Hawthorn Hawks vs North Melbourne Kangaroos: AFL live scores, blog

Chad Wingard will make his Hawthorn debut on Sunday when the Hawks host the North Melbourne Kangaroos at the MCG. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 3:20pm AEST.

After a difficult 2018 season at Port Adelaide, Wingard was one of the biggest stories of last year’s trade period as he made his way to Hawthorn.

The Hawks paid no small price to acquire him, sending their first-round draft pick that year (eventually used to recruit Xavier Duursma) and impressive South Australian talent Ryan Burton to the Power in exchange.

If you did a street poll asking any random footy fan to pick a side, most would probably the say Port came out winners – Hawthorn clearly feel differently and will be hoping Wingard shows us all why on Sunday.

The Hawks have also brought in former Box Hill VFL player David Mirra alongside Wingard as the replacements for Liam Shiels and Shaun Burgoyne, both injured in last week’s loss to the Western Bulldogs.

That match was perhaps one of the most remarkable we’ll see all season as the Dogs kicked nine goals in the final quarter to snatch an unlikely win. It leaves Hawthorn with a 1-1 record.

As for their opponents North Melbourne, the Kangaroos will be beginning to feel the weight of expectation as an 0-2 start to the season has not done much to satisfy fans’ craving for success.

Although new recruits Jared Polec and Aaron Hall in particular have both had a nice impact, and Luke Davies-Uniacke appears to be a much-improved player, North have been woeful defensively.

Part of that could be attributed to an injury crisis in their backline. Marley Williams is out this week, joining Ed Vickers-Willis, Majak Daw and Sam Durdin as defenders on the sidelines.

Part also is that North are conceding scores too easily from the centre bounces – and given that, plenty of fans are wondering why it is that coach Brad Scott seems to be ignoring the talent of Paul Ahern.

Prediction
While the Hawks would’ve been disappointed to let last week’s result slip, they’ve been easily the more impressive of these two sides so far, and look well placed to exploit North’s poor defence.

Hawthorn by 36 points.

Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match between the Hawthorn Hawks and the North Melbourne Kangaroos in Round 3 of the 2019 AFL season at the MCG on Sunday afternoon, starting from 3:20pm AEST.

Where: MCG
When: 3:20pm AEST
TV: Seven, Fox Footy

Hawthorn Hawks
B Blake Hardwick, James Frawley, Jarman Impey
HB Harry Morrison, James Sicily, Ben Stratton
C Isaac Smith, James Cousins, Ricky Henderson
HF Jarryd Roughead, Conor Nash, Chad Wingard
F Luke Breust, Jack Gunston, Paul Puopolo
FOL Ben McEvoy, James Worpel, Jaeger O’Meara
I/C Jack Scrimshaw, David Mirra, Tom Scully, Jonathon Ceglar

North Melbourne Kangaroos
B Jamie Macmillan, Robbie Tarrant, Ben McKay
HB Jasper Pittard, Scott D. Thompson, Luke McDonald
C Jared Polec, Shaun Higgins, Bailey Scott
HF Aaron Hall, Jack Ziebell, Tarryn Thomas
F Jy Simpkin, Ben Brown, Tom Campbell
FOL Todd Goldstein, Ben Cunnington, Luke Davies-Uniacke
I/C Trent Dumont, Shaun Atley, Dom Tyson, Kayne Turner