If teams use a running game style against Hawthorn the premiers can be beaten, Mick Malthouse writes

TRY to beat Hawthorn by taking on their kick and prop game and you’re in trouble but zone in on their Achilles heel and you’re a chance, Mick Malthouse writes.

TWO decades ago Hawthorn almost merged with Melbourne. If not for an army of angry supporters and the foresight of club great Don Scott, Hawthorn would have lost its identity.

This is a club that has played in 10 finals campaigns since that failed proposition in 1996, compared to the Demons’ six finals appearances.

A club that has won more premierships than any other side since the VFL became the AFL in 1990.

What a disaster that would have been for football.

Instead, as we enter finals countdown mode, one question is being asked more than any other — can the Hawks create history by winning a fourth straight flag?

Only Collingwood has won four consecutive premierships, but that was in a different era with a different finals system.

To win a premiership today, first a club needs a united board. One that is strong enough to withstand a storm. It must have a good administration that backs the board’s requirements and supports the football department to the hilt.

Luke Hodge has led Hawthorn brilliantly as captain both on and off the field. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

And it will have a coach and team that are welded as one because they are backed to do what they do best.

Not every club that has this will win a Grand Final, but I do know that without it you can’t win one. Hawthorn has had it for some time.

The Hawks also have outstanding leaders.

I have watched Luke Hodge closely and his captaincy is second to none. He directs traffic like a policeman with his on-field communication and he leads by example with sheer hardness.

Alastair Clarkson has continued to coach smart. With a depth of talent in front of him he picks what he needs each week to win, and win he does.

More than once in the past it was suggested that he be sacked, including Jeff Kennett’s call in early 2013, but Clarkson survived for a reason. A three-peat of premierships is a fairly good comeback.

"Not every club that has this will win a Grand Final, but I do know that without it you can’t win one. Hawthorn has had it for some time."

With strategic and successful recruiting, Hawthorn created the perfect storm in 2013 after Gold Coast (2011) and Greater Western Sydney (2012) officially joined the competition.

The new clubs got the best of the young talent, which left the rest of the league to plateau. But with early draft picks between 2002 and 2006, the Hawks had already grabbed the likes of Hodge, Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis, Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin, all players ready to mature at the same time.

I’ll throw more names at you: Shaun Burgoyne, Brian Lake, Josh Gibson, James Frawley, David Hale, Ben McEvoy and Jonathon Ceglar, recruited over time to top up the Hawks talent.

Among those names are some big stage players. It’s a squad that’s had finals practice and thrived on it.

Hodge and Mitchell are the engine room. Lewis, too, and he can sneak forward for a goal. Cyril Rioli and Luke Breust provide the magic, while Jack Gunston has covered well for the loss of Roughead, and Frawley down back for Lake.

Next to the reigning premiers I don’t see another team with the same pedigree or enough consistent form to demand — “catch me if you can”.

Shaun Burgoyne is just one of Hawthorn’s successful trade acquisitions. Picture: Phil Hillyard

So Hawthorn it is. The frontrunner. The team to beat. The scariest team. The club with the history will always have other teams looking over their shoulders.

Take the Hawks on in their kick and prop game at your own peril, because they have it down to a fine art. Their kicking is spot on, perhaps the best ever.

BUT … and this is a big but ... run the ball against them and you’re back in with a chance.

The teams that have beaten or bothered Hawthorn this year are the teams that move the ball quickly. St Kilda, Western Bulldogs, Adelaide and Melbourne all run the football.

The Hawks’ worst loss of the season was to GWS by 75 points, in a quick free-flowing game. Hawthorn’s Achilles heel is that it isn’t a fleet footed side. Three of the above teams are in the finals this year.

Gibson, who has always been solid for the premiers in defence is suddenly vulnerable. When he’s the third man up he’s OK, but increasingly teams are isolating him, realising that he has dropped off the pace in his one-on-one game.

Hawthorn’s worst loss of the season came against GWS when it was smashed at Spotless Stadium. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Club veterans, so used to finals and so good in them, are also ageing footballers. Burgoyne and Mitchell are 33, Hodge and Gibson 32 and Lewis 30.

I’ve always said a player’s birth date is no issue, but in reality playing finals football each year means more games, longer seasons. Bruising encounters catch up with you. There is such a thing as weariness.

The more games it takes for Hawthorn to reach the Grand Final this season, the harder it will be for these players to back up each week.

There has been minimal change to the Hawks’ Grand Final team lists during the three-peat run, five between the first and second, just three between the last two. That’s a significantly small amount of player movement.

This year they’ve been hit harder with injury, leading to inconsistent form. In 2016 there won’t be any coasting to victory, the premiership will have to be won.

Hawthorn is sixth on percentage in the top 8 because more than a few of its wins have been close. It’s sixth for points for and against compared to the other finals contenders.

"The more games it takes for Hawthorn to reach the Grand Final this season, the harder it will be for these players to back up each week."

In contrast to Sydney and Adelaide, which have been in front on the scoreboard for 74 per cent and 73 per cent respectively during games this season, the Hawks are only better than North Melbourne at 53 per cent.

These are surprising figures for the Hawks, telling in that they haven’t dominated games.

It took Hawthorn four games to reach and win last year’s Grand Final. That’s tough for any team. If it beats a confident Collingwood on Sunday, it will finish in the top four. A loss, and it’s a chance of missing out.

It is hard to win a premiership from outside the top 4.

The unknown in this finals series is how teams like Greater Western Sydney and the Western Bulldogs will adapt to the spotlight against finals stalwarts Hawthorn, Geelong and Sydney. The Dogs already have injury concerns, for North Melbourne it’s form. The West Coast Eagles will have travel to overcome and their form away has been patchy.

When teams use their running game against Hawthorn, Josh Gibson’s one-on-one game has been exposed. Picture: George Salpigtidis

For Hawthorn it’s coping with being the favourites again, the team that has been hunted and scrutinised and emulated for more games than any other club in the past four years.

During the Rio Olympics a US scribe tweeted that the Jamaican 4x100m men’s relay team wasn’t still as good as they thought they were, to which Asafa Powell replied: We’re better! And he was right. If there’s one thing about sport it’s that it gives people hope.

Hope that their team will be the best team on the biggest stage on the biggest day.