Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has been warned he’ll “break” his players if he doesn’t move away from the current “arrogant” game style which clearly isn’t working.
The Hawks have the youngest and least-experienced list in the AFL as they enter a deep rebuild, forced by Alastair Clarkson’s attempts to stay in contention during his final years in charge, under their second-year boss and former star Mitchell.
But North Melbourne champion David King argues the coach is going about things the wrong way, with overly aggressive tactics which his players aren’t good enough to execute.
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The Hawks are attempting to buy into the modern AFL trend of aggressive ball use through the corridor, but through two rounds it has backfired badly.
Despite attempting to transition the ball from defensive 50 to forward 50 through the corridor more than almost every other AFL club, they’re yet to score any points while doing so.
“I think it’s too easy to say they’re young,” King explained on Fox Footy.
“There’s phases in footy, you’ve got to step through those phases, you climb the ladder, you go up each rung and you step into a new window of opportunity. It might be deeper tactically, it might challenge players to become leaders ahead of time, those sort of things.
“Right now they’re at the bottom of the ladder. They’re at the bottom of the development stage. So you’ve got to give them a plan that they can actually adhere to and give them some morsels of success along the way.
“I don’t think Sam Mitchell is doing that. So I think they’re playing in a really aggressive plan that’s years ahead of where you’re at, games ahead of where you’re at.”
HAWTHORN (through Round 2)
– No.2 for corridor use
– No.18 for scores from corridor use
– Zero points from corridor use
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King showed multiple clips from the Hawks’ 81-point drubbing against Sydney on the weekend, which saw them kick their lowest score in 16 years – with only two goals on the board until late in the fourth quarter.
The clips showed Hawks players both young and (relatively) old making the same mistakes by boldly trying to find a teammate in the corridor, but constantly turning the ball over, often resulting in easy Swans goals.
“These are not all the kids. These are not all five-gamers or 20-gamers,” King explained.
“I’ve never seen a fullback kick it on his left foot coming out of the defensive 50 before? And then the hunt for corridor – that’s a precise kick, fantastic, but then you go again.
“Karl Amon’s not a first gamer, he’s a high-priced recruit, that sort of kick there doesn’t work in modern footy. It hasn’t worked for some time, that little dinky kick into the corridor.
“They’re 18th in the competition for giving up scores on turnover. That’s why. That’s a score they created. Sydney were there to defend but that counter-punch is too easy.
“Dylan Moore’s a good player. Runs into traffic here and most players take it long down the line, start again. That sort of kick (diagonally into the corridor) doesn’t work in AFL footy. Hasn’t worked in 10 years.
“It’s OK to say we’re gonna go for it, if it’s on we’re gonna take it, but these kicks just aren’t on. Left foot back into the corridor across your body to a 1 v 2?
“This kick here (by Changkuoth Jiath), alright, it might be a bit of a sky-er but you can’t be kicking that at AFL level.
“So I challenge the coach to get the corridor out of the game. They’ve come out of the defensive 50 15 times through the corridor and haven’t scored once – that is not giving your players the best opportunity to success.”
Rather than playing such a bold game style, both King and St Kilda great Leigh Montagna called on the Hawks to get the basics right first, and then move onto improving their attack.
“They’ve already taken one huge risk with the list, so you surely couldn’t take another one and play to shoot the lights out with the youngest team in the competition from day one,” King said.
“They’ve got to build the fundamentals first or you’ll break them. Emotionally you’ll break them and they’ll lose faith in what they’re doing as individuals and as a collective.”
Montagna responded: “Teach the fundamentals first, learn to win contests, learn to defend and all of those things and then add the layer of offence.
“That sort of ball movement, it’s kamikaze, you’re setting yourselves up to fail and giving yourselves no chance.”
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AFL 360 host Mark Robinson asked whether the Hawks are trying to model themselves on the new premiership favourites Collingwood, who have become renowned for their brilliant and bold ball movement.
But the Magpies are a slower ball movement team than they’d appear at first glance, often opting for the wing over the corridor, instead bringing speed into the game on turnover.
“That’s not Collingwood. Collingwood are the widest team in the competition – they play the boundary more than anyone,” King explained.
“To me that’s arrogance. That’s what it is. That’s, ‘I can do this, we can do this, let’s go’. Doesn’t work. You’ve got to start again.”
