Hawthorn defeats Adelaide in three-point thriller in Tasmania

Adelaide had an astonishing 14 goals without a miss at halftime of its clash with Hawthorn. Yet when the game was up for grabs, only one side was clutch.

Mitch Lewis celebrates a key goal for the Hawks. Picture: Getty Images

Hawthorn has survived a scintillating debut from Riley Thilthorpe to edge Adelaide in an AFL thriller on its return to its UTAS Stadium fortress.

Playing their first match in Launceston in 638 days, the Hawks recovered from a 32-point deficit in the third quarter and a halftime AFL-VFL record from the Crows to cling onto a 15.12 (102) to 16.3 (99) victory.

The Crows’ highest ever draft pick, Thilthorpe booted five goals – his first three during a five minute burst in the second quarter – to show exactly why there is so much excitement around the 200cm key position prospect.

But Hawthorn fifth gamer Jacob Koschitzke answered with five goals of his own as the hosts booted the last five majors of the match to overrun the Crows.

Hawthorn regained the lead when O’Meara missed a running shot midway through the final term, one of several chances the Hawks frittered away during a dominating stretch.

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Jarman Impey is tackled by Shane McAdam. Picture: Getty Images

The Crows then were left ruing several missed opportunities themselves, with Shane McAdam and Ben Keays both spraying late set shots which would have given their side the lead.

Adelaide had an astonishing 14.0 at the main break, an AFL-VFL record for the most goals without a miss in the first half, set up by a second term avalanche where they piled on 10 straight.

But just when the visitors threatened to blow the contest apart in the third stanza the Hawks found another gear to drag themselves back off the canvas.

Alastair Clarkson led his Hawks to another improbable win. Picture: Getty Images

Jaeger O’Meara and Tom Mitchell had just five possessions between them in the first quarter before finishing with 31 and 25 respectively, while Changkuoth Jiath again impressed off half back with 26 touches.

Keays was a standout for Adelaide with 31 disposals and 11 tackles, with Rory Laird (32) and Paul Seedsman (27) also prolific.

FIRST GOAL JOYS

Amid the avalanche of goals in the second quarter, Hawk Jack Scrimshaw landed the first major of his career in his 32nd match. The running defender latched on to a slick Tom Mitchell hand pass on the 50m arc, before slotting through a classy kick on the run before being swamped by his teammates.

Shane McAdam attempts a serious hanger against the Hawks. Picture: Getty Images

DRIVING FORCE

Adelaide wingman Paul Seedsman has started 2021 in arguably career best form and continued his blistering touch in Launceston. Armed with a booming right foot Seedsman, who averaged 554m gained through the first five rounds, had more than 700m by halftime and finished with an incredible 996m gained.

FULL FLIGHT

Changkuoth Jiath has well and truly established himself as a crowd favourite this season and Tasmanian fans got their first taste of the excitement machine’s run and creativity. In the third term “CJ” took off through the middle of the ground, received a give and go and then hit a leading Mitch Lewis lace out inside the forward 50m.

HAWKS 5.2 9.5 13.6 15.12 (102)

CROWS 4.0 14.0 16.1 16.3 (99)

SMITH’S BEST Hawks: Koschitzke, O’Meara, Mitchell, Phillips, Jiath, Bruest Crows: Keays, Thilthorpe, Laird, Seedsman, O’Brien, Walker

GOALS Hawks: Koschitzke 5, Bruest 3, Lewis 2, O’Brien, Phillips, Scrimshaw, O’Meara, Impey, Crows: Thilthorpe 5, Walker 3, Himmelberg 2, McAdam 2, Schoenberg, Keays, Seedsman, McHenry,

INJURIES Hawks: Burgoyne (ankle). Crows: Hamill (ankle)

UMPIRES Fleer, Howorth, Haussen.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

ADAM SMITH’S VOTES

3 Jacob Koschitzke (Haw)

2 Jaeger O’Meara (Haw)

1 Ben Keays (Ade)

CLARKO: O’BRIEN MOVE HELPED SHIFT MOMENTUM

Arresting momentum from the opposition continues to haunt Hawthorn but coach Alastair Clarkson is hopeful snapping a four match losing skid could be the perfect jolt for his young side.

The Hawks, who led by as many as 19 points early in the first quarter at UTAS Stadium, found themselves trailing by 32 midway through the third after Adelaide had piled on 10 goals without a miss in the second stanza on route to an AFL-VFL record of 14.0 at halftime.

But unlike last week where the floodgates opened in the last quarter against a rampaging Melbourne, there was enough time left in the match against the Crows for the home side to claw its way back.

“Sometimes as players you can allow the scoreboard to play havoc with your mind and the demons set it that it’s too hard to return,” Clarkson said.

Adelaide’s tall timber gave Hawthorn plenty of issues in the opening three terms.

“But you just chip away and just try to try to pinch a couple of goals back at the one time.

“That was what was disappointing with the game last week against Melbourne, once they got that run on, there was no time for us to get back into the game, so the game just slipped.

“But today they got their run on in the second quarter. We need to work out ways to arrest these momentum run ons teams are getting.

“It has happened in nearly every game that we’ve played, so that’s a concern for us but that’s common with inexperienced sides and guys finding their way.”

Clarkson conceded he was thrown out by Adelaide’s decision to go with three key forwards, with debutant Riley Thilthorpe justifying the hype around being Adelaide’s highest ever draft pick at No. 2 last year with five goals.

Coleman leader Taylor Walker and Elliott Himmelberg chimed in with five between them in the first half onslaught, but the move of Tim O’Brien to defence after the main break stemmed the bleeding.

Tim O’Brien being deployed in defence was a crucial move for the Hawks.

“Really pleased with our other three quarters but we just gave up too much scoreboard ascendancy in the first half,” Clarkson said.

“Part of that was just to do with the selection of their side, they went with three talls, which they hadn’t played all year. They went taller than we expected them to and that caused us a lot of grief.

“They scored so accurately because their inside 50s were going so deep to those tall targets and they were marking them and we could do very little to stop them, and if we did stop them marking there was ground level threat.

“We moved Tim O’Brien back early in the third quarter and that just stemmed the flow a little bit, our balance behind the ball was just a little bit better.

“That gave us an opportunity to get ourselves back into the game.”

Originally published as Hawthorn defeats Adelaide in three-point thriller in Tasmania