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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This thread discusses the Content article: PREMIERS!!!!
Awesome display by the boys. In the end, we were grittier, tougher, had more legs and wanted it more.
I sincerely hope this wasn't Crawford's last game as I do still think he has some great footy left in him and his experience and leadership on the feild are vital for such a young team, but if he does bow out, I am glad we could give him the send of a brownlow medalist and 300 gamer for the club deserves.
Rioli was fantastic, Dew broke it apart for us and Hodge- you are a champion.
Well done boys, back to back 08'09? History is on our side.
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 on-baller Chance Bateman threw a scare through the Hawks' camp on Tuesday when he rolled an ankle at training. The important runner went over on his ankle early in the session and did not re-emerge from the rooms to complete the run.
While it looked ominous, skipper Sam Mitchell was confident Bateman would be fit to play against St Kilda on Saturday night. "I think he will be okay. He rolled his ankle, came off and had it re-strapped, and there is no point going back out there and re-aggravating it," Mitchell said from the club's Waverley headquarters.
"He will be assessed over the next couple of days, but I think he'll be okay. "He started the session and then just went over on the ankle a little bit, but he'll be ok I think."
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 17 September 2008 17:16
No Comments.
Hodge out for one, possibly two weeks.
Written by Andrew Clark
Monday, 18 August 2008 22:01
HAWTHORN midfielder Luke Hodge had his past catch up with him after he was hit with a two-game suspension by the AFL match review panel.
Hodge was charged with striking Richmond's Brett Deledio in the loss at the MCG in an offence that would normally draw a one-game ban, and a reprimand through an early guilty plea. But Hodge's 91 carry-over points, dating back to a striking offence during last year's finals series, inflated his latest charge to 228.5 points and a two-game sanction.
The Hawks vice-captain can reduce that to 171.38 points and one game out - he would miss Sunday's clash against West Coast - if he pleads guilty. It's unlikely that Hodge will get off the charge all together so expect an early guilty plea so he can play against the Blues next weekend.
UPDATE - Luke Hodge has acceped a one match suspension which will see him miss the match against West Coast on Sunday.
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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Great win for the Hawks to celebrate Crawford's 300th game! Very slow start but they pushed through it and got away with an 11 goal win. Buddy is firmly on track to kick 100 as well. 6 goals this match puts him firmly in contention to be the first to kick 100 for some time.
Bring on Richmond!
#97
Jarryd Morton gets rising star nomination
Written by Andrew Clark
Wednesday, 25 June 2008 07:49
Hawthorn has received some good news following its second loss for the year, with young forward Jarryd Morton winning the NAB AFL Rising Star nomination for round 13.
Morton, 19, is the second Hawk to be nominated this year, joining Cyril Rioli as two of the club's recognised emerging talents so far this season.
"I actually thought I played a little bit better the previous week against Adelaide," Morton told afl.com.au.
"I think I used the ball a bit better, and obviously we won. But the last five weeks have been good."
The Hawks picked up the young Western Australian at pick 33 in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft. Morton made his senior debut in round nine this year and has held his spot ever since, averaging 22 disposals per game on the wing.
Arriving at Waverley promising himself he had come to "play for Hawthorn, not Box Hill", Morton's 2007 was spoiled by a torn quad muscle midway through the season.
"To finally get the opportunity in the season proper was good, and I feel as though after my first game, I thought I might get another opportunity, and then it sort of just went on from there," Morton said. "Last year was pretty tough. The injury was right in the middle of the season as well, which made it hard, and Hawthorn at the time had a growing injury list. I wasn't close to playing AFL, but you can't really tell if I'd been fit, if my opportunity would have come earlier than this year."
The injury concerns for Hawthorn keep piling up with Brad Sewell the latest casualty. Sewell is set to miss up to 6 weeks after he was told he would require shoulder surgery in order to be back to his best.
Sewell injured his right shoulder during last week’s match against the Western Bulldogs but was able to continue playing.
While it was initially thought Sewell would only miss two weeks, after consulting with a specialist it was confirmed he had ruptured the ligaments of his AC joint.
Hawthorn football operations manager Mark Evans said deciding on surgery would allow for a stronger shoulder joint when Sewell returns to football.
"Once the specialist indicated Brad was likely to miss three to four weeks, the sensible option was for a surgical repair to deliver a stronger shoulder joint over a five to six week period," Evans said.
Sewell is expected to resume some training within the next two weeks. He will no doubt be missed against the Bombers on Saturday Night.
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The Hawthorn Football Club has released a statement today informing readers that the matter of Lance 'buddy' Franklin, a night club and some ladies has come to ahead internally. The club is satisfied with Buddy's version of events and will take no further investigation into the alleged incident.
For those that missed the story, Franklin was escorted from the CQ Bar in central Melbourne on Saturday night, hours after the Hawks had lost their first match of the season to the Western Bulldogs in Launceston. Two women claimed they had been verbally abused by Franklin and had a drink thrown at them.
The Hawks take on Essendon on Saturday Night.
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News
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 midfielder Luke Hodge had his past catch up with him after he was hit with a two-game suspension by the AFL match review panel.
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. 
Hawthorn has received some good news following its second loss for the year, with young forward Jarryd Morton winning the NAB AFL Rising Star nomination for round 13.