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We’ve spent most of this season waiting for a night like this. Not the result, obviously. The opportunity.
A near full-strength Hawthorn, three weeks out from finals, walking into the Gabba to face the back-to-back premiers in a game that Sam Mitchell said afterwards had the intensity and feeling of a final.
We wanted to find out whether we were ready. We were not.
This was comfortably one of our worst performances of the season. We were outmuscled, lost too many one-on-ones and completely lost our composure when Brisbane turned up the heat. The most worrying part? We can’t blame the midfield. We won clearances by 11 and centre clearances by four. For a period in the third quarter we’d actually had more inside 50s.
And we were still getting belted.
We also can’t point towards some cavalry coming back. Conor Nash aside, this was basically it. Our most experienced players were out there and too many of them had bad nights at exactly the wrong time of the season.
Brisbane were excellent as reigning premiers tend to be. But we’re well beyond the point where simply acknowledging the quality of the opposition is enough.
If we genuinely think this team can win a premiership, these are the teams we need to beat … or, at the very least, compete with.
The good news: we have two more rounds to get our heads right ahead of finals. And while questions still remain, a big statement win against Collingwood and we can get our season back on track.
1. This wasn’t a midfield loss. Hawthorn won the clearances by 11 and centre clearances by four. We had enough football and enough opportunities to keep ourselves in the game. What happened after we won it was the problem.
2. Brisbane’s pressure completely destroyed our composure. Fumbles, missed handballs, short kicks straight to opponents and even uncontested marks bouncing off our chests. The actual pressure was enormous, but the perceived pressure became just as damaging.
3. We lost too many one-on-ones. This was the part that should concern us heading towards September. Brisbane were stronger and more composed in the big moments, while too many of our senior players lost contests we’d expect them to win.
4. The forward-half pressure was as bad as we’ve seen all year. For all the territory we generated, Brisbane were far too comfortable getting the ball back out. When our forward line wasn’t marking it, we weren’t making life difficult enough for them afterwards.
5. The forward structure has become a legitimate question. Jack Gunston still kicked three, but the issue isn’t Gunston himself. Against good defensive sides, the disconnected model can leave our other tall forwards struggling for influence and our smalls too far from goal to provide the pressure that makes us dangerous.
6. Cam Mackenzie gave us something. In a night when plenty of senior players struggled with the heat, Mackenzie looked composed, strong through contact and willing to take the game on. If nothing else, we learned something encouraging about a player yet to experience finals football.
7. This was essentially our Best 23. Hawthorn went into the game with an average age of 26.2 and 131 games of experience. Conor Nash was the notable absentee, but there isn’t a group of established stars waiting at Box Hill to transform this side in September.
8. The Wizard went goalless for the first time in 30 games. He’s bailed us out plenty this year including against North last week. Stop the Wiz stop Hawthorn?
9. The margin matters. Good teams lose games. Brisbane themselves were smashed by Carlton a week earlier. But getting beaten by 67 points this close to finals, with this much experience on the park, is difficult to wave away.
In one of his best games for the season Massimo D’Ambrosio tried his guts out, and it was this piercing run through traffic that was a clear highlight. Was part of the play prior and ended up receiving the ball 35 metres out, stopped, propped and elduded five Lion players to slot through a much needed goal
Fourth game in a row that Jars has kicked a goal - and his fifth for the season. Nothing gets the juices flowing quite like Jars running off half back, getting to about 60 metres out, receiving a handball and taking a flying shot as he streams inside 50. More of it in 2026 please.
The good news is that from after the Brisbane Olympics in 2032 the GABBA will be no more. What a horrible hunting ground it has been for us in recent times. Since 1993 we have played 21 matches at the GABBA only managing six wins. Indeed since the turn of the century we have registered three wins from 14 matches, and it continues to be a stinker of a stadium to visit. So we really really really will love to see … the destruction of the stadium, and us never having to play there again.
The numbers might point you towards Jai Newcombe or Josh Ward, but Mackenzie was our best. What stood out wasn’t simply finding the football. It was how he handled the pressure that caused so many teammates problems. One of the knocks on Mackenzie early in his career was that he could get caught trying to do too much with the ball. That’s changing. He’s stronger through contact, more willing to take the first option and, when it isn’t there, increasingly capable of breaking free and driving through the contest himself. He’s never played a final. Based on what we saw at the Gabba, we’re looking forward to seeing what he can do in one.
Massimo kept working when the game was going badly around him and was one of the few Hawks who continued trying to provide some run and connection. It wasn’t a night for pretty numbers or honourable mentions. But when you’re looking for players who kept having a crack while Brisbane were pulling the game apart, Massimo deserves some recognition.
We’ve intentionally left this one blank. Eight players have debuted for Hawthorn this year. Not one of them played on Friday night.
That was our most experienced side of the season and, for all the talent on the park, there was something missing. As we discussed on the pod, the kids have brought a fearlessness, energy and enthusiasm every time they’ve been given an opportunity.
We’re not suggesting we throw out our best 23 three weeks before finals. But after watching an experienced Hawthorn side look so tentative under pressure, maybe injecting some youth — whether it’s Noah Mraz, Ollie Greeves, Jack Dalton or someone else — is exactly what we need.
Sometimes not knowing any better can be a good thing.
This is bigger than one player.
Jack Gunston kicked three goals, so pointing the finger at him would completely miss the issue. The question is whether the forward structure built around getting Gunston isolated can consistently hold up against the best defensive teams. We’ve now seen good sides find ways to disrupt it.
Brisbane denied us the space we wanted, Harris Andrews controlled the air, Mitch Lewis struggled to influence the game and Mabior Chol played arguably his worst game in the brown and gold. More concerning was what happened when we didn’t mark it. Our forward-half pressure was almost non-existent for long periods and Brisbane repeatedly escaped without paying a price.
That’s the trade-off we need to examine. When the structure works, Gunston is having an extraordinary season and Watson is one of the most dangerous small forwards in the competition. When an opposition takes those avenues away, where do the goals come from?
Watson going goalless for the first time in 30 games shouldn’t result in the entire forward line grinding to a halt.
On the performance:
“I thought we were outclassed tonight. I think we’re better than that.”
On getting a finals-like examination:
“It felt on the bench, in the early part of the game, the first quarter and a half probably felt like a final. It had that environment. It had that feeling.”
On what went wrong despite winning enough of the ball:
“We ended up having a pretty good clearance night against a very good clearance team. So there were some things that come out of the game that you think, okay, that’s something we can work with, but realistically we weren’t good enough tonight.”
On being close to full strength:
“That’s amongst the disappointing things about tonight.”
And on what comes next:
“We’re better than that and we’re going to have to prove it.”
“I think we just got beaten around the contest, which was kind of our sole focus for the game and we just got beaten by what we know. We will go to work and hopefully turn it around next week because we really need to step up.
“Our pressure around the ball was just not up to the standard tonight and I think in the third quarter we layed like four tackles for the quarter, so when you can’t put pressure on the opposition it is going to be really hard to get the ball and create opportunities.
“I think we need to prepare well, we will go to work as we have an eight day break, so looking forward to recovery and getting everyone’s body right and then going to work at training. We need to work on a few things - preparation brings confidence to go into the game this week so looking forward to the challenge.”
Collingwood. Saturday night.
If there’s one thing capable of changing the mood around Hawthorn very quickly, it’s beating the Pies.
Last time we met, we somehow walked away with a draw. We dominated centre clearances 7-0 in the opening quarter and generated plenty of opportunities across the night, but kicked 13.15 while Collingwood made almost everything count with 15.3. It took Dylan Moore’s goal after the siren to get us level at 93-all.
Sound familiar?
Once again, we had enough of the footy to win and didn’t get enough reward for it. The difference on Friday night was Brisbane eventually made us pay to the tune of 67 points.
So this isn’t just another big game. It’s a chance to answer two questions at once: can we respond after getting belted by a genuine contender, and can we finally turn territorial dominance against Collingwood into a win?
After the Gabba, we need both. Critical is an understatement as losing could see us drop out of the top 4.
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