England cricket’s turnaround can be seen in the Hawthorn’s AFL finals charge
Experts have attributed Hawthorn turnaround to the culture within the dressing-room, where the largely young squad has been encouraged to embrace who they are or who they want to be while playing like a team who have nothing to lose on the field. On the surface, it sounds like the footy version of Bazball.
“So, who do you barrack for then?” It’s a question they need to prepare you for when you move to Australia. For, you hear it more often than “G’Day” and as routinely as good onya.
Almost always you’re also put on the spot with it. “I barrack for footy” doesn’t quite cut it.
I’ll be honest and admit I’ve never fully committed to barracking for one club in the AFL, apart from always siding with Port Adelaide in the Showdown. Unlike the way I have dedicated myself to Norwood Redlegs in the SANFL and Uraidla Demons in the Hills Football League, respectively.
During this topsy-turvy and magical 2024 AFL season, though, I have quietly been cheering on from the sidelines for Hawthorn. It started with having a soft corner to fully jumping on the bandwagon as we’ve got closer to September.
It was perhaps predestined. My initiation into the sport itself, courtesy of legendary broadcaster and dear friend Peter Walsh, was through the exploits of the Hawks. It was like a grandparent retelling the epics, from the run in the 1980s with Leigh Matthews as captain, the treble in the mid-2010s with Alastair Clarkson and Luke Hodge at the helm, and the most dramatic grand final of them all in 1989, when John Platten put his head and dreads on the line for his team and his passionate supporters.
Walshy even bought me a biography on Platten, The Rat, which was also the first-ever footy book in my possession. These came along with a Hawthorn scarf and a coffee mug that detailed all the flags that the team had won.
My Hawthorn education was taken to the next level by fellow commentator and friend Adam Collins, who spent many an evening on cricket tours regaling me with stories about Platten, Jason Dunstall, his hero Dermott Brereton and, of course, Sam Mitchell, captain when they won in 2008 and former Brownlow medallist.
I saw the Hawks live at the Adelaide Oval during their Gather Round loss to Collingwood in April. It was quite a comeback in the second half despite the result, especially the way they rallied around Jack Ginnivan, who was booed vociferously every time he touched the ball.
I remember messaging the Hawthorn diehards in my life about how impressive they looked and how there was something about this team, even if they were 0-4 at that stage. For, they seemed to be playing with the kind of freedom and enthusiasm that captures the imagination of a neutral fan or even one who’s in the process of falling in love with the sport.
I was told this was supposed to be another season as part of the transitional phase that the club is undergoing with Mitchell holding the reins. That a finish in the top half of the table, even if it meant not making the finals, would be a big win.
As it’s turned out, not only have the Hawks made it to September, but their matches have also been must-see television week in week out.
They’re young. They’re fun. They’re dynamic and they’re always at the opposition. And with every quarter, they seem to be enjoying themselves along with each other’s company. There’s a bit of rawness to when they celebrate and at times with the way they seem to lose their advantage by not being experienced enough to control their aggression.
I saw a post that highlighted how they’d climbed from No 17 on the ladder after Round 7 to enter the finals, only losing thrice since going down to Sydney Swans.
One those losses to Port Adelaide at the Adelaide Oval was heartbreaking even if for once I was barracking for my home team that evening. They’d looked a different gravy for 98 per cent of the contest and then for some reason dropped their guard enough for Darcy Byrne-Jones to kick the fateful late goal. They were roundly criticised for having gone into their shell in the last quarter, which they started well in front.
It seemed to be a blessing in disguise, though. Never again did they sit back, go defensive and risk squandering a lead. It was go, go, go at all times, perfectly illustrated in their past three league games winning by margins of 74, 63 and 124 points.
Experts have attributed their turnaround to the culture within the dressing-room, where the largely young squad has been encouraged to embrace who they are or who they want to be while playing like a team who have nothing to lose on the field. On the surface, it sounds like the footy version of Bazball.
The England Test team, too, were down and out in 2022 like Hawthorn have been in finishing 13th and 16th the past two seasons, after getting thrashed by Pat Cummins’ team in the 2021-22 Ashes before losing further face against the West Indies in the Caribbean soon after. It was England’s get-busy-living or get-busy-dying moment, just like it’s been with the Hawks this year, especially since May.
I have been reliably informed Mitchell was not a maverick during his playing days like Brendon McCullum was for New Zealand. But there are similarities. Like McCullum for the Black Caps, Mitchell was singularly determined in being his own man as a player and transformed into coaching almost immediately after he stopped playing.
That quick turnaround has allowed him to relate with his players a lot better, whether it’s in terms of them accepting the public spray in May or the way he’s seen cheerleading their one-way approach to charging into the opposition’s half with every opportunity.
Like with England, while we’ve seen youngsters like Will Day, Calsher Dear, Massimo D’Ambrosio, Jai Newcombe and Ginnivan stealing the show for Hawthorn, captain James Sicily and veteran Jack Gunston have reinvented themselves in lieu with the culture change much like Joe Root has with bat in hand.
“Bazball scoring but also Bazball mindset. Freedom to be your best,” is how Hawks superfan Adam put it to me recently.
It’s safe to say Hawthorn have been more fun to watch then the Bazballers on a consistent basis. Most importantly, the team and their have supporters resisted going on about it unlike what we’ve come to get used to with Bazball. England, ironically, pulled off a very non-Bazball style Test win against Sri Lanka last week in Manchester.
I don’t expect the Hawks to stray even a bit from their hell-for-leather style of footy when they meet the Western Bulldogs next Friday.
So, there you go. I will be barracking for Hawthorn in their Elimination Final. And I’ll stick with them for the rest of September if they make it through. For, they’ve made me fall in love with this great sport more than even before.
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