Hawthorn's old men run out-of-form Richmond ragged at MCG

Hawthorn turned the hallowed territory of the MCG into their version of a country for old men on Thursday night.

Hawthorn’s Luke Breust dives full length to take a mark in front of Richmond’s Trent Cotchin at the MCG. Picture: Michael Klein

Hawthorn turned the hallowed territory of the MCG into their version of a country for old men on Thursday night, running rampant against reigning premiers Richmond to win by 32 points.

The Hawks were set to field the oldest side in VFL/AFL history – the average age was 27.95 – until Paul Puopolo was a late withdrawal.

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The experienced side, which played with power and purpose to dismantle the Tigers 11.5 (71) to 5.9 (39), still sat in the oldest top 20 of all time and were far too swift for Richmond.

If the Tigers found heavy dew slippery a week ago against Collingwood, they played as though mired in mud for much of the match against Hawthorn.

Similar to the resumption round, every footballer again opted to take a knee before the opening bounce following the competition-wide gesture last week in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Once the match began, there were no signs of creaking knees or aching joints from Hawthorn, who sharpened up significantly second-up after the enforced break.

The returning Jaeger O’Meara was superb in the midfield, while Ben McEvoy marked everything across half-back when appearing far more settled in the role.

As for the reigning premiers?

A win, a draw and a loss, even with the manner of Thursday night, is scarcely a crisis three rounds into the abridged season.

The loss was Richmond’s first in more than a year, with an obvious assist from the COVID-19 shutdown elongating the times between defeat. But they are clearly well below their best, looked rusty without Dustin Martin and have started their premiership defence slowly.

Clashes against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium next Saturday and the Eagles on the Gold Coast a week later shape as testing encounters as they seek to shore up their season.

Richmond’s ragged starts are clearly an issue that needs to be rectified immediately.

In the resumption match last Thursday, Collingwood held them goalless in the opening term while kicking four. Richmond were able to edge back gradually to snare a draw.

The Tigers had the first scoring shot of the night – a behind to Shai Bolton at the 1.41 minute mark – but nothing more for the term as they were torched by the Hawks.

It was the first time since 1961 that the Tigers had been held goalless in the opening term for two weeks in succession, with their deficit against Hawthorn 32 points at quarter-time.

Jack Gunston was perhaps fortunate to receive a free kick that allowed the Hawk to kick the first goal of the match, but the next three goals were down to significant skill.

Chad Wingard was able to outbody Tiger Sydney Stack and hold a juggling mark near the goal line before Luke Breust roved the pack beautifully to snap a goal from a tight angle.

This was a perfect demonstration of sharking a pack, an example of superb forward craftsmanship. As the ball spilled from Tim O’Brien’s hands, Breust judged his run to perfection and was hitting top speed a couple of metres behind the back when snaring the football.

The return of O’Meara to the line-up from injury clearly helped. When the former Rising Star winner snapped the Hawks’ fourth goal, their lead was 25 points.

The siren had sounded when ruckman Jonathon Ceglar added a cherry to the top of an outstanding term after earning a holding-the-ball free kick deep in time-on.

Shai Bolton broke the drought in the opening minutes of the second term but Isaac Smith was able to respond.

This was similar in pattern to the clash against Collingwood. But the Magpies failed to kick another goal after the seven-minute mark of the second term in a particularly scrappy match.

Spurred by a pitiful second half against the Cats, Hawthorn were in a far less forgiving mood. The statistics related to tackling at the main break were damning.

The Hawks more than doubled Richmond across the ground when laying 21 tackles for the half.

The Tigers were far from a fighting fury in attack when failing to lay a tackle in their forward 50m arc for the first two terms, though the football was scarcely there, to be fair.

In a moment that emphasised just how far from the mark the Tigers were, Lynch managed to miss a set shot from the top of the goalsquare early in the last term as his club sought to rally.