Young guns Connor Macdonald (left) and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan have been key parts of Hawthorn and the Bulldogs’ respective rises up the ladder. PHOTOS: AFL MEDIA.
Such is the zaniness of this AFL season, two of the most in-form teams in the competition are sitting outside the top eight with five rounds to play.
Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs have become must-watch attractions in the last month or so as their respective climbs up the ladder have captured the imagination of the footy public.
The Hawks, in particular, have been a bolt out of the blue.
After finishing in the bottom three last year with just seven wins, and kicking off 2024 with their worst start to a year since 1970 (0-5), things were looking very glum.
Hawthorn reached its nadir in Round 5 when it was pumped by Gold Coast by 53 points, prompting coach Sam Mitchell to describe the Hawks’ performance as “completely unacceptable” and that they would not beat anyone playing like that.
Well, things have changed dramatically for Hawthorn, because since that infamous night, no team has won more games than the Hawks (10) and they are now arguably the hottest team in the AFL, despite sitting in 11th spot.
Mitchell has been able to turn things around by simplifying his game plan and giving his precocious young team license to express themselves by taking the game on at all costs by exhibiting their natural flare and attacking instinct.
The Hawks might not have many “big name” players in their line-up, but the likes of Will Day, Jack Ginnivan, Massimo D’Ambrosio, Connor Macdonald, Josh Weddle, Cam Mackenzie, Lloyd Meek, Mabior Chol, Nick Watson and Calsher Dear have given the team an exciting edge that has put it on the precipice of finals footy.
Mitchell has taken those players and combined them with established mainstays such as James Sicily, Luke Breust, Jai Newcombe, James Worpel, Dylan Moore, Jarman Impey and Jack Gunston, to mould the formidable outfit that has taken all before it in the past three months.
Along the way, Hawthorn, which has the second-youngest list in the competition, has taken down Brisbane, Fremantle, GWS and the Bulldogs, but perhaps most significantly, it obliterated reigning premier Collingwood on the weekend.
The Magpies are the fifth best team in that group of five, but the symbolism of Hawthorn treating the defending champion with such contempt was impossible to ignore. Collingwood conceded its biggest score (20.13.133) and suffered its biggest loss (66 points) in the Craig McRae era on Saturday. It was as an emphatic changing of the guard as we have seen for some time.
The fact that, on differentials, the Hawks are still ranked third for contested possessions, seventh for inside 50s and ninth for clearances, after playing catch-up following their horrendous start to the year, speaks volumes about the direction they’re headed in.
And significantly, they’re also sixth for bounces, underscoring the freewheeling brand of footy they’re employing at the moment.
They’re now just two points outside of the top eight. Three more wins will probably secure them a finals spot, and with games against Adelaide (away), GWS (away), Carlton, Richmond and North Melbourne to come, who’s to say they won’t qualify? And if they do get there, one thing is for certain: few teams would want to face them with the momentum they’d be taking into the year’s most important month.
The other team banging on the door of the top eight like a pensioner trying to get his uni student neighbours to turn the music down is the Western Bulldogs.
But before they get their well-deserved praise, the question Dogs fans must be asking is: where was this at the start of the year?
PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE TO THRIVE BY BECOMING AN OFFICIAL FOOTYOLOGY PATRON. JUST CLICK THIS LINK.
Far too often, coach Luke Beveridge tinkers and experiments with his team selection in the early part of the season to the point where it makes it almost impossible for them to recover and grab a top-four spot befitting the quality and talent his team possesses.
But putting that to one side, the Dogs are finally looking like the side that most people thought they could, and should, be.
Since Round 9 they have taken some massive scalps, namely GWS, Fremantle, Carlton and Geelong. And their win over the Magpies wasn’t too shabby either.
But their past fortnight, which has delivered backs-against-the-walls wins over the Blues and the Cats at Kardinia Park, has been their best of the season.
After starting the year 3-5, they’ve won seven of their last 10 games, and all of those reports of Beveridge being close to losing his job seem like ancient history.
Adam Treloar and Marcus Bontempelli are having All-Australian calibre years, the move of Ed Richards to the midfield has been a masterstroke and the shift of Rory Lobb to defence has been a stunning success so far. After keeping Carlton’s Harry McKay quiet last week, Lobb shut down Geelong superstar Jeremy Cameron to be best on ground in the Dogs’ upset win on Saturday night.
The emergence of young twin towers Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Sam Darcy has added another layer of potency to their forward line, and the unearthing of Buku Khamis, Joel Freijah and James O’Donnell has stiffened their at-times questionable defence, especially with Liam Jones out injured.
There aren’t too many deficiencies in the Dogs’ game at the moment. On differentials, they rank second for inside 50s, which gives their potent forward line plenty of valuable supply, and they have made the most of it by ensuring they’ve got the fourth-best attack in the league.
And with all their tall timber, it’s little wonder that they’re third for contested marks and fifth for overall marks. But their midfield/running game has also been top notch, and after 19 rounds, they’re second for uncontested possessions, third for disposals, fourth for clearances, fifth for bounces and eighth for tackles, which has also helped them boast the No.5-ranked defence in the competition.
The Dogs are now ninth and, like the Hawks, are at risk of having left their run too late, given they will probably also need three more victories to play in the finals. But their run home looks favourable. After their difficult task of the Swans at the SCG this week, they play Melbourne, Adelaide (away), North Melbourne and GWS, which are all winnable games.
In recent years, we’ve seen how damaging teams from the bottom half of the top eight can be in September (ie. GWS and Carlton making it to preliminary finals last year), and if the Hawks and Dogs both manage to sneak in, we could have two of the biggest finals wrecking balls we’ve ever seen on our hands.
As recent weeks have shown, there are no absolute standout teams in the top eight and even Sydney is looking human in the last month. It’s a season that’s reminiscent of 1997 due to its incredible evenness across the board. If a team hits the finals this year in red-hot form, no matter how low down the pecking order it is, it could make a deep run, and who knows what could happen from there? All of that amounts to music to the ears of Hawthorn and the Bulldogs.
