Spirited Intra Club Game at Whitten Oval
Just a quick one to keep you all updated on some intra club games that have been played over the last couple of days. The Hawks headed down to Aurora Stadium in Launceston. There were certainly a couple of interesting match ups during the game with tagger Brad Sewell giving new skipper Sam Mitchell hell and also Grant Birchill lining up on veteran Shane Crawford. But the biggest task of the day was given to Hugh Sandilands who was given the imposing task of nullifying gun forward Lance Franklin. Now from all reports he did OK keeping Franklin quiet early before he broke loose late to finish with three goals. But the standout was Tim Boyle, he kicked 5 goals all in the first half. Maybe the Hawks have been reading how their forward line is the least effective in the AFL. The boys over at DT Talk were at the game and have a great review of the game.
Western Bulldogs
Over at the Whitten Oval the Bulldogs were put through their paces in the pouring rain. Now intra club matches tend to be a glorified training session but there was a bit of intensity from a few of the Doggies with Brad Johnson and Nathan Eagleton involved in a wrestling match behind the play at one stage. New recruit Ben Hudson played the first half in the ruck and starred, while Ryan Griffen and Daniel Cross look set for big years as they return from injury.
The standout and clearly best on ground was Jason Akermanis, he played both up forward and in the middle of the ground. Other notable mentions went to Guy O’Keefe who impressed with his ability to win the ball, Jarrad Grant and Andrejs Everitt had an entertaining battle, with Grant narrowly taking the points for his intensity and presence around the contests.
As I mentioned in a previous post I am going to head out and have a look at the Bombers intra club game on the weekend and will report back with all the news.
AFL Pre Season Update - Stewart Dew
Well he was said to have been a gamble draft pick for Alastair Clarkson and the Hawthorn Football Club but it appears the weight seems to be coming off the ex Port Adelaide utility and we could even see him playing as soon as the NAB Cup. I have always thought that Dew could offer a great deal to the Hawks, not only in his leadership and experience but on the field as well. Provided he wants to be playing AFL Football, and from all reports he is “keen as mustard” as they say and it shows in his training and his commitment to dropping the kilos. He will slot in quite nicely as a pinch hitter up forward or in defense as a long kicking defender
Hawthorn Captain Sam Mitchell said “I’d be well and truly happy to run out next to him at the moment.” showing that he is just about ready to go which is a great sign for the Hawks and not such a great sign for opposition clubs. But the big area will be his experience that he will bring to the young side.
“He’s helping out the young guys, telling them what to do and where to go, and the patterns they should be running and the things they should be doing. When you can get an extra leader like that at the age of 28 or 29, and a premiership player into the footy club, it’s a great thing for us.”
You can’t beat the experience of a premiership player and all is going along nicely for the Hawks it seems as they gear up for the 2008 AFL Season.
Read the Hawthorn 2008 Preview here.
Can the Hawks win 2 Flags by 2012?
Well they have publicly stated that their premiership window is officially open and want to win 2 premierships by 2012 but can the Hawks achieve this goal?
First let’s take a look at the Additions and Deletions from the Hawks list:
ADDITIONS:
Rookie elevation: Luke McEntee
NAB AFL Draft: Stuart Dew (Port Adelaide), Cyril Rioli (St Marys), Brendan Whitecross (Zillmere)
DELETIONS:
Retired: Ben Dixon (veteran – outside list), Joel Smith, Richie Vandenberg
Delisted: Matt Little, Josh Thurgood, Brett Collins (rookie), Sam Gibson (rookie)
Going over these, the retirements of Dixon, Smith and Vandenberg will be quite easily covered in a laying sense. I don’t really think Vandenberg and Dixon gave the Hawks much in 2007, and Smith was a good player for them but I think will be easily covered.
