There are a lot of great trio's out there. Ablett, Bartel and Corey. Black, Brown and Power. Judd, Murphy, Fev. Riewoldt, Hayes, Dal Santo. But I think last night settled that Franklin, Mitchell and Hodge is the best trio in the AFL. Hodge absolutely dominated in defence, stopping the Bulldogs attack and quarterbacking the Hawks drive forward. Mitchell was superb in the middle, controlling the stoppages. And Buddy kicked 8. Those three were the key to what was ultimately a pretty basic Hawthorn win.
I'm still struggling to fathom exactly how the Bulldogs managed to be so inept last night. For four weeks the Bulldogs knew they were going to play Hawthorn. They had a whole month to devise strategies to combat Hawthorn's defensive zone, yet they looked like they had no idea whatsoever. At first the Dogs looked like they were going to try and run, carry and handball through the Hawks' zone. Then they got nervous, started getting to close to teammates, mistiming handballs, etc. In the second and third terms they tried pinpointing passes through the zone. This failed miserably. Such is Hawthorn's zone that the passes have to be absolutely perfect. Sometimes they were, but it wasn't often. On numerous occasions the Dogs found themselves trying to pinpoint passes laterally. It was sad to watch.
The Hawks on the other hand looked brilliant. They got numbers back in defence, controlled the midfield, and looked dangerous every single time they went forward. After last night you have to consider them very, very close to Geelong. Watching next week's Collingwood match will be hard, knowing that Hawthorn are waiting in the preliminary final for us.
Votes
8 - Luke Hodge (Haw)
8 - Lance Franklin (Haw)
8 - Sam Mitchell (Haw)
8 - Michael Osbourne (Haw)
7 - Jordan Lewis (Haw)
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