FARRER FILES: EWK HAWKS

2015 Result:       Runners-up (finished regular season as minor premiers)
Home & Away:    16 wins; 0 losses
Finals Form:        Lost major semi-final to The Rock-Yerong Creek
                          Won preliminary final against North Wagga
                          Lost grand final to The Rock-Yerong Creek

Club Best & Fairest:    Nathan Scott
Rising Star:                Jacob Tiernan

Snapshot:
For all but a quarter of footy, 2015 looked like the year of the Hawk. But in the end it was the year of the lesson for the Hawks, discovering that you can pay a severe price for not putting an opposition away.  They dominated the Farrer League home and away season, taking an unbeaten record into the finals – only to lose the major semi to The Rock-Yerong Creek. Many still believed that was the loss they needed after rarely being pushed during the season, and a fortnight later that assessment looked correct when East Wagga-Kooringal shut the Pies down completely in the first quarter and looked on their way to victory.
But an inability to put the game out of reach came back to haunt them… allowing TRYC to continually claw their way back into the contest when they looked down and out, and then steal the game at the death despite far fewer opportunities.
The challenge for 2016 is to make sure that – after failing to make the most of their opportunities in a grand final – they give themselves the opportunity to take them in another one.
In their favour, the Hawks look reasonably settled. The retirements of Chris Jackson and Ryan Campbell and departures of Stu Brierty and Craig Pullen are losses but midfielder Guy McAlister is coming back after a year of rugby and Stephen Smith’s brother Tim is headed to Gumly after playing for Belconnen in the Canberra comp.
And for a club committed to long-term rejuvenation, back-to-back reserve grade premierships and first grade grand final appearances are the ideal launching pad.

Highlights: 
Grand final heartache has a habit of obscuring any season highlights. But with the dust settled on the Robertson Oval disappointment, coach Gavin McMahon can look back at the bigger picture of the club.
“Obviously we’re evolving – from the first season there, we had to instil a bit of belief that we could win. The second year we got to the point where we know that we can win. But we didn’t get a lot of practice at being pushed, which in hindsight probably came back and bit us on the bum,” McMahon said.
The club can hang its hat on consistency and depth in the top two grades. Always interested in professionalism and the process of success, McMahon can see where some of the improvement came from.
“That was the biggest focus for us – consistency as a club, from Tuesday to Thursday nights right through to the warm-up on Saturday,” he said.
“So being able to instil that right across the club, the boys got confidence in that process.”
There was also ongoing improvement off the field, with the club just installing a $50,000 sprinkler system at Gumly Oval – courtesy of a grant, matched by club fundraising, with a healthy dose of hard work to put it in the ground.
And president Rob Richards stepped aside after three years as president, handing over to Steve Absolum.
“It wasn’t a hard decision, it’s getting back to the footy club that I knew when I grew up there,” Absolum said.
“There’ll be a lot of hard work, but it’s a good job because there’s great people out there. We’re coming off the back of a successful year. We fell one short on the field, but it’s been successful off the field – we’re averaging good numbers through the gate, and canteen figures are up.”

Lowlights:  
The new president returns to a saying of an old coach to describe the Hawks’ year, as a whole. “‘The operation was successful, but the patient died on the table.’ That pretty well sums up last year,” Absolum said.
There’s no getting away from the Robertson Oval disappointment, even moreso because it feels as though it was avoidable. McMahon said they never quite learnt how to put a game beyond reach.
“Sometimes it was like the cat with the mouse, we played with it a bit but we never really demolished it during the year,” he said.
“The grand final should have been over at halftime… if you leave good sides in it, they’ll come back and hurt you. To dominate so much in the first half and not have it reflected on the scoreboard, that’s just bad footy.”
McMahon doesn’t raise the issue of injuries, which saw the Hawks without Stu Brierty for the finals, James Creasy in reserve grade on grand final day, and Ben Absolum out for a month leading up to the decider. But when questioned he acknowledged the timing of the injuries was a disruption but noted it’s not what cost them the grand final. But it did rob Brierty of a grand final farewell after two years of service to the club, which disappointed the coach personally.
“Absolutely. What he’s brought to the club – he’s not only a ripping fella, but his professionalism and work ethic, whether it was his national touch commitments or his time at East Wagga. He was based in Sydney but he was on the phone regularly to different guys each week to talk about things. So when he’s sitting on about 50-odd touches in the last quarter in the last round (against CSU) and you’re thinking about bringing him off for a rest and you look up and he’s on his way off…” McMahon said.
A broken collarbone was the verdict and despite making every effort, the gun midfielder was unable to get it right in time for grand final day.

Surprise Packet:  
Two names spring to mind for the coach when asked about surprise packets, although it’s more about ‘exceeding expectations’ than surprise with Luke Cuthbert – due to his age – and Nick Hull – returning from injury.
On Cuthbert, McMahon said: “He’s obviously a talented young lad and in the very early part of his footy journey. We expected him to hold his own and had confidence he’d do that, but for him to be in our best couple of players in most of our finals, and particularly the grand final, was excellent. He’s only 16 years old.”
On Hull: “For the pre-season Nick had, after back surgery in January… we ended up playing him in a forward pocket for the first few weeks, then forward but by the end of the year, the form he was in in the ruck… it’s not that he was a surprise, but it was bloody good,” McMahon said.

Areas to improve:  
Clearly, learning how to finish off games will be a priority, although the Hawks know that – with the Farrer League shaping as even more competitive next season – they can’t take anything about this year for granted.
“You’re always going to tweak your game style just to keep everyone interested,” McMahon said.
“But we spoke a lot last year about talent winning games but teamwork is what wins championships. It’s an old Jordan quote, but that’s where we’re at – there’s an abundance of talent but we just need to work better as a unit.”
McMahon said the team-first mentality will remain a priority, as he gets his players on continuing to work for each other.
There is also the Chris Jackson-sized hole at centre-half-forward to fill (although he did go to fullback for the grand final) and the absence of Brierty’s speed and class in the midfield.
They won’t knock back further acquisitions but McMahon said he doesn’t have a huge focus on recruitment this off-season.
Pre-season training won’t kick off until January when the new sprinkler system has settled in at Gumly. McMahon said pre-Christmas work wasn’t on his radar. “Most of our guys are pretty active, some of the boys are playing touch carnivals and plenty are playing here. We don’t have too many blokes who aren’t fit or carry a bit of weight, and usually that pre-Christmas is about shedding a few kilos.”

What to look forward to:  
From a broader point of view, Steve Absolum identifies his role as president but it resonates as the on-field message for the Hawks too:
“The club’s in a great position but the hardest job will be to take it to the next level. You can’t be happy with where the club is or you’ll go backwards… you need to keep spiralling upwards.”
He said, after the sprinkler system, the club’s next item on the agenda for improvements is to add another netball court.
“At our club a lot of things are geared towards the players – football and netball. (The sprinklers) mean our boys can do pre-season at their own ground instead of waiting til the rains come to green it up a bit,” Absolum said.
On the field, there’s the return of Guy McAlister, who brings that speed and toughness in the middle.
“When he gets out there and buries blokes, you can’t ask too much more than that,” McMahon said.
And Tim Smith is coming off a season at fullback for Belconnen who, coincidentally, went through the Canberra season undefeated only to be beaten in the grand final.  He’ll add some more starch to a strong defence.
At the other end, twin forwards Marc Geppert and Christian Kelly have had most of a season working together, and the Hawks will know how to best use the pair of them.
But across the board in 2015, EWK were a much more balanced side than in 2014, when there was an overreliance on Ben Absolum and Brierty in the middle. Nathan Scott won the club’s best and fairest in a very even count where there wasn’t much between the top 10. At different times during the year, different players dominated for a handful of weeks at a time.
With the majority there again next year, McMahon’s expectation is for further improvement as a team.
“Our club’s continually just building, and that’s the next part, within our team and with individuals. Some of our boys have played two seasons together now. They’re learning more about each other and we’re hoping we can capitalise on those friendships.”