This one is going to be as hard as any of our tests so far, and harder than many of them. Hawthorn are playing ■■■■■■ well and they have a lot of very high quality players. They have made many, many premierships out of having more players at the contest, and more players making position around them, being incredibly disciplined and hard at it, and having the skills to finish off their hard work. They’re not as good as they were in 2013-2015, but they’re not all that far off it, and they’re in very good form right now.
As always, intensity will win it. Sydney are another intense team, but we beat them at that game on Friday night and kept up relentless pressure for the entire game. We’ll have to do the same against Hawthorn, and they’ll be harder to beat at it than Sydney were.
But there are a few things to remember. One is that we also have some very skilful players, more than we’ve had for a while. And we have real pace, more than Hawthorn, all over the ground. And Hawthorn have had some really bad losses this year when teams have matched them in intensity and then run over them in the second half of the game.
I’d be giving Hurley the same sort of job as he had against Franklin. Put him against Roughhead or Gunston or Breust and tell him to stay on that player and don’t worry about anything else; beat that player and run off him if you can, then go back to him and make sure you beat him next time as well. His game against Franklin was his best game this season by a mile.
Every week we play a game that in the past we would have lost. We’ve won 8 out of 10. Both of the losses were bad losses, and about half the wins were not terribly impressive; but still that’s a pretty good record. The team should have some confidence now. They should be going into a game like this thinking of it as an opportunity to beat a foe that has beaten them too often in the past. If they do that, and if they play with Friday night’s intensity for the whole game, we’ll win.
Biggest game against Hawthorn since Round 22 2009.
You ■■■■■ better turn up, that game in 2009 was probably the biggest turn up by an away teams fans I’ve seen. There was nearly 80k there and I reckon 50k of them were Essendon.
Wouldn’t mind if one of the boys went a little too far this week and copped a week. Would just hope they end someone’s day and then had a huge impact in our win.
Our forward pressure (20-3 tackles inside 50) was excellent vs the Swans & accounted for our superior inside 50 count. Dawks also applied strong forward pressure vs the Shockers (17-6 tackles inside 50). This is very much the Tigers brand of footy over the past 2 seasons. Relentless forward pressure.
McNiece in for Dea. Takes Poppy. Saad or Irish have a big job on Breust. Has kicked plenty of sausage rolls this year. Needs to be kept quiet. The Dawks set up well across their half-forward line when the ball is inside their 50, so we need to be smart with our defensive transition. Plenty of run to break their zone.
I’d put a hard tag on Mitchell in the centre.
And really implore the lads to apply that same sort of relentless forward pressure (that we did vs the Swans) - when the ball is in our half. The Dawks still prefer to back in their kicking skills & play more of an uncontested possession game.
Agree with Nickers.
Bring in an extra tall forward whilst Dea has a rest.
Saad will have to play a more accountable role this week on Breust.
First priority = Defence.
Breust is burning too many sides lately with 4 and 5 goal bags.
It’s way too many for a small forward.
If any small-ish player on the ground is kicking 5, it’s going to be Raz !
McKenna on Poppy.
Hooker on Roughy
Francis on Shoenmakers
Gunston is a problem as Ambrose usually gets him, and quells him for the most part.
Feels like a good job for Hurls.
We’ll back in our midfield depth to get on top of theirs.
Smith has to be watched closely.
If I’m not mistaken, McGrath played on him for large portions in Rd.7, and did quite well whilst obtaining 27 disp himself.
Liam Shiels will tag Merrett, and here’s hoping that Zac can overcome the close checking.
He had a very poor game in Rd.7
Hawks are a bit up and down, so it’s difficult to get a read on the game.
They have despatched some lowly teams in a qtr or 2 of devastating footy, but then put in a Bris performance.
Belly should get on top of Ceglar to give our mids first use.
The whole midfield is playing really well, and there are all number of rotation possibilities.
Even more if Stewart comes in, which allows Stringer some extra midfield minutes.
Hopefully we put a gap in them early in the 2nd half, then grind them slowly into submission.
I want them totally devoid of confidence heading into their next game against Geelong.
No stuffing around please…win, and win well !
With all teams around us winning this weekend we simply must beat hawthorn.
Other matches this coming weekend
Cats have Tigers
North have lions in Brisbane
Port have Crows
Swans have Pies
Melb and GWS have the byes but they play each other in the final round.
Simply must win this week and next and then destiny is back in our hands
If he can be kept relatively quiet, this will go a long way towards us getting the chocolates. He’s a bit like Raz is for us - their barometer. When he’s up and about, so is Hawthorn.
