HERE is what we learned about James Frawley at Shepparton on Sunday.

When you surround him with a couple of All Australians and some club best and fairests, he becomes a better footballer.

The new Hawthorn key defender was 'thrown under the bus' in the NAB Challenge opener against Collingwood in Launceston the week before last, pretty much the only Hawk defender with a) height and b) experience.

"Yeah, I was very nervous for a NAB Challenge," he said on Sunday evening just before the drive back to Melbourne. "I haven’t been nervous for a NAB Challenge game for years. Being in Tasmania, being a night game, I sat in my hotel room all day thinking about it, came out and had a few fumbles early and thought, "Oh no, here we go …"

It was a humbling experience for the player who, "to do my manager a favour", agreed to be the front man for the AFL's TV commercial to promote the return of the NAB Challenge.

Frawley got better in the second half of that game and was better again against North Melbourne, but it helped to have Brian Lake and the rampaging Josh Gibson back in the side and Luke Hodge barking orders. Once Grant Birchall returns, that is pretty much how the Hawks will set up in their back half this season.

"I just think having those older blokes, the communication, telling me where to be helped a lot," Frawley said, explaining that he learned more about how Hawthorn sets up defensively in 80 minutes of football in Shepparton than he had on the training track and all the classroom sessions in the three months prior.

"You have to learn a lot of things. This team plays a different way to where I come from. You have to learn to adapt and to implement the plan when I'm out there on game day," he said.

The Hawks will mix and match when it comes to Frawley and Lake. Frawley had the more athletic Jarrad Waite for most of the first half in Shepparton, while Lake stood his old mate Drew Petrie. That allowed Gibson to play a bit higher and with 24 possessions and a super goal, he was Hawthorn's best player.

"You get a lot of confidence playing with blokes like that," Frawley said.

It is far too early to tell whether Frawley will be the latest in a long line of successful Hawthorn imports from other clubs, but after a stuttering start, he is on his way to making some sort of contribution.

Have you Hird he's back?

James Hird's return to coaching for the first time in 18 months flew under the radar in Morwell on Saturday.

Perhaps that's because he was barely coaching in the true sense.

Whatever Hird and his lieutenants have been working on throughout the summer was more or less shelved against the Saints. With 13 'replacement players' in his side on Saturday, the Bombers took a much more streamlined approach.

"We had to keep it basic. But a lot of the guys who had come in and played AFL football [come from] really good systems, whether it be Adelaide or Geelong or wherever they've been. They knew how to play. It was keeping it to basics and I think they did reasonably well for three quarters," he said afterwards.

That the Bombers could keep things relatively competitive for three quarters with a largely makeshift team was a feather in Hird's cap.

But by the same token, the Bombers owe it to their supporters and the game to take a better team into Friday night's clash with Greater Western Sydney. The six or so non-2012 listed players held out of the Saints clash need to play this time around.

There are two hit-outs for these players to in shape for the start of the season. They have to play.

Essendon starts its season with the Sydney Swans and Hawthorn. If Brendon Goddard wants the book and the movie, he and his mates need to get out on the park and get ready.

James Hird and assistant Mark Neeld at Morwell. Picture: AFL Media

The coaches' double-act

There must be some really sound initiatives planned with the windfall from the $500,000 deal the AFL Coaches Association is negotiating with Fox Footy to hold joint post-match press conferences.

Because I'm not quite sure what the value add is by placing the two coaches alongside each other to discuss what took place.

Terry Wallace was one who supported the idea, harking back to the old days on World of Sport when the coaches would front up and be grilled by the likes of Lou Richards and Jack Dyer. 

True, nothing could beat the drama in 1985 when Allan Jeans and Tom Hafey discussed the infamous Hawthorn-Geelong game at Princes Park in which Mark 'Jacko' Jackson went on a hitting spree and which was followed by Leigh Matthews decking Neville Bruns.

But you have to remember that this interview took place 24 hours after the match. Tensions had subsided and both coaches had had the opportunity to sleep on the events of the day before. In all likelihood, Jeans and Hafey had already discussed the match at length off-camera over a Four'N'Twenty Pie and a Patra orange juice before facing the music. 

Post-match conferences sometimes provide great content, but much of it is run-of-the-mill stuff, putting aside for a moment the silliness of Channel Seven's Mark Stevens trying to prise a reaction out of Mick Malthouse. 

What coaches can never tell you are the extent of an injury, or comment on a potential Match Review Panel incident. And given their virtual paranoia when it comes to tactics, they're hardly likely to delve into anything deep with respects to how the game was played. 

What the AFLCA and Fox Footy are banking on is that the general bonhomie between the coaches will make for great conversation and therefore, compelling TV. So many coaching match-ups in the AFL these days feature either former teammates, masters versus pupils and of course, in the case of Geelong-North Melbourne, twin brothers.

But within 30 minutes of the final siren, is not the time for a chin-wag between great mates, particularly given one of them would have just lost the four points.

Apparently, all coaches save for Malthouse (no surprise) and Phil Walsh have supported the concept. But it means the next meeting of the Brisbane Lions' football sub-committee would be interesting.

What say you, Justin Leppitsch? 

Lessons from the west

There were two noteworthy items out of Fremantle this week, one on the field and another off it.

The first comes with one of those 'yes, but it's only the NAB Challenge' riders, but was the form of Matt Taberner in Thursday night's 18-point win over Melbourne at Fremantle Oval. 

The 21-year old who has played 13 games in two seasons with Fremantle, had 14 disposals, took four marks and kicked three goals on a difficult evening in which his side kicked just nine goals overall.

Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has been on a quest the last two seasons to kick more goals. He wanted three goals a game more last year, but Freo's points for tally during the home and away season was 2029, six points fewer than the 2035 delivered the season before.

This year's move to kick higher scores involves a taller forward line and the hope is that the combination of Taberner, Michael Apeness and the evergreen Matthew Pavlich might keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Pavlich also booted three goals against the Demons and looked good. But he'll need to because Lyon has said there will be no sparing of his veteran trio – Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands and Luke McPharlin – at least in the first half of the season as the Dockers look to bank as many wins as possible to maximize their top four hopes.

Matt Taberner (left) looks like a crucial part of the Dockers' forward strategy this year

 

Apeness is raw. He featured twice for the Dockers last season but Lyon likes him because he hits packs hard and causes mayhem. He had just the four touches and one mark on Thursday but will see plenty of time in the remaining two NAB Challenge matches against the Sydney Swans and West Coast.

The other notable development out of Fremantle is the re-signing until the end of 2017 of key defender Zac Dawson.

Dawson has been a trusted ally for Lyon since 2009 when he brought him across to St Kilda. Dawson couldn't crack it for one game in the Hawthorn side that won the 2008 flag, yet 12 months later he was a key figure for the Saints, who came desperately close to winning the premiership.

Dawson followed Lyon to Fremantle and his career has flourished. 

So in the space of a decade, he has gone from being a figure of ridicule (who can forget the day in 2006 when playing for the Hawks he was rag-dolled all afternoon by a rampant Anthony Rocca) to an on-field general for one of the best teams in the competition.

“Feeling that I’m worth something and belong here is something that I treasure and I feel like I get that from all the guys and the administration and the coaches,” Dawson told the club website upon re-signing.

Both player and coach deserve plaudits for him getting there.

A win-win on Griffen?

Again with the qualification that we're still in the early days of March, the move of Ryan Griffen to Greater Western Sydney looks like it might work out for both parties. 

Without appearing encumbered by a back injury at any stage, Griffen cruised around the Blacktown International Sportspark amassing 31 disposals in his first hit-out for the Giants.

The former Bulldogs skipper looked in tremendous nick and already, GWS would appear to have a midfield that should compete well right through the season.

Sit too hard on Griffen this year and you open the door for the likes of Dylan Shiel, Stephen Coniglio, Adam Treloar and Toby Greene to wreak havoc. And just quietly, 2012 no.1 draft pick Lachie Whitfield looks set for his breakout year.

Leon Cameron opined after the win over Gold Coast that it was a good week for the club, with a new co-major sponsor and Jeremy Cameron and Devon Smith signed and sealed. But as he reviews the game in the next few days, it is the early touch displayed by Griffen that would have particularly cheered him.

Another positive sign for the Giants were the three final quarter goals to key forward Cameron McCarthy. The departure of Tom Boyd and the knee injury to Jonathon Patton has opened the door for McCarthy and so far, so good. If he can hold it together alongside Jeremy Cameron, at least until Patton's mid-season return, then it allows the talented and versatile Adam Tomlinson to play the swingman, a tremendous tactical device for Leon Cameron to have up his sleeve.

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