Unbeaten Hawks Dine Out On Pies But Coach Says Side Now Marked Men
Sun Herald
Sunday May 4, 2008
HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson expects to have his game plan scrutinised more closely after his potent forwards inflicted a 65-point thrashing on Collingwood at the MCG yesterday.
Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Mark Williams combined for 17 goals as the Hawks out-muscled and out-classed Collingwood. The trio enjoyed a 10-goal, last-quarter party and fed off another dominant performance by their midfield. Not even a hamstring injury to Luke Hodge could stop the Hawks smashing the Pies in the middle, and Sam Mitchell led with 39 disposals. The Hawks' seventh straight win, before a crowd of 76,048, gave Clarkson a dream result given he had asked them to perform on the big stage. "We don't get the opportunity in front of those sorts of crowds on a regular basis and rightly so, too - we haven't been a well-performed club for some time now," he said. "But we think we're starting to deserve the opportunity to play in front of big crowds and we'd like to think we play a good brand of footy that people enjoy coming to watch." Clarkson admitted the more Hawthorn raised the bar, the more opposition sides would home in. Hawthorn's zone tactics were a major talking point after last week's win over Richmond and, between now and their round-eight game against Port Adelaide, Clarkson expected rivals to focus on how to stop the scoring rate. The twin talls of Roughead and Franklin booted six goals each, while Williams proved the trio could work together by kicking five. Hawthorn's win could have been far greater had Franklin and Roughead not kicked seven behinds between them before they found their range. "There'll be different strategies that the opposition use and they're not all going to have a day like they did today," said Clarkson. Hodge was dominant by half-time, when the Hawks already had a buffer, but hurt his right hamstring in the opening minutes of the third term. He was barely missed as Mitchell, Brad Sewell, Shane Crawford and their ruckmen constantly won clearances. Collingwood's forward line was pitiful in comparison as Anthony Rocca [ankle] missed again, Travis Cloke was thrashed by Trent Croad, Alan Didak was shut down by Grant Birchall when it mattered and Paul Medhurst managed one goal. Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse said the thrashing gave them plenty to work on either side of next weekend's break. Defensively, Shane Wakelin and Nathan Brown were regularly out-marked by Roughead and Franklin. Malthouse said he left Brown on Franklin so the young Magpie could learn something, and because there was no one else. "It was more, 'Let Browny have a taste of the medicine' than serve it up to someone else," he said.MILNE INSPIRES SAINTS TO THRILLING WINA SEVEN-goal haul from St Kilda goalsneak Stephen Milne lifted the Saints to a nailbiting 17.8 (110) to 16.11 (107) victory over Richmond at Telstra Dome last night. Milne put the Saints up by five points when he kicked his seventh almost 24 minutes into the final term, after outmarking Richmond defender Chris Newman one-handed 30 metres from goal. It was his third goal of the final quarter and ensured he finished the game a hero. Minutes earlier, he had missed a set shot from the right pocket with the Saints trailing by a single point. In last night's other match, Adelaide beat North Melbourne 15.17 (107) to 11.8 (74) at AAMI Stadium.
© 2008 Sun Herald
