Hawthorn
Coach – Sam Mitchell
2021 –
Points For – 13th
Points Against – 15th
Top 5 Best and Fairest
- Tom Mitchell
- Blake Hardwick
- Jaeger O’Meara
- Dylan Moore
- Chad Wingard
2021 Rising Star Noms
Jacob Koschitzke (Round 6)
Ins – Max Lynch, Josh Ward, Sam Butler, Jai Serong, Connor MacDonald, Ned Long, Fionn O’Hara
Outs – Keegan Brooksby, Shaun Burgoyne, Jonathon Ceglar, James Cousins, Damon Greaves, Ollie Hanrahan, Michael Hartley, Tim O’Brien, Jonathon Patton, Harrison Pepper, Tom Scully
My Prediction
Been a rough twelve months for the Hawks which brings me nothing put pleasure. They had given their greatest ever coach the Khyber and brought in Sam Mitchell to oversee what I desperately hope is a miserable period. Other clubs have finally caught on and stopped giving the Hawks free hits during trade period and suddenly their list management looks dodgier than a DM from Patton.
The backline is soft, Hartigan and Sicily hold down the key position, Jiath looked strong at the start of last season but his impact was reduced significantly as teams saw more of him. Scrimshaw has been a reasonable pick up but is just an average half back. As much as I dont want to like him, Hardwick is a solid player. Frost rounds out their backline and is here for the amusement of every fan not draping themselves in brown and yellow.
The midfield is middling. Tom Mitchell is their best player but also has been found out, its telling there were no takers when him and Jaeger were shopped around at seasons end. They have Day and Phillips who are plodders. Worpel is a good player and damaging when on, I also liked the look of Newcombe from the midseason draft last year.
The forward line is headed by Kosi and Lewis which are two pretty solid young KPPs. They are ably supported by Wingard who is as inconsistent as ever, Gunston who is broken and Breust who is an absolute game winner when on.
The rucks are McEvoy and Reeves who they also picked up in the midseason last year. McEvoy showed sign last year that he doesnt havent too long left so the pressure on Reeves is coming. Mitchell has a reputation that he can coach, no one knows, he certainly hasnt covered himself in glory early on with his list management skills. His biggest challenge will be coaching around his own ego.
People will be seduced by Mitchell and Hawthorn at times during the year but he is a first time coach, heading up a pretty mediocre list. They have turned over an enormous amount of players over the last two years and have not brought in the same quality. I think they slide again this year. Bottom four for sure, 15-16 looks around the mark for me.