AFL 2022 Hawthorn vs Brisbane Lions news and analysis
A brilliant last quarter from Hawthorn has stunned Brisbane in a high scoring affair, with a returning midfielder answering the critics.
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A midfield masterclass by a returning Tom Mitchell and a glimpse of Hawthorn’s customary brute force produced the Hawks’ second major upset of the season and ended their four-game losing streak at UTas Stadium on Sunday.
The lead changed nine times in the Launceston thriller – five times in the final term – as Hawthorn remained strong enough for long enough to end Brisbane’s five-game winning streak with a five point win.
Hawthorn kicked five last quarter goals to break clear late, with big forward Mitch Lewis kicking two of his four goals late in the last.
Mitchell was superb in his return, with the Brownlow Medal winner collecting a game-high 36 possessions and nine clearances while the Hawks’ other goals came from Chad Wingard (three), Dylan Moore (two) and Sam Butler (two).
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan labelled the Lions’ defensive efforts as their worst of the season.
“We’ve just had a block of five games where we have been on the road for four of them,” Fagan said.
“We won four and lost one by five points, and in the first block of five games we won four and lost one by 10 points down at Geelong.
“The boys never gave up tonight but we gave away too many free kicks that resulted in scores to the opposition.
“They kicked nine goals from free kicks, which is too many and that’s the reason why they won the game.”
The Lions will come under fire for their defensive efforts, particularly late in the third term when they gave up a 22-point lead as Hawthorn kicked three goals in time-on.
“I look at all the statistics and pretty much all of the areas we like to do well in, we have done well in, yet we still lost the game,” Fagan said.
“The reason for that is we weren’t as good defensively as we have been all year.
“We allowed our opposition to score 117 points, which is something we rarely do.
“Team defense starts in your forward line and the bottom line is, we created 28 forward half turnovers and they had 14, so when we get that many turnovers we normally win.
“So they were very efficient going forward and we need to have a look at why that was the case.
“When we have a look at the tape we will certainly be having a look at that to see where we can improve for next week.”
Hawthorn remains the only side Brisbane has not beaten since 2020, adding the Lions’ scalp to wins over Geelong and Port Adelaide, three of the four top four teams last year. But coach Sam Mitchell is not satisfied, despite inflicting the Lions’ second loss this season.
“We’ve been trying to make progress and figure out how to get better as a club and how to get better as a team and how to progress with a really young group,” Mitchell said.
“We’ve been able to make progress each week and we got a win today.
“But that doesn’t say it was a full product. We’ve got a lot of work to do on our game.
“There were certain aspects that weren’t at the level we require. We lost control of the game at different stages.
“We’ve had control of other games and lost them, so we are going to continue to learn and get better and today is just another step on our journey.”
After four consecutive losses, Mitchell got that monkey off his back.
“We’ve been in most of our games this season, so I was really pleased with the maturity of the group to play all the way to the end with a lot of different things happening in the game and get the result,” Mitchell said.
“We are finding our best football is good enough but across four quarters if we don’t produce near-enough to the level we require we can get scored against really quickly.
“Brisbane scored over 100 points and that means we’re still a bit leaky in defense, so we’ve still got some work to do.”
Brisbane was in control early with its second-best first quarter for the season – one goal short of its opening term against North Melbourne – and despite falling behind by 20 points 15 minutes in, Hawthorn surged back into the contest with five of the next six goals.
It continued early in the second when they kicked another three, including Sam Frost’s first goal for Hawthorn and his first major since round nine 2017, which gave the Hawks a nine-point advantage.
Hawthorn dominated stoppage clearances and even though they had half the inside 50s of Brisbane’s 20 for the second term, the Hawks kicked five goals from only 10 entries to lead by a point at half-time.
Brisbane jumped 22 points clear in the third term but Hawthorn came back with three goals in time-on and five goals to four in the final term sealed the deal.
The Chad storms into the open goal!
— AFL (@AFL) May 22, 2022
Hawthorn hits the front with less than a quarter remaining.#AFLDeadly | #AFLHawksLionspic.twitter.com/ezzjAMsxqZ
WELCOME BACK “CJ”
The return of Changkuoth Jiath from a hamstring injury in round five instantly energised Hawthorn’s defense and epitomised the run and stun game coach Sam Mitchell is trying to foster in the back half.
It took no time for “CJ” to remind fans of his X-factor when he grabbed the ball in the first quarter stormed through the middle and hit Chad Wingard with a laser-guided pass to set up Hawthorn’s first goal.
MILESTONE MAJOR
It was a shoot-out in the opening term and when Dylan Shiels kicked his first goal of the game in time-on it brought up a major milestone _ Hawthorn’s 1000th goal in Tasmania since their maiden game in Launceston against the Adelaide Crows in 2001.
Cam Rayner has kicked the goal but poor Darcy Fort did this ​😂 pic.twitter.com/c2BaQKImiC
— 7AFL (@7AFL) May 22, 2022
COME BACK
The return of big Lions Joe Daniher and Daniel McStay over the next few weeks can’t come fast enough for Brisbane after their loss to Hawthorn despite Jaxon Prior kicking three goals, along with Charlie Cameron.
SCOREBOARD
Hawthorn – 5.2 10.3 13.5 18.9 (117)
Brisbane – 6.2 9.8 13.9 17.10 (112)
GOALS
Hawthorn: Lewis 4, Wingard 3, Butler 2, Moore 2, Breust, Frost, Lynch, Mitchell, Morrison, Newcombe, Shiels.
Brisbane: Prior 3, Cameron 3, McCarthy 2, Berry, Fort, Fullarton, McInerney, Neale, Payne, Rayner, Rich, Zorko.
BRESNEHAN’S BEST
Hawthorn: Mitchell, Sicily, Newcombe, Lewis, Wingard, Moore.
Brisbane: Rich, Lyons, Coleman, Zorko, Raynor, Prior.
VOTES
3 T Mitchell H
2 J Sicily H
1 D Rich Bris
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