What an ordinary season of footy

[MightyHawks]

Clearly enjoying Hawthorn staying in the contest longer than Geelong. For the first time since....shit, 2001?

Almost... you didn't give a yelp in the last quarter of 2008

 

[MightyHawks]

What am I thinking now?

You're humming "Freo Way to go" and trying to stop yourself doing it.

Really annoying when a song gets stuck in your head

 

[Mr Meeseeks]

Some of us can discuss football in general without being petty children, throwing around crap like this:

Clearly enjoying Hawthorn staying in the contest longer than Geelong. For the first time since....shit, 2001?

Get off your ****ing high horse

 

[MightyHawks]

I think a lot of people are confusing themselves. While the season has been close and exciting in a lot of ways, the football hasn't been that flash. That's all I was saying. Do you really think that Hawthorn has improved that much if at all this year? Some of the younger players have improved and Roughead has returned but others haven't been as good or as productive through injury and suspensions.

How many times on these boards has there been threads about particular games, generally involving either one of Sydney or St Kilda over the last few years, where the end result has been close but the trip to get there has been excruciating.

'Wow, what a horrible game, it was only saved by the close finish'.

imo

Hawthorn are pretty much the same as last year.
Adelaide have improved, favourable fixture didn't harm them.
Sydney have improved due to a different style of play.
Collingwood have dropped off due to injuries, loss of form and internal troubles.
West Coast I think have dropped due to injuries.
Geelong dropped off due to age and lack of pace on the spread in the first half of games in partiular.
Freo have improved with a new coach, better game plan and good run with injuries after last year.
North, improved but had the obvious disappointing end to the year.

None of Carlton, Essendon or St Kilda improved either due to injuries or lack of quality.
Brisbane and Richmond both improved, Brisbane more so.
Footscray fell in hole.
Melbourne were horrible.
Port, imo, definitely improved, cruelled by injuries at times, played games with none of their leadership group on the park.
GC I think improved slightly, though not quite as much as I expected. Second year blues maybe, Bock's injury really hurt.
GWS, unknown quantity.

Coaches in particular are fond of saying that you have to change, adapt and improve at least xx% each year or else you'll get left behind. This season wasn't one of them, in footy terms I think it's stagnated a bit.

Did the standard really improve from 2010 to 2011?

Collingwood were the pace setter throughout 2011 yet they certainly didn't improve

When assessing the standard do you look at the top 1-3 teams or is it the evenness of the competition.

I think overall the top 8 in 2012 is stronger than in 2011.

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

Get off your ******* high horse

Good for the goose, eh Duckling?

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

You're humming "Freo Way to go" and trying to stop yourself doing it.

Really annoying when a song gets stuck in your head

Easily the worst part of last Saturday night.

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

So in a nutshell -

The MRP was worse than usual
The umpiring stunk
The fixturing was suspect
But the real crux of it.....
The defeat of Geelong has now made the finals extremely boring and that this years gf winners won't be worthy winners because the standard this season was poor.

You missed the part about Hawthorn supporters deliberately misconstruing the thread, and pretending it's only Geelong supporters who expressed concern about the direction the umpiring and MRP has gone this season.

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

Almost... you didn't give a yelp in the last quarter of 2008

I was out with a hammie that week I think. you played well though.

 

[Off The Couch]

You missed the part about Hawthorn supporters deliberately misconstruing the thread, and pretending it's only Geelong supporters who expressed concern about the direction the umpiring and MRP has gone this season.

Now where did I say it was only Geelong supporters saying that. All I did was summarise the thread

 

[Sprout]

The canings of the new teams is not a great look but everyone knows and accepts that it will be a transition period for them.

Putting that issue aside, this was the worst season my team has had in my football following lifetime (which is truly saying something) and I still found a way to enjoy it. Definitely an enthralling battle up the top all year, with the Hawks looking to pull away now but Sydney or West Coast may just have their number come time for the big dance.

A season far from ordinary.

 

[MightyHawks]

You missed the part about Hawthorn supporters deliberately misconstruing the thread, and pretending it's only Geelong supporters who expressed concern about the direction the umpiring and MRP has gone this season.

Be specific then

What are the 5 worst MRP decisions that come to mind this year

What particularly about the umpires is worse

If your issues aren't Cats related then fill us in

 

[windyhill]

When the AFL fixtured the two expansion teams to play on the same day, it provided for a very ordinary day of football. Apart from that, and my teams shitty efforts, I found the season to be no worse than other years. The finals series is still very open with West Coast and Freo playing well.

Agree. The worst day seemed to be sunday, there was some absolute shockers served up. The best game from an neutral point of view I saw, was the coll v wce game at the mcg earlier this year, was an absolute cracker.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Did the standard really improve from 2010 to 2011?

Collingwood were the pace setter throughout 2011 yet they certainly didn't improve

When assessing the standard do you look at the top 1-3 teams or is it the evenness of the competition.

I think overall the top 8 in 2012 is stronger than in 2011.

Good question.

I think that Geelong and Hawthorn both improved in '11. Geelong due to a fresh coach and game plan and Hawthorn due to a better run with injuries and natural maturing of players. Roughead popping his achilles cost them their chance. West Coast definitely improved.

You're probably right with me looking at the top 3 or so teams. Just having a look at last years ladder there's probably 7 teams that have improved by varying degrees this year, some a lot, some marginally and there's 10, imo that have either stagnated or gone backwards and then there's GWS.

As per my above post, I reckon Hawthorn have probably stagnated to a degree for varying reasons but I still think they're the best team in it. The improvers haven't improved enough.

Freo look the best balanced side, atm, with Sydney not a long way behind and Hawthorn not far away again. I think the difference with Hawthorn, while still being a cohesive unit is their top end talent / matchwinners. They simply have more than the other two. They can still play with a bit of nastiness too.

 

[Hodge is God]

Bigfooty: the home to World War 3.
Hawthorn v Geelong.

 

[Spirit Level]

This has been one of the best seasons of footy I have witnessed

 

[hawkman]

As per my above post, I reckon Hawthorn have probably stagnated to a degree for varying reasons but I still think they're the best team in it. The improvers haven't improved enough.

I personally think we would be a 5 goal better side than last year, there has been improvement in most of our young players and our older players haven't dropped off

 

[crankybeep]

I loved this year.
Last year was rather boring with the top three-four fairly set and consistent all year, though I did do well in the footy tips, whereas this year was much harder, with 'upsets' in nearly every round, which made it fun for me to watch. I loved the unpredictability of it. And there were many great matches.
Though I did much poorer in the tipping.

 

[Gizza]

I think a lot of people are confusing themselves. While the season has been close and exciting in a lot of ways, the football hasn't been that flash. That's all I was saying. Do you really think that Hawthorn has improved that much if at all this year? Some of the younger players have improved and Roughead has returned but others haven't been as good or as productive through injury and suspensions.

How many times on these boards has there been threads about particular games, generally involving either one of Sydney or St Kilda over the last few years, where the end result has been close but the trip to get there has been excruciating.

'Wow, what a horrible game, it was only saved by the close finish'.

imo

Hawthorn are pretty much the same as last year.
Adelaide have improved, favourable fixture didn't harm them.
Sydney have improved due to a different style of play.
Collingwood have dropped off due to injuries, loss of form and internal troubles.
West Coast I think have dropped due to injuries.
Geelong dropped off due to age and lack of pace on the spread in the first half of games in partiular.
Freo have improved with a new coach, better game plan and good run with injuries after last year.
North, improved but had the obvious disappointing end to the year.

None of Carlton, Essendon or St Kilda improved either due to injuries or lack of quality.
Brisbane and Richmond both improved, Brisbane more so.
Footscray fell in hole.
Melbourne were horrible.
Port, imo, definitely improved, cruelled by injuries at times, played games with none of their leadership group on the park.
GC I think improved slightly, though not quite as much as I expected. Second year blues maybe, Bock's injury really hurt.
GWS, unknown quantity.

Coaches in particular are fond of saying that you have to change, adapt and improve at least xx% each year or else you'll get left behind. This season wasn't one of them, in footy terms I think it's stagnated a bit.

I don't think the standard of footy is really any better or worse than most other years. Just because we don't have two teams making it to round 15 undefeated before playing each other doesn't mean the quality of football hasn't been any good. If anything it means we've had enough teams good enough to actually challenge each other.

 

[Hawkas1988]

I think a lot of people are confusing themselves. While the season has been close and exciting in a lot of ways, the football hasn't been that flash. That's all I was saying. Do you really think that Hawthorn has improved that much if at all this year? Some of the younger players have improved and Roughead has returned but others haven't been as good or as productive through injury and suspensions.

How many times on these boards has there been threads about particular games, generally involving either one of Sydney or St Kilda over the last few years, where the end result has been close but the trip to get there has been excruciating.

'Wow, what a horrible game, it was only saved by the close finish'.

imo

Hawthorn are pretty much the same as last year.
Adelaide have improved, favourable fixture didn't harm them.
Sydney have improved due to a different style of play.
Collingwood have dropped off due to injuries, loss of form and internal troubles.
West Coast I think have dropped due to injuries.
Geelong dropped off due to age and lack of pace on the spread in the first half of games in partiular.
Freo have improved with a new coach, better game plan and good run with injuries after last year.
North, improved but had the obvious disappointing end to the year.

None of Carlton, Essendon or St Kilda improved either due to injuries or lack of quality.
Brisbane and Richmond both improved, Brisbane more so.
Footscray fell in hole.
Melbourne were horrible.
Port, imo, definitely improved, cruelled by injuries at times, played games with none of their leadership group on the park.
GC I think improved slightly, though not quite as much as I expected. Second year blues maybe, Bock's injury really hurt.
GWS, unknown quantity.

Coaches in particular are fond of saying that you have to change, adapt and improve at least xx% each year or else you'll get left behind. This season wasn't one of them, in footy terms I think it's stagnated a bit.

On your whole post, that's your opinion and fair enough. However, to say Hawthorn haven't improved from last year is just ignorance. We are a much better side then last year. Our form at the start of the year was shaky but from rounds 10-present we are an incredibly different side to last year. In the past, we always struggled to win games and relied on Buddy a lot. Our spread of goalkickers is a huge difference. Young players like Breust, Gunston, Whitecross, Shiels, Suckling etc are much better players this year than last year when they faded out of games too often. Add in the improvements of Puopolo, Schoenmakers, Smith and the return of Roughy, Stratton and Youngy. Birchall And Gibbo are now elite in their positions. Our game style is finally coming together where we have a great balance of contested and uncontested footy.

Players like Mitchell, Hodge, Lewis, Sewell etc are similiar to previous years but it's the young players that have made a big difference to the way we are playing and our improvement.

 

[Gizza]

On your whole post, that's your opinion and fair enough. However, to say Hawthorn haven't improved from last year is just ignorance. We are a much better side then last year. Our form at the start of the year was shaky but from rounds 10-present we are an incredibly different side to last year. In the past, we always struggled to win games and relied on Buddy a lot. Our spread of goalkickers is a huge difference. Young players like Breust, Gunston, Whitecross, Shiels, Suckling etc are much better players this year than last year when they faded out of games too often. Add in the improvements of Puopolo, Schoenmakers, Smith and the return of Roughy, Stratton and Youngy. Birchall And Gibbo are now elite in their positions. Our game style is finally coming together where we have a great balance of contested and uncontested footy.

Players like Mitchell, Hodge, Lewis, Sewell etc are similiar to previous years but it's the young players that have made a big difference to the way we are playing and our improvement.

He also says that he thinks West Coast have dropped off from last year due to injuries. If anything I'd say we're a better side than last year too. Naitanui, Shuey, S. Selwood, Gaff and Darling have all improved immensely making us a much better side overall even if we have been ravished by injuries this season.

 

[Hawkforce]

OP underrating Sydney and West Coast, imo. Feels like the season has lacked Geelong and Pies as legit power teams but Sydney, at least, has taken that mantle. Great season and equal faves for flag with Hawks. Similar story wih West Coast

 

[sherb]

Strongly disagree, but it may depend on which team you support.

I wasn't surprised that this was started by a Geelong supporter, and that the first reply agreeing with the OP was by a Carlton supporter.

No kidding?

Actually, regarding your Carlton/Geelong observations, it's equally unsurprising that a Hawthorn supporter would disagree with this thread.

But to dismantle your theory somewhat, I've actually found this season very interesting.

 

[Pat_Footy]

Although I think the OP waited until Geelong were out before making this thread..... I agree.
The manic pressure football of a couple of years ago was great viewing. It's now stopped with the new interchange rules.
The amount of injuries made me lose a lot of interest.
I also strongly disagree with players being suspended for playing the game hard and tough. I liked the big shirt fronts and strong driving tackles. Campbell Brown's bump (6 weeks) would be allowed if it was up to me.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

It's also easier to manage players when you get to play teams that are not AFL standard.

Yes that extra game against GWS gave us such an incredible leg up the ladder. Playing the reigning premiers twice? Piece of cake! Meeting the flag favourite twice? Nothing to it!

And remind me of who the players were that we rested for that second encounter with the Giants. Looked pretty much like our best 22 to me.

 

[SBD Gonzalez]

Personally I think the comparisons between an even close season and two super teams flogging everyone are false.

I far preferred the previous 3 seasons.

Would you rather watch a competitive 100m final or watch Bolt and Blake beat the rest of the field easily. I would much prefer the latter.

I wouldn't. Each to their own, I guess.