Hawks embrace 'little' finals with Cats next on agenda
While Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has welcomed the chance to continue playing ‘‘little finals’’, for Essendon their season hangs by a thread after a four-point loss to the Hawks.
The Hawks passed their latest test, this time against the Bombers at the MCG, strengthening their hold on a top-eight position before another challenge in Geelong awaits on Saturday. The Cats are fighting to remain in finals contention, as the Bombers were against the Hawks but three times they failed to build on three-goal leads.
The Hawks were led by Tom Mitchell (43 disposals), Jack Gunston (five goals) and defender Ben Stratton, with Clarkson praising his team’s resolve.
‘‘To play that catch-up footy, continue to believe in ourselves and the system that we play, is really pleasing. We somehow found a way to let Essendon back in late in the game,’’ he said.
‘‘We have played some pretty good footy over the last three weeks. It’s hard to get a gauge on us ... the last two weeks hasn’t given us a good gauge but today did.’’
The Bombers closed to under a straight kick with 13 seconds remaining but the Hawks were able to hold on in a final term where Clarkson was confused by a ruling that determined youngster James Worpel had played on to advantage from a free kick, rather than allowing the Hawks to go back behind the mark and steady. Worpel’s mistake led to an Essendon goal.
Clarkson said he would front the umpires department and question the advantage ruling.
‘‘I have seen exactly that occurrence where he pulled up to say:, ‘Nah, nah, I don’t want to take the advantage’, I have seen that happen 20 times in games and they [the umpires] say, ‘We’ll allow you to’,’’ he said.
‘‘On this occasion it doesn’t happen. We were a bit stiff that was called play-on. There was another one two minutes later, too, that was a play-on from a stoppage which when the umpire blows the whistle and no one has got any idea who the free kick is to, I had some sort of understanding when it was stoppage like that that the umpire pays the benefit of the doubt in terms of no one really knowing was that an infringement.
‘‘I need to get that checked because I might be wrong. If I am then we will need to educate our players. If I am right, then the umps need to adjudicate in the right way.’’Clarkson, who praised Mitchell, Stratton and Gunston, said his young players were benefiting from the mini-elimination finals at this time of the year, with the Cats next up with three rounds remaining.
‘‘We are playing little finals which is great for the exposure of our players. We haven’t been there [the finals] for a couple of years. We are keen to give our young blokes a taste of it. Some of our older guys are trying to steer them in that manner and who knows once you get there where it takes you,’’ he said.
The surging Bombers had appeared set for their ninth win from their past 11 matches but were unable to deliver when it counted. Coach John Worsfold lamented his team’s turnovers on a day Zach Merrett had 42 touches, including nine clearances.
‘‘I thought we made too many errors that, at times, we weren’t under enough pressure to make those errors,’’ he said.
Worsfold, who did not buy into questioning whether this would be a wasted season should the Bombers miss the finals, revealed skipper Dyson Heppell was carrying an injury. Asked what it was, with suggestions it was a sore groin, Worsfold would only say it was ‘‘complicated’’.
‘‘He is carrying some soreness at the moment. He didn’t train at all through the week, in terms of trying to get him as fresh as possible for this game,’’ Worsfold said.
‘‘It’s week-to-week for ‘Hepp’ at the moment on how he pulls up and how he is managing his loads.
‘‘There is no doubt he wasn’t moving as freely as he has over the last few weeks.’’
Heppell is in doubt for Friday night’s clash against St Kilda, with Richmond and the Power in Adelaide to come.