Hawks weighing ‘catastrophic’ AFL changes

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says he may be forced to make “catastrophic” changes after his AFL side’s 75-point thrashing by St Kilda in Launceston.

The dominant Saints piled on eight goals to one in the third quarter on their way to a 19.16 (130) to 8.7 (55) win, emphatically ending the Hawks’ 19-game winning streak at York Park.

Hawthorn trailed by 22 points at halftime but were smashed after the break, finishing the third term with 67 fewer disposals, 18 fewer tackles and 14 fewer inside-50s than the Saints.

Clarkson admitted the final margin could have been much worse – the Saints kicked 6.8 in the first half – but it was his side’s lack of hunger and intent which left him most frustrated.

“I don’t think there’s any secret amongst the opposition’s club’s coaches looking at it … we’re the worst third-quarter team in the competition by an absolute mile,” Clarkson said.

“That, for me, reflects a side that will put up a fight when the game’s there early on but if the opposition continue to fight then we just fall away, and fall away in a big way.

“We need to correct that, because if we continue to have performances like that then there’ll need to be catastrophic change, and that’s not usually the way that we go about doing things.”

It had been five years to the day since Hawthorn were last beaten at York Park but such dominance looked like a distant memory, with Clarkson bewildered by his side’s woeful lack of pressure.

“We’ve got to try to find ways, even in-season when things aren’t going your way, to change things up – whether that’s injection of younger players, whether it’s change of game style,” he said.

“Whatever it is, we need to try to find different ways to go about it, because we just can’t continue to accept mediocre performances like we got today.”

Ruckman Ben McEvoy (two goals) and off-season recruit Tom Mitchell (35 disposals) fought hard for the Hawks but premiership players Jack Gunston, Luke Breust, Josh Gibson and Isaac Smith all made little impact.

Star recruit Jaeger O’Meara looked well off the pace, finishing with 14 disposals after a fortnight on the sidelines with a knee complaint, but Clarkson said he had pulled up OK.

There was plenty to like for St Kilda, who improved their record to 3-3 ahead of a crunch game against Greater Western Sydney next Friday night.

“I reckon that’s as good as we’ve hunted the opposition for a while,” Saints coach Alan Richardson said.

“For big parts of the game, our pressure was really high and in that third quarter our guys were able to get reward for their effort, which was pleasing.”

Veteran Nick Riewoldt nabbed his 700th AFL goal with a clever snap around his body and finished with four majors, while former Western Bulldogs midfielder Koby Stevens (two goals, 28 touches) starred in his Saints debut.

Midfielders Jack Steven, Seb Ross and Jack Steele racked up possessions at will and half-back flanker Dylan Roberton continued his stellar season.

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