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The last time Hawthorn and Port Adelaide met was in Round 10, with the Power walking away with a 14-point victory at the Adelaide Oval.
The Hawthorn back six were swamped by Port’s forward pressure. Ryan Schoenmakers was particularly out of his depth, consistently turning the ball over – 19 disposals at just 52 per cent efficiency – at crucial stages of the match.
Along with Schoenmakers, Billy Hartung, Mitch Hallanan and Taylor Duryea were all exposed by Port’s manic pressure. Adelaide allowed all four players to gather 15 to 20 possessions each, but as a collective they only managed to penetrate the ball inside the forward 50 on eight occasions.
Hawthorn are at their damaging best when their half back players can either penetrate the ball inside the forward 50, or can deliver ball to their midfield runners such as Brad Hill and Isaac Smith to drive forward.
This time around the Hawks have a fully fit roster to select from. The back six will have an incredibly different look and functioning dynamic. The Hawks were without Brian Lake, Josh Gibson, Cyril Rioli, Sam Mitchell and Jarryd Roughead in that Round 10 clash, which was the only meeting between those two sides this season.
The welcomed return of Lake and Gibson will allow the creativity of Matthew Suckling, Grant Birchall, Shaun Burgoyne and Luke Hodge to create drive and control from the halfback line. This was noticeably absent when the two sides last met.
Lake should take on Jay Schultz, who has averaged 2.1 goals a match against the Hawks. Gibson should lock down Justin Westhoff, who has averaged one goal a match against the Hawks over his last seven game. And I think Birchall suits Angus Monfries, which leaves two dangerous forwards in Chad Wingard and Robbie Gray.
Those two Power players are game breakers and it will take a lot for them to be silenced.
A team effort will be needed to curtail the talents of Gray, who has had an excellent season and finals campaign. Gray traditionally hasn’t caused Hawthorn too many headaches, averaging 17.7 disposals and 1.5 goals a match, but if Gray starts in the midfield Jordan Lewis should be the man to lock horns with him.
When Lewis goes forward Ben Stratton could provide a good match up with Gray, as he has the length and agility to go with Gray in the air and at ground level. In the 2012 preliminary final Stratton locked horns with the explosive Patrick Dangerfield in some pivotal contests and proved that his leg speed was up to the challenge.
I like the option of Shaun Burgoyne to go with Wingard. In Round 10 Wingard was at his opportunistic best inside the forward 50. On that night Duryea trailed him to every contest and failed to offensively hurt Port Adelaide. This allowed Wingard the freedom to operate on his terms.
So much of Wingard’s brilliance is his ability to contest in the air and to hurt teams at ground level. Burgoyne offers the combination of speed and body to contest with Wingard. By making the Power man check one of Hawthorn’s key architects, it could help drive more of a defensive focus into Wingard’s game and limit his ability to break free and punish the Hawks offensively.
But it’s clear Hawthorn need to step up. They went into the Round 10 match-up with David Hale, Ben McEvoy and Jonathan Ceglar and Alastair Clarkson has always been keen to look at players in different positions. Due to the absence of Roughead, the Hawks were shorthanded and paid the price.
With their lack of run and ability to apply pressure around the stoppages, Port Adelaide had far too many uncontested possessions and were allowed to move the ball relatively freely in transition.
Hawthorn’s arguably possesses (Sydney fans turn away) the most versatile and dynamic forward line in the competition. The Hawks have multiple avenues to goal. Over the past four matches against Port, Roughead, Luke Breust, Jack Gunston, Pauli Puopolo and Rioli have averaged 10.7 goals as a collective.
But as much as the individual talent can cause offensive headaches, the Hawthorn forwards and midfielders need to apply suffocating pressure to prevent the Port Adelaide ball carriers to influence the match. This means also negating the work of the likes of Matthew Broadbent, Jared Polec and Jasper Pittard. When Port is bottlenecked in their defensive end they are susceptible to turning the ball over through hurried possession and inaccurate disposal.
Now, to Hawthorn’s x-factor. It’s easy to mention Rioli when this factor is discussed, but that’s not news to any AFL fan. Everyone with any form of interest in Saturday’s contest would also understand the importance Smith and Bradley Hill provide.
Roughead, Breust and Gunston all have healthy goal returns against Port Adelaide in recent history, while Mitchell and Lewis are great accumulators of the football, winning the ball inside and out. These are all examples of the expectations the Hawthorn team must play to this weekend.
But the major x-factor performers for Hawthorn need to be the inside ball winners. Brad Sewell, Will Langford and Liam Shiels must win the contest against the likes of Ollie Wines, Boak and Kane Cornes. These Hawthorn mids lack the leg speed to run with the Port mids on the outside. Clearances and first possession to the Hawthorn ball users is pivotal to control the tempo of the match.
Travis Boak, over his last three matches against Hawthorn, has averaged 33.3 disposals, one goal a game and 7.3 inside 50s. In the Round 10 contest, he also won 10 clearances. He can not be allowed to have this influence.
Much has been made of Port Adelaide’s fast finishes and elite fitness. It is hard to believe that any team playing this deep in September is not fit enough for the contest. Hawthorn has had the week off, they have played in the last four preliminary finals and their list is healthy. Physically and mentally they are as ready as they could possibly be for the contest.
Tip: Hawks by 22
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