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Important SN update for Southland“Pick your poison”: Hawthorn's defensive coaching conundrum
Jaiden Sciberras • July 1st, 2025 8:55 am
Hawthorn’s depth behind the ball is arguably the best in the competition, however selecting the best mix for any given contest may prove a challenge for Sam Mitchell.
Throughout Hawthorn’s incredible late-season and September charge in 2024, their identity surrounded their elite ability to move the ball from one end to another, highlighted by their unique flair and high-octane brand.
Over the course of 2025, the Hawks have stepped into a new realm of play out of the back half, with their new defensive recruits in Tom Barrass and Josh Battle providing an alternate look behind the ball.
With Barrass’ elite ability to defend one on one and minimise the impact of an opposition key forward, the 29-year-old typically thrives in a far more stable and slow brand of football, potentially harming the Hawks’ ability to transition as they have so well in past games.
Currently sitting in fifth place, out of the top four on percentage, but having beaten one top eight side with a tough run home, former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has questioned whether Mitchell and the Hawks might consider an alternate look to their defensive setup.
“I think it’s a real question how they put that back six together,” Buckley told SEN’s Whateley.
“It’s a back seven when you think about players who are rotating through, and the way Sam Mitchell coaches it’s probably a back nine at various times because there are players that can go back and forward.
“I suggest that one of Hawthorn’s competitive advantages is their run. Their speed, their ability to run in waves, handball chains and buffer the opposition’s pressure at the beginning, so that they can get the other side of that first line of pressure into space and then into the fat part of the ground and then they are away.
“They are really hard to defend once they do that. We haven’t seen them do that as consistently this year and at the back end of last year. Their backline isn’t settled. It isn’t the same backline.
“You’ve done the list management thing. You’ve bought in a big huah, who stops key forwards in (Tom) Barrass, but he doesn’t give you a lot of run and he doesn’t give you any use out of there either outside of a 15-20 metre pass lateral, which slows you down.
“Then you’ve got (Josh) Battle, who has played as a key at times, but he does use the ball really well, intercept mark, he’s a little bit more mobile.
“But you’ve spent a lot of bikkies for two players to come into a backline that was operating really well.
“It was (Sam) Frost, (Jack) Scrimshaw, (Josh) Weddle, (James) Sicily, (Karl) Amon, (Jarman) Impey and maybe (Blake) Hardwick if he hadn’t been thrown forward.
“That was a running back six and seven, that was part of the DNA that made Hawthorn so compelling, and so difficult to handle.
“You put Barrass and Battle in there; it changes the dynamic. All year, outside of injury, Weddle has been thrown forward/back, but he’s clearly better behind the ball and his run and carry, his contest feeds into hawthorn’s very best.
“He needs to be, in my mind, behind the ball. Sicily is injured, and he’s an All-Australian key back, don’t be mucking around with him forward.
“Scrimshaw is playing in the twos, Barras and Battle are there, and Frost isn’t in the team.
“I think that’s a massive watch. What’s your competitive advantage, and I think for me it’s mobility, it’s run, and it is flexibility in the Hawthorn back six/seven.
“Do they need to leave one of Barras and Battle out to be able to be the very best of themselves? That is a coaching conundrum.
“These are the decisions that are being thrown up. There’s no bad outcome, but you’ll only know if you’ve made the right decision in retrospect.
“For me, that’s a massive watch because they’ve got an abundance of players that can come in and do that job, but you’ve got to pick your poison.”
Following their Round 17 clash with St Kilda this Saturday night, the Hawks face four top six sides in their last seven games, with every win crucial in their bid for a place in the tight-knit top eight.
