Wreck it Ralph: The 11 most encouraging signs for Hawthorn post-Alastair Clarkson
One was a game away from being delisted. The other the second-last pick in his draft. Now, this forward pair has helped launch Hawthorn’s latest rapid rebuild.
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An instant sugar rush or something so much more substantial?
The tiny sample size of Sam Mitchell’s two games in charge so far — knocking over an ordinary North Melbourne then a meaningful away defeat of Port Adelaide — makes it impossible to know.
The naysayers will point to ordinary pre-season form (Collingwood and Richmond made them look second-rate early) and list depth that could be as shallow as a puddle.
Only Jarman Impey and Max Lynch were on the injury list of the first-choice 23 on Saturday with Will Day making an impressive return through the VFL.
But why get bogged down with the naysayers and fun police.
What Sam Mitchell has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt is that despite all our reservations this is his AFL team.
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And if you dig a little deeper below the surface you will see an energised list and club staff who needed a change from Alastair Clarkson.
That does not diminish Clarkson’s achievements, legacy or appeal as a 2023 coach one iota.
But just as Kevin Sheedy’s 27 years at Essendon were full of tension and close board calls, just as Damien Hardwick admitted he coached poorly last year, a coach can simply wear out.
Not to mention wear on the players he is supposed to be inspiring.
As club director Richie Vandenberg told the Herald Sun recently: “I think when everyone sits back and reflects on it, including Clarko, he will say it was the right thing not only for the football club but also for Clarko. He will benefit enormously from having a year doing what he is doing.”
Talk to players and club staffers and it is crystal clear they were tired of the Clarkson message, ready for new ideas and fresh voices.
The Hawks list is still full of holes.
It still has an ageing midfield that might be at retirement age by the time the window is open with Luke Breust 32 in November, Jack Gunston 31 in October, Tom Mitchell 29 in May and Chad Wingard 29 in July.
They were beaten by 24 clearances on the weekend and kicked four goals from kick ins, clearly an unsustainable model.
Both Collingwood and Hawthorn are attempting to rebuild on the fly, showing that the full top-to-bottom five-year rebuild is almost dead in the AFL.
Will it work? Hard to tell when you can’t get into the Melbourne midfield if you aren’t a top-fiver (Christian Petracca pick two, Angus Brayshaw pick 3, Luke Jackson pick 3, Clayton Oliver pick 4)
But here are the 11 most encouraging signs of life for Hawthorn post-Alastair Clarkson.
1. MITCH LEWIS
The biggest upside of Hawthorn’s key position forward stocks isn’t that Mitch Lewis has kicked 8.1 and is No. 1 in the competition for contested marks this year.
It is that the Hawks have a trio of long-term prospects in Lewis, Jacob Koschitzke (27.19 last year) and the raw but exciting Emerson Jeka (23 goals in eight VFL games last year).
No. 76 draft pick Lewis is 23 and it’s not yet apparent if he’s going to be a star or a solid B grader.
But what he can do is drag the ball from they sky in a contest - then finish with unerring accuracy.
He kicked 22.9 last year.
He pulled in 30 contested marks as a 20-year-old and 25 in his fourth season.
One query - if the Hawks are prioritising youth how do they ensure Koschitzke and Jeka get a crack at it this year with Jack Gunston flying but on the wrong side of 30?
2. HAWKS PLAYING MORE UP-TEMPO PROGRESSIVE STYLE
It started in the back end of last season but a club that was 17th for forward handball in 2021 is fourth in that stat so far behind only Collingwood, Gold Coast and Richmond this year.
They are fourth for playing on from a mark, a progression from their steadier and more methodical game style in recent years.
To watch Luke Breust explode from a back half stoppage for the most aggressive of switches into Harry Morrison’s hands – ending up with a Chad Wingard goal – showed the intent.
But the warning signs are clear – the Hawks kicked 11 goals from the back half and four of those from kick-ins.
They lost clearances by seven to the Roos, 24 to Port Adelaide.
You have to love the efficiency and classy ball movement, but it’s not sustainable.
James Worpel showed signs of life against the Power (22 possessions, 13 contested) but the clearance numbers have to improve.
3. JACK SCRIMSHAW
The Hawks have only Josh Ward (pick 7) and Denver Grainger-Barras (pick 6) as players actually selected by them in the top 10 of recent drafts.
But Jack Scrimshaw is a No. 7 draft pick from Gold Coast who the Hawks acquired by dropping back nine picks from the third to fourth round of the 2019 draft.
It’s a scandalously good deal and while the Suns had no leverage it will end up as one of the Hawks’ greatest trade heists.
The Birchall clone is sixth for intercept marks and despite criticism of his rating was rated elite last year with good ball use, high intercepts and high metres gained.
He has picked up where he left off, and at only 23 has 150-200 more quality games in him at the club.
4. DYLAN MOORE
Sam Mitchell, then the head of Hawks development, told the Herald Sun in the 2021 pre-season of Moore: “He won himself the last spot on the list with his last game of the year and if you ask him he will quickly tell you he got a Brownlow vote.”
Another player ranked elite by Champion Data last year, the No. 67 draft pick just does a lot of stuff uncommonly well.
He wins high possessions but he is also high impact as he showed with 17 possessions, 2.2, nine score involvements against Port Adelaide playing higher up the ground.
He is also equal fifth for tackles for small forwards behind Dan Butler (12), Beau McCreery (11), Sam Switkowski and Ned McHenry (10).
5. THE CLEAR SELECTION DIRECTION HAS STARTED EARLY
Tom Phillips has played as the medi-sub, Daniel Howe (seventh in last year’s B & F) is playing for Box Hill and Kyle Hartigan is also in the VFL.
Liam Shiels was dropped to allow the likes of Ward to get game time this week, and while there will surely be bruised egos everyone knows the score.
There will come a time when the senior players sniff the wind like Jordan Lewis by moving clubs and it might come as early as this October because the Hawks will be sure to keep backing in the kids.
6. WILL DAY IS BACK
In the VFL in his return on Sunday he had 108 ranking points, 21 possessions, kicked at 82 per cent. Coming back from a long-running ankle issue if his body is ready surely he’s in against Carlton.
7. DENVER GRAINGER-BARRASS
The young gun has been sight unseen this season. The good news is you haven’t seen his opponent either.
The junior intercepting king has played as a lockdown defender in his first two rounds this year.
And while he didn’t have a possession to three-quarter-time, opponent Callum Coleman-Jones was goalless, then was dropped.
Against Port Adelaide Jeremy Finlayson went goalless from 38 minutes and Mitch Georgiades also failed to hit the scoreboard from 20 minutes.
The intercepting stuff will come, but he has shown he has strings to his bow.
8. JOSH WARD IS A GOER
He has a massive work rate, wins the ball at will and impressed Hawks coaches in round 1 with a huge gut-bursting run across the length of the field just to deny his opponent a disposal.
The single query from the No. 7 pick is his disposal, with Ward torching the footy against Port (15 kicks at 20 per cent accuracy). He kicked a lovely goal on the run, but in five NAB League games last year the inside mid went at only 52 per cent accuracy.
That can be a feature of inside mids but if it does become a trend time to get busy like Touk Miller, who turned his kicking into a weapon with sheer hard work.
9. INTERCEPT KEY
Every premiership contender has the intercepting defender who can flip the field.
Changkuoth Jiath was well held against Port Adelaide but he was the second-ranked AFL defender for intercept possessions last year.
The Hawks can build knowing they have the same kind of player as Nick Vlastuin, Aliir Aliir, Nick Hayes, Tom Stewart and now Paddy McCartin at Sydney.
At 22 years of age, he has a decade of footy ahead of him.
We went early last year suggesting the Hawks had the makings of a premiership back six, and nothing has changed since then with James Sicily, Jiath, Day, Grainger-Barras, Scrimshaw and Blake Hardwick.
Don’t look now but ex-Demon Sam Frost has 21 intercept possessions across the first fortnight.
10. EVEN THE LOSSES CAN HAVE SILVER LININGS
Ned Reeves looked the part at times against Port Adelaide with 34 hitouts and is only seven games into his AFL career.
Yet the Hawks lost the clearances 2-13 when he was in the centre bounce compared to Ben McEvoy, who won them 6-5 when the captain was strutting his stuff.
Yet the Hawks persevered with Reeves playing an 84-16 per cent ruck-forward split.
Ex-Pies ruckman Max Lynch could return from concussion this week.
There might even be a time when playing young rucks costs them a win this year, but it is an investment in Reeves that could eventually pay off.
11. POST-TRADE ASSESSMENT
The Hawks didn’t get the early picks they wanted when their senior players refused to be traded. It remains to be seen whether that delays their premiership window opening.
But Ward is a keeper and Connor McDonald (pick 26, taken after No. 23 pick Sam Butler) just has something that smacks of class. On Saturday it was a looping handball over a Power mid that set Harry Morrison free into space, a clever kick into open territory that set up Luke Breust’s key goal early in the last term.
An inside mid already pushed forward by Mitchell, it’s not apparent yet where his career goes. But the Hawks fans at least have a list of kids they are monitoring, including Finn Maginness, Connor Downie, Tyler Brockman and Seamus Mitchell.
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Originally published as Wreck it Ralph: The 11 most encouraging signs for Hawthorn post-Alastair Clarkson
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