‘We’re past that’: How Sam Mitchell’s spray reveals Hawthorn’s dire straits
Sam Mitchell demanded his Hawks lift after a dark day against the Suns last weekend. Against an even better Swans outfit, JOSH BARNES writes he was left punching his desk in the coach’s box.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The punch on the desk and the spray said it all from Sam Mitchell.
The once-cool Hawthorn coach is in danger of turning green like the Incredible Hulk as he seems to get angrier and angrier by the week.
A deflating first quarter set him off this week, with Jack Scrimshaw’s foolishly brave kick into the middle that resulted in a Tom Papley goal right on the siren of the first break.
Mitchell slammed his fist on the desk in the coaches box and made a beeline for Scrimshaw to tell him what he thought.
“We’re past that. We conceded three goals really quickly and we are going for big risky kicks when the instruction was the opposite,” he told Fox Footy at quarter-time.
The problem is, these Hawks are clearly not “past that” kind of play – the Papley goal was the middle of a run of seven consecutive majors to the visitors that ended the Sunday contest early.
James Worpel came out in that first term all smothers and grunt but however rugged the Hawks tried to be, they couldn’t back up any muscle with skill.
And then the muscle was taken too far when Mabior Chol gave away a free kick in the forward line just as Blake Hardwick nailed a set shot.
The goal denied, the Swans nonchalantly swept the ball to the other end and Joel Amartey goaled, taking what should have been a seven-point margin out to 19.
It was as close as Hawthorn got for the rest of the day.
Chol backed that brain fade up with a holding the ball in his next contest before shortly thereafter being beaten by Tom McCartin for the second time in the quarter and failing to bring the ball to ground.
There is a reason why the athletic Chol has been discarded from two clubs before arriving at Hawthorn.
The recruit later drew a Bronx cheer for taking a mark in the third term.
Hawthorn came out with endeavour in the first term and drew level on contested possessions and led clearances by two at quarter-time.
But the Swans smashed them on the outside with 27 more uncontested possessions and 18 more marks to lead by 25 points.
Few at the MCG on Sunday really expected a Hawthorn upset win when they came through the gates and Sydney had a point to prove having won just once from seven visits to the home of football.
If Lance Franklin quipped pre-game that his kids were in brown and gold and not red and white, they might have been lining up for Swans merch at quarter-time.
After Geelong and GWS franked their premiership possibilities with big wins over more credentialed opponents this weekend, Sydney put itself on the podium of contenders based on what we have seen in nearly a third of this campaign.
The 6-1 Swans may trail the Cats on the ladder but no team has a better percentage.
A monstrous Sydney Derby looms on Saturday afternoon.
Very few teams are as good on the outside as John Longmire’s men and their depth is only growing, with Luke Parker running around in the twos on Sunday morning and Callum Mills providing coaching expertise from the bench.
There was certainly nobody in Hawthorn colours with the class of Errol Gulden or Chad Warner, or the all-round brilliance of Isaac Heeney.
With Franklin watching in the stands, the Swans forward line looked good, as Logan McDonald, Hayden McLean and Amartey each were just too big for an undersized Hawks defence.
The 76-point margin was brutal but you could argue it was unders.
The Hawks ended up winning contested ball by 19 but having been smashed by 67 in disposals, they still somehow laid 22 less tackles.
This season so far has been defined more about the teams at the bottom of the ladder than the top and the Hawks are showing few signs of getting out of those doldrums.
They have won four of their last 17 matches and only two of those 13 losses have been by less than four goals.
Mitchell’s coaching record now sits at 16 wins and 36 losses and this was the third-worst losing margin he has overseen.
The coach and the club are still confident they are going up but right now the elevator is broken.
Originally published as ‘We’re past that’: How Sam Mitchell’s spray reveals Hawthorn’s dire straits
‘Overdone’: Shock Welcome to Country take
The former Geelong forward and proud Aboriginal man has very strong feelings about “overdone” Welcome to Country ceremonies.
Former umpire stuck in two-year legal limbo
Michael Pell’s lawyer says the former umpire has no interest in officiating as his legal limbo approaches two years since he was arrested over a Brownlow Medal insider scandal.