“That’s a brand name. Like Pepsi, that’s a brand name. I stand behind it. I guarantee it.” - Denzel Washington, from the movie “American Gangster”.
AFL teams will often talk about their “brand” as a footy side.
What is this, and how does it come about?
The “brand” refers to the style in which a team plays. A strong brand is one that is replicated week in week out, and stands up in big games, in finals footy.
All great teams have their own brand, and it is uniquely their own.
Far too many AFL clubs make the mistake of trying to copy a previous premier, rather than develop their own brand based on the strengths of their playing group.
The 2018 premiers, West Coast, played a controlled kick and mark game in attack, making use of their elite kickers and tall forward line. Eagles backs played off their opponents, taking “proactive positioning” and looking to intercept.
The 2016 premiers, Western Bulldogs, were well drilled in contested ball method, brought numbers up around the stoppage and used their fast handball skills to exit contests. Similar to West Coast, the Dogs backs took proactive positioning and supported each other in contests, covering for their lack of size.
The 2017 and 2019 premiers, Richmond, spent years borrowing heavily from Hawthorn, stretching the ground with width and looking to play a possession game out of their defensive half.
Their success came when they abandoned this philosophy and played a more direct style, bringing their half forwards up the ground and making use of their biggest strength, their elite running ability, to surge through opposition defence.
These last four AFL premiers all have something in common – their Senior Coach was previously an Assistant Coach to Alastair Clarkson at Hawthorn.
In fact, not since the Geelong-Collingwood Grand Final of 2011 has a Grand Final not included at least one team coached by Clarkson or one of his previous lieutenants.
So what now of the Hawks?
Their premiership group of 2013-15 has dwindled down to 9 remaining players (Shaun Burgoyne, Paul Puopolo, James Frawley, Isaac Smith, Ben Stratton, Ben McEvoy, Luke Breust, Jack Gunston and Liam Shiels).
Assistant Coaches from the 2013 premiership team included Leon Cameron, Brendon Bolton, Luke Beveridge and Adam Simpson, all of whom became Senior Coaches in their own right.
Key off field staff were poached by the AFL (David Rath, now at St Kilda) or by other clubs (fitness boss Andrew Russell, by Carlton).
The Hawks on-field brand has been dissected by opponents, and elements of it copied and adapted by other clubs.
In their premiership era, the Hawks brand was clearly identifiable.
In attack they stretched the ground with width, opening up space to move the ball with their elite kicking skills. Their forward line contained a perfect mix of options, from athletic talls (Roughead, Franklin, Gunston), to fast pressuring smalls that were dangerous around goals (Rioli, Breust, Puopolo).
Defensively the Hawks were quick to get into their defensive grid formation. Their backs would take away the dangerous space from their opponents and come off their own man to provide 3rd in support (Gibson, Lake).
Across the field the Hawks were flexible, with forwards able to spend time through the midfield, and midfielders able to drop out to half back. Their leadership, with the likes of Hodge, Mitchell, Roughead, Burgoyne and more, was unparalleled.
After recent losses to GWS, Collingwood, Melbourne and Sydney, there has been increasing discussion around the Hawks, their direction, Clarkson’s future, and exactly what sort of team the Hawks will be in the future.
Internally, these conversations would have started during the bye rounds of the 2019 season.
After finishing the home and away season in the top four in 2018, the Hawks were five wins and nine losses after 14 games in 2019, sitting 15th on the ladder.
From there a distinctive change was made to the Hawks’ ball movement. After years of playing at a moderate pace, the Hawks went for speed in attack. Playing on much more aggressively from marks, they were generating the 3rd most scores from turnover in the last eight rounds of the season.
The Hawks won six of their last eight games last year, with their increased ball speed and well-structured team defence allowing them to play the game in their half, only conceding 61.8 points per game (which would rank #1 if sustained over the full 2019 season).
At the start of 2020, this new Hawks brand was on display again. In their Round 1 victory over the Lions they played on from marks at the highest rate of the round and at a level not seen by a Hawthorn team since 2014.
In recent weeks the Hawks ball movement has been slowed, suffering from poor skill execution in the defensive half and an ever-changing mix of key forwards ahead of the ball. Early in-game injuries to Tim O’Brien and Jon Patton haven’t helped, while Mitch Lewis continues to develop and find his feet at AFL level.
The poor ball movement is jarring for Hawks fans to watch – they have been blessed with witnessing some of the most perfect attack in modern footy – but in the circumstances it is not surprising.
My feeling is that Clarkson is well on his way to establishing the new brand of Hawks footy. This is a process that started in the middle of 2019, not July 2020.
The rest of this season is about getting games into the new group of Hawks, building chemistry and reinforcing the non-negotiables of AFL footy.
Clarkson knows the path, he’s done it before, and remember, they’ve already beaten Richmond and Brisbane this year, two premiership contenders.
No club will be taking the Hawks lightly in the second half of 2020.