Hawks threepeat......now look to immortality

Threepeat Hawks

After winning the 2015 premiership, the Alistair Clarkson coached Hawthorn team are without question,  the greatest AFL team of the modern era. I believe they have surpassed the Brisbane Lions (2001-04) and the Geelong Cats (2007-11). Both Brisbane and Geelong played in 4 out of 5 grand finals with each winning three premierships. The difference with Brisbane is they were able to achieve a threepeat (three in a row) however Geelong did not win any in succession. Wining three premierships in a row is no easy feat with only six teams in history to achieve it:

• Hawthorn (2013-15)
• Brisbane (2001-3)
• Melbourne (1953-7)
• Melbourne (1939-41)
• Collingwood (1927-30)
• Carlton (1906 - 08)

Collingwood is the only team (above) to win four in a row. The next phase for this Hawthorn team is now AFL immortality, that is if they have not achieved it already. Success of a football team can be defined by a number of factors including (also from a supporter perspective):

• Winning games (preferably much more than you lose)
• Beating teams "you love to hate"
• Finishing at the top of the ladder (if not, top 4, and at minimum top 8)
• Your teams's players winning awards (Brownlow, Coleman, Norm Smith) and making the All Australian team
• Your team is stable, profitable and has large number of supporters being members 
• Team is the "team of choice" for employees, players and members
• Playing finals football
• Playing in a grand final

Ultimately though it is ONLY one thing that defines the success of any sports team and that is winning premierships (or the equivalent for your sport). If you are winning premierships nothing else really matters and all the success factors (above) will typically follow. Perhaps not the individual awards, but everything else will.

Hawthorn currently are a champion team that epitomises exactly that. Even their motto, "Play your role" shows they are focused on team success as opposed to individual brilliance. It also shows that a champion team will always beat a team of champions (as long as a salary cap is in place). If you look at player ratings the highest Hawthorn member is Jarryd Roughead at number 16.

So how does Hawthorn become the greatest team of all time?

Greatest teams of all time

The three teams that have a claim to immortality as "the greatest team of all time" would include:

• Hawthorn (2008-2015) - current team
• Hawthorn (1983-91)
• Collingwood (1927-30)

Peter Knights and Leigh Matthews would argue that the Hawthorn team of the 80's are the greatest Hawthorn team because:

• 5 premierships (83, 86, 88. 89, 91)
• 7 consecutive grand finals (1983-89)
• 2 Brownlow medals (Dipierdominico, Platten)
• 2 Coleman medals (Jason Dunstall) 

Given we are talking about teams and not individual performance. Brownlow and Colemen medals do not count (in my opinion). Sure there were many champions as part of this era including, Matthews, Knights, Dipierdominico, Plattern, Tuck, Brereton, Dunstall, Buckenara, Jarman, Ayres, Eade, Wallace, Judge, and many more. As I mentioned before, success for a team is all about ONE thing and that is winning a premiership .......everything else is secondary. Sure reaching a grand final is great but if you do not take the silver (cup) home, it is an unsuccesful year. The Hawthorn team of the 80's never achieved a threepeat (three in a row), so you can argue which team is better. I have Alistair Clarkson's team head to head with this team purely on premierships, given the system is designed now to disadvantage successful teams -  the expanded national competition(more teams), the draft and the salary cap. If this Hawthorn team wins next year then I think it is unquestionable as the greatest Hawthorn team ever and the greatest team ever, including the Collingwood team of 1925 - 30 whose merits include:

• 6 consecutive grand finals (1925-30)
• 4 premierships in a row (1927 - 30)
• 5 consecutive minor premierships ((1926 - 30)
• 3 Brownlow medalist
• 5 consecutive years of leading goalkicker (Gordon Coventry)
• 1 undefeated home and away season in 1929

If Hawthorn win one more premiership it would be hard to argue that they are the greatest team ever as they would have equalled the Collingwood feat of 4 in a row in a competition that makes it even more difficult today for teams to dominate (as previously discussed). The system is designed so if you have success in one year you are disadvantaged in the next year. Which goes a long way to showing how great this Hawthorn team is. Two more premierships for 2016 and 2017, they would reach a state of immortality all on their own! No one could challenge this team to be the greatest of all time.

What made this team so great?

It is ALL about Culture and Leadership. Hawthorn had great leadership which created this juggernaut of a team. As much as you can dislike Jeff Kennett you have to admire his leadership capability. The year 2005 saw the appointment of Alistair Clarkson, who also has become a great leader and coach in his own right. Where Alistair Clarkson excelled was his football smarts and strategies. Very much like a "playbook" in NFL (American Football) speak. 

As most AFL experts would say in building a team, the first thing you need to do is "build a spine" - key positions on the team. With the recruitment of Franklin and Roughhead from the 2004 draft gave Clarkson  a potent forward line where he could base his strategies to take advantage of this structure. Using his potent forward line, strategies such as "Buddy's Box" (four man forward line) and "Clarkson Cluster" were designed to keep the ball as often as possible in the forward half where his star forwards and forwards/mids (Williams, Crawford, Sewell, Mitchell, Lewis, Rioli, Bruest Puopolo, Gunston) could take advantage and keep the ball there as long as possible. Statistically speaking the longer you keep the ball in your half the better chance you will have of winning. 

This is very different to coaches such as Paul Roos and Ross Lyon who are focused on more a defensive structure. Other coaches have tried to replicate Clarkson's strategies but the issue is depending on your personnel (players) that may not necessarily be the best strategy.

The other thing that Clarko had and still has is great lieutenants. With the likes of Damien Hardwick, Luke Beverage, Adam Simpson and Brendan Bolton to support him, all of who have become senior AFL coaches, in their own right. Clarko's biggest coup though from a coaching support perspective has to be recruiting Brett Ratten as an assistant coach. It is no surprise that Hawthorn's threepeat has only come after Brett Ratten joined the Hawks in late 2012 after losing the premiership to Sydney. In my opinion Brett Ratten is the best senior coach in the AFL that is not a senior coach. I was so shocked at the time that Carlton sacked Brett Ratten and replaced him with Mick Malthouse. As I have said in previous posts the issue for Carlton was not the coach but overall leadership, governance and culture. Carlton would not be where they are at now if they had kept Brett Ratten. Mick Malthouse probably cost the club at least $3-5 million dollars more since and has left the club in a worst state. On the other hand Ratts has assisted Clarko in three straight premierships.

Now you have Brendan Bolton coaching the Blues and although he will do an admirable job, Ratts would have been the best coach for the blues. Unless he did not put his hand up, given the tragedy of his son,  I am surprised he wasn't looked at by Carlton, Essendon and Adelaide. For Carlton it may have been a pride factor to bring back Ratts after sacking him. 

The administration and the board are key components and Hawthorn has a very stable board and an excellent leadership CEO in Stuart Fox. One critical part of Stuart Fox's successful approach is communications. He instils that the whole organisation needs "sing from the same hymn sheet" and he is very comfortable with driving leadership down as far as possible. Stuart also has great support from his second level of leadership.

On the field Hawthorn oozes leadership too. Captain, Luke Hodge epitomises great leadership. All you have to do is look at the documentary "Life of an AFL Captain - the chosen few" and the references to Luke Hodge shows not only what a great leader he is, but how he is perceived by other captains. Known as the "General" by Bruce McAvaney and as Leigh Matthews said "When the Hawks devoted the first choice in the 2001 NAB AFL National Draft to Luke Hodge they got not just a great player but a great leader, too". So there is no questioning his great leadership.  What people forget though is the leadership supporting Hodge. Sam Mitchell was captain prior to Luke Hodge and is a critical part of the leadership team. Luke may be the general, but Mitchell is typically the strategist in the middle and Luke has learnt from Sam Mitchell and Shane Crawford before him. There are also other great leaders in Jarryd Roughead, Jordan Lewis, Shaun Burgoyne, Grant Birchall, Josh Gibson, and Liam Shields. Given the great leadership, the team effectively can run itself.

Hawthorn have been fortunate to have the assistance of Ray McLean's "Leading Teams" organisation to help them through the journey of leadership and culture since 2005. As Ray McLean said after Hawthorn's 2015 premiership, “A strongly aligned culture and leadership is still the most reliable recipe for success.” I believe Ray and his team have had great influence over Hawthorn's success. 

I think Hawthorn will continue its success and win the 2016 Premiership. With Ryan Shoenmakers stepping up during the 2016 finals, this makes them an even more formidable up forward. Shoey looks much more comfortable on the forward line and will add another bow to the structure. The key for recruitment is a key position in the backline with the retirement of Brian Lake and Gibson aging. Jake Carlisle would be the perfect fit and could also be a swingman in the forward line.

Hawthorn also need to give players such as Anderson, Litherland, Langford, Woodward, O'Rourke, Hartung more of a run to give the older legs (Gibson, Burgoyne, Mitchell, Hodge and Lewis a break. Otherwise they will leave where they can get into top 22 at other clubs. Success at Box Hill Hawks has played a major part in the ongoing success of Hawthorn.

The biggest issue for Hawthorn is not the next 2 years (2016 and 2017) where you would expect them to have relative success. It will be when their stars such as Mitchell and Hodge retire and the other players continue to age. This transition from the old to new will be critical in their on-going success. Hawthorn's biggest loss will be Sam Mitchell who I believe is the most important player in this Hawthorn team.