by Nicholas Duck
A fourth quarter collapse ultimately cruelled what was an encouraging performance from Drouin against Leongatha on Saturday.
Playing against the ladder leaders the young Hawks were able to match their more experienced opposition in several key areas even without matching their polish.
A poor fourth quarter in which the Hawks conceded eight unanswered goals brought a lot of that good work undone though, blowing the final score out to a 4.4 (28) to 20.8 (128) loss.
As expected the Parrots simply had too much firepower around the ground, their careful and considered ball use well above what the Hawks are capable of putting out at the moment.
Much of Drouin's good was done through the middle of the Morwell Recreation Reserve, where players like Kye Quirk and Zayne Atkins held sway.
The Hawks won plenty of the footy and spread from the contest well despite not being able to make it count up forward.
Riley Wierzbicki and Caleb Kleeven were solid down back, the former unfortunately having his day ended early by injury in the fourth quarter and the latter playing well beyond his age of just 16 years.
Peyton Saddington and Zach McMillan were other Hawks players to impress.
Despite missing plenty of their senior stars the Parrots had plenty of winners across the ground and always looked a few classes above.
Chief among their top players was another great showing from Aaron Heppell, whose class through the midfield was matched only by his output up forward where he booted three goals.
Timothy Sauvarin and Zavier Lamers did plenty around the ground as did Ty Hall, while Ben Willis and Patrick Ireland both kicked five goals each. Willis was able to celebrate his 200th senior game in style in a dominant fourth quarter where he outmuscled and outmatched any opponent the Hawks could throw at him.
Drouin hit the scoreboard early when Tomas Unferdorben cleverly bounced the ball to himself and handballed it into Ewan Croucher, who ran into an open goal.
Leongatha struck back not long after courtesy of Ty Hall marking and scoring at point blank range and from there the Parrots set about building their lead.
A six-goal-to-two second term had the green and gold up 41 points at the main break.
That margin increased to 58 at the final change of ends and had the margin stayed that way by full time it's safe to say the Hawks, still missing some of their top players, would have gone home satisfied with their efforts.
Instead the floodgates opened, Willis' move to the forward line setting the scene for a powerful fourth quarter from the Parrots.
Injuries to Max Williames, Riley Wierzbicki and Jack Fraser left the Hawks undermanned and under siege, their previous solid play vanishing as Leongatha brought the hammer down hard.
The final deficit eventually blew out to triple digits, albeit less than the 135-point demolition job that occurred between the teams earlier this year.
Drouin coach Leigh Horsburgh said there was plenty to like despite the defeat.
"Up until three quarter time I was stoked. I thought we matched them in all facets other than the scoreboard...our pressure around the footy was as good as it's been all year," he said.
"For us when we get injuries to key players it really hurts whereas they have the depth to cover. I think they're also the most well-structured team in the league.
"Overall you take away the last quarter where they kick eight and I think it was a pretty positive game."
Football
Late collapse hurts Hawks
Aug 12 2025
3 min read
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