Preview Hawks v Pusscats : Changes and predictions

[TeamPlayer23]

Mmm this McEvoy trade is turning out to be a bust. Shame we couldn't snag a quality ruckman instead. Would have made a huge difference to our season.

Gus I think would have been a good addition this week to play on one of their smalls.

It's a lot of non-forced changes for this time of the year.. I sense panic stations..

No way!!...I really have to disagree with you on this..
We have snagged a very good ruck, apart from him missing a few games through injury and considering his age, combined with the fact that he can run old day, and with his first year at the club, his stats below look impressive:

Ben McEvoy AFL Player Rating Points: 427 In Ruck Position Rank: 5 Overall Rank as an AFL player:73 Club Rank:11
David Hale AFL Player Rating Points: 293 In Ruck Position Rank:12 Overall Rank as AFL player: 240 Club Rank:19
Rucks And Overall Player Standings in 2014:

http://www.afl.com.au/stats/player-ratings/overall-standings#position/ruck

 

[bungholes_premiers]

oh man am I in love with these selections - Spangher for Shoey I believe would be agreed by MOST people who watch the game so the fact Clarko has done it, is awesome !
Big Boy will be ok - he just needs to know u dont get gifted sh1t at this great club

 

[Thaihawk]

oh man am I in love with these selections - Spangher for Shoey I believe would be agreed by MOST people who watch the game so the fact Clarko has done it, is awesome !
Big Boy will be ok - he just needs to know u dont get gifted sh1t at this great club

Six day break, and the red eye from Perth, maybe BB asked for a week off. You don't see rested for players out now, they are all omitted.

 

[Mervyn Beasley]

Happy for them to swing the axe but no Litherland is a strange one. Didn't put a foot wrong. Hale holding his spot over McEvoy is ridiculous, Hale has not got the runs on the board this year as far as I'm concerned

I think McEv is a shoe in for finals.
What we have here is a battle for the other spot.

 

[Shmoses]

I have a theory that they're leaving McEvoy out because they want to play him in front of Hawkins in the first week of finals and they don't want to give the tactic away.

 

[killerspud]

I have a theory that they're leaving McEvoy out because they want to play him in front of Hawkins in the first week of finals and they don't want to give the tactic away.

Thanks for the idea - I'm sure they will look at it

 

[JustKickIt]

Seems as though Litherland is not in the plan come finals time. Since he resigned he has not played a senior game. Because of all the injuries and suspensions the side has never been settled, but I'm very worried with 4 changes just before the finals. I'm sure these players are not being rested. I hope we don't lose our chance of a Premiership at the selection table. Someone suggested earlier that we were trying to have a shootout. Cannot believe that.

Be Calm

 

[Rev08]

I have a theory that they're leaving McEvoy out because they want to play him in front of Hawkins in the first week of finals and they don't want to give the tactic away.

The days of playing a ruckman "in the hole" are long gone. Won't happen.

If Mcevoy has truly been dropped then it is nothing short of madness. Our best ruck combo this year by far was Mcevoy/Ceglar in the Adelaide game.

To those suggesting Clarko doesn't want to show his cards, I just can't see that being the case. Geelong have a mental edge over us, and every time they beat us, that mental edge gets bigger. We need to win this week. I know some will point to the PF game last year as evidence against this, but in reality we were a 6-7 goal better side than Geelong last year and it was only our inability to take our chances (common story against the cats) that meant we were down 20 at 3qtr time. Even once burgers put us in front in that game we had opportunities to put them away, but we couldn't and still gave them a chance to send the game into extra time. We have mental issues against Geelong, and they can only be solved with WINS.

 

[macmate]

maybe we just want to see who is best between hale and ceglar against a proper finals team and who ever plays the best will keep the second ruck spot for the rest of the year/finals series

 

[Hotham Hawk]

I am really looking forward to this game and unlike most others against Geelong I actually have a good feeling about this one. Hawks by 22 points (I was pretty much on the mark for Adelaide and Sydney, didn't put in a tip for the last few games so third time lucky hey?)

 

[HODGEYROAD]

My two predictions will be Hawks by 4-5 goals or cats by under 10 points... I think we will know halfway through the 2nd quarter which way the game is going to go....

 

[HODGEYROAD]

Also from this weeks team, how many best 22 players do people feel we are missing?

 

[threesixpio]

Spangher gives a lot more flexibility then Schoey who has been looking as stiff as a Russian Boxer! Sewell coming in means Langers can play down back on oppo mid size quick forwards like I stated just three days a go..is Clarko reading BF for ideas??!! Sewell in is a beauty! If he gets going then he could easily be the catalyst in rotating our best Inside Mids in Lewy and Sammy plus gives us grunt and experience. I seriously hope Sewelly gets really going not just for this game but I believe with him in the team we are a better Inside team. But our problem is that there seems to be no rebound from defence, for players like Hill and Smith to take the game on they need intercept marking and quick clean ball out to them! This has been fault earring recently and with Suckling and Birchall taken out of the game too easily that makes our backs kick the ball out of defensive 50 in a rush! I hope that Lake & Stratton get going cuz they are the keys that hold everything together, the rest are doing quite ok.

Methinx you want Lithers. For whom? Spang or Suckling?

 

[threesixpio]

Also from this weeks team, how many best 22 players do people feel we are missing?

One. Cyril. Maybe two. Lithers. Deliberately not mentioning LTIs

 

[Flukey!]

Six day break, and the red eye from Perth, maybe BB asked for a week off. You don't see rested for players out now, they are all omitted.

Which Ruckman was rested late in '08 and never made it back in?

 

[threesixpio]

I have a theory that they're leaving McEvoy out because they want to play him in front of Hawkins in the first week of finals and they don't want to give the tactic away.

And Poppy to ruck. He took on Sandilands last week. Poppy is Yoda in the battle against the emperor

 

[Taskmaster]

Good Good side. This side will take us deep into september. With Rioli and BB to come in. So 2 blokes will be playing for there spot. Those unlucky blokes will most likely be Cegs/Hale and Simpkin/Langers.

Its harsh, but thats the way it is in a premiership side. You earn your spot, you dont gifted anything!

 

[Taskmaster]

Which Ruckman was rested late in '08 and never made it back in?

Simon Taylor wasnt it. Anyone would have been better than Renouf. But we won it and thats all that matters.

 

[Whirling Dervish]

I think we will know halfway through the 2nd quarter which way the game is going to go....

Won't that make a nice change from every other Hawks v Cats game since 2007.

 

[Hawker1167]

Litherland very unlucky - but pretty happy with the changes and maybe Big Boy is being rested but very risky this time of year!!!

 

[Flukey!]

Simon Taylor wasnt it. Anyone would have been better than Renouf. But we won it and thats all that matters.

Agreed, but my point is players will NOT want to be out of the side at this time of the year.

 

[Quad22]

Hopefully next week Clarko brings back Litherland and Big Boy.
This would give us our strongest team of the year, with Cyril to slot in nicely come finals time.

 

[Off The Couch]

That's it, we are done. KB has picked us.

Denham talking up cats - cats beat the inform blues

 

[Slawk]

I'm not sure the changes this week mean as much as some people are suggesting. I'm not convinced they're punitive necessarily. I don't think we'll really know what Clarkson has planned until week 1 of the finals. And maybe I'm naive but I kind of trust our two time premiership coach....

 

[Flukey!]

Hopefully next week Clarko brings back Litherland and Big Boy.
This would give us our strongest team of the year, with Cyril to slot in nicely come finals time.

Just thinking if this is our strongest side of the year.
We are only missing Cyril really as the other guys are out based on form.