Will the Hawks finish last?
Are we a legitimate chance to collect our first spoon since 1965
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This one might be controversial, but the question needs to be asked, are the Hawks a legitimate chance to finish last in the 2023 season?
Before we lose our collective minds, let’s try to understand why the Hawks might finish on the bottom of the table, because it’s important to have the context of the journey that the club is on.
Hawthorn finished last season with a reasonably competitive record of eight wins and 14 losses from 22 games, which saw the club finish in 13th spot on the table - eight points below the Gold Coast Suns in 12th.
This is when things were shaken up and shaken up vigorously.
Post season retirements of captain Ben McEvoy and three-time premiership player Liam Shiels gave a glimpse of the direction the club were about to take but it was the moving on of high-profile former recruits Jaeger O’Meara (Freemantle) and Tom Mitchell (Collingwood), coupled with the loss of Jack Gunston (Brisbane Lions) via free agency which showed just how much of a re-tool the club was undertaking.
The Hawks were active at the trade table, bringing in emerging players Lloyd Meek and Cooper Stephens, and hit the draft hard with the inclusions of two first round picks, Cam Mackenzie and Josh Weddle.
They were joined at the Hawks by fellow draftees Henry Hustwaite, Jack O’Sullivan, Bailey Macdonald, and Category B rookie Josh Bennetts, which means the Hawks nest is full of young eyas.
In fact, for the first time in a very long time, the Hawks will go into the 2023 season with the youngest list in the AFL.
Who are the Hawks ‘competing’ with in the race to the wooden spoon?
The favourites for the spoon have to be the reigning ‘premiers’ for the title North Melbourne, who are in the middle of a full rebuild under new coach Alastair Clarkson. The Kangaroos will be far more competitive in 2023 than they were in 2022, because if nothing else, Clarkson will implement a game plan that will make them hard to break down defensively.
Last season’s surprise packet (and not in a good way) West Coast finished the season with only two wins from their 22 games after being smashed with injuries to key players. The Eagles are in no way a good football team, but with players returning to full fitness (and hopefully a better run with injuries) plus the home ground advantage they have at Optus Stadium, they should be able to pick up the necessary wins required to avoid last spot.
It's hard to know what type of football team Greater Western Sydney will present as this year. After finishing last season in 16th place with only six wins to their name, the Giants moved on their coach and brought in Adam Kingsley to take charge of an extremely talent laden, but underperformed list. If Kingsley can get the type of response he is hoping for, the Giants have a path back to being competitive quickly, which would rule them out of this race.
What does 2023 have in store for Essendon fans? Hopefully nothing too positive. It’s hard to get a gauge on where the Bombers are at in their journey to a finals win. They should be better than their record from last season suggests they are, but the Bombers are the type of team that make it hard for people to have confidence in. One prediction we can make with surety, that streak isn’t being broken any time soon.
Where does that leave the Hawks?
Hawthorn under Sam Mitchell proved to be a competitive team last season, there were some big game wins (Geelong, Port Adelaide, Brisbane) and some very close-run losses when they were in the game for long periods (Carlton, Melbourne, Collingwood).
Fans can say what they want about the players that have departed but removing over 1000 games of experience from the list in one off-season is going to hit and hit hard at times in 2023.
The Hawks will need to stay as injury free as they possibly can if they want to be competitive in 2023, and early preseason injuries to Harry Morrison and in particular to Mitch Lewis have the depth charts stretched already.
Lewis is a key piece and one the Hawks cannot afford to lose for the season.
Hawthorn should have too much talent and coaching prowess to find themselves in the lead for Harley Reid at the end of the season, but Hawks fans shouldn’t be too shocked if the club spends the majority of the season at the wrong pointy end of the ladder.
Think we will do better than bottom but I truly do not care about 2023
The only thing that matters is to get another 20 games into the top 15 or so of the younger guys and another 5 to 10 or so into the rest.
I dont think we will finish bottom. Under Sam like our song says we will "Play to win". He is a competitive beast and he will instill this in the players. I think we may be inconsistent but we wont be bottom. I think the 1000 games experience lost is over emphasised by the media. We will miss McEvoy's leadership but I think we have the suitable replacements. Mitchell was not a good fit due to his game style and hopefully Worpel can step up. Jeager it was time for us to move him on. Gunston will be missed but with what happened last year if he wished to move on we need to respect this.