Sam Mitchell’s box office Hollywood Hawks are the early March champions. This is not intended as a slight. Last year, Hawthorn didn’t open their account until the third weekend of April, which cost them a decent spot on the grid in September. They are not making that mistake again.
In their first game on home soil this year, the Hawks gave their proud, passionate and paid up a spectacular opening act.
Dylan Moore celebrates one of his three goals in style.Credit: Getty Images
The show fizzled out a bit after the intermission but by the curtain call a large majority of the 80,735 in attendance were belting out “the mighty fighting Hawks” with gusto in appreciation of a 26-point win over fierce rivals Essendon, 17.9 (111) to 12.13 (85).
But there was a toll for both sides. Reliable defender Jack Scrimshaw was concussed after a clash of heads with teammate Josh Battle, ruling him out of Thursday night’s game against Carlton.
But he may not have played anyway after striking Jordan Ridley high with his left arm in an attempted tackle. Ridley was later ruled out with concussion, leaving the Dons without their important but injury-prone defender for next weekend’s game against Adelaide.
Hawthorn’s Jack Scrimshaw is set to face MRO scrutiny after this incident with Bomber Jordan Ridley.Credit: Channel Seven
The Dons’ best forward Kyle Langford is likely to be out for longer after pulling up abruptly with what appeared to be a hamstring injury in the third quarter while picking up a ball off his laces that should have been hitting him lace-out instead.
Scans on Saturday will reveal the full cost, but an immediate price was paid. From the same passage of play, what should have been a shot at goal resulted in the first of back-to-back majors at the other end to Dylan Moore, which snuffed one of the Bombers’ brief challenges.
There is no team that plays with as much exuberance as the Hawks, who charged early and then teased their opponent only to put the foot down each time they became more than a speck in the rearview mirror.
When the game is played at high speed, there are few sides who can match the Hawks’ pace and rapid ball movement.
Take Karl Amon’s laser-like kick streaming forward on the wing in the first term. Afforded too much latitude by the Bombers, Amon had the spatial awareness to detect players fanning out to the boundary and skill to land a 40-metre pass for the 170-centimetre Nick Watson to mark in a pocket of space that should not have been there.
Or there was the coast-to-coast play in the last quarter when James Sicily weighted his kick-in for Jarman Impey to run onto on the Shane Warne Stand wing, resulting in a mark and goal for Connor Macdonald.
“There’s different types of speed: running speed and brain speed,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got some players that are good in one or both of those areas.”
Such a play takes high skill but also requires sacrifice by teammates so the space can be created – and sloppy defending from Essendon, a point Brad Scott lamented.
“They’re very good kicks,” Scott said of the Hawks. “They sliced us up through the middle at different stages, and we sat back off them a little bit too much, particularly in the first quarter.”
The Hawks do not have the elite of the elite – yet – but they have a deeper roll call than most of good-to-very-good players.
They won comfortably enough without a major contribution from Will Day, who was bettered by Jye Caldwell after starring last week against Sydney. Jai Newcombe, subdued against the Swans, stepped up with 25 possessions and seven clearances in a midfield that was, despite the scoreline, well-beaten.
Clearances (31-50), contested ball (126-149) and tackles (58-78) all went Essendon’s way, which Mitchell acknowledged was a concern. A six-day break, where recovery will be paramount after a taxing match, poses challenges for fixing that part of their game.
“The story we’ve thought about is: we’ve got a fair bit of work to do, but our best is pretty good,” Mitchell said.
Hawks coach Sam Mitchell has a laugh with skipper James Sicily on a big night for their club at the MCG.Credit: AFL Photos
“There are a lot of areas that need attention for us, but we were able to kick 111 points and win the game. That part makes me happy, but [on] some of the underlying stuff we’ve got some work to do.
The Bombers, who twice closed the margin to three goals in the last term, were not disgraced in defeat, but they are a long way off the flag contenders.
“I thought in the second half we controlled parts of it,” Scott said of the game. “The screen I looked at was flashing green on most metrics – the one I don’t look at so much was the scoreboard, which wasn’t flashing green.”
England’s cricketers might call that a moral victory, but Scott is more pragmatic. Kick-in goals are rare, and Essendon gave up two in this way, along with four from the centre bounce when well-drilled teams fiercely guard against breakaways from the front of the stoppage.
Isaac Kako joined the first kick, first goal club in his debut for the Bombers.Credit: Channel Seven
“We knew what we were going to get, and to concede six goals from things we planned for and trained for was disappointing,” Scott said. “That was a big part to the margin, I thought.”
Caldwell was “outstanding” on Day, with 36 disposals to 16, and a player Scott wished he had two of. Zach Merrett is in for another big year, and Isaac Kako gave glimpses of the excitement machine he will become, but skill errors were crippling.
Entries inside 50, a deficiency last year, remains a work in progress. Targeting leads to the boundary is not in their playbook.
“The pressure they put on the ball carrier is very good,” Scott said. “[It] certainly hurried our decision-making. The options were there, we just didn’t find them.”
Nic Martin, Andrew McGrath and theit teammates have plenty to work on for next week.Credit: Getty Images
The inefficient Bombers managed fewer shots at goal from 10 more inside-50s, and the scoring challenge won’t get easier with Langford facing several weeks out and Peter Wright up to six weeks away from returning.
“I like the fact [that] we never conceded,” Scott said. “But there’s a gap between the two sides at the moment.”
