1952 was all about consolidation for the Hawks. New coach Jack Hale took up the mantle of changing the club’s attitude, continuing the job begun by Bob McCaskill. McCaskill’s health had deteriorated rapidly early in 1952 and Hale took over as acting coach before the season began. When McCaskill passed away during the year, Hale’s appointment as senior coach was a mere formality.
Ex captain Kevin Curran left the club to accept the position of playing coach of Sandhurst and to take over the Athenaeum Hotel in Bendigo, robbing the team of one of its best players. Ironically, Sandhurst was where McCaskill had honed his coaching technique, winning nine premierships, six of them in a row. Sandhurst would also be where Hawthorn recruited Graham Arthur and Brendan Edwards a few years later, with no small thanks going to Curran.
Hale caused some conflict within the club early on in his senior coaching tenure, taking on the head trainer Beau Wallace and asserting his authority. He demanded in no uncertain terms that players stay on the field in games and at training after suffering anything less than immobilising injuries. Until that time, Wallace had taken the players to the rooms at the first hint of injury, even a scratch. Hale wanted none of that and made it plain. In Hale’s words, “It took ages before Beau understood me.” But the ethos obviously had a lasting effect on a young John Kennedy, who would take it to another level in his time as coach.
But for all the talk and supposed tougher attitudes, the club started the season disastrously. In round one, the club equalled its 3rd lowest ever score, kicking 2.8 20 at home at Glenferrie Oval to be thumped by Collingwood to the tune of 86 points. The following week at Punt Road things improved a little, losing to Richmond by 20 points.
Then came two wins, against Melbourne at the MCG by 14 points (only the club’s 2nd win at that venue) and against South Melbourne at Glenferrie Oval by 9 points. The team was two and two and speculation abounded that the Hawks had turned the corner at last. H.A de Lacy wrote a glowing article in The Sporting Globe about the great work started by McCaskill and carried on by Hale. Said de Lacy, “At Hawthorn he (McCaskill) had to cut a swathe through the complacency of defeatism… In this season’s fightback, only one man, Jack Hale, is responsible.”
Later Hale, after McCaskill had passed away, told The Sporting Globe that “When Bob and I went to Hawthorn together, we were astounded to find ourselves among a committee and a team that had cheerfully accepted defeat for nearly 30 years… Bob set about kicking shins right and left. We had to get fight into the club.”
But the Hawks would only win three of their remaining 15 matches. In round eight, the League held a ‘National Day’, with matches held across the country. The Hawks played Carlton at Euroa, and despite kicking their highest score for the year, a modest 11.14 80, still lost by 37 points with the Blues big men dominating the game. The side would struggle all season to post decent scores, managing 10 goals or more just four times, and never more than 11. This could have been partly blamed on a particularly wet season, with every League ground becoming a mud pit. Only three times in the season did the side have a ton scored against it and the League even introduced white balls to help visibility for the players and spectators.
The wins when they did come, were against fellow bottom 3 sides St Kilda and Footscray in rounds nine and 12, and a second win against South Melbourne (who only just missed the finals) in round 16.
The club played its 500th game in round 15, losing to Melbourne at Glenferrie Oval by 28 points. To that point the Hawks had won 107 and lost 393. They finished the year with 5 wins, and a second successive 11th placing. Amazingly, Kennedy won his 3rd B&F in his third year, ahead of Roy Simmonds, and won interstate selection with ruckman/defender Ted Fletcher.
At season’s end Hale announced – rather remarkably given the season’s results – that the club was on track “towards that elusive goal… a place in the finals.” In the annual report the club paid tribute to the passing of McCaskill, and also Bill Hulse and Fred Finch. Hulse had been a tireless campaigner for Hawthorn’s inclusion into the VFL and had been the club’s number one ticket holder for its entire tenure in the league. Finch was a member of the first Hawthorn team to take the field in a VFL match in 1925. Also at the end of the year, club secretary Vic Hocking departed the club after 16 years in the role, and was replaced by Bill Newton.
Hawthorn may have been talking the talk, and the side may have truly believed it could become a force in the near future. But it was a good thing the supporters were a patient bunch back then, as any kind of glory was still some years away.
1952 - The Facts
Record: 5-14
Finished: 11 of 12
Highest score: 11.14.80 v Carlton, Round 8 at Euroa
Lowest score: 2.8.20 v Collingwood, Round 1 at Glenferrie Oval
Greatest Winning Margin: 23 points, 9.4.58 to Footscray 4.11.35, Round 12 at Western Oval
Greatest Losing Margin: 86 points, 2.8.20 to Collingwood 15.16.106, Round 1 at Glenferrie Oval
Longest Winning Streak: 2, Rounds 3 to 4
Longest Losing Streak: 4, Rounds 5 to 8
Coach: Jack Hale
Captain: Peter O’Donohue
Club Champion: John Kennedy Snr
Most Brownlow votes: John Kennedy Snr, 10
Leading goalkicker: Jack McDonald, 25
President: David Prentice
Secretary/CEO: Vic Hocking
Debutantes
Mac Atkins
Kevin J Bond
Alf Chown
William P Collins
Bernie Considine
Maurice Considine
John Douglas
Peter Kanis
John McGreevy
Noel Webster