SEN host David King wasn’t a fan of what he saw from Hawthorn in their 38-93 Round 2 loss to Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday.
The Hawks went into the game trying to control the ball in their defensive half, taking a huge 112 uncontested marks as they tried to play keepings off with Melbourne’s defence.
While the Hawks were able to take plenty of grabs, particularly early on, King thinks it served no purpose as the Demons managed to score almost 100 points anyway while the Hawks never really threatened inside 50.
King picked out the first quarter in particular as a period of the game that he was dismayed with as the Hawks had 50 uncontested marks but could only muster six inside 50s.
He doesn’t think that one player on Hawthorn’s list got any value out of starting the game off in such a fashion.
“What I saw on the weekend really, it just doesn't sit well with me,” King said on SEN Whateley.
“If we're on a development pathway and we're on a full bottom-out rebuild and they are three years in, this is his third year.
“So, I think they're three years into a rebuild and they're in a hurry. But are they in a hurry?
“Look, I'm not saying you have to have the finished product with how you're playing, but how they played on the weekend serves no purpose.
“That 50 uncontested mark first quarter, there's not one player that got a benefit out of that. They had six inside fifties.”
While Hawthorn showed some positive signs in 2023, beating both Collingwood and Brisbane – the Grand Finalists – during the home and away season at the MCG, King thinks that those wins came off the back of playing daring football.
King thinks that those games showed the Hawks what they’re working with while playing how they did in Round 2 doesn’t allow them to get a proper look at their list.
“Everyone says, ‘Hey last year we beat the Grand Finalists’,” King said.
“I'm telling you, you didn't beat them like that. You beat them because you went out and expressed yourselves, played and said, ‘Let's find out what we’ve got’.
“We learned about (Josh) Ward, and we learn about (Jai) Newcombe, (Will) Day's going to be a star … you get to know what tools you've got (by playing that way), you learn.
“But when you kick the ball around backwards to each other for 30 minutes, it doesn’t teach you anything about a player on that list.
“(James) Sicily had 10 marks in a quarter. I think we're aware of what Sicily can do. That’s why he's the leader at the front.
“You're basically telling your group if you're going to go in with that plan that you can't win.
“I don't know if that's a great starting point. Of course, you're a low percentage chance to win, every player going to the game knows that they know what they're up against,”
While the Hawks employed the game plan to not play into the hands of Steven May and Jake Lever, King thinks that they’ll be faced with the same scenario week-in-week-out as every club possesses quality intercept defenders.
“The simple answer coming back is that,’ We can't just kick the ball to Lever and May’. Well, every team’s got a Lever or a May,” King said.
“You’ve got to go around (Jeremy) McGovern, you’ve got to go around Sicily … pick any team, you’ve got to go around Harris Andrews and Darcy Moore … every team’s got that player.
“It's not a new discussion.”
Hawthorn will hope to show some improvement when they face Geelong in their traditional MCG clash on Easter Monday.
