Hawthorn v West Coast: Hawks reveal draft plans amid AFL ‘disaster’

Hawthorn fans have been warned to buckle in for a bumpy ride as the club struggles to find form. So what is their long term ‘fix it’ plan?

James Worpel walks off after Hawthorn's sixth loss of the season.

Hawthorn chief executive Justin Reeves says Hawthorn makes no apologies for building for its next premiership success but says supporters will need to buckle up for some of that bumpy ride.

Reeves told the Herald Sun on Monday the Hawks would not divert from a plan which will see them heavily investing in kids while attempting to support them with senior players.

Reeves said the club would almost certainly take its first pick - currently No.2 - in the 2021 draft rather than trading that pick.

And he said after a dismal Mothers Day crowd of 15,277 the Hawks would write to the AFL this week about dodging a “nightmare” timeslot next year.

The Hawks were poor in a 38-point defeat against West Coast and have won only four of their past 21 games dating back to Round 5 last year.

Dom Sheed feeds out a handball under pressure.

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He said the Hawks had topped up after their premiership three-peat to “squeeze every drop out of the lemon” to win a fifth flag in the dynasty.

But the only way to rebound will be to absorb some pain and then continue to bring in more talent at year’s end.

“We were disappointed with the weekend, no doubt about that. But I think we are pretty open that was in the middle of a changing development period. We are playing a lot of kids and it’s been a long time since we have done that. We expect some bumps along the way with so many kids but we are determined to stick to the plan.

Jack Darling marks strongly against James Worpel.

“We know we will bring in more talent over the short-term and we are not in a position to see ourselves challenging for the flag. In saying that, our two first-round picks from the past two years are injured (in Will Day and Denver Grainger-Barras) and we had James Sicily, Jaeger O’Meara and Jack Gunston out of the team. The weekend wasn’t where we see our team being and Clarko and the team will review it today and pull it apart.“

Hawthorn invested early picks in the likes of O’Meara, Brownlow Medallist Tom Mitchell and Chad Wingard as it sought to win one more flag.

On the club taking that early pick to the draft, Reeves said: “Oh yeah, i would imagine so. Can’t see it going any other way in all honesty”.

He said coach Alastair Clarkson was resolute in fulfilling that plan.

“I think the whole club has agreed. Clarko has until the end of next year on his current contract. We need to stick to the plan and see it through and Clarko, like everyone else, it is totally committed.”

The Hawks need more draft investment to surround kids including Day, Grainger-Barras, Jacob Koschitzke, Connor Downie, Emerson Jeka, Finn Maguinness, Dylan Moore, Changkuouth Jiath, Mitch Lewis, Ned Reeves, Dylan Moore and Tyler Brockman.

“The message for our fans is we have had a great period of success and tried to squeeze every bit out of juice out of the lemon and tried to top up at the end of that period,” Reeves said.

“So at the moment we are in a different phase. We needed to start building for that next period of success. We won’t build to squeeze into the finals, we need to build for the next period of success.

“Some of those players played on the weekend, some of them didn’t. But we need to stick fat and stick to the plan.”

SUNDAY TIMESLOT SLAMMED

The Hawks would prefer to play on a Thursday night or in another time slot than the early MCG clash on Mother’s Day after the terrible crowd.

“It’s an absolute disaster of a slot. I think we have been pretty clear on it. The last time we had crowds in 2019 we played GWS in that slot and had about the same amount (14,636).

“It’s a nightmare slot against an interstate team, at the MCG on Mother’s Day, so we will be writing to the AFL this week and trying to open discussions on how to avoid that in the future.

“Whether it’s a Thursday night game or something else. But we don’t want to be in that position, it’s not good for our club. Thursdays depend upon how the timeslots fall.

“You don’t want to play Sunday then Thursday but it’s a professional game and the guys train all day every day, so it shouldn’t matter if they play Friday or Thursday.

“It’s a good result for broadcast too and there aren’t a lot of conflicting priorities that night.”

HAWKS EYE MID-SEASON DRAFT AS LIST EXPOSED

By Ronny Lerner

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson admits his side is being hurt by a lack of list depth following another disappointing performance against West Coast at the MCG on Sunday.

The Hawks slumped to their worst start to a season since 2010 as West Coast eased concerns about its interstate form this season by scoring an emphatic 38-point win.

The Hawks were missing James Sicily (knee), Jack Gunston (back), Jaeger O’Meara (soreness), Shaun Burgoyne (ankle), Jon Ceglar (ankle) and Will Day (ankle) against the Eagles, who themselves were also missing a swathe of top-end talent.

“Gunston is a high-quality player, O’Meara is a high-quality player for us, Sicily is a high-quality player for us,” Clarkson said post-game.

“So in each part of the ground those guys are missing. (Denver) Grainger-Barras and Day are really emerging young players for us who were taken as first-round picks in the last two years and they’re both missing extended periods with injury.

“And then the complexity of it is that, for other reasons, guys that you recruited to your club that really should stiffen you up a little bit in terms of your depth with (Jon) Patton and (Tom) Scully and they, for various reasons, are no longer listed to our club.

“So just when we’re trying to find our way as a club, you need your depth.

“Lists have these difficulties from time to time in terms of their depth and the really good clubs cover it pretty well, and we’re not covering it as well as we’d like at the minute.”

Clarkson reiterated his club’s desire to recruit a player in the mid-season draft, but warned Hawthorn supporters that pick wouldn’t be “the panacea” for the on-field struggles they were enduring.

James Worpel walks off after Hawthorn’s sixth loss of the season.

West Coast fans had their collective hearts in their mouths when they saw their star spearhead Josh Kennedy finish the game with a big ice pack on his right calf, but coach Adam Simpson didn’t think it was a significant injury.

And the news got better for the Eagles with Simpson confirming that Jeremy McGovern, Tom Barrass, Liam Ryan, Mark Hutchings and Shannon Hurn would all be in the selection frame for their next game against Adelaide at Optus Stadium.

Much had been said about West Coast’s struggles away from Perth this year (they were 0-3 on the road prior to Sunday), but Simpson said the main focus against Hawthorn was to play “consistent football” which he conceded his team hadn’t done too often so far in 2021.

“We’ve had games we’ve won at home that’s been patchy,” he said.

“It was important we had good effort today ... I felt like we played more of a complete four-quarter performance today than we have in previous interstate trips.”

The Eagles headed into the contest having lost all three of their games on the road in 2021 by an average of 41 points, but if they wanted to be taken seriously as a top-eight threat, they had to take care of the Hawks. And that’s exactly what they did in front of just 15,277 fans on Mother’s Day.

Oscar Allen was forced to play in defence due to the absence of injured star trio Jeremy McGovern, Tom Barrass and Shannon Hurn, but it barely impacted the Eagles in attack as they finished with nine goalkickers, Brendon Ah Chee leading the way with a career-high four majors.

West Coast was also missing Liam Ryan, Luke Shuey and Elliot Yeo, but the likes of Tim Kelly, Dom Sheed and Andrew Gaff picked up the slack, combining for 98 disposals.

But the result could have come at a cost for the Eagles with Josh Kennedy finishing the game with a huge ice pack on his right calf.

Tom Mitchell is put under the pump by Eagle Jamaine Jones.

The first quarter wasn’t one for the time capsule, with both sides committing countless turnovers and failing to kick a goal, which was especially frustrating for West Coast which doubled the hosts for inside-50s (16-8) in the opening term.

However, the gulf in class between these two sides became painfully apparent in the second quarter as West Coast flexed its considerable muscle to blow the Hawks off the park.

Powered by the clearance work of Nic Naitanui and Kelly, the Eagles capitalised on their continued territory dominance with an emphatic seven-goal-to-three quarter to take a 27-point lead at halftime.

From that point on Adam Simpson’s side was met with minimal meaningful resistance as the Hawks’ pressured and rushed delivery to their forward line plagued them for much of the afternoon.

AH CHEE GETS BALL ROLLING

After 10 straight behinds, we had to wait until the three-minute mark of the second quarter to get the first goal of the game, courtesy of West Coast’s Brendon Ah Chee, who nailed it from 48m out on the run. And a few minutes later, Ah Chee repeated the dose from the goalsquare after Jack Scrimshaw attempted to fist the ball but failed to make contact, allowing it to slip out the back. Ten goals in total were kicked for the quarter.

JONES INJECTS SOME LIFE

When the game was desperately crying out for some exhilaration early in the second quarter, Jamaine Jones answered the call as he zoomed up the middle of the ground and engaged in a blistering one-two with Josh Kennedy before sprinting to 30m out and slotting a ripper to give the Eagles a 13-point lead.

Jamaine Jones gives it, gets it and goals 🌟#YokayiFootypic.twitter.com/lcFQbgwjwk

— AFL (@AFL) May 9, 2021

SHIELS SHOCKER

With his side trailing by 14 points midway through the second term, experienced Hawk Liam Shiels made an uncharacteristic mistake as he kicked across goal deep in defence attempting to pass to Tom Phillips. Big Eagle Bailey Williams was wise to the plan, and took the easy intercept mark before slotting the set shot from 25m in front.

JIATH GIFTS JACK GOAL

It didn’t get better for Hawks down back midway through the third term, either. Changkuoth Jiath gathered the ball under pressure deep in defence, but as he was about to be tackled by Jake Waterman, he panicked and handballed it away straight into the path of Jack Petruccelle. The Eagles speedster made it hard for himself, but his ugly attempt from the goalsquare managed to clip his toe and dribble it through to put the Eagles 38 points to the good.

Brendon Ah Chee (right) celebrates one of his four goals with Jack Petruccelle.

IF YOU DON’T MIND, UMPIRE

There may not be a worse umpiring non-decision this season than the one that occurred 10 minutes into the first quarter as Jiath tucked the ball under his arm, took his West Coast opponent on, failed, had the ball stripped of him, yet wasn’t penalised for holding the ball. It was as clear as day, yet somehow Eleni Glouftsis waved play on despite being right on the scene.

DETAILS

HAWKS 0.3, 3.6, 5.10, 8.12 (60)

EAGLES 0.5, 7.9, 11.11, 14.14 (98)

LERNER’S BEST

Hawks: Impey, Mitchell, Hartigan, Worpel, Frost.

Eagles: Kelly, Sheed, Gaff, Ah Chee, Sheppard, Naitanui, Darling.

GOALS

Hawks: Hanrahan 2, Lewis 2, Worpel 2, Impey, Howe.

Eagles: Ah Chee 4, Darling 2, Petruccelle 2, Jones, Williams, Kelly, Kennedy, Langdon, Waterman.

INJURIES

Hawks: Jack Gunston (back spasms) replaced in Hawthorn’s selected side by Josh Morris.. Eagles: Kennedy (calf).

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

LERNER’S VOTES

3 Tim Kelly (WC)

2 Dom Sheed (WC)

1 Andrew Gaff (WC)