Last Year
After an unbelievable triumph in 2008, the Hawks slid into obscurity, with injuries and lack-lustre performances a constant feature during their 2009 season.
Despite that, they still found themselves within a shot of the eight’ in round 22.
Their downfall last year was clearly due to injuries.
Stephen Gilham, Luke Hodge, Cyril Rioli, Clinton Young and Rick Ladson; all fairly important players who happened to miss some part, or all of the season.
Backline
“No Gilham, no Hawthorn” is what I think about this backline. The addition of Gibson is an interesting one given that when you look at him as a direct replacement of Trent Croad; he doesn’t stack-up at all. As a new member of the Hawks backline however, he’ll be a very handy pick-up.
The improvement that Ryan Shoenmaker showed late year was promising and with another pre-season under his belt, the Hawks should be much better placed then last year in tackling teams which have two quality talls.
The usual suspects, Ellis, Birchall and Ladson will provide more than enough run.
The main thing for Hawthorn here is that Gilham can stay injury free. If that happens this backline should be fine. Whilst it isn’t the best in the league, their defensive game-style and strong midfield help in limit in any exposing.
Midfield
The one think that stood out to me when trying to work out their best 22, was how damn strong their midfield was. Led by Mitchell and Hodge, and ably supported by Sewell and Lewis; their in-and-under stocks are second only to Geelong’s, and even then, they are not too far behind them.
Their runners, this year sound great providing they are injury-free. Clinton Young, Chance Bateman, Cyril Rioli and the new recruit Shaun Burgoyne amount to a quality bunch with their own dangerous qualities.
Despite his reputation as a damaging midfielder, the pick up of Burgoyne is one that puzzles me personally. I’ve always seen him as a good player, that can play excellent when he gets service from the ruck…..This leads me into the next area……
Rucks
The one area where the Hawks fall down, and fall down badly is the ruck.
This year, after the injury-forced retirement of Robert Campbell, they are relying on Simon Taylor, Brent Renouf, and ex-Bulldog, Wayde Skipper who only stands at 193cm.
Luckily, the bigger bodies of the Hawks midfield will mitigate any major ruck dominance, much like Collingwood’s big-bodied midfield of 2002-2003 where they used Steve McKee as a “cardboard cut-out” ruckman, whilst the mids’ sharked the opposition taps.
That’s the best the Hawks can hope for this year.
Forwards
A rare luxury only afforded by a few teams, The Hawks find themselves with 3 very different, but very damaging forwards.
Rioli, before his injury last year, looked like he was going to be the player to drag the Hawks into the finals before his hamstring injury in the middle of the year. He’ll no doubt have stints through the midfield, but given the recruitment of Burgoyne and the fitness of Young, it’s not essential, and it allows him to be in his most valuable position to the Hawks team given that he is their only genuine crumber.
There is not much that needs to be said about Roughead and Franklin really without stating the absolute obvious.
Campbell Brown and Michael Osborne provide the necessary bite’ required by Clarkson.
Summary
The Hawks have it all in front of them now. No injuries will be holding them back this year, and their new recruits do well in filling specific needs. Quite simply, like last year, the year will depend on fitness.
Fully fit, they are a definite top-4 team and Premiership chance(like about 6 other teams), but due to the inevitable injuries, which expose Hawthorn more than most due to their disciplined game-plan that relies on continuity, I’ll have them finishing a little bit lower.
Expected Finish: 4th-6th
Best 22
FB: Rick Ladson, Stephen Gilham, Grant Birchall
HB: Josh Gibson, Ryan Schoenmaker, Xavier Ellis
C: Clinton Young, Luke Hodge, Shaun Burgoyne
HF: Cyril Rioli, Lance Franklin, Chance Bateman
FF: Michael Osborne, Jarryd Roughead, Campbell Brown
Fol: Simon Taylor, Sam Mitchell, Brad Sewell
Int: Brent Renouf, Brent Guerra, Lorden Lewis, Liam Sheils
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Burgoyne should slot in nicely into the midfield for mine. Even if he doesn't get the service of the rucks he will from the other midfielders.
hey anonymous, you're dead right. it's the one game that matters. just for the record i can't stand geelong either
i kept hearing rumours all last year (from a source that claimed to be close to brereton) that the premiership went to clarkson's head and he became a tyrant. and that he lost a lot of the players last year as a result. if that is actually true than it explains their shocker of a season. underlines what a good decision crawford made to hang his boots up too.