The Roar
The Roar

AFL
Advertisement

The Hawks' balance is the key to their success

5th October, 2015
Advertisement
Expert
5th October, 2015
74
1311 Reads

We all acknowledge what an offensive beast Hawthorn has been during the club’s premiership three-peat. But this year’s premiership was built on a foundation of superb team defence on grand final day.

The 2014 defeat of Sydney to win the flag was the result of fierce, brutal pressure, and precise, skilful ball movement. It was the best display of pure football we saw all year. That day was very much about the Hawks, and how superior they were with ball in hand.

Saturday’s grand final wasn’t a great game. It was more about West Coast’s ineptitude than it was about Hawthorn’s obvious brilliance. But it did show off how complete and balanced the Hawks are as a football team under Alastair Clarkson.

The best sides get the game played on their terms, and are able to run in waves when controlling the ball. We saw the Hawks use the full width of the MCG with their ball movement, frequently hitting up a man right on the boundary in an attempt to draw out the Eagles’ defensive web.

They are the masters of handballing the ball backwards from a pack situation, and then moving the ball laterally across the ground, freeing up a loose man in the process, and then cutting the opposition up with elite kicking skills going forward.

But Hawthorn’s defensive prowess and system is underrated. It won them this grand final. They also conceded the fewest points of any side this year across the home-and-away rounds.

West Coast couldn’t create any run in the grand final. More than even their calamitous errors, this was the key component of why they couldn’t get into the game, or stay in it.

The Hawks crowded the Eagles for space whenever they had the ball, particularly in the first half when the match was decided. Hawthorn were able to deny West Coast any lateral movement, shutting down that avenue. They also cut off any options through the middle, through smart positioning.

Advertisement

The Eagles were forced to kick it slow, long and high down the line, allowing the likes of Brian Lake, James Frawley and Josh Gibson to influence every contest. Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling had little to no influence. Callum Sinclair had even less.

But the way West Coast brought the ball forward was a nightmare for key forwards, and a dream for key backs, thanks to the Hawks’ superior all-ground defence.

The suffocating pressure that denied West Coast any fluency had a cumulative effect on the already existing nerves of a young side in their first grand final. Whatever dash and dare the Eagles runners would like to have played with was quickly shaken from them.

Hawthorn have effectively been the best side in the competition over the last four years. Premierships are hard to win even when that is the case, so three flags is a more than satisfactory return.

Alastair Clarkson is the Australian rules football coaching genius of his time. And given the complicated way football is played these days, he may well be the coaching genius of any time.

Offence and defence have a symbiotic relationship in any premiership winning side. Hawthorn have shown us the perfect balance.

close