Hawthorn blasted over ‘rubbish’ game style ‘disrespecting’ fans
AFL great David King has led a chorus of criticism against Hawthorn and its game plan in a winless start to the new season.
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Fox Footy pundits have gone in hard at Hawthorn after Saturday’s 55-point loss to Melbourne, with David King questioning if the footy world was “being conned” by the club’s rebuild messaging.
The Hawks were put to the sword by the Demons at the MCG in a game Sam Mitchell’s side played a high-possession, controlled game in its defensive half – taking a whopping 112 uncontested marks with 265 uncontested possessions – to rarely put pressure on Melbourne.
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Now in its third year of a rebuild under Mitchell, despite embracing a youth movement last season, Hawthorn appeared to be on the rise with seven wins including claiming some big scalps – defeating grand finalists Collingwood and Brisbane – but has started its 2024 campaign in disappointing fashion at 0-2.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s First Crack, King didn’t hold back in his assessment of the club’s efforts on the weekend, declaring it was a “waste of development minutes” and “disrespectful” to fans, highlighting that North Melbourne, West Coast, Fremantle, Adelaide and GWS all had less experienced sides in Round 2.
“I just wonder if we’re being conned here. This is a club in rebuild. A club that’s got a coach in his third year of a rebuild – this is not day one,” the North Melbourne legend began on Fox Footy.
“When you set up a game in the manner they did in that first quarter – 50 uncontested marks and basically kick the ball around and not even threaten to challenge the opposition in any meaningful way or play with any identity at all. I question is that the responsibility of the coach or the club to say ‘hang on, what are we doing here? We’ve got to get develop minutes into this players’. Every game and quarter is important.
“I look at it yesterday and think what did they learn from yesterday’s occasion? What did they learn from that game? Is the message just to those guys, ‘we can’t win playing our way so we have to play this false brand’ – that you are never going to replicate. It will never take you to the promised land.
“It was a waste of development minutes for a club that’s in a hurry, it doesn’t have time to waste like this. They’re not as inexperienced as other teams. There are like-types out there.
We’ve been conditioned to a message that it’s a full bottom-out rebuild and it will take us 10 years. Well it may take you 10 years, but this isn’t helping. Play like that doesn’t help – we’re in an entertainment industry. Who is going to watch that rubbish?
“If you think you can’t win your team can’t play, is that how we all play? Do we expect North Melbourne to do that? West Coast? What happens if four teams adopt that profile that we’re just going to kill minutes on the clock. I thought it was really disappointing, disrespectful to the Hawthorn fans that turned up to watch.
“You’ve got to be urgent on this rebuild and that’s my crack. It’s straight at Sam Mitchell – is this really what you want to do with this group or are you getting busy developing these guys into the full package to play 200 strong AFL games?”
Former Hawthorn sharpshooter Ben Dixon posed whether Mitchell was “trialling” different strategies while the Hawks are still in development mode.
However King thinks a performance like against Melbourne was “meaningless,” even if the club isn’t positioned to genuinely challenge for finals.
“Maybe that (style of play) might win one game out of every 100, but what’s the point of that?,” King added.
“Are they really there to test what method works or to develop their players? North Melbourne, West Coast, Freo, Adelaide and GWS were all less experienced than this team, so to me this is not a cop out.
“Get on with making this club great again and don’t waste a minute with that rubbish and treat the fans and football lovers with such disrespect. I think the hierarchy should be talking to Sam saying ‘is this really what we’re doing here?’.
“We always say it’s a six or seven-year period but don’t waste it. You’ve got 22-23 opportunities a year and four quarters – 100 quarters of footy – why would you set fire to one?”
King also scoffed at suggestions Mitchell is developing a brand for where the game could be in several years when his side is ready to challenge for the top eight.
“I don’t think that’s the responsibility to try and work out where the game’s going in four years’ time when the list is right. There’s half a dozen other teams at the same point right now. If you’re playing the futuristic game, that’s dangerous,” he said.
Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna believes the footy world was “expecting more” out of Hawthorn this year and pointed out that the club already started regenerating in Clarkson’s last as coach in 2021.
“You say three (years into a rebuild), I can make a strong case for this is the fourth year because under (Alastair Clarkson’s) last year they moved on guys like (Ben) Stratton, (Paul) Puopolo, Isaac Smith, (James) Frawley. They went from the third oldest to the ninth oldest.
“They played eight debutants in Clarko’s last year and another five guys that had less than 10 games’ experience, so they started to churn through the kids and get good games into these players four years ago.”
"They just got their gameplan wrong."@kanecornes believes Hawthorn's wariness of Lever and May came at the detriment of their ball movement in the first quarter.
— AFL (@AFL) March 23, 2024
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Montagna added: “I don’t see them still climbing the ladder at all this stage. I didn’t buy into the hype this pre-season – I was still thinking they’re still a long way off.”
The Saints great also called out skipper James Sicily’s “really poor” performance against Melbourne for “putting himself ahead of the team”, showing vision where Sicily was playing too loosely off his direct opponent and even at times appearing to prioritise trying to win the footy over defending.
“I think at the moment James Sicily needs to have a good hard look at himself. I think he’s putting himself ahead of the team at the moment,” Montagna noted.
“He got beaten by (Matt) Guelfi last week. Just watch some of these efforts. This is the first couple of minutes of the game. What’s he doing right there as a defender just running off his man when there was no real need?
“As captain, you have to be setting the tone – not being the one who is getting exposed. (Bayley) Fritsch got a hold of him, we know that throughout the game.
“I think James Sicily needs to have a look at himself, how he’s playing as a leader and as a defender. Defend first and worry about getting the footy a bit later on because he’s letting the team down at the moment.”
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