Hawthorn season preview: New-look Hawks finals chance with master coach Alastair Clarkson at helm

HAWTHORN was out of finals contention early last year but with master coach Alastair Clarkson at the helm, don’t be surprised to see the brown and gold back at the top in 2018.

TRUST in Alastair Clarkson. Full Stop. End of story.

According to the four-time premiership coach, the Hawks don’t rebuild.

They don’t start all over again. Instead they recalibrated in 2017 after a frank realisation that a final series was almost pointless and greater gains would come from giving youngsters experience and education.

This is exactly why Clarkson is the best coach in the land.

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Success is about premierships, not finals campaigns. The little maestro will engineer this recalibration far quicker than the traditional four to five-year model. It will be led by the high-cost buys of Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara, who will, in hindsight, be seen as bargains despite the initial critical reviews.

The Hawks were hamstrung all year by injuries at the defensive end. Grant Birchall played just five games, James Frawley and Ben Stratton managed eight. Add retiring Josh Gibson’s 12 games, and it’s easy to see why Clarkson took the course he did.

Alastair Clarkson has worked wonders already with his new-look team.

Their absence had significant flow-on effects. The Hawks have never been consumed by winning contested football, but their intercept game is their one wood.

Without this experienced group behind the ball it dropped significantly, affecting their offensive scoreboard returns by two goals a game. Add the loss of Cyril Rioli with a season-ending knee injury in Round 8, and their forward half harassment and opposition turnover numbers also fell away.

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These factors put an inexperienced defensive unit under more pressure, given Blake Hardwick, Kaiden Brand and the like are still learning their craft, but their early exposure will pay dividends going forward.

Mitchell announced himself to the AFL world. He was the league’s leading disposal winner and almost single-handedly corrected the Hawks’ contested ball woes from Round 15 onwards. They went from averaging 16 less than opponents (ranked 18th) between Rounds 1-14 to three more than opposition (7th) since, which ignited their outside skilful game.

It was a two-goal offensive improvement, and it saved four goals on the defensive side of the game. That’s a six-goal turnaround in the season — and people ask why Clarkson is widely recognised as the best?

Tom Mitchell has been brilliant for the Hawks. Picture: Getty

He gained significant intelligence spinning the magnets and giving players different roles.

The Hawks won six and a half games from their last 10 and I expect that form is more reflective of this outfit — not their 12th spot on the end-of-season ladder.

Smokies for the eight again this season. I’m always reluctant to dismiss a Clarkson-led unit — 11-14 wins and maybe another finals campaign.

MARK ROBINSON SAYS

WHAT I LIKE

The recovery in 2017 was monumental — they were 1-5 after six rounds — and proceeded to beat Sydney twice, Adelaide and Melbourne. If anything, the coach reinvented versatility by swinging his available players all over the ground.

Will have Cyril Rioli, Grant Birchall, James Frawley, Ben Stratton, Jaeger O’Meara and Paul Puopolo back into his best team, young players, such as James Sicily, Ryan Burton, Blake Hardwick and Dan Howe are rapidly making progress. And we can’t forget Tom Mitchell.

AFL 2017 — Richmond v Hawthorn at the MCG. Hawthorn's Jarryd Roughead 2nd qtr. Pic: Michael Klein

They have the master coach who held the team together. With the stars back, and Roughy a season on from cancer, the Hawks will be hard to beat.

Round 1 v Collingwood looms as a beauty.

WHAT I DON’T LIKE

Unquestionably, the loss of Luke Hodge will be felt, maybe more so because of the organisational stuff at the back. Need Birchall, but he has already had a knee op, which has disrupted his pre-season.

As you can see, there aren’t too many negatives about the Hawks. The kids got valuable game time in 2017, and some stars return. Had them in and out and in and finally out of my top

eight, but they will be right in the mix for September.

VERDICT

Will be in every game