Hawthorn’s defeat to Adelaide Crows confirms the end of their dominance

THE Hawthorn we have come to know is gone, the dominance is over; replaced by a rebooted outfit with tired stars and a vulnerable underbelly. The evidence is undeniable, writes Sam Edmund.

AFL Round 2. Hawthorn vs. Adelaide Crows at the MCG. Skipper Jarryd Roughead leads a disappointed Hawthorn team of the MCG. Pic: Michael Klein

WHEN the end comes in this game, it comes swiftly.

The Hawthorn we have come to know is gone, replaced by a rebooted outfit with tired stars and an increasingly vulnerable underbelly.

But don’t expect any sympathy cards to arrive on the Waverley doorstep this week.

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For while pundits have talked all over each other to pronounce the end of the Hawks’ incredible reign of dominance, now there can be no doubt.

Six months ago, after the Western Bulldogs killed Hawthorn’s quest for a fourth straight premiership, Alastair Clarkson said: “I know what the papers are going to say tomorrow. They’ll say it’s the end of an era and they’re too old and too slow.”

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AFL Round 2. Hawthorn vs. Adelaide Crows at the MCG. Luke Hodge trudges off the MCG after losing to Adelaide. Pic: Michael Klein

They did and they kept saying it and now the evidence is undeniable.

Just like that, the Hawks are 0-2, bludgeoned after quarter-time on their own deck by a wasteful Adelaide side which lost Josh Jenkins to game-ending rib damage in the first quarter.

Hawthorn had its own injury issues, with Isaac Smith and Liam Shiels barely sighted in the second half.

But where Mitch McGovern’s sticky hands and Andy Otten’s growing influence covered the loss of Jenkins, Hawthorn floundered like we’ve rarely seen.

Hawthorn’s first quarter came with a message – a 6.2 to 2.2 mauling that wound back the clock.

Luke Breust kicked three first quarter goals, Cyril Rioli was electric, Luke Hodge was in everything and Josh Gibson was intercept marking like it was 2015.

Penny for your thoughts Alastair Clarkson?

Then it came crashing down. Adelaide’s steady, methodical challenge had a sense of inevitability about it.

The Crows kicked 14 goals to seven after quarter time. Only four points up at three-quarter time, Don Pyke’s men rammed on the first four goals of the last term to shut the door.

For the third consecutive game dating back to the semi-final loss to the Dogs, the Hawks were overwhelmed the longer the game went on.

And for the third time in the last four games, they conceded triple figures, this time a 16.17 (113) that could easily have been more.

Contested marks were a joke. Games at the top level are rarely decided in the air, but such was Adelaide’s dominance under the high ball it had to be a factor.

Dejected looking Hawks players leave the MCG after defeat. Pic: Michael Klein

The Crows took 22 contested marks to six and 9-1 inside 50m.

They’re a strange mix at the moment, the Hawks, because the positives are overwhelmingly positive and the negatives are through the floor.

Tom Mitchell had it 38 times, Jaeger O’Meara 37 and the duo the Hawks fought so hard to acquire combined for 36 contested possessions and a dozen clearances.

Ryan Burton, playing his fifth game, showed why the club bestowed him with Sam Mitchell’s No. 5 and Will Langford, while limited, has re-found his form.

Then there’s Ben McEvoy who was slaughtered by Sam Jacobs (six contested marks, 43 hitouts), Ty Vickery, who found new ways to waste opportunities and Jarryd Roughead, who had another quiet one.

Kade Stewart and debutant Teia Miles had moments they would rather forget. They’re inexperienced, but like Daniel Howe, Jonatan O’Rourke, Tim O’Brien and James Sicily, the jury remains out.

The verdict is on Hawthorn’s ability to stay at the pointy end, however, and it’s not pretty.

VOTES

3 Rory Sloane (Adel)

2 Tom Mitchell (Haw)

1 Sam Jacobs (Adel)

BEST

Hawthorn: Mitchell, O’Meara, Burton, Gunston, Breust, Puopolo

Adelaide: Sloane, Jacobs, Lynch, Otten, McGovern, Betts, Walker