Hawthorn great Luke Hodge has broken down what went wrong with his old side in their Friday night loss to Collingwood.
The Hawks had 14 points on the board at three quarter time and never looked like scoring as the Magpies pinned the ball in their forward half and dominated the stoppages.
Hodge believes Hawthorn’s game-plan falls apart on smaller grounds like GIANTS Stadium or GMHBA Stadium.
“I was really concerned coming into the game because of where they were playing and the size of the ground,” he told SEN’s Crunch Time.
“Hawthorn has never won at GIANTS Stadium. I think they’ve been there five or six times now. You mix that in with how they played down in Geelong with the skinnier ground and it just shows that their game style really struggles on that tight and narrow ground.
“They’re a kicking team. James Sicily turned over the ball three times in the first quarter trying to go for his short 45 degree punchy kicks through the middle, but because of the ground size there’s more density through the middle of the ground and Collingwood were able to get a finger on one or smother another one which made the Hawks guys tighten up a little bit and decided to go back and slow which you just can’t do on that ground.”
Despite the club recording their lowest score since 1964, Hodge isn’t particularly worried about Hawthorn’s forward line.
Instead, he believes the problem lies in their ability to win clearances early which in turn gets the game on their terms and allows their defensive structure to set up.
“I think halfway through the second quarter it was 20-odd inside 50s to eight,” Hodge said.
“It was more the transition and I think all credit goes to Collingwood on how they’ve reviewed how Hawthorn has played GIANTS Stadium and how GWS played them last week.
“It was all about how they won the stoppages, they were so clean, they outnumbered around the pack.
“I think the way Hawthorn has played in the past against Collingwood, they win clearances with Tom Mitchell and normally they’re able to set up their zone behind the play and behind the ball.
“The clearances were all going Collingwood’s way early. The game was played in Collingwood’s forward half and if you look at the height and the rebound ability of Hawthorn’s backline, they naturally play tall and taking intercept marks.
“They just didn’t have enough rebound and they didn’t try enough stuff early. I think later in the game they had Isaac Smith back there breaking a few lines, but as you said four scoring shots to three quarter time just isn’t enough.
“I think they’ll look at that and say next time they play on a smaller ground they need to put a Jarman Impey down there or someone smaller who’s going to link up, get a short kick or a running handball receive to break through the lines rather than doing it by foot.”
Impey made his return for the Hawks in their scratch match on Saturday afternoon after tearing his ACL in 2019.
Hawthorn’s Twitter account stated Impey was “very solid” in the game and “provided great rebound offensively as well”.