https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/news/a-major-problem-has-emerged-with-hawthorns-starstudded-midfield-in-2021-is-it-time-to-hit-the-trade-table/news-story/94dd5611b5fa6d86ac1f4b56b27d5baeQuote:
The bulk of Hawthorn’s remaining A-Grade talent is clearly in the middle.
But it seems remarkable that a unit featuring senior stars Jaeger O’Meara, Tom Mitchell, James Worpel, Chad Wingard, Liam Shiels and Ben McEvoy can be ranked last for clearances and centre clearances across the competition this year.
Quote:
Alastair Clarkson’s midfield headache officially became a migraine on Sunday when the onball division was shown up by North’s youngsters, including Luke Davies-Uniacke, Jy Simpkin and Ben Cunnington, continuing a worrying trend for the brown and gold.
Quote:
In his supreme Brownlow Medal year in 2018 Mitchell averaged a whopping eight clearances a game.
While his role may not be exactly the same in 2021, Mitchell’s clearance rate has dropped by half, with less than four takeaways a game.
The former Swan had only two clearances and one centre clearance against the Kangaroos.
The mastermind
of the Hawks engine room, Alistair Clarkson said
Quote:
“Our defence, in the end, was just overwhelmed by the sheer avalanche of stoppage wins that the North side were able to have.
“I think we lost clearances 49 to 29 or something thereabouts, and I can’t recall teams winning games of footy when you lose by that margin in the middle of the ground.
“We need to get tougher and harder and stronger around the ball.”
Average centre bounce attendances in 2021 for hawks
Tim Mitchell 19.9
Jaeger O’Meara 19.3
James Worpell 14.9
Chad Wingard 14.5
Liam Shiels 8.4
James Cousins 8
Luke Breust 3.4
Shaun Burgoyne 2.7
SOURCE: Champion Data
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
