WE MEET AGAIN
RIVALS HIT RICH VEIN OF FORM
LET’S forget for a moment that Geelong defeated Hawthorn by 86 points in April.
Let’s disregard that was one of four games this season the Hawks lost by 51 points or more.
Let’s ignore that the triple premiers of 2013, ’14 and ’15 sit 13th on the ladder with just six wins and a draw after 15 games.
Hawthorn is not the dominant side we saw for years on end, with Sam Mitchell, Jordan Lewis, Brian Lake, Buddy Franklin and co running amok.
Cyril Rioli and Josh Gibson are out injured, Ben Stratton is done for the year, and there are concerns surrounding livewire forward Paul Puopolo.
But the Hawks of the past three weeks are noticeably different to the team that appeared listless for much of the first half of the season.
The bye can do wonders for some AFL teams, and for others it can be a disaster.
Hawthorn has come out of the break refreshed and ready to cause headaches for opposition sides, as demonstrated by the way it has played and the results it has achieved.
It went to Adelaide on a mission and dismantled a premiership favourite, shutting down its ability to transition the ball into an open forward line.
It heeded the lessons learnt against Collingwood earlier in the year to reverse that result with what was, in the end, a comfortable victory.
It matched blows with the top-of-the-table GWS and got within seconds of an upset in a gutsy team performance.
Tom Mitchell is still a force to be reckoned with, Luke Hodge is back to his ferocious best, Ryan Burton looks to be a star in the making and Ben McEvoy is enjoying one of the best years of his career.
Geelong knows all too well what Hawthorn is capable of doing should it gain momentum early in the contest, and coach Chris Scott acknowledged that the Hawks team the Cats face this week will be entirely different to the one it squared off against in Round 4.
“It seems to be a season where it’s not really who you play but when you play them, and their last six weeks or so has obviously been really good,” Scott said.
“But the Geelong footy club will never lose respect for Hawthorn and never disregard the challenge that they can pose even when they’re not in their best form. Generally the games against Hawthorn have been ones where if they control the ball well they’re well and truly in the game.
“It appears to us that they have made some tweaks to their game and brought in some youth as well, and some of their better players that probably weren’t in careerbest form early in the year are starting to play pretty well, so the challenges keep on coming.
“I don’t think one should look at the ladder to determine the quality of the upcoming game. The better thing to do would be to have a look at Hawthorn’s last month or so, and ours, and if you do that I think most people would expect it to be a pretty tight tussle.”
Scott makes a valid point on his team’s form, as it has become increasingly difficult to score against in recent weeks and appears to now covet any opportunity it has to apply pressure on opposition players.
The Cats will not need to be reminded that they will need every bit of that intent on Saturday.