It’s a simple game sometimes. One team’s midfield plays excellently, the other team’s midfield has their colours lowered, to say the least, and everything flows from there.
That was Saturday’s script in Launceston, Hawthorn dominating in all facets from the outset on the way to a 51-point half-time lead, killing the game as a contest by the main break.
The second half was largely inconsequential in the greater scheme of things. At times it did look like there was a hint of damage limitation in the mindset, given there’s only a five-day break until facing the Western Bulldogs on Thursday night.
Ultimately though, the first half can be interpreted as the flip side of the Fremantle game. On that evening, all the pressure and forward half game started from a strong performance from the midfield unit, sheltering the backs.
Saturday in Launceston was just about the complete opposite, and the results spoke for themselves on a day where it was more about the domino effect from Hawthorn playing well rather than North playing poorly.
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As part of North’s uptick over recent weeks, they’ve had a much-improved contest game, more often than not able to dictate a game’s tempo because of efforts in tight.
Those efforts are predicated on two things:
1) Winning more contests than the opposition, obviously, but also
2) Preventing contest losses from turning into anything dangerous
Point 2 is achieved by not allowing opponents to exit contests with clean possession, putting as much pressure on as possible. Point 2 wasn’t achieved on Saturday.
At one point midway through the second quarter, just before the game stopped as a live contest, Hawthorn were +14 in the clearance count, also ending the half +21 in contested possessions.
The Hawks made it a point to engage North’s players providing defensive cover at ground level of stoppages and contests. It was done in a few different ways.
Sometimes it was about bringing an extra player up to stoppages, distorting structures so one of their half backs was in a better position to impact compared to North’s equivalent:
At other times it was simply about engaging whoever North’s sweeper was. Often it was Conor Nash, his extra size troubling Tom Powell from time to time – in this example giving away a free kick for holding:
Hawthorn also had players going on the fly from defensive side to offensive side, while teammates worked to move and stretch North’s structures out of order.
For example, this Nick Watson run out of the centre would have been much harder to execute if Josh Ward hadn’t worked extremely well with his positioning. Or at least what we could see of the positioning, given the usual lottery of directors not realising the point of a football game is to actually see what’s happening in a football game:
To go back a step, much of this wouldn’t have been possible for Hawthorn without Lloyd Meek taking the points against Tristan Xerri.
Much of Xerri’s influence for North can be boiled down to three areas: hit-outs to advantage, clearances, and tackles. Collating them all into one single number isn’t a 100 percent perfect way to illustrate his influence week to week, but it’s close enough.
Xerri’s total against Hawthorn – 14, made up of six hit-outs to advantage, five clearances, and three tackles – was his lowest of the year.
The extra strength Meek possesses allowed him to neutralise many of Xerri’s strengths, from positioning at ruck contests, and then thwarting the follow ups. Little things like this, where Meek was able to get past Xerri, hasn’t happened much at all this year.
Meek’s method from start to finish wasn’t too dissimilar to Sean Darcy’s attempts a fortnight ago against Xerri, which makes me wonder whether opponents have developed a playbook for how their physical rucks should go at Xerri.
While it won’t be something to keep an eye on against Tim English’s different archetype and the Bulldogs on Thursday night, it’s worth remembering for future opponents.
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For those who have missed it, the last five North Melbourne pieces on The Shinboner, plus…
2025’s Team Structures Page
North Melbourne’s Round 15 analysis v Carlton
North Melbourne’s Round 14 analysis v Fremantle
North Melbourne’s Round 13 analysis v West Coast
North Melbourne at the mid-season bye
North Melbourne’s Round 11 analysis v Collingwood
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But back to the current game, and when Hawthorn’s ruck advantage was combined with their midfield running rings around North’s, the last hope was the defensive unit standing up against the forthcoming stampede.
It was already an unlikely task – as it would have been for any defensive group in the history of the league, given what was happening up field – but when there were chances to kill a passage, more often than not it didn’t happen.
Toby Pink’s decisions were usually correct, but usually either a half step slow in executing or a half step off in carrying it out. There was the early missed spoil out of Caleb Daniel’s hands that spilled straight into Dylan Moore’s hands, and in general being flummoxed by Jack Gunston’s movement from start to finish.
In many ways, Pink’s performance illustrated his need – and most key defenders’ need – for North’s on-ballers to be up to speed. In recent weeks Pink’s performances have mirrored what’s happened up the field. He’s not the type of player who can be a strong last line presence to wipe away the mistakes of others. Which isn’t supposed to be an insult, because very few players are capable of doing that – Comben the only one of North’s current defensive corps.
Meanwhile Riley Hardeman’s game, wiped of all confidence by the final siren, should serve as a reminder of how unnaturally comfortable he’d looked in previous weeks against an array of small and medium forwards so early in his career.
In Launceston, Hawthorn’s options led him a merry dance, to the point where he was bereft of solutions. The difference between Hardeman and Pink is the former has a much higher ceiling in his role, just 14 games in at 20 years old, which makes games like Saturday almost a rite of passage to learn from.
Speaking about rites of passage, Wil Dawson had a baptism of fire in his first AFL game of 2025. The hesitation on when to go, where to go, and how to work as part of the unit was all on display. But to return to a similar theme, all those issues are completely normal for someone at Dawson’s level of progression.
It was just Dawson’s fourth AFL game, third as a defender, and first at the level playing alongside Griffin Logue and Pink. As a matter of fact, if you go back to his two 2024 games in the back half, only one other member of the back seven carried over with him:
North’s back seven in Wil Dawson’s three AFL games as a defender
- Round 10, 2024: Comben, Corr, Dawson, McDonald, Fisher, Bergman, Scott
- Round 11, 2024: Comben, Corr, Dawson, McDonald, Archer, Fisher, Tucker
- Round 16, 2025: Logue, Pink, Dawson, McDonald, Daniel, McKercher, Hardeman
Combine inexperience with unfamiliar surroundings and an opposition having their way everywhere else on the field, and it almost would have been more of a surprise if Dawson played well. Especially considering his year at VFL level has flip-flopped between back and forward depending on the week.
Given the plan is for Dawson to be a 10+ year player – and there haven’t been any flashing red lights with his play so far to indicate otherwise – these learning afternoons almost have to be a part of the process. The question is how and when to get AFL games into him without compromising his development arc. Not every team can be Collingwood, able to play four key forwards against West Coast and still grind out a relatively comfortable win.
For those who have missed it, the last five Notebook entries on The Shinboner, plus…
2025’s Team Structures Page
Adelaide, Hawthorn, Melbourne, West Coast health checks: Round 15’s Notebook
Collingwood, Gold Coast, Richmond, Sydney health checks: Round 14’s Notebook
St Kilda and Fremantle’s health checks: Round 13’s Notebook
Carlton, Port, and Bulldogs health checks: Round 12’s Notebook
Teams moving in different directions: Round 11’s Notebook
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And with the Bulldogs next on the fixture, a team that has routinely had its way with North over recent years, the topic of team selection is intriguing.
George Wardlaw’s concussion will rule him out, as we all cross our fingers and hope symptoms don’t linger after the fourth of his career. A five-day break – for anyone who played in the VFL as well – makes decisions tougher.
Last time North had a five-day break, they looked utterly exhausted in the final quarter, failing to get over the top of a depleted (and similarly exhausted) Essendon outfit late. The same level of empty petrol tanks against the Bulldogs won’t mean a close loss; it will mean conceding goal after goal after goal.
On an important night for the club on many fronts, it’ll be another test of progress since the season opener.