Indigenous Game Puts Aboriginal Language Into Play

UP in the far northwestern corner of South Australia, the tiny community of Fregon is cursing its rotten luck after being pipped by two points by the Pipalyatjara Lions in the grand final last Saturday. Today at the MCG, the Hawks embark on the final step to a premiership the pundits and bookmakers say is theirs.

The link? Both teams speak the same language.

Not just the language of football: the same language, full stop.

When small forward Amos Frank was plucked by Hawthorn from the APY Lands last year, some Hawks took it upon themselves to learn a few words of their new teammate’s native tongue.

It started with the Pitjantjatjara for “run” and “kick” to help Frank – who had little English when he arrived at Waverley Park as a rookie – adjust after the huge dislocation of shifting to the big smoke. It was all about the family club welcoming a new sibling.

Soon the players were linking the Pitjantjatjara to make phrases.

Now they are speaking it on the field, and might even be using it in their set plays (although this has been denied by Hawthorn).

So the club that devised Clarkson’s Cluster – a rolling defensive pattern designed by coach Alastair Clarkson – may well have composed Clarkson’s Code to confound the enemy. It sits well with a club that has filled its list with clean-kicking left-footers and has risen to premiership favouritism by chipping the ball through defensive zones. On that score, the favourites’ task in winning the flag became clear last night after the Swans outclassed Collingwood 96-70 and, in the rival code, the Storm thumped Manly 40-12.

In their quest for supremacy, the Hawks have the human battering rams that are Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge, but any combatant is nothing without effective communications, and it is in this area that Hawthorn may well have again proved a trailblazer.

Their opponent in today’s preliminary final, Adelaide, is unlikely to be scrambling for an interpreter this morning to crack the code. But the modern game is about incremental improvement so any advantage eked, no matter how small, can be critical.

In any case, they call it the indigenous game, so it is fitting the language of central Australia’s Pitjantjatjara people will be spoken in today’s penultimate match of the season at the MCG, even if Frank won’t feature in the match.

Understandably, Hawthorn is protective of Frank, who was taken at 34 in last year’s rookie draft.

Hawthorn officials were off limits to The Weekend Australian this week, but it did release a list of the Pitjantjatjara words its players have learned.

So, Hawthorn will beat Adelaide today if it is kilina (clean) with its kantulas (kicks), especially its ila (short) kantulas.

When the Hawks go kuranyukutu (forward) they must not be too Lance Franklin conscious; rather they should share the ball among their tima malpas (teammates). And most of all, they must wirtja’pakala wala and witila hard. That is, run fast and tackle hard.

While Hawthorn’s Aboriginal connection runs deeper than its stars Franklin and Cyril Rioli, Frank’s influence on the club has been greater than introducing them to his language.

Frank (who the club believes is 24 but no one is sure as he has no birth certificate) has made a big impact for the Box Hill Hawks this season.

The highly skilled small forward – so clean by foot his natural leg is also a mystery – averaged two goals a game in a solid season.

He kicked four goals and was named best in the final minor-round match, against Bendigo, playing alongside Chance Bateman, Stephen Gilham, Kyle Cheney and Tom Murphy.

“Frank’s brilliance in the second term sparked the Hawks into action and helped them turn the game around before half-time,” the club said.

Frank also booted four goals – including three in a close final term – in Box Hill’s come-from-behind win against Williamstown earlier in the season. “He was sensational,” Box Hill coach Damian Carroll said after the game.

“The thing about Amos is that if he’s playing well he brings excitement to the team and I think that was really important in that last stanza.”

To accomplish so much after being chosen by Hawthorn based on half a reserves game for SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens last year is some achievement.

Especially after such an upheaval: for instance, this time last year Frank had not heard of Cyril Rioli.

Now Frank is a popular member of the Hawks group and – like Cyril and Buddy – is commonly referred to simply as “Amos”.

Given all this, Frank is expected to be re-signed for next year in the next few weeks.

He was mobbed by his Fregon community – including some driving cars bearing his painted name – when he went home for last week’s grand final.

Here, on dusty ovals nestled among the red rocks of the Musgrave Ranges, officials shoo placid donkeys from the field before play. Sometimes, the officials are successful.

Donkeys will be in short supply at the MCG today, but listen carefully and you might just hear some unfamiliar words uttered by the men in brown and gold, the men striving to avoid eating kaangka .

Yes, eating Crow.