The most annoying, frustrating game of the season. We saw the good and bad of us in every quarter. Three times we threatened to run away (literally) with the game. Our pace and ball movement was too much for Hawthorn in the first 5-10 minutes of the first 3 quarters. On every occasion we got reeled back in. The final quarter was the complete opposite. First 10 minutes we looked done, no run, kicking up and down the line and no risk or dare taken. Then when we fell 20 points down and I thought we were cooked we spring to life. Itâs a relatively apt way for our season to peeter out.
The players should be kicking themselves. Weâve had a lot of false dawns and expectations shattered in the last decade, even longer. This by far is the most annoying and the biggest self inflicted kick to the pills weâve had. This team is good. But you canât be 2-6, lose to a 0-7 team and then decide to play good footy. I think they have turned it around. But far too late. I hope every single one of them has a good think about where they want to get to individually and collectively.
Was it me or was our tackling poor yesterday? A lot of broken tackles and players just giving up.
I suppose weâve been up for a while and itâs impossible for teams to maintain this kind of intensity for a long streak.
Yep, our mids have stepped up the last two months but itâs still a weakness. I think Parish had 10 touches in the first quarter and we looked good, but then he faded badly.
Our success in the future hinges on one (or more!) of Parish, McGrath, Langford, becoming consistently damaging in the middle.
That said, Tippa looked Gary Ablettesque in the middle at times, if only he could find the pill 5 more times a game weâd be sweet
I agree, all of Parish, McG and Langford have had periods where they look dominant but they lack consistency so hopefully that comes with age, fitness and experience.
He kicked 4 on Hurley in 3 quarters & kicked one on Francis in the last. But aside from that one goal & a behind later, I reckon Gunston only had a couple of disposals in the last.
I heard the drainage was pporly planned so oval canât be used 3/4 of the year. Clearly made this up but not like you wouldnât believe this from the EFC right!
A guy like Cam Pederson of Melb while a long way off being a star would be very handy in our side. He is very capable and competitive. Second ruck to Belly and would give a great contest in the fwd line. Neither Brown or Stewart are good enough to be the no. 1 tall fwd option. We donât have the cattle atm.
Have never known a season when we have unearthed so much young talent. Remember vaguely Billy Stephen - need help here from the old fella posters - played a young S. Madden, Hartigan(?), Ellen & ?? and we were so excited that we had found 4 players who looked likely.
I think we should play Francis forward. We know he can develop into a 3rd tall defender, but he is competing against 9 other defenders for a spot. He looks like a forward who could kick 3 in 5 minutes, apply some real physical presence and turn a game.
I thought we played really well for about three quarters without getting the scoreboard reward. We had that manic pressure that Iâm almost getting used to now (!) and we were winning the ball out of the middle and using it well.
Hawthorn got back into the game a couple of times in the first and second quarters on the back of a few cheap goals from mistakes when we could have potentially buried them. It seems that we still revert to old front running habits when we get a run on which exposes our backline. Good teams keep their shape.
Overall it felt like a game where most things went right for Hawthorn. The ball seemed to bounce the right way in 50/50s, they capitalized on the periods where they had momentum, even their shanked kicks seemed to find targets.
We lost the game in that 20 minute period between the end of the third and midway through the last where they had full control of proceedings and we werenât able to get it out of their forward line. That was the only period of the game where I felt like they were actually on top, even in their mini comebacks in the first and second it felt like we were playing better footy but not getting rewarded.
This game hurts more than most because of the opponent and the criticality of it from a season perspective but itâs the kind of game that a good team would not lose too much sleep over. When you start a season 2-6 youâre never going to make finals.
Was a time when I absolutely loved footy. We were crap but Fouldsy, Max Crow, Dean Hartigan, remember Ian Marsh on the wing, Terry Cahill, tough little Steve Beaumont. Dean Hartigan and Terry Cahill got king hit and were never the same. Some of these guys and big Sime and saltbush and Knobby Clarke and Merv and Tim a bit later became greats.
I loved Ian Marsh, he had open heart surgery about when he was going to become a star. I donât think he got back to the ones but played at a game in the seconds and when he came off the bench, Windy Hill erupted. It was awesome.
Youâre right and I probably mark smack a bit harshly and itâs a good pick up in that Pederson would only compete with him for the same role. Ytd I said to my son a few times how much we missed him and itâs not something I ever envisaged myself saying.