View Full Version : Unsociable football? I see the birth of a team with a KILLER INSTINCT.
Gold Member
20 May 2008, 10:33
Get out of my way or get hurt! - Seems to be the new ethos of the Hawthorn Football Club.
Everything that has happened at HFC has a clear direction pointing at a common goal - Premierships.
The coaching appointment
The assistants
The cull
The specific and scientific recruiting (can't kick, can't stand up for yourself - find another club.)
The game plans
The Kokoda comraderie
The leadership
The history
The comparisons with historically dominant teams is both romantic and tangible:
The 2001 - 2004 Brisbane Lions. The big bodies, Scott boys, Johnson, Hart, Brown, Voss, Matthews - Grunt, Power, Class, Hunger, Sledging, Ownership, LEADERSHIP.
The 2000 Bombers. As per the BLions, Johnson x 2, Lloyd, Lucas, Long, Hird, Sheedy - Grunt, Power, Class, Hunger, Sledging, Ownership, LEADERSHIP.
Steve Waugh Australian Cricket Team - Grunt, Power, Class, Hunger, Sledging, Ownership, LEADERSHIP.
Hawthorn 1980's - Grunt, Power, Class, Hunger, Sledging, Ownership, LEADERSHIP.
The ingredients are there my friends, are the plans are beginning to bring results. From the President all the way down to the boot studder we are all reading from the same page and beginning to outwardly display all of the above mentioned qualities.
We are still in the infant stage of this transformation but the signs are clear and growing with every game. The 2008 Hawks are beginning to believe.
While the media are preoccupied with the amazing innovation of unsociable football, we will continue to do what the great teams of yesteryear had.... KILLER INSTINCT
The TACHawks
20 May 2008, 10:59
None of those teams ever apologised for anything!
Gold Member
20 May 2008, 11:03
None of those teams ever apologised for anything!
Sheedy had to apologise for the throat slitting gesture.
Neville Bartos
20 May 2008, 13:15
That's all very well, but there is no need at all to punch someone behind play. It could result in a situation where one of our players does a minor thing in the prelim final nd because of his bad record that year, gets 1 week for a normally reprimandable offence
noosa hawk mad
20 May 2008, 13:35
Love it!:thumbsu:Grunt, Power, Class, Hunger, Sledging, Ownership, LEADERSHIP.
just like i did when watching the Hawks growing up in the 80's knew we would come back & win against Port have a self belief in each other & we are the aggressor great to watch!
Mitchell Madness
20 May 2008, 13:37
I dont buy this whole unsociable crap. WE play as footy should be played, and dont take crap from noone!
Buddy the Brave
20 May 2008, 13:46
The last three premiership teams all had one thing in common - discipline.
Unsociable football is all well and good, I just don't think footballers (Hawthorn or otherwise) are smart enough to be given latitude in the aggression department without going overboard. End result is players getting suspended.
It reminds me of the time Dermy told Croady he needed to be more aggressive, next game Croad gets suspended for two weeks. Doh. I'm telling you footballers aren't that bright that's why they kick a bag of air around for a living.
CyberKev
20 May 2008, 13:47
That's all very well, but there is no need at all to punch someone behind play. It could result in a situation where one of our players does a minor thing in the prelim final nd because of his bad record that year, gets 1 week for a normally reprimandable offence
Right you are, Nev.
Where unsociable football = hard at it play, coupled with an in-your-face attitude, then its all good and fine.
If it is supposed to also equate to the sort of nonsense that has earnt Lewis and Crawford 1 week suspensions so far this season, then its time for Clarko to have a good rethink.
Its not tough. The guy taking the hit looks ridiculous for acting-up for a free, while the guy giving the hit looks like a tosser for guaranteeing himself a match off.
i have to say i love it when Robert Walls comments on how great our unsociable football is.
B&YBlood
20 May 2008, 18:45
i'll take the unsociable football tag any day, even the odd suspension!
I'm proud that we are now a tough and hard at it club. Certainly better off copping the odd suspension than coughing up the soft spineless football we had been producing since our last flag.
AC is a god sent, we have the depth to cover the odd suspension so I'm not worried. I'm sure its been addressed but for me it's a non issue.
Good to see Crawf fly the flag in my opinion. If we take all the rough stuff out of the game ill go watch netball!!!
Killer instinct is exactly what it is. All playing for the jumper and to help there team mate, if they punch a bloke along the way as long as its not super malicious then I couldn't care less.
Go the KILLER HAWKS!!!
p.s its fun supporting a side that everyone hates again, I was tired of being felt sorry for because I was a Hawks fan!
I love the boys going in hard.I see a bit of mongrel in the team and I love that.Finals get tough and that's what you need.But players punching other players is a shocker
Roughie
20 May 2008, 18:50
Ever since the line in the sand game the players made a promise to them selves and eachother to fly the flag. One for all and all for one, we were going to stop being the hunted and become the hunters. We were always pushed around by Brisbane and Essendon, we let them intimidate our youngsters, and now we dont stand for it. We intimidate our opponents, the pyscological advantage can be the difference from beating your opponent.
Great thread
Ever since the line in the sand game the players made a promise to them selves and eachother to fly the flag. One for all and all for one, we were going to stop being the hunted and become the hunters. We were always pushed around by Brisbane and Essendon, we let them intimidate our youngsters, and now we dont stand for it. We intimidate our opponents, the pyscological advantage can be the difference from beating your opponent.
Great thread
Totally agree.But Clarko has brought his own edge as well
Gold Member
20 May 2008, 19:50
Ever since the line in the sand game the players made a promise to them selves and eachother to fly the flag. One for all and all for one, we were going to stop being the hunted and become the hunters. We were always pushed around by Brisbane and Essendon, we let them intimidate our youngsters, and now we dont stand for it. We intimidate our opponents, the pyscological advantage can be the difference from beating your opponent.
Great thread
This is what we are after Roughie.
"Physical and psycological disintegration" - tactics made famous by the record breaking Australian Cricket Team.
This is the ability to plant a seed of doubt in the oppositions head and it is a tangible and effective weapon to possess.
Gold Member
20 May 2008, 19:52
i have to say i love it when Robert Walls comments on how great our unsociable football is.
Does he ever mention the Lance Franklin averages 9 shots a game? :rolleyes:
Hawkflag
20 May 2008, 19:59
Does he ever mention the Lance Franklin averages 9 shots a game? :rolleyes:
yep. the team is great. the toughness is great, but without this guy we would have lost at least 3 games this season. AT LEAST
Gold Member
20 May 2008, 20:04
The last three premiership teams all had one thing in common - discipline.
Unsociable football is all well and good, I just don't think footballers (Hawthorn or otherwise) are smart enough to be given latitude in the aggression department without going overboard. End result is players getting suspended.
It reminds me of the time Dermy told Croady he needed to be more aggressive, next game Croad gets suspended for two weeks. Doh. I'm telling you footballers aren't that bright that's why they kick a bag of air around for a living.
I have to disagree BtB.
I believe our players have been given the latitude regardion agressive acts. The quickest way for people to learn (football and life in general) is through experience. The players are experiencing what the boundaries are and will eventually learn to not cross them.
Cambell Brown has learnt the hard way.
Jonathon Brown has learnt the hard way.
Cameron Mooney has learnt the hard way.
^ All three took around 75 - 100 games of experience to figure this one out so it will be a matter of time before the agression is more appropriately directed.
Clarko allowing and encouraging the players to 'play on the edge' is just trying to fast-track the learning of the boundaries in this regard, Putting an old head onto young shoulders.
In regards to Crawf, there may be some hidden agenda there... ;)
Pessimistic
20 May 2008, 23:02
On before the game they showed Sewell stripped down.
His torso was just one big tube of muscle - not much definition just a mass of muscle - no wonder he is blitzing in traffic.
In the collingwood game they had sewell, mitchell in the centre for most of the bounce ups - rotations were toned down because a week off was to follow/
We saw the result - they are dynamite in there. I didnt see the game on saturday but I imagine sewell and lewis did the same