Mark Robinson: Hawks haven’t emulated the 1993 ‘Baby’ Bombers, but you can’t deny the similarities
The Hawks still have a long way to go, but the similarities to the ‘93 Bombers are obvious. MARK ROBINSON looks at the making of Sam Mitchell’s Hawthorn – on and off the field.
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In 1993, which is an eternity ago in football, Essendon played with the mantra that speed kills.
In 2024, Hawthorn’s identity is speed thrills.
The “Rascal” Hawks have not emulated the “Baby” Bombers, who won the most unlikely of premierships, yet the similarities are unmistaken.
The blitz style of football, the energy, and the anything-is-possible attitude is evident, and not least is the makeup of the teams.
The Essendon team that beat Carlton on grand final day in 1993 had an average age of 24.3. The Hawks this year average 24.9, a figure blown out by Luke Breust (33) and Jack Gunston (32).
Season ’93 was also one of the most tightly contested. The Bombers finished the home-and-away season on top of the ladder, but only six points separated first from seventh – Essendon (54 points from 20 matches), followed by Carlton (54), North Melbourne (52), Hawthorn (52), Adelaide (48), West Coast (48) and Geelong (48).
Season ’24 has 10 points separating first from ninth with Hawthorn clutching on to eighth position on the ladder heading into the last two rounds.
The Bombers lost their qualifying final by two points to Carlton then had to win three games through September to lift the cup, which included overcoming a 42-point deficit against Adelaide in the preliminary final. If the Hawks are going to salute in 2024, they will be required to win four finals.
The Bombers had a bunch of under-21-year-olds such as David Calthorpe, James Hird, Dustin Fletcher, Mark Mercuri, Joe Misiti and Ricky Olarenshaw.
The Hawks have Calsher Dear, Nick Watson, Cam McKenzie, Massimo D’Ambrosio, Josh Weddle, Jack Ginnivan and Connor Macdonald at 21 and younger.
In ’93, Essendon won just one game and drew another in its first five matches and was 11th of 15 teams after round 7.
The Hawks this year were 1-6 after the first seven weeks and were 17th on the ladder.
Clearly, the Hawks have not accomplished anything other than gain respect, but the comparison between the two teams is not lost on Hird.
“As an Essendon person, it’s very hard for me to praise Hawthorn, but watching them play at the moment is electrifying and exciting,” he said.
“They’ve got that fearlessness of youth. The coach has given them a licence to play in a certain a way. It’s wonderful to watch and you can see they have no fear and that’s a really dangerous team to play against.”
Hird was 20 and the ’93 grand final, under legendary coach Kevin Sheedy, was just his 20th game.
“As a young player, we didn’t fear losing, or we didn’t fear failure,” Hird said. “It was like, we were out on the MCG in front 80,000 people, how much fun is this?”
He said Sheedy – and he suspects Hawks coach Sam Mitchell is doing the same – used youth as a mindset weapon.
“Sheeds was hard – there was a game style and if you didn’t adhere to it you didn’t play. But he gave us the licence to play with freedom – a freedom within the framework of playing a certain way,” Hird said.
“I can remember him saying, what we have over Carlton leading up to the grand final was, ‘You don’t know what failure is like, whereas they do because they’re old’.
“He said that was a weapon not to be underestimated.”
The Bombers’ 2000 premiership captain believes contest and pressure, and forward-half football, will decide this year’s AFL premiership, and he noted how much the Hawks had improved in those areas this season.
“I admire what Hawthorn has done, but they might fall over at some point, and I still think the contest and pressure style will win in tight games,” Hird said.
“The Hawks will evolve in a year or two to be the team to beat, but right now their defensive actions are pretty special. Their midfield when they defend is pretty good. They’re not just one-way. Their ball movement is pretty incredible, they play with freedom but the coach has got them playing two-way footy as well. The coach believes in them.”
Unquestionably, Hawthorn is the success story of the season.
The infamous rebuild, which then Hawks president Jeff Kennett said in 2021 might take upwards of 10 years, is motoring after just 60 games.
To be fair, Kennett wasn’t alone. Countless other football people believed the Hawks would be lost in the wilderness of a rebuild, citing the recent experiences at Melbourne, Richmond, Carlton and North Melbourne, for example, as teams taking between five and 10 years to be contenders. Longer if you’re in the Kangas camp.
The Tigers, for one, appointed Damien Hardwick for the 2010 season and he won a premiership in his eighth season (2017).
Fox Footy commentator Leigh Montagna was right when he said: “We’ve never seen a three-to-five-year rebuild. They’re upwards of 10 years if you’re going to do it properly.”
Add to that the list of doomed rebuild coaches. It was even opined that Mitchell, who took over in 2022, wouldn’t be the coach when the Hawks next played finals.
Now, the Hawks, if they beat Richmond and North Melbourne in the next fortnight, will play in an elimination final.
Montagna described the Hawks’ season as “magnificent”.
He said a combination of trading, drafting, development, leadership and – of course – Mitchell’s coaching had resurrected the club.
“It’s confidence as well,” Montagna said. “It’s knowing your role, being confident in your own game, and the coach has got your back, and these players are developing together.
“They feel like to me – and there’s been teams every year – Carlton and the Giants at the back end of last year, and Collingwood, there’s this momentum and confidence which is hard to stop.”
Montagna experienced that in 2004. St Kilda won its first 10 games and made it all the way to the preliminary final, where the Saints lost to eventual premier Port Adelaide by six points.
“We were a young side, too,” he said.
The mastermind of the Hawks’ list build is national recruiting and list manager Mark McKenzie, and he is assisted on the list management group by highly-regarded head of football Rob McCartney, recruiter Mark Finnigan, who was previously at North Melbourne, and Mitchell.
The trade market has brought in four of their back six (Jarman Impey, Karl Amon, Jack Scrimshaw and Sam Frost), three of their front six (Mabior Chol, Jack Ginnivan and Jack Gunston), one of the most improved ruckmen in the competition (Lloyd Meek) and a potential All-Australian wingman (Massimo D’Ambrosio).
All have flourished under Mitchell and their line coaches – Kade Simpson (defence), Adrian Hickmott (forwards) and David Hale (midfield).
And the Hawks say the return of Andy Collins as head of development, who is assisted by former Crows player David McKay, has been critical for the club’s last crop of draftees.
“There’s an enormous amount of people that get us to a point where we have the opportunity to exceed expectations,” Mitchell said this week.
D’Ambrosio is an example of someone’s trash being someone else’s treasure.
Essendon coach Brad Scott didn’t rate him highly enough – or couldn’t fit him in – and played him in eight games in 2023.
In contrast, Mitchell set about convincing D’Ambrosio he would be a value piece at the Hawks. So, by the time the Bombers offered him a two-year deal to stay, his mind was already made up. The response has been 20 games on the wing.
The Pies also didn’t want Ginnivan. He was too much trouble. And his flamboyant ways have landed very well at the flamboyant Hawks.
Then there’s the enigmatic Chol. He leads the Hawks’ goalkicking with 32 majors and is one of five Hawks who have each kicked more than 20 goals.
As a potential Mitchell Lewis offsider, Chol has been a leader for first-year forward Dear.
The Hawks have only four top-10 draft picks (Watson, McKenzie, Scrimshaw and Josh Ward) playing regular senior football and they secured Will Day at No. 13 and Josh Weddle at No. 18.
There’s a father-son (Dear), an Irishman (Conor Nash), a Next Generation Academy player (Changkuoth Jiath) and the rest of the Hawks’ core are a mishmash of late and some would say lucky picks – James Sicily (pick No. 56), Blake Hardwick (44), Luke Breust (77), Jack Gunston (29), James Worpel (45), Dylan Moore (67) and Connor Macdonald (26).
It is a licorice all-sorts.
Exactly how the Hawks became one of the most powerful teams post round 8 requires a thesis on coaching, mindset and environment.
“I haven’t done a deep dive on the Hawks,” Montagna said, “but it’s probably because Mitchell has been able to maximise the players’ potential.
“It’s easy to coach the superstars because they take care of themselves, but to maximise Jack Ginnivan and Mabior Chol, and get the best out of Jack Scrimshaw, to get Frost playing like he is, and Impey playing at All-Australian level, and D’Ambrosio, and getting Worpel to find his best form, getting Lloyd Meek to come out of himself and become an elite ruckman ... it’s been getting all these players playing close to their optimum level.”
It’s the “how” that is most intriguing. Clearly Mitchell is instrumental in delivering an environment which has created the momentum and the confidence, but is it just the coach?
“You’ve got to ask, is it shrewd list management, where they’ve targeted players who have got more to offer than what they were giving at their original clubs, or, is it once they’ve got to Hawthorn, they’ve grown a leg because of development and the coach?’’ Montagna said.
“You don’t know the answer, but it’s probably a combination of all of it.”
The Hawks’ list build is not complete. They hope to get one of Josh Battle (St Kilda) and Tom Barrass (West Coast) during free agency, and if it is Barrass, they don’t plan on handing over two first-round draft picks, which is the mooted asking price.
Nor is this season complete.
Presently, the Hawks are being toasted for climbing off the canvas and captivating the competition, both offensively and defensively. But while the comparison to the Baby Bombers is real, they are far from being fulfilled. For one, the Hawks are not yet finalists.
“There’s still growth in our group,” Mitchell said.
“We’re not finished just yet, we’ve still got some work to do and it starts this week.”
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