Autopsy Round 24, 2023 : Hawks slow to a crawl

[Off The Couch]

Disappointing end to the season - just never looked like it and many today looked like they had already closed up shop

Been an up and down season - some horror games and others that have been brilliant

You can see the improve
You can see what Sam wants to do

Looking forward to draft and trade time

 

[Todman]

Here is the good news:

No serious ACL injuries to carry through to next year.

 

[CaptainWorpedo]

I thought we were very obviously trying, just ran out of gas. Wouldn't be surprised if there was a bug going through the playing group.

Freo were very very good. Disposed of it beautifully and their defensive structures were top notch.

Reckon there's something in us playing a lot better with a fit and firing Wingard. Him and Lewis make our forwardline infinitely better.

Ryan missed with illness last week, a fair chance that went through the team.

 

[tommyk72]

My thinking is that it's much better to go out on that sort of note and get a reality check heading into the preseason, rather than having a bit of an ego inflation by beating a bottom 6 side in a meaningless game. Hopefully this sticks in the back of their mind every day between now and round 1 next year.

That being said, I think that was one of the least watchable games this year.

 

[FB19]

My thinking is that it's much better to go out on that sort of note and get a reality check heading into the preseason, rather than having a bit of an ego inflation by beating a bottom 6 side in a meaningless game. Hopefully this sticks in the back of their mind every day between now and round 1 next year.

That being said, I think that was one of the least watchable games this year.

Exactly my thoughts. Some people getting carried away with recent good performances but today we played like 16th with 7 wins. Not surprising with a young rebuilding team.
Today was potentially a good result strategically speaking as we need 2 more years of drafting and development before we can seriously look to play finals and go for big fish. We desperately need a second kpf a classy forward and a pressure forward, a kpd a classy ideally quick mid and a right winger. We may have some of those already on the list but we also need to bring some in. Bring on the silly season!

 

[JoeHawk]

Any word on the 2013 premiership reunion? Safe to assume no surprise appearances from Clarko, Cyril and Buddy? Sad.

 

[The hands of stone]

Garbage. Bit of a reality check playing at home against another bottom 8 side who don't like to travel. Terrible way to end the season.

Freo who have been beaten Melbourne in back to back games at the MCG dont like to travel ?

 

[Mitchell Madness]

I'm OK with a loss to end the season
Not ok with the lack of effort for 3 quarters.

It's been a common trend for many of our losses. Sort it out over the off season and we are probably pushing the top 4 next year.

 

[The hands of stone]

A bit of an insult to fans tbh

You realise teams dont win everygame , they sometimes dont play near their best and there is this annoying thing called the opposition that can also impact things .

If yesterday was insulting as a supporter , you are pretty easily insulted to be honest .

 

[dermott]

I'm OK with a loss to end the season
Not ok with the lack of effort for 3 quarters.

It's been a common trend for many of our losses. Sort it out over the off season and we are probably pushing the top 4 next year.

I think we are about five players short of playing finals let alone top four.
How we address this with free agency/trade and drafting this year will be critical but I am expecting greater consistency in 2024 and finals in 2025 as it will probably take two years to get the right players on our list.

 

[peetoo]

You realise teams dont win everygame , they sometimes dont play near their best and there is this annoying thing called the opposition that can also impact things .

If yesterday was insulting as a supporter , you are pretty easily insulted to be honest .

I’m not normally negative. This was different. Fans put in a good effort ? Probably should have done something else tbh

 

[Blackhawk42]

Glad I didn't get to watch any of it. Was surprised to see the final score once I'd finished playing my own game yesterday afternoon.

Genuine question though...
Considering this game ultimately meant absolutely nothing and will be forgotten incredibly quickly in what has been a positive rebuilding season, is it really worth 'stamping the papers' of individuals who may not have had their best days?

I've seen Morrison and Kosi mentioned a few times in this thread. We were full of praise for their performances in victories against top 8 sides over the past month.
Is one bad game in a loss that means nothing when the entire team was poor really worth delisting them for?

 

[bigmaxi]

Glad I didn't get to watch any of it. Was surprised to see the final score once I'd finished playing my own game yesterday afternoon.

Genuine question though...
Considering this game ultimately meant absolutely nothing and will be forgotten incredibly quickly in what has been a positive rebuilding season, is it really worth 'stamping the papers' of individuals who may not have had their best days?

I've seen Morrison and Kosi mentioned a few times in this thread. We were full of praise for their performances in victories against top 8 sides over the past month.
Is one bad game in a loss that means nothing when the entire team was poor really worth delisting them for?

Nah, I was there and it felt like we couldn’t click into gear. Yes some tried hard all day while others seemed amiss for whatever reason, we also didn’t get the rub of the green. The baying for blood and the stamping of tickets is an expected reaction to a such a pulseless game. My predominant thought walking the bridge to the tram home was, this is about where we are! A short highlight reel but at least we had some and there will be more next year. Onward and upward.

 

[Baz_hawk]

A bit of a nothing game this one to be honest.

Was obvious early that we were keen to finish up for the year and it was reflected in the effort. Threw the magnets around a bit but just seemed to be lacking the intensity we've seen previously.

Ryan was a poor selection, he looked spent half way through the first quarter. Seemed to lack the run and repeat efforts we'd seen in his last couple of appearances. I suspect he hadn't fully recovered from the illness he had.

The absence of Lewis was evident, lost count of how many times we kicked long to an outnumbered contest in our forward line where it was Breust and Moore as our marking target.

Meek as the sub was an odd choice, didn't really change the team dynamic. Bizarre choice to have a ruckman be the substitute.

Season was a strange one but there's a lot of signs we are on a very good path. Hopefully we can have a great trade and draft period to fill some holes in our squad and come back better in 2024.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Hilarious the talk was Ryan coming here. There were even some maniac moderators saying Brockman would only leave for a pick in the top 10

Sent from my SM-S911B using Tapatalk

No there wasn’t.

 

[PAOKTSIS]

Was at the game and it ‘seemed’ like some of the players were a little disinterested - which, if that was the case, I’m not that fussed to be honest. It was boring but at least we didn’t have any major injuries leading into the offseason.

But what did concern me was Ryan’s lack of pace. He just seemed so slow when chasing his opponent. Is that an area of weakness or a result of his recent illness?


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[madhawksfan]

Young is a class player! Johnson, Erasmus, Henry, Clark, Stuart and Aish all top end talent in their draft years.

Fair call on Young. Aish is a good role player but nothing more. The others all have potential but are not top liners (yet).

 

[Todman]

A bit of a nothing game this one to be honest.

Was obvious early that we were keen to finish up for the year and it was reflected in the effort. Threw the magnets around a bit but just seemed to be lacking the intensity we've seen previously.

Ryan was a poor selection, he looked spent half way through the first quarter. Seemed to lack the run and repeat efforts we'd seen in his last couple of appearances. I suspect he hadn't fully recovered from the illness he had.

The absence of Lewis was evident, lost count of how many times we kicked long to an outnumbered contest in our forward line where it was Breust and Moore as our marking target.

Meek as the sub was an odd choice, didn't really change the team dynamic. Bizarre choice to have a ruckman be the substitute.

Season was a strange one but there's a lot of signs we are on a very good path. Hopefully we can have a great trade and draft period to fill some holes in our squad and come back better in 2024.

Meek was sub because of his BOG the week before against Frankston.

 

[arupist]

Didn't seem to be a side selected to win. Add to that Scrim paying forward and Finn not tagging, it seems it was more about trying things out. On the plus side, we plugged away and didn't really get blown away at any stage, unless you consider Q2 getting blown away.

 

[Charchi]

I just happened to listen to the Talking Hawks podcast interview with Connor MacDonald and he said that Sam likes to have the exit interviews before the last game which I thought was interesting and most of the group had theirs already. Maybe the players had checked out already because their play certainly looked that way.
The reality is that finals are played in September, if we’re were tired well they better get fitter and stronger, despite some encouraging performances in the second half of the season we are a long way off being a threat in September.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Freo who have been beaten Melbourne in back to back games at the MCG dont like to travel ?

They won 5 away games this season out of 10.

 

[extractasam]

I just happened to listen to the Talking Hawks podcast interview with Connor MacDonald and he said that Sam likes to have the exit interviews before the last game which I thought was interesting and most of the group had theirs already. Maybe the players had checked out already because their play certainly looked that way.
The reality is that finals are played in September, if we’re were tired well they better get fitter and stronger, despite some encouraging performances in the second half of the season we are a long way off being a threat in September.

I was talking to a mate earlier this week about this. I feel like if you threw us into an elim final, we would probably put up a good fight. I think our main issue is actually getting there in the first place. Every side his inconsistency of course but we do seem to drop off mentally for game we should consider ourselves a real chance to win.

 

[lollihawk]

I'm guessing the AFL aren't up to date with the young people's emoji lingo.
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Lachie Schultz on the right? I think they knew exactly what they were posting

 

[Yardie]

Got roasted early in the game thread for saying Freo would win because they enjoy the MCG and us having a key fwd duo of Kosi and a 3 gamer.

Sorry but that was a no brainer. Could of had Hodge Mitchell and Lewis as our starting mids and it wouldn’t make a difference with that fwd line.

Love Lewis but gee, never playing more than 15 games a year is killing the Hawks over the last few seasons. Only beat North this year when Lewis wasn’t playing.

In terms of the draft, think we have gone very vanilla in the last 2 years I’m afraid. Ward is a solid citizen at best and CMk is frighteningly similar.
Need some more X factor big time.

You got roasted cause you wanted Freo to win for your footy tipping cause that seemed more important to you than us getting a win.

 

[Yardie]

Both shocking selections, but think Meek as sub was worse. Mitch has made some puzzling selections this year.

If Ryan was still recovering from the flu then would have been better to start Meek.

Although have to feel for the forwards as even when we have composure we don't even kick to their advantage. When the KPF points to where they want it, don't kick it to the opposite side or go long to Breust/Moore hoping they'll take a contested mark.