Hawks look to midfielders and forwards in National Draft
Written by Andrew Clark
Sunday, 30 November 2008 06:39
Always looking to the future, Alistair Clarskon and his team have used their National Draft picks to secure five exciting young prospects for the years ahead. Some pundits, including myself, believed that the Hawthorn Forward line would be self sufficient for the short term and the Hawks' attention should have been in building a strong and tall backline. Of the five players picked up in the National Draft yesterday, just one player, Jordan Lisle, looks like he can add real defensive support in the future.
Below are the profiles of the new Hawthorn players you may see on the big stage at some time next year:
Selection 16 - Ryan Schoenmakers
Date of birth: 8/11/90 Height: 189cm Weight: 85kg Club: Norwood (SA)
Bio: A forward with good endurance, Schoenmakers is strong overhead, effective with both feet and a handy goalkicker. A South Australian under-18 representative in 2008, Schoenmakers is from Tea Tree Gully FC.
Jason McCartney says: Ryan played a bit down back early in the carnival, but moved up forward in the last couple of games when SA played very well. He was that third tall who covered the ground really well and had a fantastic set of hands. He was a real key to his side's success here in Melbourne in those last two games of the carnival. He's just a really good size and shape and he won the repeat sprint test at draft camp which tells you a bit about his running ability.
Besides there not being much room in the Hawthorn forward line at the moment, the Hawks are said to be showing interest in Swan Ryan O'Keefe. Many would have thought he Hawks attention would turn to the back line during the opening of the trade period, but preliminary discussions at Hawthorn would suggest otherwise. The article below is a snippet from Real Footy.
"Hawthorn has joined Carlton and Collingwood in the bidding for Sydney's out-of-contract forward Ryan O'Keefe.
Fresh from its stunning premiership victory, the Hawks have been in contact with O'Keefe's management to confirm their interest in the forward, who is considering a move back to Victoria.
But while the Hawks have room in their salary cap to accommodate a good player, it is unclear whether they would have sufficient room for a player that carries the highly regarded O'Keefe's price tag.
The 2005 premiership player, who was runner-up in the club's best and fairest in 2006 and had another strong season this year, is seeking a four-year deal, and was understood to be paid about $450,000 this year.
Hawthorn might be interested, but the Hawks are unlikely to have sufficient scope in the salary cap for a player in that pay bracket. So O'Keefe would, in effect, have to take a pay cut if he wanted to play with a premiership team that is still relatively young and expected to be a contender for the next few years.
The Hawks have gone to considerable lengths to secure their best players, such as Luke Hodge and Lance Franklin, on below market rates." Read the full article on Real Footy
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The Hawthorn Football Club won its 10th premiership by beating Geelong in front of 100,075 fans yesterday at the MCG. It was a fairytale ending for Hawks veteran Shane Crawford who has been waiting 305 games to get his hands on the Premiership Cup. It's unknown as to whether the 34 year old 'Crawfs' will decide to play on with the club. Alistair Clarkson said he would make a decision a few weeks time.
For those unfortunate few who were not able to see the game yesterday, enjoy the highlights below.
The Match started out as physical as one would expect. Hodge held his armsa bove his head and invited an inspection from the Geelong backline, and got one. It wasn't physical in the way of fights or intimidation, rather it was supperb pressure on the ball carrier which saw the hawks head out to a three goal lead halfway through the first quarter. A series of questionable umpiring decisions brought Geelong back into the game with the reigning premiers taking a 1 point lead at the first short break.
Geelong came out firing in the second quarter and completely dominated the clearances and midfield, the backline held it together as well as they could, with Croad leaving the field to take no further part in the game, and forcing Geelong to score 1 goal 9 for the term, the Hawks put on 3 goals 2.
After a spray from coach Clarkson at the long break the midfield sprang into life. The increased pressure resulted in more free kicks going Geelong's way, but not all of them were undeserved. It has the desired effect though. The Hawks slammed the ball deep into the forward fifty and found the unual target of Dew and company who helped the Hawks pile on 6 goals for the term. Buddy Franklin was well held by Scarlett, but the ball was rarely kicked to him in a 1 on 1 contest so perhaps Scarletts stats were better on paper then in reality. The Cats responded with two very quick goals, inside a minute, to reduce the 3/4 margin to 3 goals.
The last quarter was solid. Nothing outlandish from either team, just strong, at the ball aggression from both sides. The Hawks could taste the premiership cup and lifted on the warm September day and looked to finish with more in reserve then the Cats outfit. The Hawks put another 4 goals on the board in the term and with 5 minutes to it wasn't a question of who was going to win the premiership, but rather who was going to win the Norm Smith medal. That honour went to makeshift defender Luke Hodge.
You could talk for hours about the game yesterday, but only one thing matter. The Hawks have won their 10th premiership Cup after waiting a long and painful 17 years. Well done to all the players and the coaching staff for a sensational year. Let's hope we don't need to wait 17 more for our next!
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Yeah, Dew was awesome. Like you say, tougher and grittier and really pushed hard in the 3rd 1/4 to open up an advantage.Well worth getting up having only had 4hrs sleep for
#131
Geelong not out to target Hodge says coach.
Written by Andrew Clark
Wednesday, 24 September 2008 09:09
Mark Thompson objected to a journalists' question as to whether Geelong would actively target Luke Hodge physically in an attempt to unsettle the 'injured' Hawk. Mark Thompson, no doubt keen to distance himself from the physical 1989 Grand Final, responded with "is that the kind of coach I look like to you?". Thompson insisted that every Hawthorn player will receive the same attention from the star studded Geelong line-up.
Fans can expect a physical match on Saturday, with Hodge and Sewell inviting physical attention form the Cats in a video interview yesterday, but let's hope we see nothing like the brutal 1989 Grand Final from either side.
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Hawthorn Legend Shane Crawford is set to play his 300th Game for the Club this Saturday against Brisbane at Aurora Stadium. The 1999 Brownlow Medalist has been struggling with knee tendonitis for much of the season, having missed seven games due to the complaint so far, but team mate Stuart Dew says he will be right to play this weekend.
“I sat down with him for the last five minutes on the bench and had a chat and he said he was feeling really good, so it’s promising.” “You don’t see many players getting to 300 (games) these days. Maybe with the current group of players playing there’ll be a couple (to make 300 games) but I think he’ll be one of the last guys to play 300 games.”
Congratulations on your 300th game Shane, you have made Hawthorn fans, and true fans of AFL very proud.
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To the left, to the left... The Buddy tactics keep on coming
Written by Andrew Clark
Thursday, 15 May 2008 08:03
AS LANCE "Buddy" Franklin lined up for a set-shot at goal, a trio of opponents scurried into position. They formed a line along Buddy's left from the man standing the mark foxing, waiting as though for the flag to drop to charge at him.
It was as if Franklin was on the right-hand point post and they didn't want him to play on and widen his angle in his shot at goal. But Franklin wasn't on the boundary line, he was 45 metres out and on no particular angle. In his case, the others know how he likes to kick the ball and that means running out on an arc on his left side to swing his boot through the ball. They wanted to deny him that arc, and upset his natural kick.
So the three players hovered in a line, call it the Buddyline, until Franklin took his first step out wide and the play-on call was given for them to run in to pressure and tackle.
It is not a new tactic but it is one seemingly being used to some effect against the AFL's most irresistible force.
Against Richmond, whether by design or coincidence, it became clear that when Franklin was shooting at goal he was doing so with Tiger players along his left-hand line. The result was that he had to run straighter in his kicking action and he converted poorly (1.7 that day). Certainly not all that inaccuracy would be ascribed to this theory but it would appear it did not hurt.
Collingwood in the next round also presented similarly, and players could regularly be seen asking the umpire how close they could get as they lined up, waiting for Franklin to step wide on his kicking arc.
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Mark Thompson objected to a journalists' question as to whether Geelong would actively target Luke Hodge physically in an attempt to unsettle the 'injured' Hawk. Mark Thompson, no doubt keen to distance himself from the physical 1989 Grand Final, responded with "is that the kind of coach I look like to you?". Thompson insisted that every Hawthorn player will receive the same attention from the star studded Geelong line-up.
Hawthorn Legend Shane Crawford is set to play his 300th Game for the Club this Saturday against Brisbane at Aurora Stadium. The 1999 Brownlow Medalist has been struggling with knee tendonitis for much of the season, having missed seven games due to the complaint so far, but team mate Stuart Dew says he will be right to play this weekend. 