AFL 2020: Hawthorn ‘spanked’ as Fremantle end six-year losing streak

Alastair Clarkson’s Hawks have narrowly avoided an unwanted record as the club’s tough season has continued in Monday’s loss to Fremantle.

Not a good night for the Hawks, who dropped behind Fremantle on the ladder.

Fremantle has claimed back-to-back wins for the second time this season with a 7.6 (48) to 4.8 (32) win over Hawthorn.

In front of 18,512 fans, the Dockers led from beginning to end and snapped a six year hoodoo against the Hawks. Fremantle‘s last win against Hawthorn was round 21 of 2014.

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Fremantle got off to the perfect start, leading at the end of the first quarter in a clash between the teams for the first time since 2010 and never gave up the lead.

After starting the season with four straight losses, Fremantle have found some form with back-to-back wins, having upset Collingwood last week.

The Dockers are pumped.

But in another slow, low-scoring contest, Fremantle got plenty of praise for their performance.

“I thought it was fantastic from Fremantle,” six-time All-Australian Brad Johnson said on Fox Footy. “Their pressure was through the roof again, that‘s a couple of weeks in a row now, and we spoke about it in the pre-game, have they got the ability to keep backing that level up with the young team they’ve got.

“But it‘s the young players driving this team at the moment. Fyfe goes forward, Walters comes back, Fyfe and Walters in the forward line will be quite dynamic, and the new look for Fremantle, we’re talking about other players other than their top three in Fyfe, Mundy and Walters.”

Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton said the Dockers were “very, very dangerous inside the forward 50”.

“I can‘t think of the last time I saw the disparity in disposals, Fremantle plus-99,” he added. “They were playing keepings off for a lot of the time and I think that really played a part.”

It ended up being a difference of 94 disposals in favour of the Dockers at 380-284.

Stark difference in defending the ground as a team. Hawks haven’t closed the space when the Dockers are in transition.
There has been a lack of anticipation of the next option, failure to push up and squeeze.

Good youngsters with a lot of upside for Freo. 👍#AFLFreoHawks

— Jude Bolton (@Jude_Bolton) August 10, 2020

Freo pressure really impressive tonight. Deserve the wins they're getting lately, been competitive every week. #AFLFreoHawks

— Rohan Connolly (@rohan_connolly) August 10, 2020

In a sign of how far the Hawks have fallen, under Alastair Clarkson, the side‘s 2.6 (18) score was the second lowest three-quarter time in his tenure.

Having snapped a four-game losing streak in a 31-point win over Carlton, the Hawks left it late to dodge their lowest score under Clarkson via Luke Breust‘s goal with three minutes remaining, passing the 27 points scored against Collingwood in round 6.

Following a 14-goal performance against Carlton, it saw the Hawks plummet back to earth in brutal fashion.

It’s been a tough season for Hawthorn, with The Herald Sun’s Jon Ralph tweeting “Hawks have kicked 53 points or less in six of ten games. Only kicked 11 goals more than twice. Smacked in the midfield tonight but not an attractive team to watch this season apart from wins over Blues/Lions.”

It’s been a tough old year for Alastair Clarkson and his Hawks.

Clarkson said the Hawks got “spanked in the middle of the ground”.

“To Fremantle‘s credit, they were very, very good,” he said. “It didn’t translate into kicking a big score for them. It was a pretty dull affair in terms of inside 50s and scoring for both sides but their control of the ball meant we did a lot of chasing of the Fremantle side.”

Senior writer at AFL Record and SEN.com.au Ashley Browne was particularly critical of the Hawks earlier in the game tweeting “Hawthorn kicking inside 50 is criminally bad” with just 33 for the game.

Fremantle Andrew Brayshaw had a game-high 33 disposals, with nine of the top 10 ball-winners coming from the Dockers. Tom Mitchell was the only Hawks player in the top 10 with 32 disposals.

The Dockers are next in action on Saturday against Carlton, while Hawthorn face West Coast on Sunday.