WORKING as a team within a team has helped bring success for Hawthorn’s forward line, according to Jarryd Roughead.
The Hawks lead the competition for points scored in 2015, and Vice-captain Roughead has been one of the key drivers behind that success.
The 28-year-old has kicked 34 goals this year, and is one of five Hawks to have kicked 25 or more goals this season, alongside Luke Breust (45), Jack Gunston (41), Cyril Rioli (34) and Paul Puopolo (26).
Having a number of goalkicking options creates trouble for opposition defences, but Roughead believes the way the group works together is the key.
“I reckon that’s the beauty of our forward line,” he said.
“Over the past three years we’ve been very good at rotating, who gets a lick of the ice cream in a sense.
“When a bloke’s on or has got a mismatch we try to really exploit that for our benefit.
“In games this year, Gunners kicked six against Carlton, I’ve been able to kick five (against Sydney), Poppy’s kicked four (against Essendon) and Junior on the weekend kicked six (against Geelong).
“Our forward line is very dangerous and we’ve just got to make sure we’re all on each week so we can share the goals.”
Roughead has played a number of different roles for the Hawks this year.
The key forward has spent plenty of time further up the ground. He ranks second for contested possessions within the club, and sixth in the competition for score involvements per game, with 8.5.
He believes he is travelling well heading towards another finals campaign.
“I obviously had that little rest in the middle period (of the year),” he said.
“It’s not like I was injured in terms of my legs or anything like that, so to be able to freshen up then was good.
“You can start to smell a bit of the spring, the weather’s starting to get a bit better and you know that finals are just around the corner.”
The Hawks have three games to play before finals, against Port Adelaide, Brisbane Lions and Carlton, and Roughead said the team wanted to continue their form after strong wins against West Coast Eagles and Geelong.
“We’ve now had two wins against two good sides,” he said.
“There was that little slip against Richmond after eight consistent games in a row, and now we’ve got three games to finish off and we are eager to perform well in all three.
“Hopefully that starts on Friday night against Port Adelaide.
“Port are a similar side to Geelong… they like have that spare back and take marks off opposition kicks, so we’re going to have to be pretty disciplined this week.”
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