HAWTHORN currently sits in third position on the back of a four-game winning streak.
 
In the last month, the Hawks have downed the out-of-form Western Bulldogs and St Kilda, and managed a fantastic win against the Sydney Swans at the SCG.
 
The Hawks have struggled to recapture the form that took them to the winner’s dais in 2008.
 
Form, fitness, suspension, game plan and possibly an element of complacency have conspired against Hawthorn since their last premiership, but the Hawks of 2011 are beginning to take on an eerily similar look to those of 2008.
 
There are seven reasons why the Hawks have been able to right past wrongs and begin to demonstrate that they are getting back to somewhere near that all-conquering outfit of three years ago.
 
1. Tribunal
In 2010, the Hawks’ game plan still had the ‘unsociable’ tag attached to it.
 
Hawthorn players were reported a total of 18 times, of which 17 charges were upheld as guilty, resulting in 13 weeks lost to suspension.
 
Too many key Hawthorn players missed important weeks because of a lack of discipline.
 
Chance Bateman (five weeks), Lance Franklin (three), Cyril Rioli (two), Liam Shiels (two) and Michael Osborne (one) were all found guilty, and their indiscretions proved costly.
 
In 2011, the Hawks have shed their unsociable reputation with only three players being reported.
 
Sam Mitchell and Liam Shiels received a reprimand and fine respectively.
 
Rioli is the only Hawthorn player to be suspended in 2011, receiving a one-week suspension - and he was lucky not to be given an extra week for stupidity.
 
This time last year, Hawthorn players had already missed nine matches due to suspension. By comparison, only one week has been lost to suspension in 2011.
 
2. Injuries
The 22 players who played for Hawthorn last week lost a combined 32 weeks to injuries in 2010. When combined with the 13 weeks of suspensions, the Hawks lost 45 weeks’ worth of football to key players.

The Hawks have been dealt some cruel blows in 2011 with serious injuries to Stephen Gilham, Ben Stratton, Bateman, Cameron Bruce, David Hale and Brent Renouf.
 
But the Hawks have been able to counter these losses by having 10 players play every game as well as introducing new players such as Breust and Paul Puopolo while providing further opportunities to Matt Suckling, Shiels, Brendan Whitecross, Ryan Shoenmakers and Shane Savage.
 
3. Defence
Surprisingly, Hawthorn is ranked the third-best defensive team in the competition behind Geelong and Collingwood.
 
Although the Hawks have been cruelled by injuries to key defenders in Gilham, Stratton, Bruce and Xavier Ellis, they have managed to cover these losses well, which underlines the significance of their performance to date.
 
Josh Gibson, Brent Guerra and Grant Birchall have led this remodeled Hawk defense brilliantly.
 
4. Disposals
In 2010, Hawthorn was ranked 13th for average disposals per game, a fall of eight places from their 2008 premiership season.
 
In 2011, the Hawks are currently ranked first, averaging 398 disposals a game, one more than Geelong and, impressively, nine more than reigning premiers Collingwood.
 
Hawthorn were ranked 12th for uncontested possessions last year but have skyrocketed to be the best-ranked team after 10 rounds.
 
Couple this with an improvement of 12 places from 14th in 2010 to second in 2011 for handball receives and seventh to first for uncontested marks and you begin to understand the Hawks’ blueprint in 2011.
 
5. Kicking
Short kicking has become an integral part of the Hawks revised game plan. Ranked eighth in 2010, the Hawks are now number one in the competition.
 
Supporting this shift in style, the Hawks have gone away from their preferred long-kicking style of previous years, slipping eight places from eighth in 2010 to 16th this year.
 
This is a significant change in the way they play.
 
In 2008, the Hawks were the fifth-ranked team for long kicks. Understandably the Hawks were instructed to kick long to key targets Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead.
 
Importantly, when a team decides to play a high-possession game, it is critical to the success of this style that disposal efficiency is also high.
 
Hawthorn has been able to match its short-kicking game plan with a significant improvement in effective kicks.
 
Ranked seventh last year, Hawthorn is now the most efficient kicking team in the competition.
 
6. Possessions
Another area where Hawthorn has improved considerably is uncontested possession.
 
Ranked 12th last year, the Hawks are now the best-ranked team in the AFL, averaging 256 uncontested possessions a game - 10 better than Geelong and 36 more than Collingwood.
 
Complimenting their improvement in uncontested possessions is an increase in uncontested marks from seventh to first.
 
The Hawks average 14 more uncontested marks a game than the next-best side, Carlton, and manage 15 more than Geelong and 25 more than Collingwood.
 
The general rule is if you can keep the opposition under 80 uncontested marks a game, you win more than you lose.
          
The Hawks have also made a quantum leap in handball receives.
 
Ranked 14th in 2010, the Hawks are second only to Geelong. Handball receives are a great indication of the amount of run a side is generating.
 
A shift towards a possession-style game plan means handball receives will naturally increase, but to suggest this is the sole reason would be unfair to the efforts of the players.
 
Possession football requires an enormous amount of run and commitment from players; without that, your ball movement becomes stagnant, which ultimately means the opposition’s job of forcing you into making a mistake becomes much easier and your efficiency drops markedly.
          
This is clearly not the case with Hawthorn this year.
 
7. Frees against
The Hawks have relinquished the unwanted title of being the team which gave away the most free kicks last year to now sit fifth in the competition.
 
While a clear improvement on 2010, striving reduce that figure further remains an area for continued improvement. The Hawks have become much better at playing the ball as opposed to the man, which was something they did a lot in the past three years.
 
‘Clarko’s Cluster’ has been replaced by a possession-style game built around many of the principles involved with basketball.
 
The Hawks are getting more of the football than their opposition, and instead of kicking long they are now playing a possession game based around small incremental movements up and around the ground by hand and foot.
 
They getting more of the football but - almost as importantly - they are not handing it back to the opposition when they have it themselves.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.