Dominant Hawthorn show Paul Roos, Melbourne Demons no mercy in practice match
MELBOURNE’S hopes of making a quick recovery under new coach Paul Roos have been swept away by a ruthless Hawthorn.
HAWTHORN’S rampaging pre-season form continued in devastating fashion when the reigning premier slapped Melbourne with a hostile reality check which reminded Demons supporters that their revival is still long term.
The only bad aspect of the Hawks’ 110-point victory at Casey Fields was a hamstring injury to defender Ben Stratton and a possible video review of Jordan Lewis’ centre bounce bump which forced Demons tough nut Nathan Jones from the ground for several minutes in the first quarter.
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The Hawks, determined not to suffer from another so called premiership hangover which haunted their 2009 season, have shown no mercy in the pre-season to teams, starting with their 131-point mauling of the Brisbane Lions, followed by their 65-point thrashing of North Melbourne.
Melbourne, next on the hit list, showed virtually none of the competitiveness which steered them to a NAB Challenge victory over Richmond and then a commendable loss to Geelong in Alice Springs last week.
So poor was Melbourne that its first two goals - kicked in an opening two minute burst in the first quarter by Jeremy Howe - matched what it kicked for the entire game, a lousy four goals.
It was left to the usual Hawthorn suspects, Jarryd Roughead (six goals), Sam Mitchell, Lewis, and Josh Gibson, to get their team up and running against an opponent whose tally of best players was fewer than their goals.
The successful return of Grant Birchall, who has been nursed through the pre-season because of a knee injury he suffered leading up to last year’s Grand Final, was a bonus, but on the down side was the hamstring injury suffered by Stratton who returned last week from the same problem after playing half a game for the Box Hill Hawks last week.
As the game progressed into an embarrassed one-sided affair, no wonder Gibson thought it was party time when he was moved to full forward at the start of the last quarter despite his CV revealing he’s only kicked two goals in his home and away career. His first two kicks were goals and both had plenty of style about them and his teammates feared they’d be continually reminded of them of it at his 30th birthday party.
Melbourne coach Paul Roos, who went into the game without star youngster Jesse Hogan - who has been sidelined for an indefinite period with a lower back injury - was calm and cool as usual and pointed out that those at the club know where the team is at, despite the hype of the pre-season competition.
But he warned he had drawn a line in the sand and players would no longer get a game as they had in past seasons if they don’t perform to minimum standards.
“I said to the players after the game there is no magic formula, as I mentioned at quarter time, half-time and three-quarter time,” Roos said after the game.
“The club is certainly in much better shape, but you can’t go from the first rung of the ladder to the 10th rung of the ladder without having to go through steps two to ten.
“For us, we know where we are at and it’s probably more for the football public that gets carried away with the NAB Cup.”
Roos said the difference was seeing the premiers play against a side that won two games last year.
He said the performance reminded the players of the minimum standards or expectations needed to compete
Roos said at Hawthorn their young players who don’t perform the minimum standard go back into the VFL for more education, but unfortunately at Melbourne they have to play them.
“We haven’t had the luxury here as a footy club and that’s probably the line in the sand now and that’s not going to happen any longer,” he said.
Roos acknowledges the biggest challenge facing his players is being competitive for longer but he said that during the past few months he’s happy where things were heading but team improvement won’t happen overnight.
“As you know some guys just can’t do it and it will probably take the best part of 22 weeks for us to find our who can and can’t do it,” he said.
Roos is hopeful that fullback James Frawley has escaped injury after he was poleaxed mid-air by teammate Jack Grimes and Roughead
Hawthorn assistant coach Cameron Bruce, who was in charge of the senior side, said the Hawks had set themselves up well for the start of the season against the Brisbane Lions.
He said Stratton, who had some hamstring soreness and left the field in the third quarter, would be assessed by the medical staff who would monitor his progress during the week.
Bruce said the Hawks were well aware that pre-season form was not always a good guide to the home and away season.
HAWTHORN 3.5 9.8 16.13 21.16 (142)
MELBOURNE 2.2 2.3 3.5 4.8 (32)
Goals
Hawthorn: J Roughead 6, I Smith 2, J Gibson 2, W Langford 2, L Shiels, B McEvoy, P Puopolo, J Simpkin, J Gunston, L Hodge, B Hill, M Suckling, L Breust
Melbourne: J Howe 2, S Byrnes, J Spencer
Best
Hawthorn: S Mitchell, J Roughead, J Lewis, J Gibson, B Hill, L Shiels, J Simpkin
Melbourne: B Vince, D Tyson
Injuries
Hawthorn: B Stratton (hamstring)
Melbourne: J Frawley (heavy knock)
Umpires: M Nicholls, R Findlay, S Jeffery, N Foot
Reports: nil.
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