Hawks’ off-target trend

Inaccuracy may be flag frontrunner Inverleigh’s downfall

IS there a chink in Inverleigh’s armour?

If there is — and maybe this is just nitpicking — then it would be the Hawks’ accuracy in front of goal.

Inverleigh all but assured itself of the GDFL’s minor premiership, comfortably accounting for Thomson by 38 points in the first-versus-second blockbuster on Saturday.

But things could easily have turned sour, with the Hawks woeful in front of goal in the 11.19 (85) to 6.11 (47) win.

It has been a bit of a trend for Inverleigh over the past 12 months, kicking 20-plus behinds in five of its 17 games this season. It also kicked 19 behinds in a recent shock loss to Werribee.

On Saturday, the Hawks dominated the first half, but walked into the sheds just 15 points up after kicking 3.12 to Thomson’s 3.2.

The Tigers got within a point during the third term before the Hawks finally found their mojo in front of goal and were able to build some scoreboard pressure — a promising result without Jak KennedyHunt (knee), who remains out indefinitely.

Coach Mark McDowell admits their accuracy in front of goal is a bit of a concern, especially leading into finals.

“(Goalkicking) has been a bit of our achilles heel,” McDowell said.

“Even last year in the grand final, Bell Post Hill played extraordinary football and kicked 17.2. We had more scoring shots than them (kicking 9.11) that day and that was the difference at the end of the day.

“Today we were lucky enough (that it didn’t come back to haunt us). We had a hell of a lot more scoring shots. We’ve had a focus on it before, kicking at goal and that sort of stuff. We tend to have a habit of doing it, but I hope it was just one of those days where things didn’t go well for us in terms of kicking at goal.

“Dean Muir missed one right in front of goal. Simon Seddon, a beautiful kick, missed one right in front of goal. Blake (Hutchinson) got the stutters up and missed one … we’re talking 10m out directly in front … how do you miss them?

“It’s a momentum thing and a mental game. Every player in that side can stand 10m out and kick a goal 10 times out of 10 if we did it on a Tuesday night. There’s a bit of mental pressure.”

In every other aspect of the game the Hawks were superb. They pressured well, forced Thomson to kick long and were able to get the ball moving forward on their terms, so much so the footy practically lived in their forward half for the second quarter.

Dalton Grundell was at his best and is likely to have polled more Whitley Medal votes, while Ryan Garrard thrived in wet conditions.

Livewire Toby Manganelli kicked two goals at crucial times and always looked dangerous. Michael Grozdanovski also impressed with his job on Sam Jacka.

“There was no doubt about that (our dominance). Our pressure was really good all day,” McDowell said.

“Looking at the stats board, we dominated in every area all day but missed some goals we should have got.

“From a pressure point of view, an effort point of view, a determination point of view, it was 10 out of 10. Execution and use of the ball? Probably only a three out of 10 for the day. It’s not good enough. You’d want to be seven or eight out of 10.”

Barring some sort of freak event, the win also sealed Inverleigh the minor premiership.

The Hawks sit four points an percentage at the top of the GDFL ladder with a clash against the winless Corio to round out the season.

It’s a position Inverleigh had last year and after having the opening week of finals off, fell to Bell Post Hill in the second week.

McDowell said his side would be better for that experience.

“I just feel they truly believe that if they play their best football then they will win. Maybe other years, they might have been thinking they’re not sure,” he said.

“I don’t think there’s any team that worries us. Some people would say Bell Post Hill and you’ve got to respect Bell Post Hill … they’re very experienced and they have a massive amount of self belief which they have earnt from winning all those premierships. They get there, they’re going to believe they can win it. But I think our group think that now, but we’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got to get there.”