I must admit, I was looking forward to reviewing this game. I tipped Adelaide as my team to take the next step this season after they barely missed the Top 8 in 2023, and they have let me down massively thus far. I’ve also taken a keen interest in the Hawks over the last few weeks, and as a result of a good mate of mine being a fan, I’ve watched several of their games and thought they had been playing some good footy.
As a result I tipped the Hawks in this one. Adelaide’s form has been patchy, and their record at the G is not great. When you then factor in the popular Jack Gunston’s 250th and the ten-year reunion of the 2014 Hawthorn premiership team, I thought the day was well setup for a Hawks win – and so it proved.
The final margin of 27 points probably flatters the Crows, who had just two goals to halftime, and there was a lot to like about the Hawks in this one. Ultimately, Adelaide never looked like winning this one, so let’s get stuck in to what stood out.
Matt Crouch:
Where is this bloke at in his career at Adelaide? He is arguably their best stoppage/clearance player, yet he started every quarter on the bench, and played the least amount of game time of any Crows player (other than those involved as subs). In just 68 percent game time he managed to lead the game for disposals and centre clearances, we was second in the game for tackles and overall clearances, and lead the Crows for inside 50’s.
On an afternoon where the Crows were constantly jumped early in quarters from the centre clearances, why is your best player in that scenario not in there? Why does he spend so much time riding the pine? Is he injured? Does he not have the tank to run out a full game? If he is not injured, and he has the tank, then it borders on bad coaching mixed with a healthy dose of disrespect for a bloody good player.
Crouch was seemingly not a part of the Crows’ midfield mix last season and was made to bide his time in the SANFL before being called up in Round 19. As a result of his form from round 19 onwards, he signed on for another two years at the Crows – is he still wanted? I know players like Crouch are not in vogue in the modern game, but any team that needs a big body to be first to the ball and shovel it out to a more skilled or quicker player would be mad not to ask if he is happy at the Crows. Just as Nicks was mad not to start him in the centre bounces in this one.
Pressure, uninspired ball movement, or both?:
I caught Sam Mitchell’s pre-game interview in this one, and he mentioned that pressure was what the team was looking to bring today (isn’t every team?), and boy did the Hawks bring it. For almost the entire first half, the Crows struggled to move the ball with any speed or purpose, often ending in a bomb kick out to the wing in the hopes that someone would make contest of it, and contest was made, only it was by the Hawks defenders.
Time and again, the ball was bombed long to a contest on the wing where the Crows forward was outnumbered by Hawks defenders, and if the ball wasn’t easily intercepted and actually made it to the deck, then the Hawks ground players went to work, giving Crows players no time or space to operate. At the end of the first quarter, the commentators mentioned that 17 times the Crows had the ball in hand to exit defensive 50, and not once did they make it inside their own 50. Their movement was stagnant, there was no run from behind and to be honest you could almost forgive the Crows defenders for not providing any run as they were likely exhausted from the sheer weight of inside 50’s throughout the first two quarters.
Over the whole first half, we consistently saw the brand of footy Hawthorn want to play – heck, every team in the league would love to play this brand of footy. They set up a defensive wall, caused turnovers in the forward half, and then used it extremely well going back inside their 50. If they weren’t able to get the ball in quickly, they were patient, chipping it around outside 50 until they found a target. Their forwards had a day out as a result.
The Crows players couldn’t buy a second with ball in hand, and so many times they looked inside only to not like what they see and bomb the ball long before they were caught. On the few occasions Adelaide were able to open up the corridor in the second half, they generally resulted in goals – it just took them too long to figure out how to move the ball against the pressure and the defence the Hawks brought to the table.
The Hawks Forward line:
Geez, it worked well in this one. Calsher Dear crashed packs like his life depended on it – it was great to see a bloke in just his fifth game working so hard to a at least provide a contest and bring the ball to ground, and no surprise that the Hawks smalls benefitted as a result. There are a few key forwards in the game with a lot more experience than Calsher Dear who could be taking notes on how he attacks the footy (either King Brother, Rory Lobb, Ash Johnson and Darcy Fogarty, just to name a few).
Complementing Dear were the smart leading patterns of the like of Gunston, Hardwick, Ginnivan and Moore. Ginnivan could have easily had six goals today, and he was getting looks in a lot of different ways – he was winning holding the ball free kicks (when they weren’t being reversed by his teammates headbutting someone), he was taking marks on the lead and he was getting out the back. If not for some wasted opportunities and one moment of selfishness, you could have argued he was the best forward on the ground – but there was another Hawks forward who had a say in that, and his game deserves his own section
Dylan Moore:
What a day out he had. Playing predominantly inside 50 he led the Hawks for disposals, goals, score involvements and goal assists. His piece of play in the last quarter where he burst out the front of a stoppage and had every right to throw it on his boot for his sixth goal of the game, only to lower his eyes and hit Jack Gunston on the lead in his 250th, only made his game look even better and gave everyone watching a warm fuzzy feeling.
We don’t see a lot of bags of goals for forwards these days, particularly not from small forwards, and Moore was another who got them in a variety of ways, while also providing help to his teammates. One of his goals came from a downfield free in the third quarter as he was trying to block to allow Gunston to lead, and Luke Nankervis was so frustrated that he literally just grabbed him and tossed him aside. It was undisciplined from Nankervis who minutes later also gave away a free to Ginnivan for a high tackle (surprise surprise) but I think he can be forgiven as it was a long day down back for the Crows players.
With Bruest coming on as the sub and in the twilight of his career, the small forward role at Hawthorn looks extremely safe for the foreseeable future. Moore is only 24 years old and is putting together such a good season that he would have to be in the conversation of the AA team at this point.
Any positives for the Crows?:
Jake Soligo was brilliant in the middle early – his disposal let him down a bit, which may have been due to the Hawks pressure, but he certainly was one of the Adelaide players attacking the contest and trying to turn things around early.
James Borlase did all he could to repel Hawthorn attacks. For a bloke in just his tenth game to have nine intercept possessions is no small feat and while it could be said he was bound to have a tonne of intercepts based on the pure weight of numbers coming in, his three contested marks (equal game high) show that he was getting into the right spots and often beating his direct opponent – the scoreline could have been much worse at halftime without Borlase.
I also liked what Sam Berry was able to do when he came on as the sub, and would like to see him get some more game time moving forward.
You’d have to say this probably draws a line through the Crows for the year when it comes to playing finals, and they were particularly disappointing after a strong win at home against the Eagles, they just need to figure out how to play outside of Adelaide.
Other bits:
Massimo D’Ambrosio has been a great pick up for the Hawks, and he was elite by foot today, threading 50 metre passes through the eye of a needle on a couple of occasions.
I know CJ putting his head into Hinge is not a good look (I refuse to call it a headbutt there was so little behind it) but surely he should have been given a free kick first when Hinge grabbed him by the throat like he was Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse and about to rip out his windpipe?
Great contest on the wing in the third quarter between Connor MacDonald and Lachie Murphy, both players going hard for the ball coming in opposite directions, and neither player backed off. They both got low and basically bumped each other without any high contact – it reminded me of old school footy and I loved seeing it.
Not a lot to report on the new holding the ball interpretation from this one – there was an increase in those sort of free kicks, and one or two were a bit iffy in terms of prior opportunity, but overall so far this weekend I’ve liked the quicker whistle and the tackler being rewarded.
And that will do me for this one. The Hawks are on a roll and take on the Giants in Tassie next week; it should be a good watch. Meanwhile, the Crows will take on Richmond at home in a game they likely win easily in what has been a disappointing season thus far.
