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Hawthorn's Travis Tuck in action during the AFL Round 03 match between the North Melbourne Kangaroos and the Hawthorn Hawks at the Telstra Dome. Slattery Images
With the Kangaroos set to play two home games in Hobart from next year, tension between Hawthorn and North Melbourne has been palpable. Now the two are set to meet on the field in Launceston. Join us from 2:10pm AEST for live scores and blog of the game.
Although Hawthorn do have a noticeable list of important players with season-ending injuries, you can easily make the argument that they’re flying under the radar as far as the premiership race is concerned.
Since Round 1, the Hawks have lost only to competition leaders Collingwood and Geelong. They sit in third place on the ladder. They’ve won five of their past six games.
Last week, a trip across the Nullarbor ended in a 51-point win over Fremantle. Their list of scalps is littered with similar-sized comfortable victories.
But it’s more than just results. Garry Lyon wrote an interesting column in The Age last month praising Alastair Clarkson’s game plan which left you wondering that while perhaps Hawthorn won’t match the better teams in terms of player personnel, their style of football and effective kicking might be able to bridge that gap.
North Melbourne’s inability to compete against the top teams has been one of major areas of concern since Brad Scott took over as coach.
The Roos this year lost to Collingwood twice, by a combined 204 points. Their record against other top four teams in recent times makes for ugly reading.
It wasn’t until last week against Carlton that the trend was (somewhat) bucked – they went up against a top four team and only lost by 18 points, which is at least better than the 70- and 71-point losses the Western Bulldogs were able to inflict last season.
However, Hawthorn appear to be an even tougher opponent than the Blues. And this game won’t be played in the familiar surrounds of Etihad Stadium.
North are on the cusp of the top eight (and Fremantle losing Friday night helps their cause) but with the bye next week, a win this week would be invaluable.
The key men
Sam Mitchell would probably be favourite for the Brownlow right now if it wasn’t for the fact a high hit earlier in the year has rendered him ineligible. The captaincy has made him an even better player and with him being ranked third in the league for disposals, the Roos will need to find a way to prevent his hands from finding the ball.
Daniel Wells, meanwhile, went quiet last week after a fantastic – and career-best – stretch of football in the middle of the season. He’s finally realising his potential, but for the Roos to get up he’ll need to prove last week was just a one-off.