In a weekend of big match-ups, this game wasn’t getting much of a hype but it proved to be one of the games of the round. Saying it was a classic would be a bit of a stretch – both teams made plenty of frustrating errors – but there can be little question of the intensity from both sides which kept the margin under 20 points for most of the game.
It was a great response for Hawthorn, who had a horror show against the Swans the week before, as their pressure was back to full force and secured the seven-point win. When the Dogs kicked three goals in the first three minutes of the game it looked like it was going to be an ugly day for the Hawks, but once they got themselves into the contest, they showed they were up for the fight. After doing the work to draw the game back to even terms in the first, they stamped their authority over the next two quarters, forcing the Dogs to make plenty of turnovers and throwing themselves harder at the ball when it was there to be won.
The last quarter would have had Hawks fans nervous as the Dogs appeared to throw caution to the wind and opened the game right up, turning it into a goal fest. When back-to-back goals put the Dogs in front for the first time since early in the second term, the challenge was put on Hawthorn to find a way to win. But it was a challenge they rose to.
Each time the Dogs got a run of scores on, Hawthorn did enough to reply, with their superior attack on the ground ball proving the difference in the end.
With two minutes left, the Dogs got the game back to one straight kick but the Hawks were not going to let it get away. They forced the ball to stay low where they had the advantage before making use of the free space ahead to send the ball back into their forward 50 and continued running down the clock.
It was a game the Hawks thoroughly deserved to win and an effort they will be seeking to repeat week in and week out in their quest to get back to competing for the top 8. As for the Dogs, they still had positives they could take out of this one, but the loss means they’re falling away from the pack fighting for a finals spot and have made things difficult for themselves.
The Unsung Hero
If there’s one player that can be picked out as being the difference, that man is Jarman Impey. All day, he was the man to stand up in the packs, throw his body into the scrums, and made brilliant passes to teammates to get them on a roll.
Impey has been a solid player for the Hawks since coming over from Port Adelaide but hasn’t received all that much attention. He’s a reliable player down back and is able to keep his cool even when the defence is being blasted time and time again.
Today he finished with a game-high crucial 12 marks, 27 disposals, and three tackles to rack up a game-high 126 AFL fantasy points.
The Hawks Midfield
They heard the criticism last week loud and clear, and stepped up. They successfully stopped the Dogs from running the ball through the middle, and time and time again put on enough pressure to run the Dogs into a wall, or force a bad kick that resulted in turnovers. They’ve been the 16th worst in the league for pressure the last few weeks, but today they tackled hard and moved the ball fast.
Four of the Dogs’ first five goals came from stoppages, but once the Hawks stemmed the bleeding from the centre clearance, scoring became a whole lot harder. In fact it took until 40 seconds left in the second before they got their first for the term from a Naughton mark off from a free kick.
In the thir,d the Dogs tried a new strategy which was to go over the midfield with a few quick kicks but the Hawthorn defenders were able to stand up just as well. The game started to turn a little when the Dogs tightened up their own midfield defences and forced the Hawks into long kicks down the line. The Bulldog talls were able to pick them off. But if the talls didn’t take the mark the Hawks were able to swoop in on the ground ball and create turnovers just like they had before.
The Hawks’ effort was typified by Sam Frost’s gallant effort to get the ball to the boundary line while restricting Naughton, who had a clear teammate forward, preventing a certain goal in the third.
Inside 50
Another area where the Hawks have been sorely lacking is their efficiency inside 50, where they’ve been dead last in the competition this year. But today they tidied that up nicely. Thanks to the midfield’s hard work, their forwards were getting much better looks at the ball and get some reward from all their turnovers compared to previous weeks. The forwards, like the midfielders, were also fierce once the ball hit the deck and kept the ball alive for important goals during the game.
They were able score 33 times from the 49 inside 50s at an efficiency of just over 67%, making them 15% more efficient than the Dogs and well over the AFL average. Given they only won the inside 50 count by one, their vast improvement in this area was another key point of difference.
Captain Sicily
He’s always been a bit of a hot-head but this year at times he’s looked more interested in fighting than leading. He got into a tussle early with Liberatore and had a demeanour about him that he was looking for more. But then he popped his shoulder out after a nasty fall and was forced to spend a significant amount of time on the bench getting it tended to.
The rest seemed to help him cool off, and when he came back on, he was focussed on just shutting down the forwards and getting the ball rolling the other way.
When he copped another injury during the third, he took the responsibility himself to go up forward rather than risk not being able to keep up with the Bulldogs’ forwards. It proved to be genius, as his presence up forward unsettled the Dogs’ defenders and with three minutes remaining, he took a huge mark and slotted the goal to create a 12-point buffer.
The Hawks are lacking in the leadership department, which makes Sicily’s impact all the more potent. While it’s important for a captain to stick up for his teammates and show a bit of mongrel, that can’t come at the expense of composure. Sicily hasn’t been the steadfast defender his team needs him to be, and oppositions seem to be picking up that if you can get him riled up early you can throw him off his game.
However, this turned out to be a fantastic captain’s game and demonstrated exactly why he is still the man the team looks to. He just needs to focus on putting that aggression into attacking the ball rather than opponents.
Ginnivan’s 50th
It was a quiet start to the day for the milestone man but when his team needed him he stepped up. He’s been less selfish since coming to Hawthorn and it was on display today when he had three early chances to go for goals but instead passed to a teammate in a better position. He remained in a lot of the play though, applying plenty of defensive pressure and backing up his teammates.
But when the game was on the line that was his time to shine.
He had a crucial goal opportunity with 10 minutes to go to put the team back in front and nailed the shot. He also cleverly chose to kick the ball backwards for a mark rather than blast the ball forward from a contest and a few moments later had got out a clever handball from a contest that went down for another goal opportunity.
And of course, there was an incident when he had his head taken off but wasn’t awarded a free – it wouldn’t feel right if he wasn’t hard done by at least once.
He ended the day with 13 disposals, five tackles, and one goal in a crucial performance that helped his team over the line.
I can’t imagine there have been too many players that have had as…. interesting first 50 games as Jack, but at least we know he’s a player who will never be boring.
A Day to Forget
At the other end, however, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan had a day that potentially cost his team the game. He only had two disposals and a goal by three-quarter time and just couldn’t seem to get himself in a position to make an impact.
He tried to force himself into the game in the last, but gave away a costly free and 50-metre penalty that prevented the Dogs from taking the lead back early in the term. He was able to make amends by slotting a goal sometime later, and took a massive mark in the dying moments for a chance to even up the scores. Unfortunately for the Dogs though, instead of taking his time to go through his routine he rushed himself and slammed the ball right into the behind post.
It was a rusty game for the young star who had come back after missing last week due to personal reasons. Perhaps whatever kept him out of last week’s match was still on his mind, but it’s a performance he surely would rather forget.
Ruck Battle
It was an interesting arm wrestle between Meek and English, with both players finishing in the top three for AFL fantasy points for the day. Earlier on it felt like Meek was winning the battle, as he was getting more of the hitouts and prevented English from getting in a dangerous position up forward. But as the game progressed, English started winning some crucial tap downs to the midfield and got away from Meek to kick a crucial goal just before three-quarter time. English was also more dominant in the air, taking nine marks – the most of any Dogs player- but Meek had 14 more hitouts with a total of 45.
In the end this battle typified how even the contest was.
Clearance Battle
The one area of the ground where the Dogs had clear dominance was the clearances. When the game was on the line in the fourth they made the most of their dominance in this area and kicked four goals from quick centre clearance breakaways. As mentioned before, stoppage was also the source of their early goals, and they finished the day with three more centre clearances and 16 more total clearances.
It was their usual names who were doing the majority of the work, with Treloar and Liberatore having nine each and Bont with seven. It’s been a critique of the Dogs that they’re too reliant on their stars and this game seems to be in support of that argument. They can’t be the ones diving in to get the clearance and also the ones on the receiving end kicking the goals.
Up next the Hawks will take on the Saints down in Tassie in the early Saturday game. The Hawks haven’t done well against the Saints lately, losing seven of their last ten encounters and four of the last five. The Saints have been looking a bit shaky lately, but unless the Hawks can bring the same intensity they did in this game, they should still take the win.
The Dogs will come up against a struggling Richmond in the Saturday night game at the MCG. It’s a game that has suddenly become a must-win, with the top 8 teams starting to make a break from the rest of the competition, and a few slow-starting teams starting to get up and running. They should be able to get the job done without too much difficulty though.
