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Hawks coach Sam Mitchell says he plans to stick with the “double rucks” line-up with both Lloyd Meek and Ned Reeves in his side.
The Hawks have predominantly just used Meek in the past two seasons, leaving Reeves in the VFL, where he has been among the best big men in that competition.
Ned Reeves and Connor Macdonald celebrate a goal.Credit: AFL Photos
But with the sub-rule gone and a fifth player added to the bench, Reeves got his chance to cement a regular senior spot, kicking two goals and finishing with 12 disposals and 17 hitouts.
“We hadn’t used the double rucks for quite some time,” Mitchell said.
“There is a little bit of risk, but Ned has been a really high performer where he has been playing [the VFL], even though he hasn’t played a lot of AFL footy in the last 18 months.
“He’s been working on his craft and his footy. I was really happy for him.
“From a selfish point of view, I was really happy for us that he was a really strong performer tonight,and we will be sticking with the two rucks.”
Bombers coach Brad Scott was honest about his side’s inability to stop Hawthorn’s running game tonight, but he was disappointed his side couldn’t do more to slow down the Hawks.
What worries Scott is that he prepared his side to try and stop the run of the Hawks, but they couldn’t execute those plans.
Bombers coach Brad Scott.Credit: AFL Photos
“We were very concerned about their ability to bounce us out of our forward half,” Scott said.
“Our inability to stop them from transitioning out of our front half was just nowhere near the level.
“That was a key focus coming into the game.
“We would like to score more, but when they are bouncing out of your forward 50 [and] one in two times it is going back to the other end, it makes it hard to build some pressure.
“That is a frustration, as that was the concern coming in.
“I don’t think anyone is under any illusions; we’ve got a big gap to bridge, but we got a good lesson tonight.”
Scott said the Giants were able to defend the Hawks last week but his side couldn’t emulate what the Giants did.
“I’m reluctant to say it because people might say that there is a massive gap, but the reality is that it’s a bit off [the Hawks],” Scott said.
“It’s not as if they did anything that surprised us, it was just the inability to stop it.”
Hard-nosed Essendon defender Mason Redman has challenged his side to lift against Port Adelaide next round and to give star midfielder and former skipper Zach Merrett better support following their thumping loss to Hawthorn tonight.
“He’s a pro. You know he will come out and perform,” Redman said of Merrett on Seven.
Mason Redman.Credit: AFL Photos
“Win, lose or draw, Zach is going to be a gun player, and he showed that again for us, but we’ve got to back him up better than that.”
Redman added that the defence was soundly beaten, as were the majority of Bombers on the night.
“I feel like, across the ground, we got our colours lowered,” Redman told Seven.
“Personally, I wasn’t good enough. We’ve had a great pre-season and to come out like that is pretty disappointing.
“We know what we are working on. We have some good stuff there. We showed it in patches, but we need to be better across four quarters.
“We had a home game in front of our fans, and we disappointed them. We’ve got to come out against Port next week in Adelaide and have a better showing than that.”
Hawks co-captain James Sicily has revealed showing key forward Mabior Chol some love is the key to getting his best performances, following a commanding display in the air.
Mabior Chol takes a spectacular mark.Credit: AFL Photos
Chol had nine marks and hit the packs hard while kicking one goal and three behinds.
“You’ve just got to give him a little bit of a tickle to get him going a bit,” Sicily told Fox Footy.
“He loves the love, and he doesn’t like it when you yell at him. So you just have to build that big fella up, and he was really strong tonight.
“He probably should have got more reward for effort. We’ll get his goal-kicking sorted.”
Connor Macdonald has spoken to Fox Footy in the post-match following his starring performance just days after reports emerged that he and teammate Dylan Moore were arrested for trespassing in Arizona in November.
Macdonald and Moore were punished by the club, but the Hawks didn’t reveal the incident until it was reported on this week.
Dylan Moore (left) and Connor Macdonald of the Hawks celebrate a goal.Credit: AFL Photos
Macdonald had 24 touches and 2.2 for the game. Moore had 24 and 1.1.
“It is challenging to have your name in the media all week, but I feel like the club, especially, have wrapped their arms around me, and I’ve been fully supported by family and friends,” Macdonald told Fox Footy.
“I’m very appreciative to have them around, and I was just looking forward to getting out here and playing footy. To put on a show for the fans is what you play for. It was awesome to get back out here.
“Obviously, we made a mistake and we are very sorry about that. We wanted to put that behind us and move on pretty quickly.
“When we kicked goals tonight, you could see everyone get around us. It just shows [it’s] one in, all in and they’ve got our back.”
Nick Watson took a mark on the siren and kicked his fourth goal of the night soon after to complete a thumping Hawks win.
Zach Merrett shook hands with some Hawks and also appeared to console some unhappy-looking teammates – he did give Hawks skipper James Sicily a little hug as well.
Nick Watson of the Hawks celebrates.Credit: Getty Images
The Hawks have claimed a thumping win over their old rivals Essendon at the MCG tonight, 21.19 (145) to 13.5 (83).
The Dons got some consolidation goals late, but the Hawks dominated the match for the most part.
The expected fireworks never really came between these bitter rivals. The Hawks just let their footy do the talking and taught the Bombers a lesson.
As Gerard Whateley just said on Fox Footy, in reality, these two sides aren’t in the same weight division right now.
More to come.
The Dons appear to be parking the bus and anchoring their defence in hopes of stopping any more Hawks goals.
Hawthorn skipper James Sicily even took a stationary bounce at half-back when the Dons refused to chase him.
Then the Hawks went around the Dons’ zone and Nick Watson picked up some crumbs for a long kick and booted a goal.
Hawks 139, Dons 83 with 90 seconds to go.
