including lifelong Hawks fan Josh Ward living out his boyhood fantasy and Rising Star™️ Jai Newcombe who was arguably best on ground.
But let’s not for a second forget the contributions of senior players like Jack Gunston, Luke Breust, James Sicily, Tom Mitchell, Sam Frost and Jarman Impey; or the selflessness of Jacob Koschitzke and Connor Nash, who were being played out of position; or Ned Reeves’ incredible first quarter and act of courage that led to his injury; or Dylan Moore’s four goal first half.
Or, or, or…
This was a full team effort for four quarters, with heroic moments from every player on every line. So let’s get into it then!
✂️ Snippet of the match #1 - Opening Bounce:
It was a sign that we had come to play - opening bounce, and the first passage of play was an absolute beauty. Reeves, Newcombe, Ward, Reeves, MacDonald and Lewis. How is our future looking? 👀
✂️ Snippet of the match #2 - That Tackle:
Is there anything more pleasant that seeing the perfectly executed tackle that is then rewarded with a holding the ball free kick as a result? The answer is yes, there is. When the person being tackled is Joel Selwood. Thank you Conor Nash.
✂️ Snippet of the match #3 - That Tackle II:
Is there anything more pleasant that seeing Joel Selwood run down, tackled and pinged for holding the ball? Well yes, yes there is. Check out this incredible tackle and conversion from our #13 against he who shall not be named. Thank you Dylan Moore.
🍔 Ash’s key takeaways
Ordinarily, an injury to the No.1 ruckman and indeed, the only ruckman in the side, should have marked the end for Hawthorn. But not on Monday. To grind out the win in that manner was an outstanding result. I mean, Rhys Stanley is not Simon Madden, but he is tall and experienced and the Hawks negated him.
Ned Reeves was absolutely dominating before the injury. He is going to be one of the five best ruckmen in the competition at some stage in his career. He might be the son of the CEO, but whoever discovered him deserves a pay rise.
Before we leave the big blokes, the Hawks are down to one specialist ruckman. His name is Max Lynch and he has missed the last four weeks because of concussion, COVID and finally, a poor reaction to a bee sting. If the Hawks intend to play him next Monday, they should keep him in isolation until then.
This one stings. Jai Newcombe thoroughly deserves his Rising Star nomination after a dominant, 31-possession effort, by far and away his best game yet for Hawthorn. He is on track to become the club’s best midfielder in the next 24 months. Save for a couple of turnovers during the frantic final quarter, it was the near perfect game and it was clear from the opening bounce that he was on.
Mind you, Tom Mitchell’s game was superb and his 13-possession final quarter played a critical role in the Hawks storming home to win. His leadership at the crunch was integral to the win and he deserves the stand-in captaincy some time before Ben McEvoy returns.
Jack Gunston (three goals) and Luke Breust (two) played precisely the types of roles that Sam Mitchell would have outlined to them at the end of last season when he took over as coach. They look keen and invested and would have been proud as punch at the result on Monday.
Josh Ward and Connor MacDonald disappear for large parts of games and given they have each played just five games, it is almost to be expected. But both lifted exceptionally in the last quarter, made the right decisions and ran the game out beautifully. They’re not ready for a spell just yet.
Hawthorn’s opening burst was sublime. Three goals before Geelong had barely touched the ball. In the end, it was critical to the result.
Selection will be interesting for the Sydney game. Will Day and Chad Wingard set to be recalled, which will mean some unlucky omissions. Sam Mitchell wasn’t entirely ruling Reeves out, nor was he ruling Lynch in. Could he pinch hit with Jacob Koschitzke and Conor Nash again?
Sydney is now generally considered to have the best group of young players in the competition. Cannot wait to see how the next generation of emerging Hawks stack up against them, especially DGB renewing acquaintances with old WA mate Logan McDonald.
Come Anzac Day, the curtain-raiser might be a better game than the main event.
Five games into the season and the Hawks have already played half their MCG home games for 2022. The atmosphere at the MCG was electric on Monday, but we will only experience it three more times this year.
Not sure where or what Alastair Clarkson was up to on Monday but I hope he caught a glance at the game. He would have enjoyed it.
Superstar/Rising Star/Falling Star
⭐️ Superstar - Tom Mitchell
A relatively quiet first half for Titch was absolutely overshadowed by one of the best halves of football we have ever seen him play. For a Brownlow Medallist and three time Peter Crimmins Medallist, that is some sort of statement.
Titch answered the call for an experienced mid to step up and took the bull by the horns in the second half. He finished the day with 33 disposals (at 75% disposal efficiency) - of which an incredible 21 we contested. Titch had eight score involvements, six inside-50s, nine clearances, and kicked the important opening goal of the final quarter with a lovely snap.
An outstanding showing reminding us all of just what a superstar he is.
💫 Rising star - Jai Newcombe
What a footballer - a breath of fresh air carving a name for himself with his no fuss, uncompromising, physical style of play. Newc was incredible on Easter Monday, finishing the day with 31 disposals and leading all players on the ground for metres gained with a monster 653.
It is his flair taking the game on and his long penetrating kicking that catches the eye, and he is not afraid of crashing packs and using his body to bullock through opponents and take them on. Hard to believe he is 20 years old. Hard to believe he has only played 12 matches.
🤷♂️ Falling star - Liam Shiels
As was the case with James, Shiels had a huge point to prove after being dropped/left out of the team so far this season. But for Shiels, his 13 possession game in which he hardly had an impact was real cause for concern. In fact, his biggest impact probably came when he gave away a stupid 50m penalty for coming in from behind the mark to retard Tom Hawkins in blatant disregard for the rules.
So where to for Pup? Not sure how many more games he will get in 2022 and clearly Sammy won’t be scared to leave him out of the team if he isn’t performing - so it will be interesting to see how many more career games he can notch up this year.
Unsung Hero & Scapegoat
👼 Unsung Hero - Jacob Koschitzke
He was slated to play his first game of the season as a stay at home forward for most of the match - with some shared pinch hitting in the ruck with Conor Nash.
But when Ned Reeves when down at the end of the opening term, Kosi was thrown into a role he probably never saw coming, and was definitely more than serviceable.
Despite dropping two absolute sodas early on, he really did come into the game as it progressed, and despite the fact that we were beaten overall in the ruck after quarter time, his effort to contest in the middle cannot be undervalued.
🔪 🐐 Scapegoat - Jaeger O’Meara
Granted the expectations on what we are to expect from Jaeger in 2022 and beyond need to be tempered, but we have been calling out for a midfielder to step up in the past few weeks, and our stand-in captain has yet to deliver.
Yesterday it was Titch playing an outstanding second half that got us over the line - and while he was doing that JOM was pretty much unsighted.
In a game where a number of our seniors players stood up and really put a stamp n their roles in the team, we didn’t get that from O’Meara and as such, he is this week’s Scapegoat.
The Obligatory Ladder Check In
Not bad sitting in the top eight with a 3-2 record - especially knowing we were so unlucky not to get the W against the Blues. Will be a challenging fortnight ahead with the Swans and the Demons next up - if we can somehow stay ahead of the ledger it would be a magnificent result through seven rounds.
News & Notes
The booing of Geelong’s #7 raised the ire of some journos on Twitter including friend of Hawks Insiders Marc McGowan and The Age/SMH sports writer Michael Gleeson who described it as “pathetic and weird”.
According to another friend of HI, Mitch Cleary, all SIX free kicks/50-metre penalties paid for umpire dissent were “ticked off as correct” by AFL football operations manager Brad Scott. Fair enough then. Nothing to see here.
Tom Hawkins is now a Shooting Stars meme.
Josh Gabelich from afl.com.au says the Hawks remain “hopeful” about Ned Reeves’ shoulder injury: “The club is hopeful the 209cm ruckman won't require surgery, but won't know the full extent of the injury until later in the week.” Crossing everything for you Big Noodle 🤞
Sammy Press Conference Bingo
The boys hung in there ✅
Every win’s valuable ✅
We know we’re on a journey ✅
The way we ran out the game was pleasing ✅
There’s a level of belief ✅
What They Said
🗣️ Dylan Moore
“I was pretty lucky with a couple of high free kicks and holding the balls, but I can’t get past the four mark at the moment. But Gunners kicked three, Punky and Mitch also kicked a couple so it’s great that we are all just kicking goals as it makes it harder for the defenders and more of a nightmare for them.”
🗣️ James Sicily
“Going into the last quarter we wanted to challenge them with our running power - we have a lot of young guys that are really fit and conversely they have got a couple of 30 year olds that probably don’t have the run in their legs late so we really wanted to challenge them in that area and we did.”