Rocketman#1
Rookie
The latest expert opinion from the AGE.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnew...r-harried-hawks/2009/06/04/1243708567364.html
HAWTHORN is hurt; that much is obvious. Last year's premier sit five and five and clinging to eighth place. Four of those wins have come over languishing sides in Melbourne, Fremantle, North Melbourne and West Coast. The only fancied opponent the Hawks have dispatched has been Carlton. Just.
The Hawks have been smashed by injury; it is a reason, not an excuse. But while injury might explain the why it tells little of the how. Sometimes also, it can obscure the full truth. What are Hawthorn doing differently in 2009 and — the question some of the best minds in football are asking — have the Hawks been figured out?
Has the Clarkson cluster lost some lustre?
"It is not just injuries, no way," says one assistant coach who has beaten the Hawks this year. "Not having your best players hurts you but every club spent all summer implementing their own zonal structure with pressing. By practising doing it we learned how to attack against it."
It was Terry Wallace who first publicly identified that Hawthorn was doing something different last year. This weekend, as he exits the game, it is reasonable to ask if Hawthorn's unique gamestyle might be headed the same way.
After losing to Adelaide last Sunday, Alastair Clarkson wondered aloud how many premiership clubs had debuted five players so soon after grand final glory.
The answer, somewhat surprisingly, is plenty. West Coast in 2007 played five debutants over 22 rounds. Port Adelaide in 2005 had four. Brisbane Lions had five throughout 2004. Hawthorn, though, has done it in 10 rounds.
These are talented youngsters, Muston and Moss, Schoenmakers and Shiels, but they are not yet expert in the 15-man zone deployed with such success last year.
"It takes a fair bit of practice, leadership and confidence to get right," said another assistant coach to have unlocked the cluster this year. "When they play it this year, it is just not the same."
A look at the stats sheet reveals some fascinating facts about the 2009 Hawks. Steven Gilham and Trent Croad — the club's two best key defenders — have been missing all year. Add to that the absence of Luke Hodge and you'd expect trouble in defence.
You'd be mostly wrong. Hawthorn in 2009 concedes a score from 54.5 per cent of opposition forward entries. It is the third leakiest defence in the competition but here is where it gets interesting: the 2009 Hawk defence is more frugal than the 2008 premiership model.
The Hawks were lauded for their disposal last year, the foot skills of Hodge, Clinton Young, Stewart Dew and Brent Guerra considered vital and the club ranked No. 1 in the league for effective kicking.
Last year, 72 per cent of all Hawthorn kicks found their intended target. This year, somewhat surprisingly, that trend continues. Again the Hawks are the best kick in the league, their efficiency at 71.9 per cent.
What has changed is the amount of times the ball comes into their defence and the speed and precision with which they rebound.
"It's not just that Croad's out or Gilham's out, there is more ball coming into their defensive 50 this year," says another assistant coach to have enjoyed success against them. They are winning less contested footy because they are not as good at forcing turnovers from that kick out of defence and they are not winning it at stoppages as much."
The Hawks were useful at stoppages last year but that is not where they built their season. "They were sensational last year at cutting the ball off when you attacked, they'd shorten the field, you'd turn it over and they'd go bang back in your face," the assistant says.
Those turnovers —- a product of the famed pressing zone — allowed good kicks such as Young and Rick Ladson to pump the ball fast and direct to Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin. They are sorely missed.
Other teams are playing a little differently too. Last year Hawthorn averaged 173 handballs per match — the second highest in the competition. This year it averages the same number but lies 10th. Everybody else is handballing more; hanging on to the ball. Some in football call it sieving, it is the industry's answer to the Clarkson cluster.
Essendon beat the Hawks by kicking long, direct and quickly over the zone to loose men in the forward line but other sides have worked on maintaining composure and handballing through it.
"Players are not spooked by it as much as they were," says an assistant coach. "When a team uses the ball well, they can't win it off them."
An opposition scout from a club that beat the Hawks this year agrees: "The rolling zone has served them well but they need someone to organise it for them."
Hodge is the general who directs the defensive structure as it presses into midfield to — as Dutch soccer theory would put it — make the pitch small.
Without his brain and leadership the zone struggles. That's why another man with those traits — captain Sam Mitchell — was tried at half-back against West Coast. It's why Hodge will be rushed back this week, ready or not.
Against Adelaide, another weakness was exploited. The Crows fielded a tall forward in Kirk Tippet as well as two ruckmen. That meant Robert Campbell had to drop back, weakening the Hawks' ruck division.
When Campbell was needed in the ruck, Roughead and later Franklin were sent back to plug the gap. Adelaide was thrilled.
Against Sydney this weekend the same paradox arises.
Can the Hawks afford to play their best ruckman as a stopper on the in-form Barry Hall? The opposition scout says the Hawks rely more on man-on-man defence around the ground as the cluster comes under pressure. "There were signs early in the year that most clubs had spent time in the pre-season sieving the rolling zone. It ambushed a few clubs last year but when everyone sat back and examined it, it was not as hard to pull apart as we had thought," he says.
The picture is of an uncertain gameplan. "Last year they knew how they wanted to play and they did it every week," an assistant coach says. "Not this year. You show me a team that has too many gameplans and I'll show you a team that does not excel at any one gameplan."
One thing is clear, whatever is happening, the club does not want to talk about it. Coach Alastair Clarkson would not speak to The Age this week and permission to speak to any member of the club's coaching staff was also refused.
Stoppage king Sydney awaits. Last year, Hawthorn outscored its opponents by a total of 269 points from stoppages. This year it has been outscored by 83 points. The Hawks' ability to get hands on the ball in pack situations and break free of congestion has dropped.
There are also worries up forward. Franklin and Roughead, Cyril Rioli, Michael Osbourne and Mark Williams have all been available for most of the year. Clarkson's men snagged an average of 11 contested marks each week in 2008, the second most of any team. This year that has fallen to just over six a game, stone cold last.
The club of Franklin and Roughead — the twin towers of modern football — is the worst in the league for contested marks. That is extraordinary. In 2008 the Hawks registered a score 58 per cent of the time when they went inside the 50 metres arc, the highest efficiency rate of any side. This year, it is 48 per cent and they rank 10th.
"Franklin and Roughead are just not marking them as much, and the intensity of forward 50 tackles from Osbourne and Rioli is not as fanatical either," a rival assistant coach says.
It was Terry Wallace who first drew attention to the cluster. Another Wallace idea is the crunch game. Hawthorn faces one this weekend. Win it and the Hawks are six and five with games to follow against Brisbane, West Coast, the Bulldogs, Roos and Collingwood. Lose and it is a long way back.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnew...r-harried-hawks/2009/06/04/1243708567364.html
HAWTHORN is hurt; that much is obvious. Last year's premier sit five and five and clinging to eighth place. Four of those wins have come over languishing sides in Melbourne, Fremantle, North Melbourne and West Coast. The only fancied opponent the Hawks have dispatched has been Carlton. Just.
The Hawks have been smashed by injury; it is a reason, not an excuse. But while injury might explain the why it tells little of the how. Sometimes also, it can obscure the full truth. What are Hawthorn doing differently in 2009 and — the question some of the best minds in football are asking — have the Hawks been figured out?
Has the Clarkson cluster lost some lustre?
"It is not just injuries, no way," says one assistant coach who has beaten the Hawks this year. "Not having your best players hurts you but every club spent all summer implementing their own zonal structure with pressing. By practising doing it we learned how to attack against it."
It was Terry Wallace who first publicly identified that Hawthorn was doing something different last year. This weekend, as he exits the game, it is reasonable to ask if Hawthorn's unique gamestyle might be headed the same way.
After losing to Adelaide last Sunday, Alastair Clarkson wondered aloud how many premiership clubs had debuted five players so soon after grand final glory.
The answer, somewhat surprisingly, is plenty. West Coast in 2007 played five debutants over 22 rounds. Port Adelaide in 2005 had four. Brisbane Lions had five throughout 2004. Hawthorn, though, has done it in 10 rounds.
These are talented youngsters, Muston and Moss, Schoenmakers and Shiels, but they are not yet expert in the 15-man zone deployed with such success last year.
"It takes a fair bit of practice, leadership and confidence to get right," said another assistant coach to have unlocked the cluster this year. "When they play it this year, it is just not the same."
A look at the stats sheet reveals some fascinating facts about the 2009 Hawks. Steven Gilham and Trent Croad — the club's two best key defenders — have been missing all year. Add to that the absence of Luke Hodge and you'd expect trouble in defence.
You'd be mostly wrong. Hawthorn in 2009 concedes a score from 54.5 per cent of opposition forward entries. It is the third leakiest defence in the competition but here is where it gets interesting: the 2009 Hawk defence is more frugal than the 2008 premiership model.
The Hawks were lauded for their disposal last year, the foot skills of Hodge, Clinton Young, Stewart Dew and Brent Guerra considered vital and the club ranked No. 1 in the league for effective kicking.
Last year, 72 per cent of all Hawthorn kicks found their intended target. This year, somewhat surprisingly, that trend continues. Again the Hawks are the best kick in the league, their efficiency at 71.9 per cent.
What has changed is the amount of times the ball comes into their defence and the speed and precision with which they rebound.
"It's not just that Croad's out or Gilham's out, there is more ball coming into their defensive 50 this year," says another assistant coach to have enjoyed success against them. They are winning less contested footy because they are not as good at forcing turnovers from that kick out of defence and they are not winning it at stoppages as much."
The Hawks were useful at stoppages last year but that is not where they built their season. "They were sensational last year at cutting the ball off when you attacked, they'd shorten the field, you'd turn it over and they'd go bang back in your face," the assistant says.
Those turnovers —- a product of the famed pressing zone — allowed good kicks such as Young and Rick Ladson to pump the ball fast and direct to Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin. They are sorely missed.
Other teams are playing a little differently too. Last year Hawthorn averaged 173 handballs per match — the second highest in the competition. This year it averages the same number but lies 10th. Everybody else is handballing more; hanging on to the ball. Some in football call it sieving, it is the industry's answer to the Clarkson cluster.
Essendon beat the Hawks by kicking long, direct and quickly over the zone to loose men in the forward line but other sides have worked on maintaining composure and handballing through it.
"Players are not spooked by it as much as they were," says an assistant coach. "When a team uses the ball well, they can't win it off them."
An opposition scout from a club that beat the Hawks this year agrees: "The rolling zone has served them well but they need someone to organise it for them."
Hodge is the general who directs the defensive structure as it presses into midfield to — as Dutch soccer theory would put it — make the pitch small.
Without his brain and leadership the zone struggles. That's why another man with those traits — captain Sam Mitchell — was tried at half-back against West Coast. It's why Hodge will be rushed back this week, ready or not.
Against Adelaide, another weakness was exploited. The Crows fielded a tall forward in Kirk Tippet as well as two ruckmen. That meant Robert Campbell had to drop back, weakening the Hawks' ruck division.
When Campbell was needed in the ruck, Roughead and later Franklin were sent back to plug the gap. Adelaide was thrilled.
Against Sydney this weekend the same paradox arises.
Can the Hawks afford to play their best ruckman as a stopper on the in-form Barry Hall? The opposition scout says the Hawks rely more on man-on-man defence around the ground as the cluster comes under pressure. "There were signs early in the year that most clubs had spent time in the pre-season sieving the rolling zone. It ambushed a few clubs last year but when everyone sat back and examined it, it was not as hard to pull apart as we had thought," he says.
The picture is of an uncertain gameplan. "Last year they knew how they wanted to play and they did it every week," an assistant coach says. "Not this year. You show me a team that has too many gameplans and I'll show you a team that does not excel at any one gameplan."
One thing is clear, whatever is happening, the club does not want to talk about it. Coach Alastair Clarkson would not speak to The Age this week and permission to speak to any member of the club's coaching staff was also refused.
Stoppage king Sydney awaits. Last year, Hawthorn outscored its opponents by a total of 269 points from stoppages. This year it has been outscored by 83 points. The Hawks' ability to get hands on the ball in pack situations and break free of congestion has dropped.
There are also worries up forward. Franklin and Roughead, Cyril Rioli, Michael Osbourne and Mark Williams have all been available for most of the year. Clarkson's men snagged an average of 11 contested marks each week in 2008, the second most of any team. This year that has fallen to just over six a game, stone cold last.
The club of Franklin and Roughead — the twin towers of modern football — is the worst in the league for contested marks. That is extraordinary. In 2008 the Hawks registered a score 58 per cent of the time when they went inside the 50 metres arc, the highest efficiency rate of any side. This year, it is 48 per cent and they rank 10th.
"Franklin and Roughead are just not marking them as much, and the intensity of forward 50 tackles from Osbourne and Rioli is not as fanatical either," a rival assistant coach says.
It was Terry Wallace who first drew attention to the cluster. Another Wallace idea is the crunch game. Hawthorn faces one this weekend. Win it and the Hawks are six and five with games to follow against Brisbane, West Coast, the Bulldogs, Roos and Collingwood. Lose and it is a long way back.
