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St Kilda  3.2 7.3 12.7 13.10 (88)
Hawthorn 3.6 8.9 13.1118.15 (123)   
 
Best: Hawthorn - Rioli, Franklin, Shiels, Lewis, Hodge, Mitchell. St Kilda - Koschitzke, Steven, Blake, Goddard, Gram.

Crowd: 42,289 at the MCG

The Hawks returned to the winner’s list on Saturday night with an impressive, hard-fought win against the Saints at the MCG.

An even contest on the scoreboard for the first three quarters was matched on the stats sheet as both teams were able to wrestle the ascendency from one another at different stages of the match.

The Hawks, without defender Josh Gibson went into the match undersized in defence, when considering the Saints’ tall timber in Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke and Rhys Stanley. What the Hawks were able to do, however, was put a premium on bringing the ball to ground, and using their speed and athletic ability at ground level to sweep the ball away.

The defenders, with the help of the midfielders were able to pressure the delivery to the Saints’ forwards enough that running defenders Luke Hodge, Grant Birchall, Brent Guerra and Matt Suckling were amongst the leading disposal getters for Hawthorn throughout the course of the night. The four defenders ended the match with 90 possessions between them and rebounded from the back 50 on seven occasions.

While the Saints’ big men had an impact on the match (Koschitzke five goals, Riewoldt three), the Hawks’ ability to swiftly move the ball from defence to attack was telling. Hawthorn finished the match with 27 rebounds from 50, 15 of those in the second half when the Hawks had the ascendency.

Important too, was the defensive work of Suckling, Guerra and Birchall, keeping their St Kilda opponents quiet as Stephen Milne (11 possessions, one goal), Terry Milera (nine possessions, one goal), Stanley (seven possessions, one goal) and Arryn Sipposs (11possessions, no goals) failed to have an impact on the contest.

St Kilda is one of the best sides in creating a loose man in defence who is able to read the play and create a two-on-one situation on the opposition’s gun forward. More often than not, Sam Fisher is that player, whose rebounding ability also hurts the opposition. Fisher did this to great effect in the first half, affecting a number of spoils and contests in front of Lance Franklin. Fisher also had three rebound 50s before leaving the ground with an injury. That spelt trouble for the Saints as the Hawks saw an opening and went for it.

When Fisher left the ground, Franklin played an integral role in the Hawks win, kicking 5.6 for the match from 18 disposals. When Fisher was substituted though, the Saints’ ability to rebound off half back suffered, as Hawthorn forwards Cyril Rioli (five tackles), David Hale (five tackles), Michael Osborne (three tackles), and Paul Puopolo (five tackles in one quarter of football) pressured the St Kilda defence and forced a number of turnovers.

Those turnovers often ended in scoring opportunities for the Hawks, as Cyril Rioli in particular pounced. Rioli finished the game with six majors and, in the final term, the Hawks made the most of their opportunities in front of goal, booting 5.4 to seal the victory.

Coach Alastair Clarkson would have been pleased the Hawks endeavour to win the football, despite the Saints having more contested possessions over the course of the game, 134-130. Hawthorn finished the match, however, with 65 more disposals (391-326) at an efficiency rating of 79 per cent. The Hawks were able to lead the possession count thanks to the great defensive work of vice-captain Jordan Lewis on Saints’ star Nick Dal Santo, limiting him to just 14 possessions while gathering 22 himself.

What Alastair Clarkson said: “We deserved what came our way in the press last week, we’re a lot better than that as a football side and as a Club and we’re pleased that we were able to respond. The game was right in the balance at three-quarter time and our guys responded really positively in the last quarter and managed to get away with a really solid win in the end.”