It sh1ts me that the Dawks can do all the things that the Bombers can’t.
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Well, that’s it… we’ve officially become the AwFuL equivalent of one of those perenially mediocre EPL “feeder clubs”…
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The posistion we are in qaulifies more in us getting concesions then the likes of North who are genuinely crap
Even Kepler Bradley won a final before Essendon. Now that’s depressing.
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Is their style like the way Richmond played when they won their premierships, i.e. moving the ball forwards as fast as possible - a style which we tried to implement under Truck?
TBF we were in that position once during Knightas reign (albeit an elim final), but we just didn’t book a room for a ruckman
Ginni cost them the game before they even got on the park. And he’s now had his new club honeymoon.
Can’t see Hawks improving next year, more than likely they’ll drop away.
Lots of holes.
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They’ll get the top 6 fixture next year too.
I don’t know how they’ll go, they seem to play for their coach unfortunately. They could stick around
People thinking they will magically get “found out” are in for a rude shock imo.
They’ve been playing the same way all year and teams generally couldn’t deal with them. They were smashing poor teams and beating the good ones.
They’ll add Barass and Battle which will hugely steady their defence and free up Sicily.
Mitchell is a cvnt but a super coach. Here to stay sadly.
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Chol taken out of the game too easily last night. Gunners and Brewster have had it, they’re terribly lacking up forward.
The drop off could be quite alarming.
Equally, Calsher Dear and Nick Watson are only going to improve. Sicily could be swung forward more with Barrass and Battle.
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Had there chance this year with extroadinary momentum and every other side being flaky as fk.
Not sure it will happen next year and the entire comp will go to work on how they play or replicate them.
More talented side like Collingwood and Carlton should be ahead of them.
Guys like Watson with no height will have to work even harder with coaches putting more time into him.
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It will be interesting to see them with a harder draw next year. They beat up on a lot of average teams to end the year.
Fark hawthorn and their skid mark of a coach.
I love how they’ve been mouthing off and acting like muppets all year but the minute they cop a serve back they start sooking.
Absolute flogs.
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I think Calsher regresses next year. Same with Chol. Opposition teams will focus on their weaknesses a little more and make things uncomfortable for them.
Same thing with Massimo. Port put an inside midfielder who could run with him on him and he struggled somewhat against a bigger body and had to do more to find some open space. His dancing around a few players late in the game to get a kick into the forward line highlights this and he’ll need to work on it because he’ll see that more and more through next year.
They’ll push Sicily forward once they get Barass because they will realise he’s their best tall forward after mucking about with Dear, resting ruckman targets and Mitchell Lewis getting injured yet again.
Improvement will come from Mackenzie (who didn’t play the last month). I think Watson improves, he’ll be targeted, but he’ll keep motoring and be a great small forward for the rest of this decade. There’s improvement in Ned Reeves too and whether they try again and pair him with Meek will be interesting because they are similar types of rucks (Meek a little more mobile and probably capable of playing the forward line).
My problem with them is that even though they have Worpel, Nash and Newcombe, they rely heavily on them to get the ball out to their runners. They play very similarly to the Bulldogs which ended up being their perfect matchup last week. But when their runners are shut down (like last night) their contest play isn’t as strong as the other teams left in the finals. I think eventually they’ll make a play for either a hybrid inside outside mid (Parish would be perfect for them) or an upgraded mid to pair with Will Day (who they missed).
I don’t think the drop off will be too stark. They’ll still challenge for the 8. They are a well drilled team. From the outside looking in, they set a depth chart, stuck to the style they think works best for them and worked the depth chart regardless of what happened. Reeves injured, Meek takes hi spot. Lewis injured Dear takes his spot, Day injured, Maginness takes his spot.
So I expect they’ll be looking to improve that 20th to 25th list spot one way or another over the next few years.
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I’m not sure about pointing to their list/best 22 on paper as evidence that they will fail next year. It doesn’t look all that impressive on paper, it will probably look better next year but not heaps better.
Their backline will be very, very strong. Weddle will probably be released up the ground.
The thing that makes them good is their game plan and adherence to it. I don’t see that changing. Teams will work to find a way to beat it but if they don’t get it quite right the Hawks will beat them.
They will be good again, because of the way they play. They are not Carlton that rely on a few good players.
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whats going on down there? Oh my!
Brilliant season, they will go better next year…everyone says no guarantees blah blah
Mitchell has his troops buying in to his programme, they playing with passion and vigor, he has the right player mix and they are still a young side.
Top 4 next year they will get better again, with additions of Battle, helping out down back and if they land Smith lookout!!!