2015 season: PREMIERS
2016 season: PREMIERS
THE BRIEF
Some footy fans feel the Hawthorn dominance is repetitive and boring. I tend to disagree. Repetitive? Yes, that’s a fact. Three in a row is definitely repetition. Boring? Not at all.
Great sides like this don’t come around that often and, in an era in which the competition has structures in place to spread the talent evenly across all 18 teams, such dominance should be admired.
Each year gets tougher than the last and this season the Hawks will be without Jarryd Roughead for at least the first half of it. That will put a strain on the premiers but they do have the talent pool to cover the loss. Just like they did when Lance Franklin departed for Sydney and the Hawks beat Buddy’s Swans in the grand final the next season.
It would be nice to see another team win but should the Hawks turn the three-peat into a FOUR-Thawn, who are we to begrudge such a remarkable achievement?
THE LOCK
Cyril: After tearing the grand final apart, Cyril can now be lumped in the same category as Madonna or Bono or LeBron as one of those people who no longer needs a last name. The one thing Cyril has lacked over the years has been consistency; he can win games off his own boot in short, sharp bursts but he won’t produce week in, week out like a Luke Hodge or Sam Mitchell. I’m going to say the wheel has turned and we can expect a more consistent Cyril this season and that, for all footy fans is a good thing. And a scary one for opposition teams.
THE STOCK
Jono O’Rourke: Originally drafted by the Giants, O’Rourke (whose name is easy to write and very hard to say aloud) played only two games in his maiden season at the Hawks. With another pre-season in the bank and having showed promising signs in the final NAB Challenge match, I think the former number two draft pick is about to give the Hawks a return on their 2014 trade week investment. He won’t have a better group of midfielders to learn off and if he can be half as good as Hodge and Mitchell and the like, then O’Rourke is going to be a fine player for a long time. The Hawks recruiters don’t get too many wrong, so I’ll trust their judgement here, that the kid has some serious talent.
THE SMOKIN’ BARREL
Jack Fitzpatrick: The big blokes take longer to develop, and some are given more chances than perhaps they should, but what better place to finally find your feet and achieve your potential than with the triple reigning premiers. After 22 games in six seasons at Melbourne, the Demons were happy to let Fitzpatrick go to the Hawks for pick 94; the AFL equivalent of a bag of chips and can of coke. The best systems develop players better than the bad ones and the Demons have been regularly accused of not developing their players well at all. I’m not saying the switch to a powerhouse guarantees Fitzpatrick will become anything, but he now has as good a chance as he ever did.
