RedVest4
Brownlow Medallist
I’ll touch a bit more on Hawkins below, but the main reason for his ineffectiveness starts and ends with the job Tom Clurey did on him.
Clurey’s effort on Hawkins was an absolute class in how to defend a power forward. He took Hawkins’ run, refused to allow him to body him up, and closed him down whenever Hawkins looked to get a jump at the ball. It was as though Clurey was given a cheat sheet before the game, and whatever questions Hawkins and Chris Scott asked of him, he already knew the answers.
Rom a Geelong perspective, he was like that annoying bloke playing a quiz show that keeps answering questions before the host can finish them, and us dummies are there wondering how the hell he knew that answer when we didn’t even know the end of the question!
Clurey finished with seven intercept possessions as he worked Hawkins away from the contest and was able to zone off and help out his teammates as the game progressed. It is a feather in Clurey’s cap that Hawkins was unable to have any sort of impact, even late in the piece, as forwards have a habit of bobbing up late and kicking a late one to save a bit of face.
Not this night, however. Clurey stuck with Hawkins all the way to the final siren to put a cherry on top of a dominant sundae. It was perhaps the most comprehensive defensive performance of the season, and worthy of votes.
Clurey’s effort on Hawkins was an absolute class in how to defend a power forward. He took Hawkins’ run, refused to allow him to body him up, and closed him down whenever Hawkins looked to get a jump at the ball. It was as though Clurey was given a cheat sheet before the game, and whatever questions Hawkins and Chris Scott asked of him, he already knew the answers.
Rom a Geelong perspective, he was like that annoying bloke playing a quiz show that keeps answering questions before the host can finish them, and us dummies are there wondering how the hell he knew that answer when we didn’t even know the end of the question!
Clurey finished with seven intercept possessions as he worked Hawkins away from the contest and was able to zone off and help out his teammates as the game progressed. It is a feather in Clurey’s cap that Hawkins was unable to have any sort of impact, even late in the piece, as forwards have a habit of bobbing up late and kicking a late one to save a bit of face.
Not this night, however. Clurey stuck with Hawkins all the way to the final siren to put a cherry on top of a dominant sundae. It was perhaps the most comprehensive defensive performance of the season, and worthy of votes.
