Hawthorn v Gold Coast: Hawks send retiring stars off in style against lowly Suns

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says the club will “take a deep breath” before looking to next season – and instead soak in the final games from flag heroes Ben Stratton and Paul Puopolo.

Defender Ben Stratton celebrates kicking a rare goal in his final game for Hawthorn. Picture: Sarah Reed

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says he and the club will start to plot a course back up the ladder in a couple of weeks, but he and the Hawks need “to take a deep breath” before doing so.

The Hawks ended a poor 2020 campaign with a dominant performance over the Gold Coast Suns at Adelaide Oval, with their 51-point win snapping a seven-match losing streak.

In a game that fittingly sent off three-time premiership players Ben Stratton and Paul Puopolo, Clarkson said the Hawks showed glimpses that would hopefully excite fans for the 2021 season.

“I think for our fans back home and the ones that came to the game, there was a nice balance of being able to send off some veterans of our footy club and some really decorated players in Poppy and Stratts,” he said.

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Ben Stratton and Paul Puopolo are chaired off after their final games for Hawthorn. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

“And the emergence of our younger guys, it gives us something to build on and look forward to over the summer.

“We know that we’ve got a hell of a lot of hard work (ahead), we are in the position we are in for a reason and we need to roll our sleeves up.

“But there was enough in the game today to suggest that if we continue to do that hard work we will get ourselves back up the ladder again.”

Hawthorn players and staff will be scattered all across the country when they depart the club’s current Barossa Valley hub in the coming days.

Those who have to will return to Victoria, a large group of players will stay in South Australia, while others will head to Western Australia, NSW and Queensland.

Alastair Clarkson says there’s plenty of work ahead for the Hawks, but the signs are positive. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

Clarkson said the Hawks will shortly start to plan their climb up the ladder, but the delay on what list sizes will be in 2021 needed to be ended.

“We will start that process pretty soon, but we need to take a deep breath and get ourselves back to Victoria and for our players get them back to their families and friends and have a rest and get themselves ready to come back for a new campaign,” he said.

“We can’t determine what change will happen until we know what the situation is with list sizes.

“In the meantime we need to give our players, staff and coaches the opportunity to have a break, they’ve been on the road for about 10 weeks or so and they need to get back to their families, we’ll take a breath and then roll up the sleeves and do the hard work in a couple of weeks time.”

Coaching on the bench against the Suns, Clarkson said Puopolo’s three goals and Stratton’s second of his career – his first was in Round 19, 2010 – after being thrown forward in the fourth quarter were fitting ways for the duo to retire.

“Stratts’ first and second goals were 11 years apart so that was pretty special,” he said.

“Special for his teammates, special for him, special for his partner Laura who was watching in the stands today, so it was a fitting farewell for those guys in the end.

“Stratts got his goal in the end and Poppy got his earlier in the day.”

SUNS LOOK AHEAD TO NEXT SEASON

Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew says the Suns are determined to be in the mix to play finals in 2021, despite another late-season fade-out by his young side.

But before that the Suns will have to navigate how impending list cuts will impact the competition, with Dew saying some players will be told they no longer have a place at Gold Coast in the coming days.

After some shrewd additions in the forms of Hugh Greenwood and Brandon Ellis, the Suns made a 3-1 start to the season but despite all the promising steps have ended with five wins and a draw in 2020.

The winless runs to end seasons in previous years could be put down to injuries and fatigue and while the age profile of the Suns is still young, after a heavy loss to Hawthorn at Adelaide Oval Dew said that wasn’t a factor this time.

“We aren’t going to hang that one out because we haven’t all year, so we aren’t going to start now,” he said.

“We just got beaten by a side that showed us how to start a game of football and we were playing catch-up.”

Rather, it was the progression of some of the youngsters – such as Noah Anderson who could barely walk a couple of days before the match, but finished with 25 disposals after passing a late fitness test – that has Dew looking optimistic about what 2021 could bring if the Suns address a few areas.

“Finals are always the goal for every team, but we will set really high standards and we want to make sure that we are in the mix,” he said.

“We will look at where the gains are and where the gaps are and work really hard on them over summer.

“I think defensively at different times we’ve let two goals (turn) into three, we’ve been able to peg that back but our execution, we get a lot of inside 50s but aren’t able to convert.

“So, two parts there: our finishing, but also our decisions going forward ... will continue to work on that synergy.”

HAWKS SHOW PROMISING SIGNS

It was not the win in September Hawthorn has become accustomed to.

But the Hawks have signed off a dismal 2020 season and farewelled two of their modern-day greats in style, as Alastair Clarkson’s men snapped a seven-game losing streak with a dominating 51-point win over Gold Coast.

In a display that fans would like to have seen more throughout the season, Hawthorn blew the Suns away with its best first quarter of the year.

There is still plenty to be done if Hawthorn is to return to flag contention once again, but the Hawks showed when they do turn it on, they can do some damage.

Stratton kicked a rare goal in his final game, and his teammates loved it. Picture: Sarah Reed

FITTING FAREWELLS

There was only a spot up the ladder for either side at stake, but try telling retiring Hawks veterans Ben Stratton and Paul Puopolo that the match at Adelaide Oval was a dead-rubber.

Showing why Hawks fans love him so much, Stratton celebrated after winning his final coin toss.

Then it was Puopolo’s time to shine.

Just before the three-minute mark the Adelaide-born 32-year-old judged the bounce of the ball perfectly in the right pocket and dribbled-kicked the footy in between the big sticks for a late addition to his highlight reel.

He finished with two more as the mature-age recruit from Hope Valley went out in style and Stratton joined him as he made the most of being sent up forward to kick just the second goal of his career.

JACK’S STILL A GUN

Clarkson declared speculation around whether Jack Gunston could attract good trade value in the Hawks rebuild as “silly season rubbish”.

And the three-time premiership forward showed why Clarkson won’t give any oxygen to the speculation.

With two goals already on the board going into the third quarter, Gunston was first rewarded for a second-effort that resulted in a soccer goal quickly on in the third and then soon after kicked an absolute beauty.

Sam Collins could only knock down an entry from Sam Frost and turning on a sixpence Gunston in one motion crumbed the ball and kicked his fourth goal of the day.

He’ll turn 29 next month but Gunston can still put teams to the sword.

Jack Gunston booted four goals for the Hawks against the Suns. Picture: Mark Brake/Getty Images

SUNS FADE AGAIN

Another year another fade-out to end the season by the Suns but 2020’s edition will be of more concern to Stuart Dew.

The Suns were sluggish from the outset in their third really bad performance from their last five matches.

Last year they lost 18 in a row, and in 2018 their last five, but injuries and fatigue definitely played a factor.

This year that isn’t a factor for a side that looked to have made so much process early on in the season.

Maybe that was enough for some Suns players, maybe some of the youngsters need to mature some more.

Regardless it puts a dampener on what has been a promising season for Gold Coast.

SCOREBOARD

HAWTHORN: 7.1 9.3 13.6 17.6 (108)

GOLD COAST: 1.1 3.5 5.5 8.9 (57)

GOALS

Hawks: Gunston 4, Puopolo 3, Bruest, O’Brien, Lewis 2, Burgoyne, Stratton, Shiels, Moore

Suns: Sexton 3, Rankine, Day, Greenwood, King, Farrar

SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON’S BEST

Hawks: Gunston, Mitchell, Shiels, Moore, Bruest Cousins, Puopolo, Greaves

Suns: Swallow, Weller, Anderson, Greenwood, Sexton

SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON’S VOTES

3 - Jack Gunston (Hawthorn)

2 - Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn)

1 - Liam Shiels (Hawthorn)

INJURIES

Hawks: Ceglar (knee)

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Originally published as Hawthorn v Gold Coast: Hawks send retiring stars off in style against lowly Suns