Hawks Expose Magpies' Weak Links
The Sunday Age
Sunday May 4, 2008
COLLINGWOOD coach Mick Malthouse admitted many of his players failed to measure up against Hawthorn at the MCG yesterday, exposing weaknesses "across the board" that needed urgent correction.
The Hawks kicked 10 goals in the final term on the way to a 65-point victory, leaving Malthouse in no doubt there was "plenty to work on" in the weeks ahead."I don't know if we play them again, hopefully we do, and if it's not during the home-and-away series, hopefully we're good enough to make the finals," he said."One thing is for certain, we're not in a position where we'll even contemplate giving up. We will go for it, we'll experiment and we'll keep working at it."He said the Magpies were beaten in "a lot of aspects of the game" and highlighted the "substandard" work ethic of his forwards."We were smashed in the centre (and) our backs on the day just weren't up to scratch. A few of them are really patchy at the moment," he said.But heading into the break with three wins from seven games, he said he was not despondent."We'd be kidding ourselves if we didn't acknowledge the fact that we've got some weaknesses across the board (and) this is the challenge now," he said."We reassess the lines and a few of the match-ups, not against Hawthorn, but where players play and how they work together. There's a lot of work to be done."Hawks ball-magnet Luke Hodge will be unavailable to play for Victoria next week after injuring his hamstring early in the third term.Hodge was the most damaging player on the ground in the first half, kicking two goals and picking up 14 touches as the Hawks jumped out to a 21-point lead at the main break.Coach Alastair Clarkson said the 23-year-old could miss two to three weeks, including the Hall of Fame game and games against Port Adelaide and Melbourne.The hard-working midfielder's injury was the only blow in the Hawks' comprehensive victory in front of 76,000 people, although ruckman Simon Taylor did receive a heavy knock to the head, which temporarily forced him from the ground."We don't get an opportunity to play in front of those sort of crowds on a regular basis (and) we think we're starting to deserve the opportunity to play in front of big crowds," Clarkson said."We'd like to think we play a good brand of footy that people enjoy coming to watch. It was a great bonus for our players to play in that sort of atmosphere."After forwards Lance Franklin, Jarryd Roughead and Mark Williams kicked 17 goals between them, Clarkson said he expects the side to come in for even greater scrutiny."We know it's only round seven and we've got a long way to go. All we ask as a coaching staff is that we have 22 guys that contribute and play their role, and for the bulk of the day we had that," he said.
© 2008 The Sunday Age
