There’s a monster in the room: How the Bombers can avoid being munched by Hawkins, again
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Put it this way: if Tom Hawkins has fewer than four goals at quarter-time at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night, Essendon and Brandon Zerk-Thatcher will be ahead. By quarter-time of their round seven clash at the MCG in April, Hawkins had kicked four of an eventual personal best tally of eight and the Cats were strolling to victory.
It’s not just that. Hawkins has kicked 22 goals in his last four games against the Bombers and the Cats have won them all and kicked at least 98 points in each. That’s a sobering stat, even allowing for Essendon’s marked improvement this season and Geelong’s up-and-down form. There’s a monster in the room, and at GMHBA Stadium, that doesn’t leave much other room.
The Bombers had no answers for Tom Hawkins and Geelong in April.Credit: AFL Photos
“Some teams don’t match up well on others. Sometimes a player has no match-up,” said Essendon great and media pundit Matthew Lloyd. “That’s been the case for Essendon against Geelong. They’ve really struggled with either Hawkins or [Jeremy] Cameron.”
Lloyd, however, is far from despairing. “I think Essendon come into this game in the best form they’ve been in in the time that Geelong have been a power,” he said. “They’re bringing midfield pressure. Previous [Essendon-Geelong] games have been free and open. There hasn’t been enough pressure on the ball-carrier [Patrick Dangerfield had 30 telling touches in the April game].
“If you listened to Zach Merrett after the game the other day, he was saying you must buy into team defence now. I don’t think anyone on their own can beat Hawkins. But if there’s enough pressure on the ball, it gives Zerk-Thatcher or whoever half a chance, which hasn’t been the case in previous match-ups.”
Lloyd said players like Jye Caldwell and Ben Hobbs had added defensive depth and accountability to the Bombers’ midfield polish. As batsmen say the best way to play fast bowling is from the non-striker’s end, so footballers say the best way to contain a superstar forward is stop the ball getting to him. Here is a ray of hope.
If Bombers fans wanted to forget last time, coach Brad Scott has not been allowed. He was asked about it after that game, and after last week’s rousing win over Adelaide, and again mid-week, and for all we know at Scott family barbecues, too.
Scott has broken it down forensically. For a start, the Bombers did curb Geelong and Hawkins, albeit after the horse had bolted. “They certainly got a hold of us in a short period of time, but they maximised that moment they had,” he said. “The rest of the game, there were some positives to come out of it – believe it or not.
“Tom Hawkins is a generational player. Those really good players, you can have all your best-laid plans… Hawk: you play him in front, he can get you out the back, you play him from behind, he’s still got power and speed off the mark at his age. They blew us away for a 20-minute period, badly. For the rest of the game, we adjusted and were able to support our defence a bit better.”
Scott relieved Zerk-Thatcher on Hawkins at half-time in the April game, detailing Jordan Ridley to him instead and sent Kyle Langford back to help. He said later that in a perfect world, he would have made the change sooner, but had wanted to keep faith with Zerk-Thatcher, who was and is having a good season.
Brandon Zerk-Thatcher is 14 kilograms lighter than Hawkins.Credit: AFL Photos
Scott said it was not his intention to teach the young defender a lesson, but that he would learn from it anyway. Zerk-Thatcher might have wondered if he could have just Googled it.
But footballers don’t think like that. Mid-week, Zerk-Thatcher said he would welcome the chance to stand Hawkins again.
“It would be nice to get one back on him,” Zerk-Thatcher told AAP. “It wasn’t one of my best games, and I’m looking forward to doing better than last time we played. It should be quite the test, but I’ll back our boys in.
“Every team seems to have a few star forwards, so it’s never easy. We’ll hopefully learn from last time and go all right. The way we set up [against Adelaide last week] really allowed us to help each other, especially in the air, and the boys did well. When it did hit the ground, the boys were able to mop it up.”
Essendon’s defence lacks a hulking defender of Hawkins’ proportions – hence the interest in North Melbourne free agent Ben McKay – and last time was undermanned because Jayden Laverde was out injured. He’s back now, but there is a cloud over Ridley, and besides, someone has to take Cameron, and it’s not as if the Bombers have a spare fit ruckman to fold back and help out.
That means the mission again will likely fall to Zerk-Thatcher, who weighs in 14 kilograms lighter than Hawkins. If this was boxing, authorities would be called in and the necessary bribes paid before the match proceeded as if there was nothing to see.
That was on the wide expanses of the MCG. Not to rub in a sore point for Bombers fans, but this will be in the confines of the Geelong stadium. If you think the smaller space might allow defenders to crowd Hawkins and Cameron and nullify them, don’t. On this, the record is clear. Hawkins averages 1.9 goals a game at the MCG and 2.4 at GMHBA Stadium (and probably dishes off just as many). Hawkins is at home on any football ground, but is especially at home at home.
Home is part of what makes Geelong great. They rarely lose there. Even more rarely do they play big Melbourne clubs there. The Bombers made the trip in 2021, but before that had not appeared there since 1993.
Essendon don’t beat Geelong much anywhere. After winning an elimination final in 2004, the Bombers lost to the Cats in a semi-final the next week and have not won a final since (the Cats have won 22). In that span, the Cats have prevailed over the Bombers 20-4. Geelong have changed the name of their stadium nearly as many times this century as they’ve lost to Essendon.
“It’s a massive advantage for Geelong,” said Lloyd. “You see how many teams kick out on the full at Geelong. They’re not used to how skinny it is. So many guys wouldn’t have played there before. Like it has been for so long for interstate teams playing there, it will be like that for Essendon.”
All that said, this is the new Essendon. The vibe from the club has changed, and so has the team. Lloyd can proudly don his Bombers’ cap again. “Essendon are playing too well to be just blown away,” he said. “That’s how I feel. I’ve been super-confident about them in every game they’ve gone into this year, even Port Adelaide, Collingwood on Anzac Day.
“They’ve had two or three slip-ups in 17 weeks. I think they’re as well-prepared and in as good form as they’ve been in coming into a Geelong game. I’ve tipped Geelong just because you have to down there, but I’m confident of a good showing from the Bombers, and I think they’ll go close.”
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