Following Hawthorn’s 0-3 start to the season, there has been lots of speculation that the Hawks’ line up may be “too slow” to be genuine premiership contenders.
While Senior Coach Alastair Clarkson admits that side has been lacking in many areas, he doesn’t believe pace is the issue.
“If you went through the testing we do [on the training track], our leg speed is better than it has been in past years,” says Clarkson.
“[It’s] more to do with quickness of decision, movement of the footy, and we haven’t been able to get our hands on the ball in the manner that we’d like.
“You’re always going to look pretty pedestrian when that’s the case.”
One need only look at the past 10 years of AFL Draft combine results to see that the ability to exude foot pace is not lacking within the Hawks’ playing ranks.
in their respective draft years, 12 players on Hawthorn’s list have recorded top 10 times in the combine’s agility components.
Billy Hartung currently holds the beep test record, posting an impressive 16/6 in 2013 – which is the 11th best result in the world.
Kieran Lovell recorded the best time at his 2015 draft combine for the 40m agility test. Harry Morrison, Teia Miles, Tim O’Brien and Brendan Whitecross have also posted top 10 placings in this event.
Tall men Ryan Schoenmakers and Jack Fitzpatrick prove that size is not an issue, posting the top times in the repeat sprint (30m sprint x 6, with 20 second rest intervals) in 2008 and 2009 respectively, while Cyril Rioli also impressed in this field, running third in 2007.
Read: See how the Hawthorn-listed players fared in the VFL this week
Four Hawks have recorded top 10 times in the 20m sprint (Whitecross, James Sicily, Kurt Heatherly, and Grant Birchall) in their draft years.
Whitecross is arguably the best all-rounder, with top 10 finishes in three of the four components. This list also does not include some of Hawthorn’s best runners in Isaac Smith, Paul Puopolo, Ryan Burton (who was unable to participate in the combine due to a broken leg), as well as recruits Jaeger O’Meara and Tom Mitchell.
Thus, while it is clear that the Hawks have been exposed across several areas in recent weeks, these statistics suggest it is not an issue of speedy personnel.
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