BOTH teams are depleted but Sunday’s match between the Lions and Hawthorn is another crucial contest as teams jockey for places in the top eight.

The Lions’ heartbreaking six-point loss to Carlton on Saturday dropped them to 6-5 and sixth place on percentage, while the Hawks’ 10-point triumph over the Sydney Swans moved them to seventh.

But both clubs will need to continue patch-up jobs on their teams after more injuries.

The Lions will be without running half-back Josh Drummond who suffered a calf injury against the Blues, while Hawthorn’s small forward Cyril Rioli will miss multiple weeks with a hamstring tear.

The Hawks have won the past three meetings between the two teams, including a convincing victory last year when the team’s met at Sunday’s venue, Launceston’s Aurora Stadium.

The match features two of the most lethal forward combinations in the competition with Lance Franklin (37) and Jarryd Roughead (34) duelling with Jonathan Brown (35) and Daniel Bradshaw (30).

FORWARD SCOUT
The club: Hawthorn Hawks

Season to date: Hawthorn’s first month had all the makings of a classic premiership hangover. Three losses where the Hawks conceded more than 110 points each time was not an ideal start to their title defence. But since then they have slowly moved into gear, winning five of seven. While the sequence has included wins over struggling Melbourne, Fremantle and West Coast, Hawthorn’s gritty 10-point win over the Swans on Sunday showed they might not be far off the money again. And with a tough run ahead, they'll have to be. They have beaten just one team in the top-eight – a four-point win over Carlton where Brendan Fevola’s poster on the siren could so easily have changed the result.

The coach: Alastair Clarkson was a surprise choice when he took over the Hawthorn coaching role five years ago, but no-one can doubt his success. A diligent coach who worked on a youth development plan in his initial years, Clarkson has watched Franklin, Roughead, Brad Sewell, Grant Birchall and Jordan Lewis blossom under his tutelage and form the nucleus of a premiership team in 2008. Clarkson has also been credited for helping to install the rolling zone which helped take them to the title last year. A feisty competitor in his playing days, Clarkson has his team playing an uncompromising brand of football.

The gun: There’s been one or two questioning glances at his season so far, but there’s little doubt Franklin is still the gun at Hawthorn. After topping the century of goals last season, 2009 was always going to be a difficult back-up. Franklin has kicked 37 in his first 11 games, and while not at his destructive best from last season, is still the one man capable of changing a game in a single quarter. Buddy is a nightmare to match up on and has kicked 19 goals in his last three matches against the Lions. With his regular opponents Daniel Merrett and Joel Patfull injured, Michael Voss will have his work cut out finding a suitable opponent.

The sleeper: He missed a couple of games early in the season but Sewell has been a shining light for the up-and-down Hawks. While Sam Mitchell deservedly gets a lot of attention and accolades in the Hawthorn engine room, Sewell has quickly turned himself into a player that can both stop his opponent and rack up possessions at the same time. He tackles ferociously, wins the hard ball, is a relentless competitor, and when he goes well so does Hawthorn.

The bolter: Brendan Whitecross. The 19-year-old midfielder played the first 10 rounds of the season before being left out for the Swans match at the weekend. However, with Rioli out he will zoom straight back into calculations this weekend. Drafted from Zillmere, Whitecross has shown more than a hint of promise, averaging 19 possessions per contest this season, including a high of 29 against North Melbourne. He has excellent speed and endurance.

Strengths: Hawthorn is a tough, rugged team that loves to win in a war of attrition. Its work around the stoppages is superb and while the Lions have dealt with losing the clearance battle over the previous month, the Hawks are not a team to drop parity with here. They run in waves and work tirelessly all over the ground and, when the ball goes forward, watch out for twin towers Franklin and Roughead. Most teams struggle to source suitable match-ups for them and the Lions will be further hampered their injury concerns.

Weaknesses: A slow start to the season and a mounting injury toll has left the Hawks vulnerable so far this season. They have played a lack of genuine quality teams and might just be short of the tough football they built their premiership on. Rioli’s hamstring injury leaves a hole in the small forward department and, if Franklin and Roughead are quietened, the Hawks might struggle for avenues to goal.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.