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How Hawthorn built a Premiership-winning side

29th September, 2013
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29th September, 2013
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When Alastair Clarkson took over as Hawthorn coach at the end of 2004, it was all about building a team to have sustained success in September.

Fast forward nine years and that has been achieved with two Premierships in six finals series appearances.

In 2005 and 2006, it was all about rebuilding the list and introducing the game plan and style he wanted the players to adopt and as is often the case with most clubs in that situation, there were plenty of examples of short-term pain for long-term gain.

They were well beaten in several matches in those two seasons, although they finished 2006 in pretty good shape as they had got plenty of games into their three top-ten picks of 2004.

Jarryd Roughead, Lance Franklin and Jordan Lewis and Luke Hodge and Campbell Brown were permanent fixtures and in Hodge’s case a bona fide star.

They made the finals in 2007 and won a final and in 2008, and they were dominant in the home and away season with Geelong, losing just four games as the competition’s best current rivalry hit full swing.

By the time they got to the Grand Final that year against the Cats, they had peaked at the right time and shocked their opponents to win a flag that Alastair Clarkson even admitted at the time was ahead of schedule.

In that premiership year Roughead, Franklin and Lewis were 100-game stars, and Franklin was a superstar having kicked a century of goals. Grant Birchall, who they secured as a first round selection in the 2005 draft had established himself as a running defender as well.

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By this stage, Hawthorn’s recruiting had identified the importance of picking up experienced players from other clubs for specific needs like former St Kilda and Port Adelaide player, Brent Guerra.

This policy has stood the Hawks in wonderful stead since then, although 2009 was a disappointing year cruelled by injury. They missed the eight and had a horrible season.

Pressure started to mount on Clarkson, when they had one victory from the first seven matches in 2010 after they gave up three draft picks for silky skilled Port Adelaide midfielder Shaun Burgoyne.

He had a delayed start due to a nagging knee injury, but it has proven to be an inspired decision as his brilliance has set up many victories, especially in big games.

Josh Gibson has been another superb pickup from North Melbourne and another Roo, David Hale, joined the fray in 2011 and has become extremely valuable as a forward and ruckman.

They also nabbed some bargain basement picks in the draft with reliable defender in Ben Stratton, while Isaac Smith, after starring in the VFL with North Ballarat, has given them some badly needed outside run to accommodate the inside grunt of Jordan Lewis and Brad Sewell.

In the same draft of 2010, Paul Puopolo was chosen at pick 66 as a mature-age recruit and became a permanent fixture straight away, while Luke Breust was a NSW scholarship holder as a rookie and very quickly established himself as a devastating goalsneak.

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The Hawks played finals in 2010 after that slow start, narrowly lost the 2011 preliminary Final and then went down to Sydney after being favourites in the Grand Final last year.

As expected they were shattered and retribution to avenge that disappointment began straight away for Hawthorn this year.

They knew there was one area where they had a major weakness and that was in defence.

They needed a key defender and the man they identified was Brian Lake from the Western Bulldogs and both sides have benefitted from the trade with the Dogs getting two picks in Nathan Hrovat and Koby Stevens, who have settled in well at the Whitten Oval.

Lake has helped deliver the Hawks that Premiership that they and he coveted and of course there was the bonus of winning the Norm Smith Medal.

Bradley Hill with his speed has also stepped up in September after being a first-round pick in 2011 and then there’s the third tall floating forward in Jack Gunston.

He wasn’t far away from the Norm Smith with a four-goal haul after being their only clear winner with four also in the Preliminary Final triumph over Geelong.

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With the two new teams, there’s obviously not as much good young talent around, so clubs have to be smarter with recruiting and with the introduction of free agency, taking players from other clubs to fill a need or a gap is in vogue again.

There are always rumours now as the free agency and trading periods are about to get underway about where players may end up and after Hawthorn’s success, expect plenty of movement at the 18 AFL stations this year.

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