HAWTHORN expect to again have a wide spread of goal kickers against Port Adelaide on Saturday night despite Jarryd Roughead and Cyril Rioli missing from its forward line.
Roughead (suspension) and Rioli (hamstring) have kicked 33 goals between them this season but both won’t play in the blockbuster at Adelaide Oval.
That means the Hawks will be without two of their top four goal contributors this season, with Luke Breust (24 goals) and Jack Gunston (19) to lead the forward line.
Despite Roughead winning last year's Coleman Medal and being widely viewed as the Hawks' number one target, he has actually taken less marks inside 50 than Breust and Gunston.
The duo lead the Hawks for marks inside 50 this season, with 20 and 19 respectively. Roughead is ranked third with 16 marks for the season, followed by forward/ruckman David Hale on 10.
Assistant Coach Brendon Bolton says though, that Breust and Gunston won’t be expected to take on the full goal-kicking load, with the responsibility instead, to be shared across all players that spend time inside 50.
“We probably look at it that it’s not Gunston (or Breust) but more our whole forward mix,” Bolton told hawthornfc.com.au
“We’ve frequently had 10 or more goal scorers per week, so that tells us that it’s not a reliance on Roughead or Gunston, although they are very important players.
“‘Gunno’ might go out there and play great and kick five goals, which would be great, or he might kick one or two but ultimately it’s our system and spread of the load.”
Hawthorn’s biggest strength this season has been its spread of goal kickers, with 10 or more individuals kicking goals in six of their eight games this season including 12 goal kickers in rounds 3 and 4.
Contributing to that strength has been the goals also coming from midfielders like Isaac Smith (seven), Matt Suckling (seven) and Bradley Hill (five).
Paul Puopolo, who has been spending more time in the midfield this season has also kicked nine goals.
Bolton says the Hawks expect to have a good spread of goal kickers against on Saturday night.
"If you look at all of Hawthorn’s teams to date, we have multiple goal scorers and multiple players playing through our forward line,” he said.
“We’ve had 10 or more goal scorers in games and we want that again.”
The Hawks travel to Adelaide on Friday ahead of Saturday night’s clash against a red-hot Port Adelaide without a number of star players including Roughead, Rioli, Sam Mitchell, Josh Gibson and Brian Lake.
Hawthorn has been strengthened though, by the inclusion of three premiership players – Captain Luke Hodge, Liam Shiels and Brad Sewell after each have overcome injury.
But the Hawks are still fielding a relatively young side that includes inexperienced players such as Billy Hartung, Will Langford, Mitch Hallahan and Jonathon Ceglar.
While many have written off the Hawks, who will go into the clash as underdogs, Bolton says there is an heir of confidence within the group.
“We go into all games expecting strong performances from the team we put out there,” he said.
“Yes we’d like to have Mitchell, Gibson, Rioli, Lake and Roughead, but we’ve got to have confidence in our young guys and our depth that the development they’ve had over the last few years that they can step up and fill the void.”
