Hodge returns to fighting weight

Updated September 27, 2012 16:51:59

Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge is back at his playing weight in time for Saturday's grand final.

Hodge, who missed last weekend's preliminary final win against Adelaide through illness, lost close to two kilograms of body weight because of his gastroenteritis.

But the Hawks say Hodge has trained strongly this week.

And he showed no ill effects as he led his team through an hour-long session in front of more than 10,000 fans at Waverley on Thursday.

"He lost a kilo or two but he's put that back on," Hawthorn director of coaching Chris Fagan said.

"Hodgey's had a good week on the track. He was back training with us on Monday and he's prepared in the same manner that everybody else has.

"As far as we're concerned he's fully recovered. There's been no signs to say otherwise."

The Hawks say they have no other injury or illness concerns going into the clash with Sydney, a team with whom they have duelled in two of the best matches of the home-and-away season.

Sydney beat the Hawks in round five in Launceston.

The Hawks can boast a recent win over the Swans, in which they rolled back a 38-point second quarter deficit to win by seven.

But Fagan disregarded any psychological edge as a result, or any stage-fright for those Hawks who were not part of the flag-winning team in 2008.

"All those games leading into the [grand final] were good for our preparation, but what happened in round 22 bears no relevance to what happens there," Fagan said.

"Half of our team haven't played in a grand final before, but it will be the best day of their lives.

"They've got about 10 or 11 team-mates who've been there before who will be a great help to them.

"But we've played in a lot of big games this year and last year, so they'll be ready for the challenge that's coming."

Wet weather, possible hail and low temperatures have been predicted for Saturday's match.

But conditions could not have been further from that at Waverley Park on Thursday, with warm, sunny weather enticing a huge crowd to pack every possible vantage point to watch the Hawks train.

AAP

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, glen-waverley-3150

First posted September 27, 2012 16:43:37

View the original article here

Hawks leave out Murphy for Hodge

Updated September 27, 2012 20:20:49

Hawthorn has dropped Tom Murphy to make way for returning captain Luke Hodge for Saturday's grand final against Sydney.

Murphy's omission was a mere formality after Hodge proved his fitness this week, having missed last Saturday's preliminary final against Adelaide after falling ill with gastroenteritis.

It was the only change made to both grand final teams for the MCG encounter, with the Swans sticking with the same 22 that comfortably downed Collingwood in last Friday night's preliminary final.

Hodge's recovery was confirmed early this week and Murphy, who was the late replacement for the preliminary final, always loomed as the player facing the axe.

"There's always unlucky people at grand final time," Hawthorn coaching director Chris Fagan said earlier on Thursday.

"The strength of the team this year's been our squad, and it's not just the bloke who misses out but the other six or seven players who have trained on - it'll be terribly disappointing for them too.

"But they've helped us get there and been an important part of what we've done."

Murphy has played just six senior matches this season, but they included both of the Hawks' previous two finals.

He made 18 senior appearances in 2008 but was dropped for the preliminary final and could not regain his spot in the side that beat Geelong in the grand final.

It was confirmed earlier this week that the Swans' Ben McGlynn and the Hawks' Brent Guerra had lost their race against time to recover from hamstring injuries.

With forecast wild weather for Saturday in Melbourne, there is still the chance that either side might make a late change.

The Hawks' side includes 10 players who were part of their 2008 grand final win, while Shaun Burgoyne, who played in grand finals with Port Adelaide in 2004 and 2007, is also chasing a second flag.

The Swans' team includes just four veterans of their 2005 premiership - Adam Goodes, Jude Bolton, Ryan O'Keefe and Lewis Roberts-Thomson.

The line-ups:

Grant Birchall, Josh Gibson, Benjamin Stratton

Martin Mattner, Ted Richards, Rhyce Shaw

Matt Suckling, Ryan Schoenmakers, Shaun Burgoyne

Nicholas Smith, Heath Grundy, Alex Johnson

Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Xavier Ellis

Daniel Hannebery, Kieren Jack, Lewis Jetta

Jack Gunston, Lance Franklin, Isaac Smith

Ryan O'Keefe, Sam Reid, Craig Bird

Cyril Rioli, Jarryd Roughead, Luke Breust

Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Adam Goodes, Jarrad McVeigh

David Hale, Luke Hodge, Brad Sewell

Shane Mumford, Josh Kennedy, Jude Bolton

Interchange: Clinton Young, Liam Shiels, Shane Savage, Paul Puopolo

Emergencies: Tom Murphy, Max Bailey, Kyle Cheney

Interchange: Nick Malceski, Mike Pyke, Luke Parker, Mitch Morton

Emergencies: Tommy Walsh, Tony Armstrong, Trent Dennis-Lane

AAP/ABC

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, hawthorn-3122, sydney-2000

First posted September 27, 2012 18:19:26

View the original article here

Hodge declared fit for grand final

Updated September 24, 2012 13:20:45

Hawthorn has declared captain Luke Hodge a definite starter for Saturday's grand final against Sydney at the MCG.

Hodge has been in quarantine with a virus that forced him out of the narrow preliminary final win over Adelaide, but vice-captain Jordan Lewis said on Monday he would be fully recovered in time for the clash against the Swans.

"Absolutely, we've got no doubt that he'll play," Lewis said.

"He had the sniffles over the weekend so I'm sure a few of his Colac mates would have been getting into him for missing a game with the sniffles.

"But he looks great this morning and he's ready to go."

However there remains a query over defender Brent Guerra, who has been sidelined since the final round of the home and away season with a hamstring problem.

Lewis said only the coaching panel knew whether or not he was on track to play.

"It's sort of hard to say from a player's perspective. The coaches are paid to do what they do and they're paid to make tough calls, so they'll make a call when the time is necessary," he said.

Hawthorn caused a major boilover when it defeated hot favourites Geelong to take out the flag in 2008 and was thought to be on the brink of a reign at the top.

But the Hawks have not threatened a repeat until this year and Lewis believes he understands why.

"The game changes from year to year and we probably hung on to 2008 in the way we played a year too long," he said.

"And then we changed a few things and we brought players in, some outside speed in and I think we've got the right mix at the moment to really challenge."

Lewis admitted that Hawthorn had to be more ruthless against Sydney than they were in the early stages of the five-point win over the Crows.

"I think looking back on the game, that assumption is probably right," Lewis said.

"There were a few instances early ... I know one where I went back with the flight and probably didn't mark a ball that I should have marked.

"But we'll learn from the experience - we can only go out there this week and try and rectify that."

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league

First posted September 24, 2012 12:39:30

View the original article here

Hodge to miss a month

Updated May 21, 2012 18:43:17

Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge's left knee injury is worse than initially suspected and is likely to keep him out of action until late June.

The initial assessment was of a low grade sprain of his posterior cruciate (PCL) and medial ligaments.

The progress of his recovery and subsequent reassessment would suggest the PCL injury is of a medium grade and the 2008 Norm Smith medallist is likely to be unavailable for a further month.

Hodge, 27, injured his left knee in a collision with a St Kilda player in the final quarter of the round six clash.

Hawks general manager of football operations Mark Evans said Hodge's knee tested strongly initially.

"Initially we thought Luke had sustained a low grade injury to the medial and posterior cruciate ligaments, but further assessment suggests a medium grade sprain to the PCL," he said.

"The management process from here is to allow the knee to fully settle before building Luke back up to match levels.

"He is expected to be available in around three to four weeks."

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, hawthorn-3122, vic, australia

First posted May 21, 2012 18:43:17

View the original article here

Hawks worried about hobbled Hodge

Updated May 18, 2012 12:45:48

Hawthorn is growing increasingly concerned about captain Luke Hodge's knee injury.

Hodge will miss Saturday's clash against Fremantle in Launceston and might also be out of the side next weekend against Richmond.

The tough utility was forced out last week because of the problem and coach Alastair Clarkson revealed on Friday that the Hawks will put Hodge through more tests.

"He still has some swelling on his knee and we just can't take a trick with it at the minute," Clarkson said.

"We probably need to get that re-scanned and looked at again early next week, just to see how long.

"It's just not coming good quickly enough for us ... he'd even be in doubt for next week too unless we can get the swelling out of that knee."

Clarkson said the one benefit with Hodge's injury is that the team was learning to cope without him on the field.

"We have 22 other blokes and, hopefully, they're able to get the job (done) against Freo," he said.

Hawthorn is just outside the eight with four wins, while Fremantle has five.

"They've been quietly going along, Freo, not playing outstanding footy, but getting the job done every week," Clarkson said.

"We have a lot of regard for the way they go about it, they're very well coached and we're going to need to play our best footy to knock them off.

"You know what you're going to get, playing against a side that's coached by Ross Lyon."

While Hodge struggles to return to the side, Clarkson was brighter about Lance Franklin after a week of attention on the star forward's goalkicking inaccuracy.

Franklin sprayed 3.7 last Friday night as the Hawks kicked 15.25 in the win over Melbourne.

Clarkson said Franklin also had 10 scoring assists and was doing plenty to help the team with his tackling.

"All it is is just looking for the cream on top in a sense - the polish," Clarkson said.

"In terms of the contribution he's making, the tackle pressure down there, he's a first-rate player for us.

"We'd love him to be kicking 7.3 rather than 3.7, but we're also pretty confident that's going to come in the next few weeks.

"This debate is not foreign to us. This has been going on for seven or eight years.

"What do you do? His conversion is perhaps not as high as what you'd like, but he's getting double the shots that most forwards are probably getting."

The Hawks made one change, regaining key defender Josh Gibson from injury.

Fellow tall backman Stephen Gilham is also back in the team after an extended absence, meaning they have some much-needed height in defence.

"Since Gibson has been at the club, he and Gilham have only played together 15 times or something out of a possible 50-60 games," Clarkson said.

AAP

Tags: australian-football-league, sport, hawthorn-3122, vic, australia

First posted May 18, 2012 12:45:48

View the original article here

Hodge bats away early favourites tag

Updated March 26, 2012 15:46:37

The AFL's 18 club captains have voted Hawthorn as the team to beat for the 2012 premiership, but Hawks skipper Luke Hodge does not quite see it.

Hawthorn was nominated by 11 of 17 possible skippers as the club most likely to contest the grand final.

Hodge, a part of the Hawks' side that lost last year's dramatic preliminary final to Collingwood, was not quite so sure.

"As far as we're concerned, the two most consistent teams over the last three or four years have been Geelong and Collingwood and they're the ones you have to try to knock off if you're going to be any good," Hodge said.

"You've also got Carlton coming up, St Kilda's still got a lot of their players and West Coast have improved."

West Coast (four votes), Geelong (two) and Collingwood (one) polled the remaining votes from those skippers who did not rate Hawthorn as their likely grand final opponents.

Despite the majority of his counterparts voicing the same expectation of the Hawks, Hodge said he would not be listening.

"Once you get into a footy club they teach you very early to block out the external opinions and pressures and stuff like that," he said.

"As far as the pressure on us, we'll have a better assessment of where we're at after our first two games."

Hodge suggested his side would use testing clashes with Collingwood (round one) and Geelong (round two) as benchmarks to determine how they're actually tracking in 2012.

"We know we've prepared ourselves as well as we could. Most of our guys have got through the majority of the preseason, which is always handy.

"We've got 40-odd players to pick from for the first game which is always great.

"We'll have more of an opinion on how we're going after the first couple of games and go from there."

One skipper polled in the league's annual survey thought Hawthorn would actually miss the finals, while just two believed Essendon and North Melbourne would be there.

There were 13 different clubs that received at least one vote to make the finals, with Brisbane, Gold Coast, Port Adelaide, Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney all written off.

Hawthorn's star forward Lance Franklin was an overwhelming favourite to again win the Coleman Medal as leading goalkicker, as he did last season.

Collingwood's Scott Pendlebury was rated the favourite to take out the Brownlow Medal.

Greater Western Sydney number two draft selection Stephen Coniglio was picked by most skippers to win the Ron Evans medal as the AFL Rising Star.

The full voting was:

Which seven other clubs do you think can make this year's top eight?

Collingwood (17), Carlton (17), Geelong (17), West Coast (17), Hawthorn (16), Fremantle (12), Sydney Swans (nine), Adelaide (eight), St Kilda (six), Western Bulldogs (two), Essendon (two), North Melbourne (two), Richmond (one), Brisbane (nil), Gold Coast (nil), GWS (nil), Port Adelaide (nil), Melbourne (nil).

(In 2011, the captains correctly nominated Geelong, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Carlton, the Sydney Swans and St Kilda to play finals, but missed West Coast and Essendon)

Which other club is most likely to reach the grand final?

Hawthorn (11), West Coast (four), Geelong (two), Collingwood (one).

(captains overwhelming endorsed grand finalist Collingwood in 2011).

Who do you think will win the 2012 Brownlow Medal?

Scott Pendlebury, Collingwood (eight), Lance Franklin, Hawthorn (four), Gary Ablett, Gold Coast (two), Nat Fyfe, Fremantle (one), Daniel Kerr, West Coast (one), Sam Mitchell, Hawthorn (one), Joel Selwood, Geelong (one).

(Three captains correctly nominated Dane Swan in 2011).

Who do you think will win the 2012 Coleman Medal?

Lance Franklin, Hawthorn (14), Jack Riewoldt, Richmond (two), Mitch Clark, Melbourne (one), Travis Cloke, Collingwood (one).

(10 captains correctly nominated Franklin in 2011).

Who do you think will win the 2012 AFL Rising Star?

Stephen Coniglio, GWS (seven), Josh Caddy, Gold Coast (three), Brandon Ellis, Richmond (one), Billy Longer, Brisbane (one), Kane Lucas, Carlton (one), Tom Mitchell, Sydney (one), Jared Polec, Brisbane (one), Billie Smedts, Geelong (one), Clay Smith, Western Bulldogs (one), Chad Wingard, Port Adelaide (one).

(One captain correctly nominated Dyson Heppell in 2011)

AAP

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia

First posted March 22, 2012 11:34:05

View the original article here

Interview: Luke Hodge

Published:Saturday, June 18, 2011 5:00 AESTExpires:Friday, September 16, 2011 5:00 AEST

Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge told Grandstand's Drew Morphett, Peter Walsh and Nick Probert that the Hawks' improvement this season can be attributed largely to the success their young talent is displaying after they defeated Gold Coast by 71.

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, australia

View the original article here