This Hawks team. POTENTIALLY the best ever ?

[Hawkk]

A more pertinent question is whether another flag would place Clarkson as our greatest ever coach.

This is especially relevant if he becomes the first coach to guide us to back to back flags

 

[The Jet From Poowong]

I LOVE this current era, enjoying each and every living second of it. But the 70s and 80s Hawks left mental scars on other teams, players and supporters that are still being felt today.

This is so true. And so evident decades on in everything you read, watch and listen to. Mental scarring that is forever present. The good things is, our club is inflicting another dose and a further generation of scarring.

 

[Procrastinator35]

This...

The comparison is excellent...

1971 is 2008 (the start of the dynasty)
1974 is 2011
1975 is 2012 (huge favourites)
1976 is 2013
1978 is hopefully 2014 or 2015

The 1970's is a greatly underrated era for Hawthorn,obviously overshaddowed by our 80's success. For most other clubs it would have grounds to be considered a glory era in its own right

Brilliant synopsis HAWKK....A scarily eerie carbon copy there almost!....Does that mean we are destined for 3rd this year & to atone in 2015?

The 70's is still my favorite era, as its the era of my childhood....With Matthews, Knights & Tuck all at their peak!....Other greats included Kel Moore at fullback, Big Al Martello at CHF, 'Gladys' Moncrieff at Full Forward (Much underrated still to this day!) 'Racehorse' Ablett & 'Rocket' Eade on the wings. 'Bomber' Hendrie as the gun half forward....Donald Scott in da ruck, 'Rubber' O'Halloran & Ian Bremner as 'Boy' Knightsy's able lieutenants down back....It was wonderful!...The brand of footy & the game's characters were brilliant too!...Even the footy cards were better in those days, with a jigsaw picture of scenes from the previous years Grand Final on the back. You even got a free stick of scanlens pink gum, which left a lasting smell on the cards inside..

Interesting fact: Of the 16 Finals we played in the 70's, 10 were against North Melbourne....Little wonder then why they were our main rivals of the era!

The 80's was merely all gravy to me....A gluttonous, cream-filled, over-the-top, toffee dripping goo-fest; choc full of ice cream & cherries....Spoilt rotten!

 

[Bosk]

A more pertinent question is whether another flag would place Clarkson as our greatest ever coach.

This is especially relevant if he becomes the first coach to guide us to back to back flags

John Kennedy Senior will always be our greatest coach. Always.

 

[Bosk]

This is so true. And so evident decades on in everything you read, watch and listen to. Mental scarring that is forever present. The good things is, our club is inflicting another dose and a further generation of scarring.

Guess this means Tom Harley's being groomed as the next Gerard Healy.

 

[Procrastinator35]

John Kennedy Senior will always be our greatest coach. Always.

Indeed....To suggest otherwise would be sacrilege!

Clarko is making his own place in our history, but he has a ways to go before he can even be in the same ball park as Allan Jeans, much less Kennedy.

 

[flinchfree]

Interesting.....
If the 80's team is the benchmark, then comparing like for like makes for great discussion. Is it ability that counts, or accumulated proven performances? I'm going with pure ability and skill as my key factors.
I think clear winners for the 80's are the KP spine. Langford over any fullback we've seen, Mew over any CHB, Brereton clearly our greatest CHF, and Dunstall untouchable at Fullforward. Platten the great rover. Different story I feel on the flanks. I give Ayres a pocket, but Gibbo, Birch and Silk get the other back line spots for their skill and playmaking as well as defensive ability. The wings are hard, Dipper was great for a long time but his skills weren't as damaging as his will to compete was, and Pritch was very good but not as damaging with his feet as Hill and Smith are proving....I'd go with the Dipper on one side and Hill on the other. I could completely understand someone else flipping those two around in whatever combo they liked. Up forward Bucky gets an outside spot, but because Leigh finished in 85' and was on the decline I'm not including him for these purposes. Cyril is automatic, Roughy better than any other Tall forwards in a pocket and I'm going to give Gunston the nod as that tweener ala Peter Curren for the last spot.
The ruck is impossible to call, largely we won in spite of never dominating from the position and merely had players to provide a contest. Big Boy hasn't played enough games to show what he is......
I'm giving the ruck rover spot to Hodge over Tuck (I know, heresy to many), and Mitch the Center over Plough.
I won't try too hard with the bench, I think it's probably a toss up over who you like better, and I'm giving just the barest edge to Jeansy over Clarko, as much because of the awe factor as coaching nous.

Overall I take the 80's because of the spine, and just as we are plundering teams with our skills these days, we pillaged and devastated so many others back in the day.
What I really like is the look of my combined team .

B: Burgoyne Langford Ayres
HB: Birch Mew Gibson
C: Dipper Mitchell Hill
HF: Bucky Brereton Cyril
F: Rough Dunstall Gunston

Foll: ? Hodge Platten
Coach: Jeans

 

[treefingers]

^ That forward line. Oh wow. Chuck Buddy on the bench and we'd kick 200 points every game

 

[flinchfree]

^ That forward line. Oh wow. Chuck Buddy on the bench and we'd kick 200 points every game

Now if I get to include Buddy, he's got Bucky's spot covered and that team just wouldn't get beat......EVER
I also realize I've left Jarman off, and don't like it one bit!
But where do I play him? His conditioning for much of his career was poor which in my opinion prevented him from being one of the greatest we've ever seen. Instead he was the personification of enigmatic. At his fittest he could take Hilly's wing and just smash it......Hmmm, maybe I need to revisit it....?

Or maybe just the greatest first off the bench player ever seen.

 

[Carcass]

We should be going for one this year.

Yep...if only the rest of the team had of tried as hard as Buddy did..

 

[twentythree]

What a joke of a thread ..... We can't/barely beat Geelong

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Pessimistic]

Brisbane 1989

 

[Lord_Espos]

Brilliant synopsis HAWKK....A scarily eerie carbon copy there almost!....Does that mean we are destined for 3rd this year & to atone in 2015?

The 70's is still my favorite era, as its the era of my childhood....With Matthews, Knights & Tuck all at their peak!....Other greats included Kel Moore at fullback, Big Al Martello at CHF, 'Gladys' Moncrieff at Full Forward (Much underrated still to this day!) 'Racehorse' Ablett & 'Rocket' Eade on the wings. 'Bomber' Hendrie as the gun half forward....Donald Scott in da ruck, 'Rubber' O'Halloran & Ian Bremner as 'Boy' Knightsy's able lieutenants down back....It was wonderful!...The brand of footy & the game's characters were brilliant too!...Even the footy cards were better in those days, with a jigsaw picture of scenes from the previous years Grand Final on the back. You even got a free stick of scanlens pink gum, which left a lasting smell on the cards inside..

Interesting fact: Of the 16 Finals we played in the 70's, 10 were against North Melbourne....Little wonder then why they were our main rivals of the era!

The 80's was merely all gravy to me....A gluttonous, cream-filled, over-the-top, toffee dripping goo-fest; choc full of ice cream & cherries....Spoilt rotten!

Mmmmmm how good was the gum.

Geese it was great collecting Footy Cards.

You know I still have all my footy cards back then.

We used to flick the footy cards, whoever was closest to the wall would keep the other persons cards.

Ahhh child hood memories.

 

[Thaihawk]

Mmmmmm how good was the gum.

You know I still have all my footy cards back then.

Hope you have dispensed of the gum!

 

[diggydig]

What a joke of a thread ..... We can't/barely beat Geelong

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Even if we won two more flags in a row, we would have to beat Geelong at every meeting, and it would still be dodgy because no team beat the great sides of the 1970s and 1980s 11 times in a row.

The only way to make it work is if the current period starts with 2013, and even then we are looking rough, having lost 3 or 4 to Geelong since round 1 2013.

 

[MC_9]

Nifty little tidbit:
After 7 rounds (before the first lot of byes) we not only have the highest points scored, but also the lowest points against. Belting sides offensively whilst choking them defensively. Love it!

Amazingly we have also scored 234 more points then Geelong, who has the 3rd most point for.

 

[PoopingHindi]

Mmmmmm how good was the gum.

that gum was bloody awful. was like trying to chew a rock after about 30 seconds.

 

[dermott]

The Hawk teams of the 80s were much better than what we have seen from the current team.
The crucial difference is mental toughness. I certainly can't recall the 80s teams being psyched out by any team like we are now by Geelong. Even after losing two GFs to Essendon the Hawks bounced back while Essendon went into decline.
They also played in 9 consecutive grand finals.
It is no offense to our boys but they have a long way to go to challenge for our greatest ever team.

 

[Off The Couch]

Getting a little ahead of ourselves
I'm sure the likes of dermie and dipper would beg to disagree

 

[Gralin]

Going back to back this year which would give us 3 GF appearances in a row and 2 flags would be a good start
If they backed that up next year with a three peat then you would have to seriously consider it as Hawks have never done that before
Gotta win this year first to even start the conversation though

 

[Hodginator]

Are we comparing performances or the actual team vs team? I recon if the best team from our golden era got in the DeLorean and traveled to today to face our current best team, todays team would destroy them.

The game is totally different these days and it's harder to come by flags. Too hard to compare.

 

[Procrastinator35]

Are we comparing performances or the actual team vs team? I recon if the best team from our golden era got in the DeLorean and traveled to today to face our current best team, todays team would destroy them.

The game is totally different these days and it's harder to come by flags. Too hard to compare.

Not so sure about that squire.....Derm, Dipper & Ayres would frighten the begeezus out of most of our current crop!....Hell, most of them go missing against the Cats, hate to see them against true toughness & hard grit!

Also, while we are at it, if Scotty, Barney, Derm, Dipper & Ayres were playing the Cats, then you can be damn sure that Selwood, Johnson & Bartel would not have left the field of their own volition in half those games & the result would be the other way dear chap.....You can take that to the bank!

This current crop by comparison with the 70's & 80's are a pack of soft *****!

 

[Randy Campbell]

The best thing is, it's the same club.

 

[Todman]

Interesting.....
Mitch the Center over Plough.


B: Burgoyne Langford Ayres
HB: Birch Mew Gibson
C: Dipper Mitchell Hill
HF: Bucky Brereton Cyril
F: Rough Dunstall Gunston

Foll: ? Hodge Platten
Coach: Jeans

Mitch over plough is a no brainer, Having watched both, they were both very good at getting the ball out but Plough's kicking was ordinary.

What about Lethal?

Greg Dear for first ruck. Foolishly underated by most sides.

Interchange: Matthews, Tuck, Jarman, Franklin

 

[Hodginator]

Not so sure about that squire.....Derm, Dipper & Ayres would frighten the begeezus out of most of our current crop!....Hell, most of them go missing against the Cats, hate to see them against true toughness & hard grit!

Also, while we are at it, if Scotty, Barney, Derm, Dipper & Ayres were playing the Cats, then you can be damn sure that Selwood, Johnson & Bartel would not have left the field of their own volition in half those games & the result would be the other way dear chap.....You can take that to the bank!

This current crop by comparison with the 70's & 80's are a pack of soft *****!

We might be softer than our 80s team. But they couldn't get get away with these days either. I still recon our current team would win easily if matched up against our best 80s team. They wouldn't be able to keep up with the pace and compete against the structures in place these days.