AFL Round 10 Gold Coast v Hawthorn: Josh Barnes on the big James Sicily concern and Matt Rowell’s future

Short turnaround. Five team changes. A midfield smacking. The Hawks won’t leave Darwin too displeased with an eight-point loss – but is a big concern brewing?

Hawthorn spent plenty of time in Darwin, flying north on Monday, but were late to bed on Thursday as the Hawks caught the red-eye flight back home straight after the match.

As they were heading south, Hawks fans would generally have hit sleep pleased with their effort off a short turnaround and with five changes against a Suns team that remains unbeaten in Darwin since making it a second home.

But the form of the captain has to be one concern.

One of the best in the game under a high ball, Sicily was wobbly in the Darwin air and his kicking and composure is miles off the lethal right boot that has cut teams up in the past.

Mitchell defended his skipper after the match, and said: “I was pretty pleased with his game.”

“This week he was pretty good, we moved him forward and he gave us something … he is maybe not kicking the ball quite as well as he has but the than that I think he is playing some good footy for us,” the coach said.

James Sicily in action against the Suns. Picture: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos

Sicily polled three coaches votes last week but the reality is, the All-Australian has not been at his usual level this year.

His role has been shifted with Tom Barrass and Josh Battle coming into the team, forcing Sicily and Jack Scrimshaw into different roles from the defence that was so brilliant last year.

Those recruits have definitely been successful additions, but it may have led to growing pains for the captain.

Mitchell started Josh Weddle forward against the Suns and that magnet was flipped back after Weddle didn’t touch the footy in the first quarter, opening the door for Blake Hardwick to go forward and kick three goals.

Weddle looked much better behind the ball, but that left Hawthorn with five talls – Battle, Scrimshaw, Sicily, Barrass, Weddle – in the back-half as the Suns continued to pile on goals.

Ben Long' takes a hangar on James Sicily

And Jed Walter did the same

Mitchell is still reaching for his best look each game, with clearly the best option in the first half on Thursday just getting every other Hawk forward the hell out of the way to give as much space to Nick Watson as possible.

Watson was spectacular, and Hardwick took his chances, but the Hawks missed Jack Gunston, something Mitchell wouldn’t have expected three months ago.

The numbers ranked Sicily the 31st player on the ground in Darwin and his impact felt about at that level.

The Hawks have been winning without their skipper setting the world on fire but they are well aware of the tough run to come before their bye, with games against Brisbane, Collingwood, Western Bulldogs and Adelaide to come.

“It is obviously like a little mini-finals run coming up,” Amon said.

“The next four weeks are tough opponents. We will get some key personnel back and go from there.”

He started slowly last year and by September was seen by some as a snub for a second All-Australian honour, so Sicily knows how to pick up steam mid-season.

He will need to perform for Hawthorn to emerge from that slate as a genuine premiership threat.

A line in the Gold Coast sand is looming

As many as four Victorian clubs pitched to Matt Rowell over summer and even if the competition is expecting him to stay a Sun, a line in the Gold Coast sand is looming for the AFL’s trouble child as it finally grows up.

Rowell and his running mate Noah Anderson, plus 200-gamer Touk Miller, just did enough to hold off a tireless Jai Newcombe in the midfield on Thursday night in a back-and-forth shootout.

If Geelong, Collingwood, Essendon and the Western Bulldogs all met with Rowell in the off-season, the other six Victorian clubs would surely have been picking up the phone to lure the onballer who ploughs through tacklers like a steamroller.

Some players use burst and agility to escape tacklers, Rowell runs towards them like a bull lining up a matador, challenging the tackler to hold on.

Rowell will be well remunerated in his new contract, which the league expects to be a two-year deal to guide him to free agency, but the longer he waits to sign, the more those Victorian clubs should be calling.

Will Matt Rowell re-sign at the Suns. Picture: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos

North Melbourne great David King almost pleaded with Rowell to “just sign now” post-match.

“He could give this club a real big lift. The sooner he signs the better,” King told Fox Footy.

“They really have made significant inroads, why would you want to leave?”

He didn’t dominate the Hawks throughout another sticky night in Darwin, and his good mate Anderson was the better of the two headline Suns onballers, but Rowell delivered when needed.

There was the charge away from the stoppage with 10 minutes left in the game, where Rowell forced his way through to get the left foot kick forward, leading to a Malcolm Rosas Jr goal that put the Suns up by 15 points.

Later on, he took the body of Jack Ginnivan with ball in hand, forced himself through to get the hands to Anderson, resulting in Ben Long’s mark and goal.

All night, the Rowell-Anderson pairing in the contest was the problem for Hawks coach Sam Mitchell.

The pair combined for 21 clearances, including nine centre bounces, a monster effort given Hawthorn as a team had 35 clearances and 10 in the centre.

And the Suns feasted off clearance, scoring 50 points from stoppages.

Noah Anderson fires out a handpass under pressure. Picture: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos

Even as his teammate Newcombe took the battle up to the Gold Coast pair on the inside, Hawthorn rebounder Karl Amon said post-match he admired Rowell and Anderson’s power game.

“They are both quality players and a formidable force,” he said.

“I thought the battle inside was really good. They are two tough nuts and we have our tough nuts going against them inside.”

Mitchell said post match he tried to plug the hole by getting numbers up around the ball, but that only created a spare for the Suns defence.

And that let John Noble to chew up yardage like the Road Runner, recording an exceptional 1001 metres gained.

Amon came into the round seventh in the league for metres gained and notched up a huge 884 himself, but was still a long way behind Noble, who had 27 kicks.

“Gee that’s a big number isn’t it,” Amon said.

Noble’s 1001 night wouldn’t have been possible without that midfield power forcing Mitchell’s defensive moves.

Rowell was well within his rights to take a deep look at things at the Suns given the club’s track record heading into this season, but the Suns simply must be on track to play finals, if not finish in the top four.

Gold Coast has had an easy run with the fixture and will continue to have an easy run, rated by Champion Data to have the second-best draw for the rest of the year before this round began.

Possibly for the first time since those portables were opened as the club’s first HQ, the Suns have list stability, with Rowell really the only name of genuine consequence out of contract this year.

If he leaves, it would take the air out of a club that looks like it is finally beginning to puff its chest out.

And until he signs on the dotted line, Victorian clubs will surely be calling and calling.

Originally published as AFL Round 10 Gold Coast v Hawthorn: Josh Barnes on the big James Sicily concern and Matt Rowell’s future