Not that he needed to with four premierships and 244 games under his belt, but on Thursday Grant Birchall gave the football world a reminder of how important he is to Hawthorn’s set-up.
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The Devonport product provided a cool, calm and experienced head as he slotted straight back into his role as the architect from defence as the Hawks upset Adelaide.
Playing just his fourth game of the season, and first since round seven, after a year blighted by a broken jaw and a knee injury, Birchall had a season-high 28 touches with a disposal efficiency rate of 89 per cent.
Twenty two his touches were uncontested, 10 intercept possessions, seven marks [four intercept marks], one clearance, one tackle, one goal assist and four score assists.
Former basketballer Hugh Greenwood again showed how comfortable he is with the Sherrin with his best outing for the Crows.
Playing in the front-half, Greenwood finished with 21 touches [12 contested] at 95 per cent, six marks, six clearances, nine tackles, 2.0 and eight score involvements.
Launceston’s Thomas Bellchambers got better as the game got longer in the Essendon’s heartbreaking loss to Sydney.
Against Sam Naismith and Callum Sinclair, the ruckman had 25 hit-outs to Naismith’s 24 and Sinclair’s 10, with nine touches at 100 per cent, four marks, 1.0 and five score involvements.
Clarence small-forward Josh Green kicked 0.3 from 13 possessions, three marks and four tackles.
Dodges Ferry’s Jeremy Howe was outstanding in Collingwood’s loss to Port Adelaide with 11 marks [three contested], 27 touches [19 uncontested] at 81 per cent, three tackles, 0.1 and three score involvements from half-back.
Devonport’s Ben Brown kicked 2.1 from 16 touches and six marks opposed to Jordan Roughead in North Melbourne’s loss to the Western Bulldogs. He also gave away a late 50 metre penalty which was vital.
Burnie’s Lachie Weller was outstanding in Fremantle’s tight loss to Geelong, with 23 touches, six tackles, two marks and 0.1 from the midfield.
Launceston’s Jake Kolodjashnij had 15 touches and four marks for the Cats and spent time on Cam McCarthy.
It was an all Tassie-tussle when Liam Jones was given responsibility of looking after Jack Riewoldt as Carlton fell to Richmond.
Riewoldt kicked 3.1 from 13 touches and nine marks, while Jones had eight touches, three marks and three tackles.
Riewoldt also had three goal assists and seven score involvements, while Jones had eight intercept possessions and three intercept marks.
Tigers ruckman Toby Nankervis, from George Town, won 23 hit-outs, nine possessions, two marks, kicked 1.0 and had five score involvements.
Launceston’s Jesse Lonergan was strong for Gold Coast in his 50th game, with a season-high 23 touches at 87 per cent, five tackles and three marks in the midfield.
He also had two goal assists and seven score involvements.
Burnie’s Maverick Weller [1.2, 11 touches, five marks and two tackles as a defensive-forward] and Glenorchy’s Jimmy Webster [14 touches and three marks from defence] helped the Saints defeat the Suns.
Weller had one goal assist and seven score involvements with Webster collecting six intercept possessions and one intercept mark.