'Winter is coming'
Strap yourselves in for a long, cold, hard few months
ROUND 17: HAWTHORN 46, FREMANTLE 108
📝 Main recap:
Do we really have to do this? Ok. Here goes! Hawthorn got smashed by Freo (of all teams) in Launceston (of all places), and the positives from a pretty awful four quarters were few and far between.
‘Fortress Tasmania’ isn’t what it was and we were destroyed in the guts by an emerging midfield topped off by evergreen veterans David Mundy, 200-gamer Nat Fyfe, and a dominant display from ruckman Sean Darcy. Despite the mounting injury list to our elite half backline (Dimma Hardwick tweaking his hammy in training didn’t help) that’s really where the game was lost.
There was another high possession game from Tom Mitchell (39) without being particularly damaging, but he had very little help from Worpel (whose form has dropped off a cliff since his Peter Crimmins triumph in 2019), JOM (whose form has dropped off a cliff since his injury in round six), the battle worn veteran Liam Shiels, and Conor Nash (🤢).
Echoing Clarko’s “bees to the honeypot” analogy from last week, Fox Footy’s Nick Dal Santo noted on the commentary that our tendency to hunt the football in packs leaves us exposed when we don’t win the ball. Freo just seemed to have so much time and space when they won the footy, allowing them to make the most of their forward 50 entries (+18!) and deliver pinpoint passes to Rory Lobb (who always seems to play his best game of the season against us) and young gun Josh ‘The Big Cohuna’ Treacy.
A dominant ruck isn’t necessarily the answer to winning the footy in the middle, but Ceglar and McEvoy’s inability to curtail Sean Darcy’s influence (five clearances, 27 hit outs, nine marks) has got to be questioned too. We generally lose when we’re up against the league’s better big men, and Max Gawn must be licking his lips at the prospect of facing us again next week. Fixing the ruck-midfield is dynamic has to be Clarko’s parting gift to Sammy when he heads into his 17th and final preseason (for Hawthorn anyway).
In truth, there was dysfunction across all lines, but at least our makeshift backline had the excuse of a mounting injury toll. Meanwhile, our talented young forwards, featuring the returning Tyler Brockman, just didn’t get enough opportunities or quality ball to truly shine. Lachie Bramble’s breakout game on the wing was the main positive, collecting a career high 27 disposals and looking a class above with the ball in hand. While Emerson Jeka put aside some yips last week at Box Hill (0.7) to kick his first two career goals.
Perhaps news of the Clarko-Mitchell succession plan unsettled the players, but this 62-point loss had all the hallmarks of a team wth little to play for, just limping towards the line.
↩️ Turning point:
Halfway through the second term and with the game still in the balance, Ben McEvoy took a mark 40 metres out thanks to a clever chip kick from Tyler Brockman. Big Boy went back to take the set shot missing to his left, and at the same time squandering the chance to cut back Fremantle’s lead to 15 points. The ball soon found its way down the other end and in the hands of David Mundy who converted a snap from the boundary to push the margin back out to 26.
🍒 You’ll never forget your first:
We have said it before and we will say it again - you never forget your first. Snapping a run of seven scoring shots, Emerson Jeka found himself on the end of a pinpoint Jaeger O’Meara pass to mark, go back, and kick truly. And as expected Hawks descended on the youngster to congratulate him on his first AFL goal - the first we hope of many.
🍒 🍒 You’ll never forget your second either
Jeka’s second goal in the second term was stunning viewing - with help from one of our best players on the ground, Lachie Bramble. A kick from Freo’s Michael Walters into the middle of the ground saw Bramble force a contest with a wonderful spoil, and then crumb his own ball. After taking a bounce and assessing his options he then calmly fed the ball to Jeka who ran in and slotted the goal from 20 metres out. Beautiful to watch.
🍔 Ash’s eight key takeaways
Playing in the backline is clearly a health hazard at Hawthorn. James Sicily hasn’t played all year, of course, but in the last month the Hawks have lost Will Day, Jarman Impey, Blake Hardwick, Changkuoth Jiath and Jack Scrimshaw. Only the key defenders remain, but the darting run and the line breaking is gone. The excitement generated by the wins over Sydney and GWS seems an eternity ago. A long six weeks looms until the end of the season at the rate the exciting young Hawks are going down for the count.
Based on the above, don’t expect Shaun Burgoyne to be rested between now and the end of the season. He simply has to play every week.
Still, much of the blame this week lies with the midfield, which was putrid once again. Tom Mitchell was the obvious exception, of course.
It would also help if the Hawks knew what to do off a turnover. Hawthorn’s either inability or unwillingness to move the ball with speed off as turnover is bewildering and frustrating. This is especially true when teams go to town on the sadly, many occasions when the Hawks turn the ball over themselves. How many missed targets were there on Saturday, especially early when the heat was on?
Footage of us when when we win possession of the pill. Is UTAS Stadium still a Hawk fortress? Perhaps not. Hawthorn lost its last game there in 2004 and both in 2005, but Saturday’s loss was the first time since it became the club’s so-called ‘home away from home’ in 2007 that it has lost three straight games there.
They’re all coming for the Hawks now. Liam Pickering and Mick Malthouse got their digs in on Saturday and that was even before the putrid display against the Dockers. Dermott Brereton was interesting on Fox Footy Saturday, and his strong defence of the club and its decision would suggest someone from the board might have briefed him beforehand. Leigh Matthews also changed his tune a little on Saturday. He might have received a phone call as well. The idea that Clarkson’s $1.2 million salary is becoming too large an impost for the club in a hard development phase is one that might have some legs.
Some positives out of Saturday? Lachie Bramble had 27 touches and played his best game for the club. He might be as good as Andy Collins advertised.
Emerson Jeka looked his most comfortable at the level with a couple of goals and Jacob Koschitzke competed hard. He has a bit of sh** in him, which is sorely needed right now at Hawthorn.
We know what Brad will say come his Selection Dissection later this week, but this is the perfect week to recall Ned Reeves to the side. Max Gawn might take him to the cleaners but it is precisely the game he needs to play in. Short term pain for long term gain.
Superstar/Rising Star/Falling Star
⭐️ Superstar - Tom Mitchell
In a midfield that got absolutely obliterated, Titch held his own showcasing his quality in Launceston. Finished the day with 39 touches and was in our top-two for meters gained, tackles, clearances and contested possessions. Clearly any thoughts of trading Mitchell out are long gone - it would be sheer lunacy to trade out the only midfielder we have that has performed at such a consistently high level this year. Must be a near Peter Crimmins Medal favourite.
💫 Rising star - Lachie Bramble
A breakout game for Bramble who has been getting better with each outing. Seemed to relish a role off the half back with Hardwick, Scrimshaw and CJ vacating their posts throughout the day. Finished the game with 27 touches, six marks eight rebounds from 50 and going at 85% disposal efficiency. Had the most meters gained for us with 550 and should now be guaranteed to play every game left in the season.
🤷♂️ Falling star - Dan Howe
Oh Howe the mighty have fallen. Okay maybe not mighty, but Dan had been having a great season until a week ago. He had an unusually quiet game last week against the Power and has backed that up with a 10-touch shocker against the Dockers. Started off really well and was in everything early, but fizzled out quickly and his place in the team might once again come into question.
Unsung Hero & Scapegoat
👼 Unsung Hero: Jacob Koschitzke
Two goals, 11 touches, and six marks was a good recovery for a player who had 0, 0 and 0 in the first quarter. Kosi again presented well, worked hard and gave it his all in the second half which was a rare sight from a player in the brown and gold. Half of his touches were contested, and he kicked for goal well which has been a knock on him in recent weeks - great to see and clearly the investment in him is paying off.
🔪 🐐 Scapegoat: Conor Nash
We feel bad for Conor because he has played such good footy in the midfield at Box Hill, but comes into the seniors and gets stationed up forward. His cause isn’t helped, however, when in the first quarter he has three touches that go STRAIGHT to an opposition player. Nash will also be the beneficiary of the Scapegoat title as long as he is playing in the team and Timmy O’Brien is not - so expect his name in this section as long as he keeps getting selected!
The Obligatory Ladder Check-In
We are not out of the woods yet when it comes to the battle of bottom place with North Melbourne, and all of a sudden, finishing up with the wooden spoon has become a real possibility. Note the snapshot of the ladder has been taken before Sunday and Monday matches have taken place.
Current forecast 2022 draft picks of note: #2, #20, #21 (Collingwood’s second round selection).
News & Notes
🤕 Changkuoth Jiath was one of our best players on a dismal day before leaving the ground after injuring himself in a marking contest in the third quarter. He has a suspected PCL and we likely won’t see him again for the rest of 2021. "We'll probably take a conservative approach with him and with only six weeks it will probably mean that it would be doubtful he gets back for this year,” Clarko said in the post match interview.
🤕 Jack Scrimshaw - one of the stalwarts of our defensive unit and a Peter Crimmins medal smokey - looks set for at least a week on the sidelines. He suffered a head knock before halftime and was medically subbed under concussion protocols after experiencing migraines in the rooms.
Box Hill had a bye this week (why?), but with a condensed season due to COVID, a “surprise” scratch match was arranged between a composite team of Carlton and North Melbourne fringe players. It gave a chance to AFL-listed players Mitch Lewis, Finn Maginness, Josh Morris, James Cousins, Ned Reeves, and Seamus Mitchell. Lewis kicked a goal and “worked hard” on his return to footy, but Box Hill were comprehensively beaten 46-111.
Clarko Press Conference Bingo
✅ Played on their terms
✅ Weren’t able to get the job done
✅ Lowered our colours
What They Said
🗣️ Chris Newman
“Tough game today, I thought in the first couple of minutes we looked energetic and had a quick score, looked like we had a lot of pressure around the footy, and then to Freo’s credit they really ramped up that part of the game and got first hands on the footy and were really efficient going forward.”
“I think the 200th game for Fyfe, they were up and about, a pretty good team and travelling okay so we’ve got some things to improve on, but we’ll have a look at it and see where it really broke down.”
“We [the backline] have been severely hit with injury unfortunately and I think we lost CJ today with a knee injury - not sure how that’s pulled up. Scrim had migraines early in the game so it was precautionary with him - so two of our best intercept players off the ground and had a couple of inexperienced boys there.”
🗣️ Lachie Bramble
“It was pretty disappointing in the end with the scoreline and it didn’t obviously go our way, but we’ll take a lot of positives out of the game - there were still good moments and we’ll take a lot out of it.”
“I got thrown around a little bit today - a bit of wing, a bit of forward and a bit of back so it was a good challenge for me to try and bounce, and have had a few quieter weeks so it was good to get a bit of the ball today.”
“As I said in the first game it was just real quick and I probably didn’t adapt very well, but I’m finding my feet now and feeling a lot more confident, a lot better with ball in hand so it’s really good.”
🗣️ Alastair Clarkson
“Listen they were good, they played a very good brand of footy, and we knew coming into this game that we’d need to compete in the middle of the ground. Their middle of the oval is the strongest part of their side in my view.”
“Darcy is a very strong ruckman and with Fyfe and Mundy you giving them the experience in there and then the younger group of guys in Cera and Brayshaw and Serong and these sorts of guys so we needed to compete in that part of the game and we didn’t - we weren’t able to match them there and that meant that the game was played on their terms far too much.”
“We probably fielded our youngest side that we have for a long long period of time for our club today and then we got a couple of injuries today…”
Winter is here. It's coming for Richmond but we can look forward to Spring in 2022 and beyond.
The root cause of the current Winter is that from 2014 to 2018 - during those 5 years - the Hawks drafted 13 guys of which only 7 are still with the club. And if you look at these 7; 3 or maybe 4 are likely to be regulars in 2022 and beyond in their career prime. That is a pretty poor return from 5 years.
Highest pick still playing is Howe #31 in 2014. The rest are are all #44 or higher.
Even the high picks...look at 2015...Burton #19 we trade out for Wingard...ok. In the same year we drafted Lovell at #22...directly after him came Cuningham (Carlton) 41 games, Keays (Adelaide) 62 games and Dunkley (Bulldogs) 84 games - all midfielders...the latter two being very very handy.
Poor strategy and/or poor development...take your pick.