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North Melbourne won, but Kangaroos coach Brad Scott was angered by a late change to Hawthorn’s team just before Sunday’s AFL game at Aurora Stadium.
The Hawks began without a specialist ruckman after they withdrew Brent Renouf because he was ill after the warm-up.
North eventually capitalised on the Hawks’ height deficiency as Hamish McIntosh and Todd Goldstein dominated the hit-outs and David Hale – the third member of the two-metres-plus class – booted three goals in North’s 12.10 (82) to 10.10 (70) win.
It was North’s second win for the season but Scott said he only learned of Renouf’s absence “about 30 seconds before the first bounce”.
Asked how that news went down, he replied: “Not well.”
“He was doing ruck work in the warm-up in the centre of the ground and he’s been withdrawn because he was vomiting,” Scott said.
“So he either got a really late bout of food poisoning or he was already sick and they knew about it. So it was pretty disappointing.”
Scott said he did not suspect Hawthorn of anything dodgy, but said Renouf’s absence meant the Kangaroos had to change their match-ups.
So too did Hawthorn, as forward Jarryd Roughead played in the middle of the ground for most of the game, while Luke Hodge battled superbly, taking a lot of Hawthorn’s ruck contests around the ground on top of his midfield duties.
“When Luke Hodge essentially plays in the ruck it changes things pretty significantly,” Scott said.
“He’s a dangerous player at the best of times. But when that situation changes and he’s playing on a really big guy and probably someone who’s nowhere near as mobile, it forces you to change things up.
“I thought our rucks did pretty well and certainly at half-time we were rapt with the way they were going, we were dominating clearances and dominating contested possession.
“We thought we were really on top there and we’d be able to wear them down. But to Hodge’s and Hawthorn’s credit they kept coming at us.”
North led for three quarters, but lost their advantage when Cyril Rioli, Jarrod Kayler-Thomson (Renouf’s replacement) and Lance Franklin kicked goals at the start of the last quarter.
But the Kangaroos regained their composure and the lead through best-afield Brady Rawlings, before Aaron Edwards kicked the sealer.
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said Renouf had been troubled by a virus on Saturday night, but had recovered by lunchtime Sunday, but worsened before the game.
The Hawks already had ruckmen Simon Taylor, Max Bailey and Wayde Skipper sidelined by injuries and Clarkson said they had no other option than to use Roughead and Hodge in different roles.
Clarkson said the loss of Renouf was “pretty significant”, but that the Hawks still had their chances to win.
Hawthorn have been hit hard by injuries – and Franklin’s suspension in round four – but the losing run now stands at four and Clarkson admitted the 2008 premiers needed to lift.
“We’re not playing our best footy and the reasons for that are numerous,” he said.
“We’ll sit down over the course of the week and try to get ourselves up and ready for the Bombers.
“But there’s no point dwelling on it too much, we’ve just got to move on in this game. We’ve been stiff with injuries but that happens in footy, it’s a brutal game.”
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