CATS’ SLICK MIX
Our forward combo more dangerous this time, says star goalkicker
A MORE “dangerous” forward line around Tom Hawkins has the big Cat confident his side can penetrate the Richmond defence in tomorrow night’s AFL Grand Final.
A clear and successful Tigers plan in Round 17 to slow Geelong’s ball movement and crowd Hawkins restricted the Cats to four goals and their lowest total of the season.
But the forward mix will have a distinctly different look tomorrow night, with Gary Rohan and Gary Ablett back in the side and Patrick Dangerfield set to spend more time up forward.
“They are dangerous players,” Hawkins said of the trio.
“It is really hard to match up on different avenues towards goal. It was exciting Ben Jarvis played his first game (in Round but to have the experience and knowledge of those three together is going to be a great benefit for us as a team.
“I think as a whole we have learnt a lot from last time.
“Not that we will be playing significantly different, we will still play our brand of footy but we will look to capitalise on our chances up forward.”
Hawkins registered an equal season-low six touches and kicked only one goal in that meeting with Richmond, when he spent 93 minutes matched up on Noah Balta.
The Tiger defender has impressed the Coleman medallist this season.
“Noah is a great athlete, from what footy I have seen from him. He reads the game really well,” Hawkins said.
“He’s a great player, he has a lot of talent and a lot of attributes. I have played on Alex Rance and David Astbury (in the past), David is in the side this week, so I dare say I will see him a little bit.”
Saturday will mark a return to the biggest stage for Hawkins, nine years after he came of age in the second half of the 2011 grand final.
In that game against Collingwood, a young Hawkins dragged in seven contested marks and booted three goals to help his side get home.
Two years earlier he kicked two important goals in a tight grand final to set up a win over St Kilda.
While he downplayed his role in those two premierships, he said he was excited to return to the decider.
“I was involved in those grand finals in that period of time but I didn’t have a great impact, so I suppose ultimately you get towards the back end of your career and into your 30s and you start to realise you don’t get the opportunity to play in grand finals very often,” he said.
“In four of my first five years the club played in grand finals and it became a bit of a routine to start your holidays in the first week of October, but that hasn’t happened for a long time.
“I cherish the opportunity and the position I am in and hope that we can execute and be on the right side of the ledger.”