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Can Clarkson's 'chaos theory' win the flag?

Roar Guru
23rd September, 2014
55

The question this week for the Hawks fans is will Alastair Clarkson and his men be the last ones standing at the end of September?

After tipping seven out of eight winners thus far in the finals, I’m going against the grain and sticking with the Hawks.

There is no doubt they are up against it this week. The bookies have the Swans as firm favourites at $1.63 over the Hawks at $2.35. However, the Hawks have one major asset over the Swans – they have the best coach in the game!

Clarko is one win away from becoming an all-time great coach and I just love the way his boys are playing the game. David King said it perfectly when referring to how Clarko is always on the ‘cutting edge’.

It’s people like Clarko that evolve the game and very few can follow in his footsteps (just ask Damien Hardwick).

Over the past few years, the premiership-winning team quite often needed to bring something new to the table.

In 2007, the Cats brought a fast attacking game through the centre corridor, which was extremely risky. However, they backed this up with solid defence that could counter a high degree of turnovers should it occur. It was refreshing, bold and extremely effective.

In 2010 Mick Malthouse brought the offensive press like we have never seen. It involved high levels of pressure in the Pies forward half. This was coupled with kicking no further than 5-10 metres from the boundary when coming out of defence before launching an attack into the forward fifty.

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Clarkson’s men in 2008 concentrated on outside ball movement, while deploying a thirty-metre perimeter around stoppages. This resulted in no easy options for the opposition should they lose the contested ball.

Clarko in 2013 evolved his game plan further to counter the defensive game styles deployed by other coaches. Precision kicking was the answer and he recruited players that not only had elite foot skills, but also were critical thinkers.

This year his game plan has mutated yet again. I like to refer to it as the ‘chaos theory’. It is almost like having multiple swingmen all over the field of play, but Clarko has taken it to another level completely.

The chaos theory still centres around precision kicking coming out of defence, but at stoppages the structure is never identical. It is not uncommon to see Jack Gunston at full forward for a centre bounce and then half back for the next.

We saw Jarryd Roughead at the five-minute mark of the third quarter on the weekend burst out of the centre and kick a 60-metre goal. John Longmire has to be saying, “who have I got that can match up on this 100-kilogram machine”, should this situation arise again at a critical time?

Pretty much every player in the Hawthorn line up can pinch hit, whether it is up forward, midfield or down back. It reminds me of the old days in submarine warfare where all personnel were required to fulfil each and every role aboard the ship in the event of a crisis.

I believe Clarkson is a genius for he realised two years ago his main weapon, Lance Franklin, was not going to be with him and has been planning accordingly. What he didn’t envisage though is his ‘weapon of mass destruction’ going to his main rival – lured by the cunning use of their bed and breakfast allowance.

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No doubt it is going to be tough. But as the old saying goes, ‘they have to find a way to win’.

As a Cats man it pains me to say it, but this is a champion side and I truly believe they are going to somehow ‘find a way’ on the weekend.

Should Clarko get over the line for the third time then he will have mastered a new premiership strategy. This piece of genius is called the chaos theory.

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