Blues break drought
Before Saturday night, Hawthorn had beaten Carlton in each of their last 14 encounters, with the Blues failing to reach 100 points in 12 of those 14 occasions. But Brendan Bolton’s side broke that drought on the weekend, leading the Hawks at every change to come away seven-point victors. The win was the Blues’ sixth of the season, rising to 15th on the ladder.
Read: Five talking points Hawthorn v Carlton
Finals officially done
With the Hawks’ loss to the Blues, the brown and gold’s faint final chances were officially extinguished. The Hawks needed a few more pieces to fall into place in order to pull off a remarkable finals berth, but the non-negotiable factor was that they had to remain undefeated for the remainder of the season. It ends a run of eight consecutive years of September action for the Hawks.
Sicily cut off
One of the Hawks’ in-form players over the past month, James Sicily received huge attention from Carlton’s Jed Lamb on Saturday night. Lamb was intent on negating the 22-year old’s impact on the game, niggling the Hawk defender for the entirety of the night. After a stellar back half of the year, Sicily had a quieter night, giving away seven free kicks throughout the game. Sicily will be determined to put a frustrating night behind him with the season’s final game against the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
Mitchell hits 19 30-contested possession games
Hawks’ ball magnet Tom Mitchell racked up 44 possessions against the Blues to notch his 19th 30-plus disposal game of 2017. The performance ensured the 24-year old eclipsed Dane Swan’s previous mark of 18 such games in 2010. Mitchell is averaging 35.95 touches per game this season, with a 37-possession performance against the Bulldogs enough to increase his average to 36.
Read: Mitchell breaks all-time record
