Roar Guru
A spirited Hawthorn Hawks team finally recorded their first win of the season, defeating a very poor West Coast Eagles by 51 points at MCG.
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Final score
Hawthorn Hawks 19.11.125
West Coast Eagles 11.9.75
In the Sunday twilight game the Hawthorn Hawks will take on the West Coast Eagles at the MCG. Join The Roar for live scores from the game and a live blog of the match, starting from 4:40pm AEST.
Hawthorn’s fall from grace has been much steeper than expected. Most punters and experts expected the Hawks to fall to around the 7-10 position but seems that the Hawks are going to finish much lower, starting the season 0-4.
The last two weeks they have lost to Gold Coast by 86 points and on Easter Monday they were defeated by Geelong, also by 86 points.
West Coast have been hard to read this season. In patches they look like a premiership side but then look really ordinary at other times. The Eagles have managed to get to 3-1 with their only loss being to Richmond at the MCG.
Hawthorn have really missed the experience and effectiveness in the middle of Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis and have had many players play well below their best including Josh Gibson, Shaun Burgoyne, Cyril Rioli and Jarryd Roughead.
West Coast have struggled at the MCG having lost four of their last five at the venue. The only time the Eagles have defeated the Hawks at the ‘G was back in round 14, 2006. The Eagles need to prove that they can play well at the ‘G if they are to be taken as serious finals contenders.
The Hawks have brought in young defender Daniel Howe for Ricky Henderson who has been omitted from the side. The Eagles have brought in forward Jack Darling for former Hawks star Sam Mitchell who has an ankle injury.
The key matchup of the game will be Josh J Kennedy matching up against James Frawley. Frawley will need to shut down the two-time Coleman Medalist for the Hawks to have a real chance of winning this game.
Prediction
The Eagles don’t have a great record playing at the MCG but should still get over the line as the stronger team against a struggling Hawthorn side.
Eagles by 17.
Join The Roar for live scores from the match and a live blog of the game, starting from 4:40pm AEST.