yeah this
Iāll bite.
The reason many have little faith in this club to break out of mediocrity is that we have been mired in it for 15 years. 15 years since weāve made week two of the finals.
In 1992 we were two seasons removed from a grand final, three from a prelim and 7 from back to back premierships.
In 1999 we were three seasons removed from a prelim, six from a premiership and won 18 games without Hird and Lucas for most of it
So you can snipe at people all you want but personally the club has done nothing in the last 15 years, let alone the last 3-4-5 to give me confidence they will address the things that are needed to take us towards the top four.
Itās a ā ā ā ā ā ā ā competition and there is only one prize, we have been three rounds of finals away from even playing off in a GF for 15 years! Itās now our equal longest drought between grand finals in the clubs history (24-41), so maybe leave the lazy historical references out of your bizarrely optimistic digs at people who are hacked off - we have been historically bad for the last 17 years, per the facts.
15 Likes
I was surprised by how much run the Hawks had. The Tracker says they had the top 4 runners in terms of distance, all posting big numbers of 15.5km+. Hence they got on top in the latter part of each quarter, and in Q3/Q4?
Throw in an uncharacteristic number of turnovers by us, a forward line without any contested marking, periods of breakdown in forward structure in the second half, classy finishing by Gunston/Breust, and that was the game.
But Iām not too concerned overall.
Weāve shown enough to any prospective trade targets that we are on the way up. We shouldnāt lose any meaningful players this off-season, nor reach critical ages of decline. So I wonāt be joining those bed-wetting Blitzers. You know the ones.
3 Likes
lol. How does your foot taste? We always train it.
And 13 people believed it. FMD.
1 Like
I agree - we struggle every time this happens. Richmond started two back against us! Maybe the rule change will help.
The only consistency is being tortured by this club.
They mess with us more than Carlton do to their supporters. At least they know they are ā ā ā ā ā .
Seriously the Hawks are muppits and we were up 19-0.
So Soft.
Losing by less than a goal to some campaigners that hate us to miss the finals. Faaark that.
Heppell pinpoints a goal assist to the opposition every single week.
Francis can hurt the opposition yet worsfold had him playing 2s the whole year.
Agree as well - same as Collingwood a few weeks back always positioning 1 or 2 players on the outside of packs. They won the ball and streamed away. Hawks same again! Our position down the line is rubbish when we take kick ins with options really limited by lack of positioning and run. Donāt get me started again on kick ins! We struggle every time while other teams waltz away! Same all year so I say poor coaching.
Was tough to fall asleep after watching that, but this is what I noticed throughout the gameā¦
- Hawthorn have a bunch of Premiership players in their team and it showed. They never panicked and kept to their game knowing full well that we would make mistakes and turn the ball over as we are prone to do. When the turnover occurred through a bad kick, handball or our favouriteā¦pumping the ball forward and high to 2 or sometimes 3 on 1 contests against us, we were all pushing forward and they had easy transition goals.
- Our skills need work. This isnāt new, but our turnovers were shocking. The amount a passers that went straight to yellow and brown, or completely missed their target was not that of a finals winning team.
- Us playing slow chip and mark football is not our fortay at all. We donāt have a good plan B at all and if fast through the corridor is cut out we are not good enough to just chip the ball around and try and pick through defenses.
- Since Goddard made his proclamation about how young kids have to knock him out of the side, he is doing a brilliant job at making it easy for them.
We are getting where we need to be and are now grinding out wins even when not playing well. We are now winning interstate which is something we are not used to. But we still have momentsā¦losing to Carlton is inexcusable based on how they have looked this year and you need to be better than 1 and 6 at the MCG if you want to go deep into September.
Hawthorn showed their Premiership class and pedigree yesterday in being patient and letting us beat ourselvesā¦also were slightly helped by a group of muppets in green who āmissedā a lot of free kicks we should have had and could have made a difference.
6 Likes
Yesterday was a disappointing result. I thought we might win, but we didnāt. Nevertheless, we didnāt give up and might have pinched it.
Some observations: Goddard really must hang up the boots; Myers doesnāt belong in the seniors; Collyer played better than I thought he could, much of the time; Hepp is injured and probably shouldnāt be playing; it would be good to have one big forward who could take a contested mark and not allow Stratton so much of the ball; we need to tag the oppositionās best ball-winner and we couldnāt find the right match-up for Gunston; and, we lost the free kick count again.
We need to prepare for 2019 and ensure our best players are ready for a full preseason.
āLostā yesterday due to:
- Margettsā¦why do we always get these freak? The frees to them vs the non-payment of similar things killed us at crucial times
- ALL their experienced guys had season best games at the same time. Surely they have to start losing some of these guys. Half of them should be on the Pension.
- Outcoached. They clagged up the centre corridor forcing us to go long. Where is Plan B.
- I was 15 rows back in the Members and our guys looked stuffed coming off and on. Maybe the strain is catching up. Hurls looked unwell and was on the Ventolin. Heaps playing hurt. Skipperā¦you couldnāt hit the side of a barn. Kick it long.
- Selection Table. Stewart MUST come in as our last remaining tall forward. Poor Jake is our key forward and he plays ruck? FMD. Or Hartley comes into FB and Hooksey goes forward.
- Two late changes - again - a season destroyed by Injuries. How many Clubs have 5 Out for Seasons including their Ferrari? Collingwood maybe?
- Who are out sports medicine people? Our season was cruelled during pre-season with so many going down with avoidable soft tissue injuries. Unacceptable and questions have to be asked.
- The ā ā ā ā ā ā bounce of that ā ā ā ā ā ā oval ball - just wasnāt our day in that respect.
Despite all the above and probably more, only lost by 4 points, soā¦ā¦ 2019? 
3 Likes
How did he go in the 2s yesterday?
Stewart injured. canāt have come in.
1 Like
Francis cannot hurt the opposition and Worsfold, in my opinion, didnāt leave him in the twos too long, and if anything he played him too early.
I watched him closely in the twos and donāt think he deserved a game. āPlay the kidsā can be disastrous depending on the make up of that ākidā. Iāve said numerous times,I hope he makes it, but ytd he looked miles off the standard and Ridley and Redman are a long way in front for mine.
5 Likes
And there in lies the problem. Iām sick of hearing about the Carltank game that cost us the season. We lost to these other teams we should not have and allowed ourselves to get blown away affecting our percentage.
The Hawks game had its errors, but the same comments would be on the Hawks board if we had got up by a couple of points.
We do need another good Mid and Joey back and we will be fine.
Walla, Brown, Fanta, Stringer, Bags, Parish - thatās our fwd line. Bench - Lang, Francis, Dev and Trav.
Our fwd line and our bench - thatās why we lost. Given the expectations pre- season, if we lined up round 1 with that and no Joe, Chook, Stewart or Smack to kick to, whoād have thought we even get close. Lots to work with.
Correct me if Iām wrong since I had a few beers under my belt, but my impression was that Gunston did most of his damage when Hurley was on him in the first 3 quarters & that Francis kept him relatively quiet in the last qtr?
1 Like
I was thinking the same thing
The talk re Francisā¦ wtf.
Before last week, he had played only FIVE games in two years for various reasons. Yesterday was his second game of the year.
Just wtf.
3 Likes
Ah, the inevitable let downs of a big game at the G. Forward line set up was dumb. Skills were dumb. We had everything our way for this win - the rest, them coming back from Perth, our speed to tire em out. But if you just bomb it in to their free man for easy marks down back, let them just continually outsmart you (Gunston up forward, all the foot candyās we fell for, Mitchell waltzing free)ā¦ then well you lose like the dumb team we are so consistently.
2 Likes
I didnāt notice Francis shut down Gunston for any period of time. Kicking across his body looks awesome when it comes off like it did last week and terrible when it doesnāt like ytd. He competes bravely in the air and is happy to run the same way as the footy but if he doesnāt mark it or kill it, heās done. Others are off to the next contest and he isnāt. I think some supporter faith in him is blind. He has great upside and is a beautiful long kick but I think heās miles off it and Iād play Dea, Ridley and Redman when fit ahead of him.