- Hawks
Oh yeah that game
Kids way better than I expected
As far as win/loss ratio itās about where I thought.
I didnāt think 4 wins would have had us this high up on the ladder but thought bottom 4
Hind is Saad minus $450,000. Massively influential recruit.
3 Likes
Iāve always tended towards the positives- you never know what might happen & football is a funny game etc etc.
Means teams can both surprise & disappoint relatively quickly.
So leaving aside players I expected/ hoped to improve, the absolute surprises of this season to date.
-
the cohesion of the entire coaching staff. Yeah, Truck has been solid, but itās the first time in a long while all the field areas seem to be pulling in the same direction. People here knock Worsfold, but I think moving Harvey sideways has also helped here. I was concerned about Jordan with the forwards, based on his past VFL forward lines & tactics, but this seems to be integrated very well. Could do better than Belly as a specialist ruck coach though - Draper & Bryan are too special to stuff up.
-
Laverde as a resilient, successful, backman. Did not see that one coming.
-
that weāre almost half way and the players havenāt dropped their bundles. Starting like a house on fire then falling in a heap, or putting in wildly uneven performances has been the norm. Thereās a resilience there that bodes well. Oddly enough Iād be happy to take on Port or Brisbane now - we might not win, but I reckon weād at least give them a good run for their money. Fingers crossed for the second half - if we finish the year like this then I think a resurgence is closer than what many think.
HIGH
HORSE
I donāt think you can say you were āwrongā as it has only been 10 weeks. Letās see if they stick with development or still try and squeeze into the 8.
Rushing back players from injury will be a key sign.
3 Likes
Hopefully we sort out our defensive issues soon. Last two games we have conceded less than 70 which is good, see how go the next 2.
Though North did open us up too easily a bit too often for my liking.
Iām not high, and donāt call me horse.
(!)
1 Like
Is this the midyear review of Blitz or the EFC?
This is the bit thatās still a cause for concern IMO.
Our draft hand is nothing to write home about at this stage and you are spot on about the talent required to simply win a final vs going deep into finals and genuinely contending for years to come.
I think weāve all been pleasantly surprised by certain elements this year but I wonder how much of that is directly attributable to the extremely low expectations most had on us for this year.
Itās interesting the comments that people are making about āmost enjoyment theyāve had watching footy since 2016 ( also when there were zero expectations) etc.
The highly undesirable scenario that still exists for mine is that we phase in Cox,Jones, Perkins etc, phase out zaka, hooker, hurley, Hepp and maybe a couple others over the next 2 - 3 years but still end up only a 7th to 10th side.
IMO after this year the club is likely to be back to chasing mid table finishes again and weāve got enough first hand knowledge to know that is not the way forward.
Also not sure how to feel about teams who have been better than us for a decade, playing and winning finals etc, getting higher picks than usā¦
2 Likes
I just want to clarify one thing.
I bloody enjoyed 2017 H&A season. How the hell could you not when we were kicking all of those goals, had McKenna, Walla, Zaka all speeding around, and had some great wins? Even the trade period was epic. How can everyone say this is the most fun since 2016 and ignore 2017?
7 Likes
The finish in 2017 on field is probably what soured it for some.
Understandably.
and heād be kicking to McKernan
1 Like
Itās what it always has been - a comparison between the world and one lone cowboy with delusions of grandeur fighting the good fight for the benefit of all humanity who need saving from themselves.
I wouldnāt call the FC game an Essington performance. Our disposal (under no pressure at all) was absolutely diabolical that day, and was literally the reason why FC won (they scored an absurd amount on our turnovers). Otherwise, we competed right up until the end, and I was impressed with our ball movement (when we didnāt make those silly clangers).
Our second half against Hawthorn, and that 5-10 minute patch against GWS in the third quarter, where we had that bizarre meltdown and conceded 5 goals from 5 inside 50ās, are the only Essington moments weāve had this year.
1 Like
Thereās 3 clubs having mares of seasons. Nth Melbourne, Collingwood and StKilda. Weāve just happened to have 3 good wins against them. Throw in a close home win against Freo.
Loved both the kids and some of the mid career guys finally taking a step. We certainly look better this year.
But we are still a long way away, further than most posts in here seem to indicate.
8 Likes
After seeing most of the pre season training sessions and practice games I wasnāt anywhere near as pessimistic as most on here. If everything went well I could see us pushing for top four, and everything went badly I could imagine us finishing last, so I guess where we are at the moment being pretty much in the middle is about right.
Iām not at all surprised by the form of Cox, Perkins and Jones, theyāve really just carried on from their form over the pre season when they all looked ready made players.
Hind was also terrific over the pre season so isnāt a huge surprise, but I didnāt expect such consistently high standard performances right from the start.
Iāve thought for a number of years that Laverde could make an excellent backman, and Iād heard he has also been open to the idea for a while, but I donāt think even he would have thought he could be this successful so quickly so that has been a huge win for us.
Likewise Parish also had a terrific pre season and was consistently one of the better runners at the club but to get to the level he has so quickly was more than I expected.
I donāt think Francis has improved as much as people on here have been saying, I thought he was actually pretty good last year. It seems that a lot of players are judged more on the two or three mistakes players make in a game rather than the bulk of good work they do. But I also agree with most that he has been very good for most of the year, although I also think he is nowhere near the ceiling of the player he can become.
The form of Snelling I think has been a bonus. Heās always been very good defensively but is now also regularly contributing offensively, which I didnāt think he had in him.
Iāve been a bit disappointed so far in Langford, while his form has been mostly solid and consistent I was expecting a bit more from him this year with a real breakout year, but that hasnāt happened yet, although there is still a lot of the season to go yet.
Likewise while most people have been pleasantly surprised by the form of Wright, I was actually hoping for more after looking very solid pre season. He has all the tools, I can see an actual star in him if he can manage to get more self belief and confidence in his ability.
The biggest disappointment for me so far though has been the long term injuries to Draper and Caldwell. Both had terrific pre seasons and needed to get games into them as soon as possible.
Draper in particular could make as big a difference as any player in our list, turning a comparative weakness into a strength. For most of the year in his absense weāve been happy just to break even in the ruck. If we had a player actually dominating there but also providing a strong presence both physically and marking around the ground it could make an enormous difference to the way we play.
Hooker has been a bit of an enigma. While heās regularly popping up to kick goals each week and sometimes provides an outlet down the line he provides almost no forward pressure, and often does no more than a token chase. I wonder if someone like Baldwin really came on in the latter part of the year whether he would be the one to make way.
I think the game plan is also really starting to take shape now as well. The backmen are getting more cohesion within the group every week, and weāre getting a much better balance between moving the ball aggressively and keeping possession, where earlier in the year the ball movement was often too slow and risk averse.
One of the most pleasing things to happen in recent weeks from my perspective is the lowering of the eyes to hit up targets in the 30-45 metre range rather than constantly bombing long to the square. And with the number of excellent kicks for goal that we now have in that range, why wouldnāt you? It also makes it considerably harder to defend, particularly with the likes of Cox and Langford drifting down onto the flanks.
Going forward I think we have a much better chance against West Coast than people are giving us credit for, our form has been nearly as good as theirs. I know everyone has been haunted by previous thrashings over there but I think we could surprise, particulalry if we can hold their forward line.
If we can manage to have a reasonable run with injuries for the rest of the year (a big if I know!), particulalry with Draper and Stringer and a possible earlier than expected return of Shiel, we shouldnāt be too far off finals by the end of the year.
And personally I would much rather a higher finish on the ladder than the possibility of better draft picks. If we can build a winning culture and an optimistic view of our future we will again become a club of choice for star players looking for success, rather than relying on high draft picks.
37 Likes
This, so much this. 22 marks inside 50 against Norf. Iād like to know when was the last time we threw up a number like that. Itās huge. Against the Saints we had 17
7 Likes
interestingly weāre 6th best in the league for mark inside 50s with 12.3 compared to 11th last year with 8.3 (even if you adjust for game time thatās still ā ā ā ā ),17th in 2019 with a truly appaling 9.3, 3rd in 2018 (12.2) and 9th in 2017 with 12.3.
Weāve been trending upwards over the last month too
3 Likes