Hawthorn has seemingly made an “extreme” change to the way they play in 2020, looking to take the game on and play with a lot more speed.
Former Essendon captain Tim Watson said the shift was brought to his attention early on in the pre-season.
“I was told very early in the piece that Hawthorn were probably going to play a different brand of football this year, they had sped everything up,” Watson told SEN Breakfast.
“This was according to a track watcher – my track water. He goes out and watches the clubs for me and he came back and he came back to me and said Hawthorn is going to play fast in 2020. Alastair Clarkson has just turned this thing on its ear.”
Champion Data analyst Daniel Hoyne said the numbers from Hawthorn’s Marsh Community Series clash with St Kilda backed this up.
“How they played against St Kilda, you’re absolutely on the money here,” Hoyne said.
“We have to be a little bit cautious as it is one Marsh Series game, but there has been evidence over time that when a team significantly changes what they’re doing in the Marsh Series compared to the year before, that actually goes through to the actual season.
“This was an extreme (change). If we had a look at what Hawthorn did against St Kilda on the weekend, they went through the corridor when exiting (defensive) 50, 46 per cent of the time compared to last year 16 per cent.
“Their mark and play on rate was 41 per cent. Last year it was 31 per cent.
“They’re extreme numbers from one sample. It will be really interesting to see what they do in their next Marsh Series game.
“That is something to actually take notice of.”
The Hawks will take on Melbourne in the second round of the Marsh Community Series in Tasmania and this will be something to keep an eye on.