Whether or not Hawthorn cut too deep into its list in the off-season by will be a hotly discussed topic all year.
It’s only been put further into the spotlight after Sam Mitchell’s Hawks have been heavily beaten in their first two games this year — by 59 points to Essendon in Round 1 and then by 81 points against Sydney on the weekend — to sit 18th on the ladder with a percentage of 42.1.
In reality, 2023 mightn’t solve the debate as Hawthorn prepares for a lengthy rebuild.
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And a comparison of the 2005 Hawks — Alastair Clarkson’s first year as coach ahead of a golden era including winning four premierships from 2008-2015 — to the current team suggests the club could in fact be on the right track.
Fox Footy’s On the Couch showed Hawthorn’s Round 2 team in 2005 had an average age of 24.5 and 87.6 average games played including two top 20 draftees and four 30-plus year olds.
Similarly, the Hawks’ side from the weekend had an average age of 24.2 and 60 average games played with three top 20 draftees and one 30-plus year old.
“History can be your best teacher. They’ve done a rebuild before — when Clarkson was first cutting his teeth as a coach, they were in a similar situation,” former Melbourne skipper Garry Lyon said on On the Couch.
“You have say the rebuild here (in 2005) was superb.”
In saying that, Lyon noted the impact former Hawks veteran Liam Shiels has had at North Melbourne under Clarkson in adding some needed experience.
“Clarko’s gone and got Liam Shiels and whacked him straight in (to the Kangaroos side) and Will Phillips doesn’t play,” Lyon highlighted.
“People go: ‘Hey, give me Will Phillips.’ Will Phillips can wait, because you need protection.”
Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley meanwhile questioned how Luke Breust — the only 30-plus year old on the Hawks’ list — would be feeling about the club’s struggles.
“I actually wondered a couple of weeks ago how he’d be feeling with all this going on around him,” Buckley told On the Couch.
“It’s not bad when you’ve got a couple of mates and you’re doing it together and there’s a purpose and a reason. He’s one out.”
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For three-time premiership winning Lion Jonathan Brown, Mitchell “must have enormous faith him the board protecting him for the next three years”.
“Because they are just playing gung-ho football and an attacking brand. David Noble did that last year and look at how long he lasted,” he said.
“Yes, Sam Mitchell’s standing within the Hawthorn Football Club — with the greatest respect to David Noble — is higher than what his was at North Melbourne.
“But this will only last for so long. If you’re going to play this free-willing style of football and get heavily scored against the other way with a lack of pressure, all of a sudden the wolves will be at the door.”
Lyon added: “We know not all boards are solid. They can stand behind you, but they can also flick quickly.
“He’s sold his vision and the board have said: ‘Righto, you’ve got the imprimata to go and do what you need to do.’
“So let’s see how solid they stand behind him, it’ll be an interesting watch.”
So bold was the Hawks’ list clean-out — that saw nearly 14000 combined games of AFL experience depart the club including Tom Mitchell, Jaeger O‘Meara and Jack Gunston — that some have even argued it’s a form of tanking.
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But Sam Mitchell said it remains committed to winning every week and defended the club’s list management strategy, admitting “knew there were going to be some tough days ahead” with the hope of eventually returning to premiership success.
The Hawthorn coach also rejected claims that the AFL warned it against stripping too deeply into its list and said the club hadn’t discussed star draft prospect Harley Reid in list management meetings.
“It’s important to have sustained success. You have to have a long-term view and you have to make some decisions for the future,” Mitchell told Channel 9’s Footy Classified.
“But certainly every single week we’re trying to improve, we’re trying to win and trying to get better.”
Mitchell pointed to the 2019 Demons (finished 17th) and the 2020 Swans (finished 16th) as teams that invested in developing their young talent for the greater good and turned things around quickly.
“We got together as a list-management committee … and we decided: ‘How can we build this club back to premiership success? What can we do to get there?’” He said.
“The most viable option for us was to try and get a good list of young players and build them through together and we’re very much on that (path).
“We’ve had two rough games and we haven’t played well and to the top of our capabilities, but we’re going to win some games of footy this year.”
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Asked whether they’d be better off with Mitchell or O’Meara supporting their young players, Mitchell said: “I can justify away from that reasonably easily … it means Will Day is not playing in the midfield … it means young Cameron Mackenzie isn’t playing in the midfield either because he’s going to be pushed out to some other position.”
Mitchell did however admit Gunston, who moved to Brisbane as a free agent, was “the one we’re really missing” given the void he leaves in attack, revealing the Hawks told him they were “desperate” to keep him.
“(He’s) the one player we really wanted to keep — and we understand why he left and were really open with the dialogue with him,” he said.
“He’s the one we’re really missing, because (with) our forward line, we’re not able to score as well as we’d like at the moment.
“Our midfield on the weekend against Sydney broke even in tackles and we won the clearance battle. At least there’s something going in the right direction, (but) there’s a lot of other parts of our game that needs significant work.
“It’s not our midfield that’s the issue right now, it’s other areas of the ground.”
