HAWTHORN coach Alastair Clarkson refuses to be drawn on whether the Hawks have gained a psychological edge over Freo after Sunday’s 72-point demolition in Launceston.
Clarkson was determined “not to get carried away” in spite of the Hawks’ domination of the ladder-leading Dockers, praising his players for their application and workload in front of 16,792 spectators at Aurora Stadium.
“To come down here and play as well as we did we are really pleased with that, but having said that we expect to perform well at this ground,” Clarkson said.
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“We really deal in the now and I know it’s boring as all hell for you guys and the wider footy community, but this is four points against a good opponent.
“We’re pleased we applied ourselves in the way we did and we give ourselves the chance to get another win and try to solidify a spot in that top four which is so important.”
In a bruising encounter that saw a number of heavy collisions around the ground, the Hawks managed to out-point the Dockers in terms of possession, clearances and forward entries – but it was their dominance in winning the tackle count 83-58 that really pleased the coach.
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“It was a physical game, there’s a lot of collisions and that’s what happens when you’ve got two bullish sides going at each other,” Clarkson said.
“We’re not usually a side that has those sort of tackle numbers so I’m really pleased with that.
“I think we tackle well when we tackle but we never seem to get high numbers, but we did today and I’m really pleased our players will be rewarded for their effort and application in that regard.”
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The Hawks are now safely entrenched in the top four with a game in hand over fifth-placed Richmond.
The significance of inflicting Freo’s second loss of the season was certainly not lost on Clarkson, whose focus will now shift to another crunch match against the Swans in Sydney next Saturday night.
“If we allowed Fremantle to get the four points that would have put a fair gap between us and them, maybe even three or four games,” he said. “We get the four points, we move onto Sydney next week.”
Clarkson claimed not to have seen a second-quarter collision between Sam Mitchell and Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe that saw the star Docker briefly leave the field with a corked thigh.
“It’s two really, really good sides having a genuine crack at each other and there’s going to be collisions,” Clarkson said.
“There’s something like 150 tackles laid for the game; they’re collisions and that’s the game of footy.”
