Clarkson quietly confident
Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson says the Hawks' ruck department can beat the Eagles' star big men
HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson has backed his makeshift ruck set-up to beat West Coast stars Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui in Saturday night's clash at Patersons Stadium,
With the Hawks' injured No. 1 ruckman Max Bailey to spend at least two more months on the sidelines and the club overlooking back-up option Broc McCauley, Hawthorn will pit David Hale and Jarryd Roughead against the Eagles' big men.
Clarkson said the pair performed well against accomplished Adelaide pair Sam Jacobs and Kurt Tippett last week and there was no reason to assume West Coast would have a ruck edge.
"[West Coast] has got its strengths in that area of the ground," Clarkson said.
"But if you look at the clearance rate last week against Greater Western Sydney, GWS actually won the centre bounce clearance rate.
"So it can't be that Cox and Naitanui were that dominant a ruck combination that it allowed them to be so comprehensive in that area of the ground.
"So we'll back our guys in and our midfielders ... we're going into the game thinking our guys are going to at least be able to match them and may be able to defeat them in a lot of areas of the game."
Similarly, Clarkson said West Coast's depth of tall forwards could turn out to be an advantage for Hawthorn, if the Hawks could bring the ball to ground enough and use their run.
"They're going with their strategy, we're going with ours and hopefully we can spoil enough balls to allow it to be a threat for us," he said.
Known as a precision kicking side, Clarkson suggested the Hawks might have to up the handball rate slightly to combat West Coast's forward press.
"It's a long oval, so you need to keep the ball on the flow when you can," he said.
He said while undefeated West Coast were in good form, the Hawks were "quietly confident".
Clarkson said while the Eagles thrashed the Giants last Sunday, GWS had given them a physical battering, which would not be easy to recover from.
The Eagles will regain captain Darren Glass and midfield pair Matt Priddis and Matt Rosa, who all sat out the Giants game.
