thanks
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Watching the replay, I was most interested to see him go troppo when we kicked our first or second of the run of five in the third.
At that stage we were still down and in my opinion hadn’t fully turned the ship around, but Clarkson was mighty ■■■■■■ off.
It made me wonder if there were some key indicators/numbers that were dropping for Hawthorn and he knew they were done.
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Fixed
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The look on Hepp’s face?
Clarkson would be looking at his side knowing they ■■■■■■ up in the off season. They are cooked and no matter how long it takes the new mids to gell there just isn’t enough of them.
Even if you assume Omeara and Mitchell will reach their absolute top potential. They still have no replacement for Burgoyne, Gibson and Hodge coming through. Their best young tall is Obrien who makes Gleeson look built. I can’t see a leader amongst the young group.
They now can’t afford to buy a star or offload multiple players to get a better one, have no draft picks last and this year and as such a big talent hole in 4-5 years on top of a very low pool already.
Take a look at their list, I’ve never heard of half of them. And some have been there a few years already.
There is no priority picks, no academy, FA are not going to head to a sinking ship.
IMHO they are about to enter a long period of ■■■■.
They are Essendon of 04/05 clinging to a side that no longer exists.
If Clarkson was smart he would jump ship. GCS might have an opening soon and they just loaded up in talent. I’m sure the AFL would bankroll the biggest coaching deal in Aus sporting history.
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They will always pull off some deals that no-one ever believed could ever be done - like getting both JOM and Mitchell.
If they can arrange a couple of major stars like this every year - esp Mitchell for little long-term cost - they can build up quick enough.
I have envied HFC’s ability to get high-level VFL/AFL support over decades. As opposed to whenever we look likely to get the same rule, it is rescinded cf priority picks.
I agree with a lot of that, obviously we don’t know if Clarkson is lying on the salary cap. But I will point out that in addition to their first and second rounders for 2016 and 2017, they also gave up the Hill pick (~#22) and their 2016 third and fourth rounders. That is a lot. It might be worth two guns (maybe not), but two guns still leaves them with big holes.
I think the two trades have to be considered separately. If they walk away after the Mitchell trade they keep most of that. They get the young gun and 4-5 good draft picks to roll the dice to get 3+ good players.
It’s easier to attract players to your club when you are winning flags every year.
The less attractive they look, the harder it will become to keep up their ridiculous recent trading history.
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I reckon they’ve had a lot of very over rated footballers that for years have been protected by a number of stars and the best system in the competition. That apparent lack of depth is now being exposed as those great players reach the end. Unless they can manipulate their salary cap such that they’re bringing in good free agents every year they’re in strife.
The key indicator was, driven by McKernan & Goddard in particular, we got right on top of clearances and edged ahead in contested ball. We won both stats in the last 40-45 minutes of the gsme.
My view is that the Hawks went too and thus were 1 midfielder short as a result - especially given O’Meara hasn’t played in 2 years and Roughhead for a year. They erred in playing Gunston, Sicily & Schoenmakers. One of the latter two should have been left out for a midfielder who could join the rotations.
They didn’t have enough midfielders to rotate through the midfield and thus ran out of petrol tickets 10-15 minutes before 3QT - something we have been guilty of for years.
Clarkson going off may have been as much to do with himself & his match committee picking the wrong side. Perhaps they don’t have any AFL standard midfielders left on their list… And Hodge won’t fix their problems because he is on his last legs.
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The first has the punchable head, the second looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane
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To paraphrase Kerry Packer, “you only get one Dean Laidley a lifetime”
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Fwiw I had a good mate who is a Hawks fan tell me on Sunday he’d forgotten what it was like to barrack for an average side. In the next breath he said he reckons that afl is just a pretty ■■■■ game to watch these days and particularly singled out the new ruck rules. My conclusion, Hawks fans are going to jump off this mob quicker than Clarko can punch a whole in the wall.
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MELKSHAM WATCHES ON IN JOY 
FORMER Essendon midfielder Jake Melksham says he watched on in joy as the Bombers claimed an opening round win over Hawthorn last weekend.
Melksham, now at Melbourne, was caught up in the club’s supplements saga and was one of 34 players who served 12 month doping suspensions last year.
“I sat down and watched the game, had a couple of quiet beers with dad afterwards," Melksham said.
“I was just more excited for the boys that they got a win and that it was a good spectacle for them. The football world has been really good to all of us, in particular all the boys at the club still, and I was just really happy that they got a win and they could start the year off that way.”
The 25-year-old said he was appreciating football more than ever this year after working as a labourer for a builder while serving his ban in 2016.
“I didn’t enjoy it that much but I sort of forced myself to do it to prepare for life after footy," he said.
“I’m quite enjoying throwing my runners on and shorts and singlet at the moment."
Melksham played his first game for Melbourne last weekend, gathering 15 disposals in a win over St Kilda.
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Still got a soft spot for Melky! 
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If hawthorn drop away just watch their membership dive. That clubs supporters are the biggest bandwagon frontrunning bunch going around.
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I liked when Luke Darcy was telling us about Tom Mitchell being a, quote, classy player in the mould of Sam Mitchell as someone pressured him onto his wrong side and scrubbed a 20m kick straight to an Essendon player. Pretty much a carbon copy.
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Nothing surer. They have a history of it.
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Easy club to barrack for due to regular success, doesn’t lend itself to genuine supporters who stick fat. The kids will fall off the bandwagon in a hurry.
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