VENUE & TIME: Subiaco Oval, Sunday 24 August, 4:40pm AEST
HEAD TO HEAD: Played 32: West Coast 21, Hawthorn 11
LAST TIME: Hawthorn 18.18 (126) def West Coast 9.15 (69) Round 4, 2008 at the MCG.

A sellout. 44,000 fans are tuning up to Sundays match at Subiaco oval for one of two reasons. To see one of the AFL's most exciting players attempt to achieve a feat no seen in 10 years, or to farewell a seasoned opposition player in Michael Braun.

Hawthorn and West Coast both come intot his watch on the back of a loss, perhaps only one of them was a real shock though. Hawthorn were downed by Richmond and their touted 'cluster buster' by a handful of goals at the MCG last Sunday, whereas the Eagles were downed by a committed Melbourne outfit the day before.

The Eagles will be out to p[rove their loss to Melbourne was genuine as the issue of tanking gains momentum in the Western Australian media. Expect to see a lot of running from the young Eagles side, who go into this match having little to lose. 

Both Luke Hodge(Suspension) and Robbie Campbell (illness) will miss this match. They are being replaced by Clinton Young and Brent Renouf respectively.The Eagles will welcome back Ashleigh Hanson.

The Hawks will need to look for a variety of options up for this week if they are to avoid a similar situation last weekend. Buddy was targeted far too often and it cost the Hawks the match. I expect to see Mark Williams get plenty of the ball when it goes to ground as well as Roughead. Clinton Young had a fantastic match against Fremantle here in round 3, lets hope his previous form carries over to the match this weekend. 

 The Hawks by 42 points.

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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.

Read The Full Story on Fox Sports

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VENUE & TIME: MCG, 1.10pm, Sunday August 17
HEAD TO HEAD: Played: 145: Richmond 81, Hawthorn 64
LAST TIME: Hawthorn 14.22 (106) d Richmond 15.4 (94) at the MCG, Round 6, 2008

9 Goals. That's what Buddy needs to kick today to reach 100 goals for the season. The first time the feat has been achieved in a decade. But as Buddy will tell you, as he told Gary Lion on the footy show, it's team glory first and personal achievement second. That being said, the Hawks take on Richmond today at the MCG. The last time these two teams met, Hawthorn let Richmond stay in the hunt due to wayward kicking; The Hawks had 17 more scoring shots, yet only managed to win by 12 points.

This time it's different. The Hawks are well settled and the Tigers are coming to the realisation that hopes of playing in September are all but over. The Hawks come into this match after a big win over Brisbane in Tassie, whilst the Tigers are coming off a similar defeat to Adelaide. With the rejuvinated midfield, and the return of Osborne (in for Stokes) it's hard to see Richmond posing much of a challenge today. The Hawks will be treating this as a finals game, after seeing the Bulldogs drop a game to Brisbane yesterday. A win today will almost ensure a home final for the Hawks, who are already guananteed a second chance in September should they need it. 

This will be a fast game with plenty of delivey in therespected forward lines. It will be interesting to see how the man who let 'Clarko's Cluster' out of the bag responds to the challenge put forward to his team today.

The Hawks by 38.

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