By Scott Spits
The pressure of finals football holds no fear for Hawthorn.
Trailing Richmond in the last term of last week’s final home-and-away round, the Hawks needed to avoid defeat to lock in a $1 million bounty for the club for winning the McClelland Trophy, which rewards the best-performing team across the men’s and women’s competitions.
The thrill of the win: Hawthorn’s triumph over Richmond was met with sheer joy.Credit: AFL Photos
The Hawks booted the last four goals of the match to notch a 23-point win to lock in the prize – $250,000 of which goes to the AFLW playing group – and a top-two spot on the ladder.
“When you go to finals football it’s all about handling pressure and expectation,” said coach Daniel Webster ahead of Sunday’s qualifying final against reigning premiers, the Brisbane Lions.
“And when you’re playing for a million dollars, that is pressure ... We didn’t focus on it or talk about it too much – because it’s something out of your control – but it’s still there.
“Hopefully it holds us in good stead because it did create a lot of [pressure].”
Hawthorn’s rise to premiership contender in their third AFLW season has been a striking feature of 2024, after they won three games in each of their first two seasons in the expanded league. How have they done it?
The engine room
The Hawthorn midfield includes one of the brightest talents in the league in Jasmine Fleming, captain and league best and fairest winner Emily Bates, the club’s highest possession-winner Eliza West and inaugural skipper Tilly Lucas-Rodd, but Webster points to the “quality foundations” of the club’s list.
Their successful implementation of an attacking mindset, a proud trademark for the club, is shown by the stats.
According to Champion Data figures, the Hawks rank highly on a range of important attacking measures – they’re No.1 for kicking efficiency (57.1 per cent), points from clearances and points from centre bounces. Furthermore, they’re second in the league for clearances (31.4 per game) and they don’t waste chances when going forward (scoring a goal 20.9 per cent of the time for every forward 50 entry).
Daniel Webster (right), alongside some of his players.Credit: AFL Photos
Defensively, they’re getting the job done, too. The Hawks rank fourth for points conceded while they’re second overall for conceding points from clearances.
Tellingly, Hawthorn’s hard running is paying off as they’re second-placed for notching uncontested marks (42.7 per game), while they’ve given up the fewest uncontested marks (27.7). That differential gives them No.1 status in the AFLW.
Daniel Webster.Credit: AFL Photos
The new coach
Webster replaced Bec Goddard, the Hawks’ inaugural W coach, in February. He came from the Lions, where he was midfield coach for two years, working alongside Craig Starcevich as the club won last year’s premiership.
“The players have definitely bought into how I want to play. I want to be proactive and attacking when we can, [and] have good balance with all other facets of the game,” Webster says.
“I just want to be aggressive. I think the best teams do that. Brisbane is a good example. I think one of the reasons I worked so well with ‘Starc’ is that we see the game very similarly in style, in terms of how it should be played.
“We both want to play the game in an aggressive manner, and that’s why I’m excited for the contest this week. We get to test ourselves – we get to test our system against a really good team that plays in a similar vein.”
Lucas-Rodd pinpoints the three-goal win over Geelong in week five, the second game of the winning streak, when the penny dropped for the Hawks that season 2024 could offer plenty more.
“After the Geelong game, personally I was like ‘we’d played a good brand. It showed what we were capable of’,” Lucas-Rodd said. “It was really high-scoring. They were a really high-quality opposition. Personally, I thought ‘we’ve really got what it takes to play finals’.”
Hokball vibes
Then, there are the intangibles. Lucas-Rodd confirmed that the Hawks had tapped into some of the Hokball energy that helped drive Hawthorn’s men’s team’s charge up the ladder team to a semi-final.
“We actually have spoken about Hokball,” they said. “It’s kind of this phrase thrown around.
“I think, for us, we take it as really fast, flowing footy, a bit of fearlessness, bring your strengths and bring your flair as individual players and don’t shy away from challenging the opposition and taking the game on, and putting speed on the ball.
“I guess that’s the best definition we can go with.”
Regardless of labels, Webster is backing a high-tempo style and attitude as important trademarks for the playing group.
“We don’t know, necessarily, what it [Hokball] is. No one’s tried to label it,” he said. “I think, for me, it’s about energy. It’s about having fun and playing the game in the right manner – a positive manner and taking the game on – and being aggressive.
Tilly Lucas-Rodd takes time for a selfie.Credit: Getty Images
“So, it kind of fits in with the way we want to play anyway.”
The backlash
The AFLW Hawks copped some heat for their part in securing “champion club” with the McClelland Trophy, which goes to the best-performed club across the AFL and AFLW home-and-away seasons.
Four points are awarded towards the tally for AFL wins and two points for AFL draws, while eight points are granted for AFLW wins and four for AFLW draws; the weighting reflects the length of the seasons.
Hawthorn finished on a combined 136 points, with 80 points in the AFLW and 56 in the AFL. The Lions were close behind on 130 points, with 72 points in the AFLW and 58 in the AFL.
“You definitely look at socials, and you can’t ignore the comments that you get – there’s definitely been some people commenting about Brisbane and how they thought they were deserving winners,” Lucas-Rodd said.
The Hawks, however, are simply focused on turning their strong home-and-away form into finals success.
“We’re confident in our brand. We know if we play our best footy, it’s good enough to match it with anyone,” Lucas-Rodd said. “We’ve done it eight weeks in a row, but we haven’t achieved anything yet because finals is crunch time, and it starts now.”
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