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If you’re a Hawthorn fan, there are two ways of looking at your side’s thrilling, chaotic seven-point loss to Geelong in the latest Easter Monday classic between the two quintessential modern footy rivals.
One is that the Hawks, for the second week in a row, played as poorly as they have at any point in the last 12 months – and kicked as badly as I’ve seen since they turned their 2024 campaign around mid-year in such stunning fashion.
Usually reliable ball-users wilted in the face of the Cats’ relentless pressure, particularly in their forward 50; normally calm heads were reduced to panicking messes as turnover after turnover ensured; and even Jack Gunston, once the sharpest shooter, needed the better part of a half to find his radar after spraying a number of shots that ultimately proved supremely costly.
That it follows on the heels of last week’s insipid first half against Port Adelaide, another team that brought fire and brimstone to suffocate footy’s most electric, exciting team, will be something Sam Mitchell ponders all week – from premiership favourites mere days ago, the Hawks now face their first major challenge since surging into finals and flag considerations at about this point last year.
But there’s a positive spin to all of this: that the Hawks looked ragged from virtually the first bounce on Easter Monday, butchered the ball throughout, were frequently caught holding the ball or forced into chaotic hacked kicks so far removed from their usual slick disposal… and despite all of that, not only lost by a mere seven points, but actively kicked themselves out of it in the final minutes.
It was an incredibly appropriate finish by every measure: first, the poor, telegraphed inboard kick from Josh Weddle to the most dangerous spot on the ground – having earlier erred on the side of caution by not immediately taking his kick and going long and direct – that the Cats, ferocious to the end inside forward 50, pounced on to kick the final goal of the day.
Geelong’s incredibly rigid structure deserves some credit here: there was simply no easy option for Weddle to take to generate the quick movement the Hawks were keen to find, with Josh Battle left in some tantalising space in the central corridor. A footy rope-a-dope if ever I’ve seen one.
This was the tale of the tape for Hawthorn all afternoon: either making uncharacteristic skill errors under perceived or actual Cats pressure, or having ambitious, poorly thought out passes backfire and come straight back over their heads.
Much will be made about Jarman Impey not being paid this mark in the second quarter, but what should also be noted is that Karl Amon was attempting to lace him out in between two Cats, with anything short of a strong Impey grab creating an instant three on one and a likely goal.
Those errors – plus a final-minute moment where Massimo D’Ambrosio dithered too long on his kick and was enveloped by an onrushing Patrick Dangerfield to again give up possession – could at least be explained, and credited to, the Cats’ relentless pressure.
But other mistakes, like the otherwise excellent Mabior Chol running into an open goal early and hitting the post, or Gunston spraying successive set shots for one total behind within five minutes in the second term, or the litany of other foot skills in general play that left Mitchell tearing his hair out in the box, are all but inexplicable for a team which has nailed aggressive kicks by the bucketload for the last year.
Even when it worked out, it was ugly.
Fittingly, this issue again reared its head in the final minutes to all but cost Hawthorn a game that they looked a golden chance of winning in spite of it all.
First, Nick Watson, given the chance to put the Hawks in front after winning a trademark high-tackle free kick, squandered a simple opportunity from 30 metres out directly in front – for all his famous woes in front of goal to start his career, he has become a more than reasonable set-shot kicker who would expect to nail this one 19 times out of 20.
Even worse was Sicily, perhaps the Hawks’ biggest culprit when it came to dodgy kicking, getting a shot at redemption with a long-range set shot where even a point would have brought the deficit down to six points and within reach, instead spraying it out on the full.
That the Hawks fought a Cats team which produced either their best or something closely approximating it right up until the final bell is of immense credit to them given how poorly they executed their normal one-wood.
Unable to cut the Cats apart with slick kicking, they instead went for rapid handball chains, backing their speed to find ways through the Geelong press – by three-quarter time, they had 139 handpasses to just 153 kicks for the game, a significant ratio change from their usual process.
Dominant from the coalface in the first three quarters thanks mostly to James Worpel and Jai Newcombe’s bullocking work at the foot of Lloyd Meek, they at least gave their forward line enough looks through sheer, scrappy territory wins, with Gunston in particular smart enough to cash in.
We’ve seen glimpses of this tougher, more unlettered Hawthorn outfit to start the year, particularly against Sydney in Opening Round and Carlton a fortnight later; if it’s an added string to their bow that can keep them in matches against fellow contenders even when all else is failing, then they will give themselves at the very least a shot at victory virtually every single time.
There is a downside to all this, though: for two consecutive weeks, the Hawks’ claim to fame has been found wanting against fierce, sustained pressure and aggressive tackling.
Not every team is going to be able to play like the Cats did on Easter Monday or Port Adelaide last week, and force the Hawks so completely onto the back foot. But good teams will, and now know that what once seemed an irrepressible brown and gold wave can be stymied, slowed, strangled, and conquered.
Maybe the Hawks kicking as badly as they did on Monday is nothing more than a rare off week, and normal service will resume next week against a West Coast outfit that will find it virtually impossible to contain them under the Marvel Stadium roof.
Or maybe, it’s a sign that the Hawthorn juggernaut is starting to be broken down.
It’s over to Mitchell and his men to determine which side of the coin they land on.
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