Hawthorn’s master coach Sam Mitchell has been credited with another genius move that ultimately proved the difference in his team’s thrilling victory over Adelaide in Tasmania.
Mitchell moved regular defender Blake ‘Dimma’ Hardwick to the forward line, in a surprising call that paid off in spades.
In the absence of veteran forward Jack Gunston, Hardwick stepped up to the plate, and booted four goals, and had six marks while playing as a deep forward.
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After the game, it was revealed that it all happened on a whim — “out of nowhere” — inside the brain of Mitchell.
Asked about their “new forward”, co-captain James Sicily said “only for a week, hopefully.”
But he admitted that Hardwick “was probably the difference” in a match decided by just nine points.
“Hopefully Gunners (Gunston) comes back and we get our mate (Hardwick) back in the backline,” Sicily told Channel 7.
“But obviously a great lever to pull if we can’t kick a goal, just chuck him down there.
“But yeah, a bit of a grind tonight, but good to get back on the winner’s list.”
Sicily was quizzed about the Hardwick move and when the team found out that Mitchell would play the surprise ace up his sleeve.
“To be honest, I think he just had a bit of an epiphany in the captains run,” Sicily told Channel 7.
“He’s like, ‘I reckon Dimma forward this week out of nowhere. What do you reckon?’ And I’m like, ‘yeah, sounds good.’ What did he have? Six shots a goal, seven shots a goal. So, yeah.”
It wasn’t the only interesting card Mitchell played. He also had to give everyone a fiery spray after the sluggish start that saw the Crows jump out of the blocks and extend their lead early in the second term.
“I’ve played a lot of footy with this man, I’ve never seen him that angry in the coaches’ box,” Luke Hodge — Mitchell’s former teammate and good mate — said in the commentary.
“He’s fuming with how they’ve started this second quarter.”
It did the trick with Hawthorn managing to compose themselves and assume a 13-point by the long break.
Asked what was happening when Mitchell was “going nuts”, Sicily said he was actually unsure why but assumed it was to do with a lack of pressure.
“Yeah, I was seeing the replays on it, but I’m not sure what it was about,” Sicily told Channel 7.
“When I get to the bench I try and chat to Mitch, and think he was a bit frustrated with (the pressure). There was hardly any tackles in the game. There was hardly any pressure in the game, so we want pressure in the game.
“We feel like we play our best footy when it’s pretty contested. So we set the game up a bit differently, played a different method, and we were able to get some pressure on the game.”
Mitchell later addressed Hodge’s “angry” observation, with some amusement.
“I feel like I need to respond to Hodgey and not to the press conference, but to the press conference, no, that’s just how we (roll), we needed to perform at a high level, and the standards that we know are required to win games like that.
“And we weren’t living up to, and then after that, we did well.
“To Hodgey himself, I think he knows he’s seen me pretty angry a few times, probably just at him some of those times, but he’s been just as angry at me … (but) it was good to see him pregame.”
