Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has expressed frustration over an umpiring decision that denied forward Nick Watson a half-time goal during a match where the Marvel Stadium surface came under scrutiny for being too slippery under a closed roof. Mitchell said he was relieved that Watson’s overturned goal did not impact his team’s 52-point victory—18.11 (119) to 9.13 (67)—but emphasized that the club would be seeking clarification from the AFL.
Watson scored what appeared to be a goal after the half-time siren from the right forward pocket, but the umpires ruled that he had run off his line, leading to the score being disallowed. “There’s no common sense about that,” Mitchell said. “I would hope that we get an answer from the AFL, I’m sure we will.”
Mitchell explained that while the rule made sense when players were swinging into the center of the ground to create space, it didn’t apply in this situation. “There is absolutely no reason that a player would go wider on that side to give themselves an advantage,” he said. “The vision doesn’t look like he goes off the line much, but that’s the umpire’s call, and I can accept that. But the fact that you can go off the line towards the boundary and it be called play on… there’s no common sense about that.”
He added, “Why would he run wider to give himself a harder shot and get called play on? It didn’t make a lot of sense. I’m glad it was in a game where individual tiny scores didn’t matter, but I hope that’s something they rectify.”
Watson shared his thoughts with Kayo Sports in the rooms after the game.
“Don’t get me started,” he said when asked about the incident. “They’re pretty keen to get the whistle out. Actually, I won’t say anything about the umpires. I might get a fine.”
When asked how the Hawks managed to force St Kilda into so many costly turnovers and hold them goalless in the first half, Mitchell pointed to the slippery conditions. “I’m not sure why exactly… it was quite wet,” he said. “Seems funny that we played inside and it was wet, but even in the warm-up, it was quite slippery underfoot.”
Saints coach Ross Lyon also noticed the wet conditions. “Look, I just roll my eyes,” he said after the game. “But both teams had to play in it.”
When asked if the ground was wetter through the middle and drier on the wings, Lyon replied, “I’m not sure. I didn’t dive into it. I knew it was wet, but…”
Lyon declined to comment on whether the conditions contributed to Sam Flanders suffering what appeared to be a season-ending Achilles injury during the match.
Flanders received a handball in midair but immediately pulled up on his right foot and crumpled to the ground. He later hobbled to the bench with assistance from the St Kilda trainers. “I’ll leave that to the sports scientists and medicos,” Lyon said of the injury. “I couldn’t comment, to be honest. I think it’d be remiss of me, and wrong of me. I’m just really trying to stay in my lane, in lots of places.”
Lyon joked that his repeated checks of the Marvel Stadium surface before the match were nothing to do with the condition of the ground but were for “good luck.” “And it didn’t work,” he added. “To be honest, I think it’d be detracting from [how good the Hawks were], they played really well tonight, they were really clean, they were tough, and that’s the level [we need to get to].”
Lyon noted that the Saints were too quick with “composed ball use” during the first half, given the conditions. Hawthorn kicked eight goals to none across the opening two quarters—four of them to Jack Gunston, who leads the Coleman Medal tally at the age of 34.
However, the Saints managed to regain some momentum after the long break by moving Jack Silvagni forward (three goals), Jack Sinclair into the midfield, Darcy Wilson to the wing, Brad Hill to half-back, and Callum Wilkie higher up the ground off the last line of defense. At times in the first and second quarters, Gunston dragged Wilkie so deep into the Hawthorn attack that they were standing behind the goal line.
“We’ll keep fighting, and we know we want to play more like the second half,” Lyon said. “For our fans, we let you down, and that starts and stops with me and the team.”
Hawthorn showcased their dominance and versatility by resting five-goal forward Gunston for the final term. This allowed Blake Hardwick to go forward and kick four goals in the last quarter—his second four-goal haul in two weeks. The Hawks were also buoyed by the long-awaited return of gun midfielder Will Day.
“I think he played 30 seconds more than he was meant to, so we had a bit of a chat about that after the game,” Mitchell said. “We were pretty diligent with making sure that he didn’t play too much footy, and pleased that he got through unscathed and did some good things.”
The Hawthorn defense also impressed, led by James Sicily (a game-high 33 disposals and 13 intercept possessions), Jarman Impey, and Karl Amon, who kept St Kilda to under 10 goals for the match.
