This may end up being the most dissected non-finals game we’ve ever experienced.
After having the season opener postponed, and the third game of a supposed-four-game weekend of footy moved to another date, as well, we landed with the Swans and Hawks tangling in the first official encounter of the season. Then we have another day in-between this and final game of the round. Geez, the AFL would love their time over again on this fixture. Two games to open the season – ugh!
Alas, what we had on Friday night were two contenders to the 2025 throne commencing the season. The Hawks coming off their ‘Hok-Ball’ run of 2024 entered the SCG to face the Swans, coming off their second Grand Final belting in three years. Were the Hawks ready to resume the momentum that saw them catch lightning in a bottle last season? Or were the battle-hardened Swans prepared to swat away the first obstacle en route to righting the wrongs of last season?
I obviously wrote the intro well in advance – now, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty.
The Hawks did not win this game through flash and flair. They won it via hard work. It was in the ruck, with Lloyd Meek getting the better of Brodie Grundy. It was in the middle, with Will Day, Jai Newcombe, and until halftime, James Worpel controlling the footy, and in defence, with Tom Barrass and Josh Battle finding their place in the back six, and getting better as the contest continued.
It was also won in the coaching box, as the counter-moves worked. When Dean Cox pulled a trigger, Sam Mitchell was able to fire back, and hit the mark, as well.
For the Swans, there was a bit of 2024 about their performance, inasmuch as it consisted of 20 minutes of very good football to get back into the contest in the third, but they were unable to continue the good work. Playing at home, this was a game the Swans would have fancied themselves in, but with an initial lack of creativity with the footy, and an eventual lack of execution, they left the door open for the Hawks to overcome their challenge.
And that is exactly what they did.
A heap of stuff to get through in this game – let’s jump into it with The Mongrel’s Big Statements.
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THE ROTATING DEFENCE CAN BE BRILLIANT, OR BRING A TEAM UNDONE
This might sound like a strange one to start with, particularly with so many things to get through, but I felt this was important.
Tom Barrass had a very solid game, tonight. He had eight one-percenters and five intercepts (including four marks) in this one, but for me, it was all about the preferred matchups in the Hawks’ back six.
Barrass is a powerhouse, but he lacks speed over that first ten metres. Opposed to Joel Amartey, the young Swan was able to push off and get distance between them on the lead, both marking the footy and drawing free kicks. Meanwhile, we had James Sicily taking responsibility for Tom McCartin, who is a lot more robotic in his movements. Sic was great, but it was only when Barrass switched over to McCartin that the new recruit really started to shine.
There should be a lesson learnt, here. Sam Mitchell has a habit of allowing players to switch randomly in defence, dependent on who is playing closest to goal, and whilst there is benefits to this style, it can also lead to non-preferred match-ups. And that can lead to trouble. Sicily has the pace, and the ability to play in front of players like Amartey. Barrass struggled with him on the lead.
You want Barrass as the bloke handling duties on the biggest bloke, but if you can ensure you get him on the guy who lacks a yard of pace, himself, he will be much better for the run.
The longer the game progressed, and the heavier the ball became, the better Barrass got. It was his intercept mark and re-entry inside 50 that set up the final James Sicily goal to ice the game for the Hawks – a very solid first hit out, despite a rocky start where the Hawks weren’t quite sure about the preferred matchups.
The next few weeks will see Hawthorn work out their defensive structure. Is a more formulaic set up beneficial to the talls? I’m not really sure at this stage.
What I di know is that if you give Barrass a job, watch him go out there and do it. If you allow the defence to revolve around his role, even if his direct opponent moves up to near the 50-metre line, he will reward you greatly. But you have to avoid putting him in position to defend fast-leading players.
And importantly, the opposition knows it.
YES, KEEP DOUBTING WILL DAY
I just want to add a couple of X-posts I read during the week… and screwed my nose up at.
I thought I’d screenshot them before they came to their senses and deleted them. Top notch work, guys – your timing is impeccable.
People like this evidently missed the games Will Day played in 2024. Yes, he was hurt to both start and finish the season, but his return to the squad helped the Hawks kick-start their season, and his powerful presence in the centre of the ground added so much to their clearance work.
Combining with James Worpel and Jai Newcombe, his ability to win the footy, and create for his teammates, was a genuine highlight over the first two quarters – an impact significant enough that it had Dean Cox push his best stopper to the young star.
Check out these numbers to halftime.
19 disposals, three goals, four tackles, and five clearances.
The bloke had the footy on a string, and you know which number makes him the most damaging – zero.
Zero turnovers. He takes care of the footy, uses it well, and sets up the next player in the chain as well as anyone out there.
Unlike some, I am not willing to state that he is one of the best players in the AFL, but he is far from overrated, and looks poised to start pushing into the upper echelon of AFL midfielders, as the season progresses.
As for the hot-takers on X… keep plugging away, guys. We all get stuff wrong. Just not as wrong as this.
THE WIZ WAS MORE LIKE RON WEASLEY IN THIS ONE
Hats off to Sam Wicks, as he stuck to his guns, played tightly on the young Hawthorn fire-starter, and kept him to just four disposals for the game.
I know there is a lot of love out there for Nick Watson, but he was no Wizard in this game. I said he was like Ron Weasley, but Ron could actually be helpful at times. He was more like a bloody Muggle out there. If he was a Wiard, his patronus would be a furry-nosed wombat, because he went into his burrow and stayed there most of the night, with Wicks guarding the entrance and smacking him on the snout whenever he threatened to poke his head out.
Watson was so comprehensively beaten by Wicks, that he should have a long week to watch vision and come to the same conclusion I did – he was outworked.
Wicks finished the game with 18 disposals, nine intercepts, and four tackles, as he refused to be faked out by Watson, wore him like a glove, and completely shut him down every time they had a one-on-one contest.
The Swans didn’t have a heap of clear winners in this game, but Wicks’ move into defence for 2025 has the potential to be one of them. This was a great start for him as he reinvents himself.
WE LEARNT A COUPLE OF THINGS ABOUT COX AS A COACH IN THIS GAME
Well, the Swans lost the game, but the coach did give them every chance to power back into it… eventually
Sometimes, I watch a game unfold, and it is evident to me that a player is getting on top of a team. It might be in the contest or on the outside, but if it is apparent to me, then it has to be apparent to the six or seven blokes sitting in the coaches’ box, watching every line and every movement.
As such, it soon became apparent to Dean Cox. He’d seen enough of Will Day’s first half antics, and to combat it, sent his best tagger – James Jordon to close him down.
And that is exactly what Jordon did. A leg injury to Day may have helped his cause, but after 19 first-half touches, Day was restricted to two touches in the third quarter, before gaining another five (three in junk time) in the last quarter. I am a fan of James Jordon, and I am a fan of giving him a role to do and allowing him to go to work. My question here is – why didn’t Cox pull this trigger earlier? Jordon is a top-three tagger in the league, and Will Day was completely rooting his team. Why was Jordon playing on the wing the entire first half like he was still playing at Melbourne?
I’m sure some Swans supporters were asking the same question.
Cox’s other move at halftime sent Will Hayward to deal with James Sicily.
Sic was having a party in defence, picking up 14 disposals and seven intercepts over the first two quarters. This should not have been a surprise to the Swans – it is the role that Sicily relishes, working off his man to clunk marks, hit tough kicks, and provide the Hawks with an avenue to turn defence into attack.
Hayward restricted Sicily to two touches in the third quarter, prompting Sam Mitchell to make a move of his own, which begs the same question – why would you allow this to drag on for two quarters before pulling the trigger?
It’s obvious Cox knows what to do – he got there eventually, but there is no shame in pulling the trigger earlier, and I would like to see him a lot more proactive in deploying his defensive-oriented players than waiting for things to unfold poorly to make adjustments. Maybe we put that down to first-game blues?
You’d want to hope so.
THE COUNTER MOVE WAS GREAT
As touched on, above, the move to close down James Sicily was a success in the third quarter, and this prompted Sam Mitchell to play his trump card. With Sam Frost playing the role of substitute, it allowed Sicily to move forward, and his presence inside 50 gave the Hawks the focal point they were missing.
Mabior Chol tried to take mark of the year in the first quarter, but his attack on the contest, at times… well, it leaves a little to be desired. As does his defensive running, but that’s a story for another time. With Sicily now commanding the footy, the Hawks had an experienced hand in control. He took a contested mark, drew a free kick, kicked a goal, and dished one off to swing the momentum back to his team.
As long as the health of Barrass and Frost hold up, the Hawks’ ability to swing Sicily forward is the type of move that can turn the tide of a contest, and with some excellent recruiting, Hawthorn have created a situation where they can not just accept a defensive forward playing on their captain. They have created options.
And that makes them all the more dangerous.
LLOYD MEEK WAS FANTASTIC, BUT BRODIE GRUNDY PLAYED THE FIRST HALF LIKE A BLOKE WHO SCRAPED THROUGH A FITNESS TEST
Meek started this game like a man with a point to prove. His story, in going from backup to Sean Darcy, to coming into a battle for the ruck psoition at Hawthorn with Ned Reeves, to becoming the number one man in brown and gold (and in this game’s case – just brown), has been a ripper.
Grundy’s biggest asset, arguably, has been his second efforts. We’ve all heard the line “he’s like another midfielder”, right? Well, he was like a shit midfielder in the first half of this contest. He struggled to get his hands on the footy and was simply outworked by Meek.
Grundy had just three disposals in the first half, but it was those second efforts that were missing – one tackle, one clearance… it was the type of game that was Un-Grundy-Like, and it was exactly the type of game you’d expect from a player that pushed to make the side, but maybe would have been better taking the extra week off?
Meek’s two goals, pushing hard forward and continually testing Grundy, highlighted his first half, and as the boys walked to the sheds, it had to sting the Swan.
He was better in the second half, but I am also putting that partially down to Meek throwing everything at him in the first half. Meek looked buggered! Grundy finished well, with six of his 11 touches in the final quarter, whereas Meek managed just two disposals. The big Hawk’s job was done, though. he’d given his Hawks all he had, and it proved to be enough.
What a pickup he has been for the club.
OLIVER FLORENT WAS THE MESSIEST I’VE SEEN HIM
He just mad moments where he seemed like his head wasn’t in the game. Missed handballs, messy kicks (add Angus Sheldrick into that mix, as well, but Florent is not a kid), and cap it off with a horrid cross-goal kick in the last quarter to gift Connor MacDonald a goal, when he couldn’t get a kick ina stampede up to that point… this is the worst I have seen Ollie Florent play.
He is in for the long haul at the Swans, but in the current setup, with Sam Wicks slotting in beautifully, and Harry Cunningham to come back into the side, performances like this don’t do him any favours.
He now becomes a watch to me over the next few weeks.
HAWKS MIDS RESTING FORWARD
A massive win for the Hwks in this game, right up until the inury to James Worpel, was th way the midfield rotation permitted both Will Day and Jai Newcombe to rest forward instead of heading off the ground for a rest.
The focus will rightly be on Day’s three goals, but Newcombe had one of his own, and made himself a nuisance inside 50 sevral times, as well.
Worpel’s ankle meant that both mids had to take on more responsibility in the middle after halftime, so the rotations were fewer and further between up forward, but in Day and Newcombe, the Hawks have two powerful midfield presences that can now create mismatches up forward, as well. It’s a nice sistuation to be in.
TOM MCCARTIN AS A FORWARD
He did his job. I reckon he was outmarked once for the game, and he consistently hit up at the footy, dragging his direct opponent up the ground with him. He took two of what I like to call the Get out of Jail marks in this one, which was the most of any player, and whilst Dean Cox calls him a work in progress, there is obviously plenty to work with.
BATTLE ON PAPLEY
I was disappointed in papley – another who had to pass a fitness test. He is an excellent player when he does not play for free kicks, but I felt he did that two or three times too many in this game.
Battle is such a versatile defender. I am not sure those who didn’t watch a heap of St Kilda games realise what the Hawks have. He is highly capable of playing tall or small, and I could definitely see him playing the role of running half-bck if the Hawks find themselves a little too top-heavy at any point in 2025. Even a run on the wing could be a possibility – his tank is huge.
YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE LIZARD DEFEND
For a defender that is considered elite by many, Nick Blakey does not like standing under the footy. If you leave him to run his own race, he will gladly take the chance to cut you up on the rebound, but it is about limiting those opportunities and making someone else beat you, when it comes to keeping Blakey under wraps.
Mabs Chol found out the hard way that you cannot allow him to amble off. Within five seconds of putting disatnce between him and Chol, Blakey was zooming past for a running handball and slotting a goal long goal.
And where was Mabior?
55-60 metres away, wondering about how potent the tongue-lashing he was going to receive from Sam Mitchell for not chasing.
For a while, the Hawks looked to put Finn Maginness on him, but the matchup continually changed as the defence rotated, and the more Blakey was able to get off the chain, the better the Swans looked.
Brisbane demonstrated the ideal way to play Blakey in the 2024 Grand Final – attack via his man and make Nick have to go with him. It is not his strong suit – it needs to be capitalised on.
TWO TACKLES FOR JAMES ROWBOTTOM
This is a statement. It could be construed as a question, however, as it just seems so strange – just two tackles? In the wet?
What the hell is going on here?
Rowbottom was poised to break the season-record for tackles before his role was tweaked in 2024. He started to win more of the footy, and play a more prominent role in the Sydney midfield. In the period in question, he averaged 4.75 tackles per game, and the Swans went 5-3.
When he tackles like a demon (or a possessed swan, to avoid confusion), the Swans went 7-0 when he had ten tackles or more in a game. That’s his role. That’s where he does the damage. Forget him winning too much of the ball (16 is not too much, but he was ball hunting in this one) – just allow him to hone in on the opposition players and refuse them easy passage out of the middle, or any stoppage. That is what he brings to the table consistently.
Change that at your own peril.
CREDIT FOR CONOR NASH
This bloke is an unsung hero at Hawthorn. And he’ll remain unsung after this game because I reckon nbody notices what he does.
Isaac Heeney had ten clearances in this contest – a huge effort in the middle and -14 in total clearances, but I shudder to think how many he could have had if Conor Nash did not make life a little tougher for him.
The thing I love about Nash is that he refuses to be moved off the footy. If you watch the bulls of the league – mids like Cripps, Heeney, or Rowell, they physically move their opponents out of the contest to win it, themselves.
Nobody moved Nash out of the contest – the guy is a beast! And with six clearances of his own, adding a goal to the mix, as well, he was strong over the footy, played within his limitations, and played exactly the type of role the Hawks needed from him – powerful, hard, and uncompromising.
SOME QUICKIES
Massimo D’Ambrosio played more of an attacking wingman’s game in this one. Whilst still heading deep into defencem where he looks most comfortable, his foru inside 50 deliveries were classy, resulting in two direct goal assists. This is gratfying to see, as last year, he was ranked 13th at the club in inside 50s, and having a potent weapon like him distribute the footy to the forwards would be something the Hawks could add to their game plan this season.
16 touches for Jack Ginnivan as a small forward could be considered passable, but he looked lazy a couple of times in this game. He did have two tackles inside 50, so maybe I am just nitpicking, but he has a lot more to give.
Poor old Ben Paton got a workover in the first 15 minutes, with Dylan Moore starting on him and hittingthe scoreboard early. To his credit, Paton worked his way back into the contest well, but my guess is the focus will be more on the way he started.
Justin McInerney was one staright kick away from having anexcellent third term. he was one of the drivers of the Swans’ comeback, picking up ten of his 16 touches in the term.
Buggered if I know where he went for the remaining three quarters…
Really loved what I saw from Jack Scrimshaw in this game. He flies under the rdar in this Hawthorn back six, but some of his intercept possessions, including a contested mark, were wonderful, and his slicing kick into the middle to open the game up was a highlight of the first quarter, as well. I finally started to hear his name mentioned as a potential All-Australian, last season. It didn’t play out that way, but that is his trajectory.
Braeden Campbell had a few moments in the preseason games, huh? He had two moments in this game, as well. A great piece of pressure play in the early stages of the third, which signified the Swans were up for the fight. And a perfect inboard kick to the Lizard to set up a Tom McCartin goal.
And again… buggered if I know where he was for the remainder of the game. A few like that, huh?
One last thing – I lost count pretty quikly, but in the first quarter, alone, hit outs to disadvantage resulted in three shots at goal One each to Lloyd Meek, Brodie Grundy, and Joel Amartey. These are stats that I might start counting as I review games, as a careless clean ruck tap can be just as damaging if you hit the wrong target, as it can be brilliant when you hit the right one.
Hit outs to complete disadvantage – let’s see how we go with this one.
And quickly, if you watched this game on Fox Footy, not to be a shill, but that’s what you pay for – high quality commentary and analysis by everyone involved. Seeya Channel Seven… you won’t be missed.
And that might do me. An excellent first-up win for the Hawks on the road, whilst the Swans will be bitterly disappointed with once again applying themselves brilliantly for 20 minutes, and hoping it was enough to get the job done.
2024 proved… it isn’t.
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB
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