It's not the norm to be so out of form...

[Davo23]

the back line was a spangher short of the full tool box

A Saviour short of a Holy Trinity?

 

[hawkheart]

I don't buy this we weren't trying to win or it does not matter crap.

It may not matter now that we are condemned to playing the cats at the start of the finals, but it did matter before 4.40pm EAST Sunday!

Freo was playing for a top four spot. We were playing for the top spot and a first final against Freo or maybe port at the MCG, as opposed to a nightmare first game against our NEMESIS. Both sides had a lot on the line.

If the Freo was not important then why did we risk an grossly underdone VITAL player like Gunston (an absolute favourite like Cyril) on a long hard ground in enervating conditions, if Clarko was not desperate to win?

We played very well up until half time and looked like we were a good chance to win, but Froe came out and smashed us completely in the second half. We could not get near them nor even mount any type of a challenge. That was a great moral victory for Freo, a team that we formerly had the measure of. Any coach with a scintilla of psychological insight would have understood the imperative of denying such a morale boost so late in the season to a likely adversary in the coming finals.

Our backline as a unit was nothing short of disgraceful. Individually they weren't much better. Lake was a joke. Gibbo is playing with one arm and that is a liability so he has an excuse. Suckers was dreadful but that is hardly a new and surprising phenomena. Stratton has been up and down all year with the groin and was very ordinary and was poor. Duryea was too slow and really struggled. Birchall was well held.

I never thought I'd ever see our backline ripped apart by such a third rate forward line like Freo, but they were. Gibbo on Pavlich WTF? Lake not even contesting incoming balls WTF? Duryea to slow to man a small forward WTF?

FFS it was so bad they had to move Schoey, whipping boy extraordinaire, to defence and made all of them bar the one armed man, look ordinary in comparison.

Poor form at this end of the season is not a good look.

Once can rightly argue that the season and the injuries have taken their toll but a lot of players are running out of time to turn it around before the finals start.

God help us if we have to play interstate at any stage of the finals because we have been dreadful on the road.

Who exactly is in poor form?
We lost to Freo. Freo got pumped by the lowly Saints. Sydney lost to us. Geelong have been falling over the line against mediocre opposition. Port are just going. I'd say currently no team stands out as being in prime condition.

 

[parsons nose]

Who exactly is in poor form?
We lost to Freo. Freo got pumped by the lowly Saints. Sydney lost to us. Geelong have been falling over the line against mediocre opposition. Port are just going. I'd say currently no team stands out as being in prime condition.

Good point, the teams you have mentioned have each had their own issues. A back line down on form and system is still cause for concern though.

 

[Arrogant Frog]

I wouldn't say we are in poor form, a 19pt loss on probably the hardest road trip isn't the end of the world. No doubt there were some bad performances which I'm sure will be addressed during the week.

But a lot of people are under selling how important this game against Geelong is, yes we are guaranteed top 4, but we wouldn't want to finish fourth and play Sydney 1st week. interstate.

I know we have the pies in the last game, who are most likely going to be very undermanned, but may be playing for a finals spot. I would much rather winning this week, and having 2 or 3 sewed up and then we can do what we like the last round in terms of personnel.

 

[parsons nose]

I wouldn't say we are in poor form, a 19pt loss on probably the hardest road trip isn't the end of the world. No doubt there were some bad performances which I'm sure will be addressed during the week.

But a lot of people are under selling how important this game against Geelong is, yes we are guaranteed top 4, but we wouldn't want to finish fourth and play Sydney 1st week. interstate.

I know we have the pies in the last game, who are most likely going to be very undermanned, but may be playing for a finals spot. I would much rather winning this week, and having 2 or 3 sewed up and then we can do what we like the last round in terms of personnel.

I would go one further and like to see good performances from Lake, Gibson, Stratton and Mitchell. And see a complete blanketing of Hawkins.

 

[Thaihawk]

This week's game is stress-free, because we already know the result


Cats by 2/3 goals, after being relatively close all night!

I'm just looking forward to reading how the Cats arnt that good, and if we bring our A-game, they won't get near us!
FFS!

We will have a 5 - 5 goal lead at quarter time, and kick away. That monkey is going to get drawn and quartered on Saturday night.

 

[crazywildhorse]

We will have a 5 - 5 goal lead at quarter time, and kick away. That monkey is going to get drawn and quartered on Saturday night.

It's hard to see Geelong winning on current form. Our form has not been that bad really, It's not at the heights of the beginning of the year, but it's still good enough. What is more encouraging is that no one's form has been outstandingly good. We all want Hawthorn to roll everyone, but there are 2 other sides (Freo and Sydney) that could also win the flag so it's going to be a tussle.

 

[Themeanmachine]

I don't buy this we weren't trying to win or it does not matter crap.

It may not matter now that we are condemned to playing the cats at the start of the finals, but it did matter before 4.40pm EAST Sunday!

Freo was playing for a top four spot. We were playing for the top spot and a first final against Freo or maybe port at the MCG, as opposed to a nightmare first game against our NEMESIS. Both sides had a lot on the line.

If the Freo was not important then why did we risk an grossly underdone VITAL player like Gunston (an absolute favourite like Cyril) on a long hard ground in enervating conditions, if Clarko was not desperate to win?

We played very well up until half time and looked like we were a good chance to win, but Froe came out and smashed us completely in the second half. We could not get near them nor even mount any type of a challenge. That was a great moral victory for Freo, a team that we formerly had the measure of. Any coach with a scintilla of psychological insight would have understood the imperative of denying such a morale boost so late in the season to a likely adversary in the coming finals.

Our backline as a unit was nothing short of disgraceful. Individually they weren't much better. Lake was a joke. Gibbo is playing with one arm and that is a liability so he has an excuse. Suckers was dreadful but that is hardly a new and surprising phenomena. Stratton has been up and down all year with the groin and was very ordinary and was poor. Duryea was too slow and really struggled. Birchall was well held.

I never thought I'd ever see our backline ripped apart by such a third rate forward line like Freo, but they were. Gibbo on Pavlich WTF? Lake not even contesting incoming balls WTF? Duryea to slow to man a small forward WTF?

FFS it was so bad they had to move Schoey, whipping boy extraordinaire, to defence and made all of them bar the one armed man, look ordinary in comparison.

Poor form at this end of the season is not a good look.

Once can rightly argue that the season and the injuries have taken their toll but a lot of players are running out of time to turn it around before the finals start.

God help us if we have to play interstate at any stage of the finals because we have been dreadful on the road.

Mate you have nailed it....

Those that think that we can "switch on" whenever we want are dreaming....the scoreboard flattered us on Sunday night.

Some of our prime movers are playing sore such as hill, gunston, hodge and gibson while others are simply out of form.

 

[Suntory Boss Coffee]

I don't get why people don't think we can switch on. How often have you seen us idle for a half and then play 10 minutes of good football and win? Yeah that is right, quite a lot. So shut your mouths and believe god dammit. In Hawthorn we trust.

 

[Steven Tyler]

I don't get why people don't think we can switch on. How often have you seen us idle for a half and then play 10 minutes of good football and win? Yeah that is right, quite a lot. So shut your mouths and believe god dammit. In Hawthorn we trust.

Against who?
Bulldogs, Demons, Crows, Blues, Pies
We won't be playing these teams in September

 

[Thaihawk]

Against who?
Bulldogs, Demons, Crows, Blues, Pies
We won't be playing these teams in September

I believe you could add $wans and Freo to that list. Our wins against them at the G were built on 10 minutes of unstoppable footy.

 

[TyHawk]

Backline has to start playing accountable football! Lake picks the biggest bloke and plays on him..no more of this crap of Duryea, Burgoyne or Litherland covering on monsters FfS! Stratton is one we are carrying and it hurts to say that as I love the Wayne goes about it! But right now he is all over the shop!
Mcevoy and Hale combo seems to be a bit off so maybe Cegs comes into calculations.
Hill has gone downhill and is gasping for air way too much for a guy who gets 8 kicks. His lost that awesome early season form.

We play to win no matter what, we haven't beaten this mob in the H&A season since 2007!!! Have a bit of pride and slice them and then do it again in the finals or this year could easily be one of those forgotten/almost type seasons and that would be a shame after all the hard work the boys and the coaches put in to get all the way here! We go for the jugular or GTFO!

 

[dipper86]

I believe you could add $wans and Freo to that list. Our wins against them at the G were built on 10 minutes of unstoppable footy.

Freo at the G we smashed them from pillar to post.
Sydney it had ebbs and flows we controlled the first half of the first quarter, they controlled the rest of the 1st and 2nd quarter. Sydney controlled the start of the 3rd we controlled the rest of the match.


Some of our losses have also included 10 minutes of unstoppable footy............

 

[Faithful Hawk]

Against who?
Bulldogs, Demons, Crows, Blues, Pies
We won't be playing these teams in September

Swans a few weeks ago short memory??

 

[Steven Tyler]

Swans a few weeks ago short memory??

The Swans game had momentum shifts until the third
By half way through the third quarter, we had the game on our terms, even though they got back to 9 points late in the last

 

[Ripper Rioli]

I think people are overreacting a fair bit. Granted we played poor and are disappointed in the loss, but fair dinkum we had more scoring shots than them and failure to convert ultimately hurt us. Freo played extraordinarily good and were just too good on the day. they are a top 4 side and we did play them away. People just need a deep breath, this Hawthorn side doesn't let us down very often. Keep the faith. #inclarkowetrust

 

[QuietB]

A short history of premiers since 2006.

Round 21 2006 - West Coast pumped by Freo
Round 22 2007 - Geelong beat by Port at Kardinia Park.
Round 20 2008 - Hawks smacked by the tigers
Round 21 2009 - Geelong beaten by the bulldogs
Round 22 2010 - Collingwood beaten by the Hawks
Round 23 2011 - Geelong beaten by Sydney again at Kardinia Park
2012 didn't happen, but if you must know Sydney got beat by Hawthorn and then Geelong in R22 and R23
Round 19 2013 - Hawks pumped by Richmond

It appears that is really does not matter that much as long as you arrive at September healthy and ready to go.

 

[Thaihawk]

I think people are overreacting a fair bit. Granted we played poor and are disappointed in the loss, but fair dinkum we had more scoring shots than them and failure to convert ultimately hurt us. Freo played extraordinarily good and were just too good on the day. they are a top 4 side and we did play them away. People just need a deep breath, this Hawthorn side doesn't let us down very often. Keep the faith. #inclarkowetrust

have to agree with you Ripper. Freo won't have another game for a long, long time where they kick 17-8, or for that matter, Pav manager 5-1. We had our top goal scorer, and most valuable player, on the sidelines, we were uncharacteristically inaccurate, and several players were just not at their beast. If you revisit Clarko's post match press conference, I'm sure you can see he thinks we only lost the 4 points, but nothing else. We will be better next time, Freo were at their best and set a standard, especially with their accuracy, that they will find hard to match.

 

[Ordovician]

A short history of premiers since 2006.
Round 21 2006 - West Coast pumped by Freo
Round 22 2007 - Geelong beat by Port at Kardinia Park.
Round 20 2008 - Hawks smacked by the tigers
Round 21 2009 - Geelong beaten by the bulldogs
Round 22 2010 - Collingwood beaten by the Hawks
Round 23 2011 - Geelong beaten by Sydney again at Kardinia Park
2012 didn't happen, but if you must know Sydney got beat by Hawthorn and then Geelong in R22 and R23
Round 19 2013 - Hawks pumped by Richmond
It appears that is really does not matter that much as long as you arrive at September healthy and ready to go.

Not too many back to back losses there going into the finals apart from 2012.

So it won't be very auspicious if we lose to the cats on Saturday.

Normally I don't mind a loss a few weeks out from the finals to give the players a reminder that playing like crap results in a loss and not to get ahead of themselves.

This year is very different. We have folded so many times under the weight of injuries that the team has taken a real battering just completing the season. They must be very sore and tired, as well as being close to mentally spent, after such a relentless year.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Is this Fred still open????

The Fred premise is as absurd as it is ridiculous!

Rest our core senior group this week, then use the Colliwobbles as a warm-up for the real thing.....3 weeks of treading water is not a form issue....Strategy & forward-planning are whats all that counts here.

 

[MinerBoy]

Backline has to start playing accountable football!

Yeah the backline is certainly the biggest issue right now. The forwardline will always score and even managed a decent score on Sunday despite hardly seeing it come inside 50 after Q time and wasting it when we had it in the first quarter.

The issue for a while has been that the normally well oiled backline machine, that chops out for each other and then clears the ball beautifully, simply looks unorganised and completely out of sync. Now I guess it's understandable with Stratton, Lake and Gibbo all having missed a large portion of the season and with guys like Hodge and Burgoyne playing more midfield time in the absence of Mitchell, Sewell and Rioli. They just haven't played together enough or enough games individually in a lot of cases to have any touch - in the personal or team sense.

Freo didn't clunk everything that went forward, but they scored everytime the ball hit the ground anyway.....and easily. We were just out of place and lacking any real pressure.

We have a few weeks for them to get in sync and gel back into that under rated backline we have been seeing for a few years. I think they'll do it. (Wouldn't mind Guerra back though).

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

Who exactly is in poor form?
We lost to Freo. Freo got pumped by the lowly Saints. Sydney lost to us. Geelong have been falling over the line against mediocre opposition. Port are just going. I'd say currently no team stands out as being in prime condition.

At present I would say Stratton, Mitchell, Lake, Gibson, Hill, Suckling, Hale and Schoenmakers are all playing well below their best, hence in poor form.

Agree or disagree?

 

[Off The Couch]

(Wouldn't mind Guerra back though).

A double like for this very simple sentence

 

[Furn2]

Not too many back to back losses there going into the finals apart from 2012.

So it won't be very auspicious if we lose to the cats on Saturday.

Normally I don't mind a loss a few weeks out from the finals to give the players a reminder that playing like crap results in a loss and not to get ahead of themselves.

This year is very different. We have folded so many times under the weight of injuries that the team has taken a real battering just completing the season. They must be very sore and tired, as well as being close to mentally spent, after such a relentless year.

You could also argue the other way and say most of our players will be fresh having missed big chunks of the season through injury.

 

[hawkheart]

At present I would say Stratton, Mitchell, Lake, Gibson, Hill, Suckling, Hale and Schoenmakers are all playing well below their best, hence in poor form.

Agree or disagree?

Agree but I'm talking teams as a whole.