Ginnivan’s teammate ‘wasn’t a fan’ of his showboating in crucial win; PM a happy Hawk at Marvel Stadium

AFL great Nathan Buckley said through the week that this clash at Marvel Stadium was one where the suddenly struggling Hawks “will find out a lot about themselves”. In truth, the same could have been said about the Western Bulldogs, who limped into the bye.

The Hawks needed to find a way to resuscitate their season, having dropped their past three games, and lost skipper James Sicily to injury. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, needed to reaffirm why they are seen as a legitimate finals, if not premiership, threat.

By late Thursday night, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – complete with his Hawks’ scarf - still in the house, the result was clear: the Hawks, stung by a week of criticism, are a top-four and premiership threat. The Bulldogs, now 6-6, have much work to do if they are simply to make the finals.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was all smiles with Hawks president Andy Gowers.Credit: AFL Photos

Having laid just 74 tackles over the past fortnight, the Hawks finished this clash with 82, in an inspired 12.9 (81) to 8.11 (59) win.

“They have just been relentless in their pressure,” Cats great Tom Hawkins said during commentary on Fox Footy.

The victory improved their record to 8-5, and they once again are firmly in top-four calculations.

As Hawkins alluded to, this win was as much about attitude, as it was game plan.

The Hawks worked for each other, and thrived in stoppage work.

“Our defence has lacked a bit of effort and energy over the past few weeks,” defender Josh Battle said.

The Bulldogs began sluggishly, and never really got going outside of a burst in the third term. That the Dogs were held to only 18 inside 50s to half-time – their lowest tally to that point of the game this season – told the tale. By the end, the Hawks won this key tally 58-43.

AFL great Jimmy Bartel pointed out that the Hawks had struggled when opponents took the speed out of the game, impacting the run-and-gun style they had wanted to play. Their exit kicks had also been stymied.

That wasn’t a problem against the Bulldogs, who came with a game plan, but lacked their typical polish in their handball game.

Jarman Impey celebrates a telling Hawks goal.Credit: AFL Photos

The Dogs employed a spare man in defence, or behind the ball. That worked, to a point, but it meant they were a man short when they did win the contest and streamed forward.

Aaron Naughton had a plan to drag Battle further up the ground and out of his comfort zone, the former Saint having been the plank in defence. It worked well in the third term when the ball got out the back and Laitham Vandermeer twice pounced. However, come game’s end, with Naughton goalless and restricted to nine touches (just four to half-time), the Hawks had won this battle.

Jack Ginnivan backed up his fine effort against Collingwood with another strong performance. Dropped to the VFL earlier this season, he had two goals and 23 touches, and couldn’t help himself when he “showed the ball” to the trailing Dogs’ defenders after taking three bounces and running into an open goal in the third term.

While this victory was built on aggression, Ginnivan provided the Hollywood flash, and let James Harmes know about it.

Mabior Chol had four goals and was the focal point he hasn’t always been this season. Jai Newcombe had one of his better games this season through the midfield, while Josh Ward was also productive. Jarman Impey was another factor, while Blake Hardwick – sent back in Sicily’s absence – held Rhylee West.

The Hawks ran with aplomb, and were ignited in the first term when a Sam Butler mistimed handball found Josh Weddle in the centre circle, the robust half-back dashing through and drilling a bomb from 45 metres out. It set the tone. Weddle finished the evening arguably best afield. His intercept marks and general athleticism across the field were pivotal.

Rory Lobb dyed his hair blue for Fight MND.Credit: Getty Images

However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Bulldogs. This was yet another tight loss, despite the excellent work of Marcus Bontempelli, Ed Richards and Matthew Kennedy. Bailey Dale continued his fine season. They have the return of Sam Darcy to look forward to as early as next week.

Coach Luke Beveridge set Rory Lobb forward in the third term to provide another marking target, but the league’s No.1 scoring side couldn’t really get going. Darcy will help enormously.

Adam Treloar started to find his touch as the game unfolded, and will be relieved to have escaped his return game without injury.

Buckley said the Hawks were negotiating a “right of passage”, where they were attempting to meet high internal expectations, but these could take time. Where Brisbane, Collingwood and Geelong had dealt with these for the past decade or longer, this band of new-wave Hawks hadn’t. They are still a work in progress, but the Hawks this week met expectations.

The provocative Jack Ginnivan on Thursday night.Credit: Getty Images

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said tackling and physicality had been a priority heading into this crucial mid-season clash.

“It was a clear focus for us coming into the game, trying to create a game that would enable that,” Mitchell said.

“Part of it is player attitude, but part of it is the way we set up the game. When you work together on those things and prioritise them at the top of the list, you get that performance, which is going to give you a much better chance to beat good teams, which the Bulldogs are.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was a happy Hawk alongside Sam Mitchell.Credit: AFL Photos

The challenge now, said Mitchell, was to replicate this next week.

“We probably weren’t as efficient as we have been going inside 50, but we locked it in there more. We got more pressure in the front half, and that enabled a game we thought would help us against the Dogs,” Mitchell said.

“We probably have learnt over the last couple of weeks, that real top end, we still have work to do to get up to them, but when you look at the big picture of where we are right now, there has been a lot made of our last few weeks and being out of form, and we have lost three in a row, but when we zoom out, we are on the long-term trajectory that we want to be on.”

Luke Beveridge said the Bulldogs, now 1-6 against top-eight teams, had much to do if they were to challenge the league’s best.

“We turned the ball over too often and too blatantly and that put us on the back foot at different times,” Beveridge said.

“That’s skill, that’s game sense. Some of it is a surprise, some of it isn’t, depending on who is doing it. We just have to keep doing our best to improve it, train it, and keep focusing on what we can achieve.

“I have been talking to the players about making the leap … growth, making the leap into that top, upper echelon means individually through the lines of the team we have got to make more than little increments in improvement.

“We have to make big ones. We are doing our best to explore and discover it, but tonight we didn’t.”

Beveridge said the midfield let forward Aaron Naughton down.

“There was no supply,” the coach lamented.

Jack Ginnivan was at his provocative best at Marvel Stadium tonight with a showboating goal midway through the final term. His second major was effectively the sealer as Hawthorn surged to a 27-point lead.

But as Ginnivan took a couple of bounces and ran into an open goal, his choice to show the footy to the opposition before booting it into the stands wasn’t received well by all and sundry, including a teammate.

Ginnivan really couldn’t resist.Credit: AFL Photos

Key forward Mabior Chol wasn’t really impressed and simply said afterwards: “It’s Ginnivan. What can you do? It’s him. It’s his personality.”

Chol booted four goals for the Hawks, himself, but he was honest in his appraisal of Ginnivan’s celebration.

“Look, I wasn’t a fan of it, to be honest,” Chol told Fox Footy.

“I’m just kinda glad [about his form] … he’s had a massive two weeks. Hopefully he can carry that into next week, and have a good well-earned rest.”

Opposition coach Luke Beveridge said the Ginnivan antics could be a case of “winners are grinners”.

“Sometimes I think with the contemporaries these days, it doesn’t even go in the memory banks,” Beveridge said.

“Next time we play the Hawks they won’t even remember it, and I won’t show it. That’s what he [Ginnivan] does, that’s the way he rolls.”

AFL great Nathan Buckley said through the week that this clash at Marvel Stadium was one where the suddenly struggling Hawks “will find out a lot about themselves”. In truth, the same could have been said about the Western Bulldogs, who limped into the bye.

The Hawks needed to find a way to resuscitate their season, having dropped their past three games, and lost skipper James Sicily to injury. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, needed to reaffirm why they are seen as a legitimate finals, if not premiership, threat.

By late Thursday night, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – complete with his Hawks’ scarf - still in the house, the result was clear: the Hawks, stung by a week of criticism, are a top-four and premiership threat. The Bulldogs, now 6-6, have much work to do if they are simply to make the finals.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was all smiles with Hawks president Andy Gowers.Credit: AFL Photos

Having laid just 74 tackles over the past fortnight, the Hawks finished this clash with 82, in an inspired 12.9 (81) to 8.11 (59) win.

“They have just been relentless in their pressure,” Cats great Tom Hawkins said during commentary on Fox Footy.

The victory improved their record to 8-5, and they once again are firmly in top-four calculations.

As Hawkins alluded to, this win was as much about attitude, as it was game plan.

The Hawks worked for each other, and thrived in stoppage work.

“Our defence has lacked a bit of effort and energy over the past few weeks,” defender Josh Battle said.

The Bulldogs began sluggishly, and never really got going outside of a burst in the third term. That the Dogs were held to only 18 inside 50s to half-time – their lowest tally to that point of the game this season – told the tale. By the end, the Hawks won this key tally 58-43.

AFL great Jimmy Bartel pointed out that the Hawks had struggled when opponents took the speed out of the game, impacting the run-and-gun style they had wanted to play. Their exit kicks had also been stymied.

That wasn’t a problem against the Bulldogs, who came with a game plan, but lacked their typical polish in their handball game.

Jarman Impey celebrates a telling Hawks goal.Credit: AFL Photos

The Dogs employed a spare man in defence, or behind the ball. That worked, to a point, but it meant they were a man short when they did win the contest and streamed forward.

Aaron Naughton had a plan to drag Battle further up the ground and out of his comfort zone, the former Saint having been the plank in defence. It worked well in the third term when the ball got out the back and Laitham Vandermeer twice pounced. However, come game’s end, with Naughton goalless and restricted to nine touches (just four to half-time), the Hawks had won this battle.

Jack Ginnivan backed up his fine effort against Collingwood with another strong performance. Dropped to the VFL earlier this season, he had two goals and 23 touches, and couldn’t help himself when he “showed the ball” to the trailing Dogs’ defenders after taking three bounces and running into an open goal in the third term.

While this victory was built on aggression, Ginnivan provided the Hollywood flash, and let James Harmes know about it.

Mabior Chol had four goals and was the focal point he hasn’t always been this season. Jai Newcombe had one of his better games this season through the midfield, while Josh Ward was also productive. Jarman Impey was another factor, while Blake Hardwick – sent back in Sicily’s absence – held Rhylee West.

The Hawks ran with aplomb, and were ignited in the first term when a Sam Butler mistimed handball found Josh Weddle in the centre circle, the robust half-back dashing through and drilling a bomb from 45 metres out. It set the tone. Weddle finished the evening arguably best afield. His intercept marks and general athleticism across the field were pivotal.

Rory Lobb dyed his hair blue for Fight MND.Credit: Getty Images

However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Bulldogs. This was yet another tight loss, despite the excellent work of Marcus Bontempelli, Ed Richards and Matthew Kennedy. Bailey Dale continued his fine season. They have the return of Sam Darcy to look forward to as early as next week.

Coach Luke Beveridge set Rory Lobb forward in the third term to provide another marking target, but the league’s No.1 scoring side couldn’t really get going. Darcy will help enormously.

Adam Treloar started to find his touch as the game unfolded, and will be relieved to have escaped his return game without injury.

Buckley said the Hawks were negotiating a “right of passage”, where they were attempting to meet high internal expectations, but these could take time. Where Brisbane, Collingwood and Geelong had dealt with these for the past decade or longer, this band of new-wave Hawks hadn’t. They are still a work in progress, but the Hawks this week met expectations.

Dylan Moore has described Hawthorn’s 22-point triumph as their “most important win of the year” and said a player-led review during the week was crucial to the club turning their form around.

“We needed to come together and just talk,” said Moore, who finished with 26 possessions.

Moore said to lead the entire game against a quality outfit like the Bulldogs was “massive” – one week after they badly succumbed to Collingwood.

“It’s probably our most important win of the year,” Moore told Channel Seven. “We’ve been on the back foot for three weeks now. We’ve been challenged.

“That was a great effort. The Doggies are a really good side. To put four quarters together was massive.”

Moore confirmed that the Hawks, after three straight defeats including losses to Brisbane and Collingwood, got together for a crucial meeting.

“There’s been a lot of frustration the last few weeks where we haven’t been playing our best football,” said Moore.

“We’ve probably been saying ’we’ll be right. It will click. It will click.

“We had a good meeting and just got everything out … and vent a little bit. We played some good footy tonight.”

Asked if “flair” had returned as a focus for Hawthorn, Moore said: “The biggest focus of the game was tackles, spoils, smothers. The person who is setting up the goal … that’s just as important as the person who is getting the goal or the one who is getting the disposal.

“I thought tonight from the first bounce that’s exactly what we celebrated, and then our joy came from that.”

30 disposals – Bailey Dale
29 – Matthew Kennedy
28 – Josh Ward
27 – Jai Newcombe
26 – Dylan Moore
25 – Ed Richards
24 – Marcus Bontempelli

It’s a 22-point triumph for Hawthorn. Crucial in the context of their season.

They led all the way and each time the Doggies looked like staging a comeback, Hawthorn had an answer. Plenty of grit on show tonight for the brown and gold.

FINAL: Hawthorn 12.9 (81) def Western Bulldogs 8.11 (59)