The Hawthorn model

[Sedat]

When Clarkson took over, Hawthorn were an aging basket case with a poor list. They continued to struggle in his first 2 years in charge but also had some good pre-seasons where they addressed deficiencies in their list at the same time as radically overhauling their game plan. Then in the 3rd year they made the top 8 and won a final before winning the whole thing in Clarkson's 4th year.

I distinctly remember a game in early 2007 between the Dogs and Hawthorn at the MCG - it was a game we won comfortably despite being smashed in CP's, clearances and inside 50's that day. But you could see the genesis of what Hawthorn under Clarkson was developing, and it didn't take much longer to bear fruit. I know we don't have a Franklin/Roughead combination, but our rate of development in the midfield is trending at the same rate as Hawthorn's (possibly even better), and we have at our disposal a truly elite clearance player who is tracking ahead of Sam Mitchell at the corresponding stage of his career - I believe Mitchell has been a massive driving force at Hawthorn in the last 8 seasons as he repeatedly gets the ball moving forward from stoppages better than anyone else in the competition. Plus we have a superior ruck division now to Hawthorn's at the time.

Do we have a similar capacity as Hawthorn circa 2007-2008 to make faster than expected improvement in 2014-2015 and surprise the competition? What will stop us from achieving those lofty ambitions? What will help us to get there if everything goes according to script?

[westdog54]

It takes someone with great insight to make such a comparison...

http://www.woof.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=11863 :D

I don't think our improvement will be as rapid as Hawthorn's was under Clarkson but we are essentially taking the same approach.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Just to add a few things:

* Hawthorn's cluster was a huge reason why they jumped up the ladder so quickly. It protected their weak back half, and played to their strength of rebounding the ball once they'd made the opposition cough it up. Even though we improved a lot in the second half of the year, our defense was still poor and has a long, long way to go in terms of both structure and personnel IMO.

* Franklin and Roughead had stellar years in 2008, struggled a little thereafter and Hawthorn suffered as a result. Gunston has since been a massive pick up for them. That aside, I don't think we need twin towers. Our forward structure is coming together nicely, Crameri may be all we need if Campbell/Jones can raise the bar.

* Hawthorn identified a need for skillful left footers to fit into their game plan. As a result and still to this day, they can struggle when space is closed up and it becomes a bit of a slug in the trenches. We have them well covered for the 'inside' game, and really only need to add 3 or so skillful players over the ground to really make us a dynamic, balanced side. This will be where our strength is IMO -- an ability to grind the other side down but use it well going the other way.

[stefoid]

Potentially our midfield depth could be very, very good. Hunter, Hrovat, Prudden and Macrae all look like possible 200 gamers to me. (even though Ive only seen 2 minutes of highlights of Pruden, they were very good highlights)