Welcome Welcome to Hawthorn, Chad Wingard. 200 games! Signed to the end of 2024

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OnceKicked50 said:
It really wasn't dude. Clarko has been on the record so many times about this, he was brought in to play in the forward half. High half forward perhaps. This was where he was All-Australian and a top 5 talent.

Wingard will be, hopefully, a dynamic forward, pinch hitting at times in the middle, when we are in a position to next contend. That will be because we have Mitchell back and maybe Coniglio or another midfielder we land.

Wingard as a midfielder is a good player sure. But he isn't going to be a top 15 talent in that area. Wingard as a forward, on past potential, could be one of the biggest match winners in the game.

His confidence has been clearly down, so getting him around the ball getting touches I suspect was more about that last weekend.
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Correct. Wingard was recruited specifically to play forward.
 
OnceKicked50 said:
It really wasn't dude. Clarko has been on the record so many times about this, he was brought in to play in the forward half. High half forward perhaps. This was where he was All-Australian and a top 5 talent.

Wingard will be, hopefully, a dynamic forward, pinch hitting at times in the middle, when we are in a position to next contend. That will be because we have Mitchell back and maybe Coniglio or another midfielder we land.

Wingard as a midfielder is a good player sure. But he isn't going to be a top 15 talent in that area. Wingard as a forward, on past potential, could be one of the biggest match winners in the game.

His confidence has been clearly down, so getting him around the ball getting touches I suspect was more about that last weekend.
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Clarko said he wanted him to play forward to gel with teammates, not complicate things too much and help him adjust.

Long term was always going to involve midfield.
 
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MrPremiership said:
Clarko said he wanted him to play forward to gel with teammates, not complicate things too much and help him adjust.

Long term was always going to involve midfield.
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Sorry MrPremiership, but I have to disagree with this too. When Chad first arrived, both Clarko and Chad said many times that he was recruited to play forward and be our match winner.

Now this isn’t to say that Clarko can’t change his mind, and I’ve got no doubt that midfield rotations were always part of the plan, but they invisioned him mainly as a forward.

Perhaps Clarko has realised that with the way our forward line has been functioning (or dysfunctioning) so far this year, it has been hard for Chad to gel and learn there. To fix this, Clarko has moved him up the ground to both build his confidence and help him learn about his fellow forwards by delivering the ball to them.
 
I stand corrected.

But a move to midfield was inevitable
 
MrPremiership said:
I stand corrected.

But a move to midfield was inevitable
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Hopefully with Mitchell back next year, and fingers and toes and everything else crossed for Coniglio, he will have a massive impact up forward for us next year.

Better ball movement, especially from stoppages, and Wingard, Breust and Gunston will all benefit massively.

I'd love to see Wingard have one-out opportunities deep in the forward line. I remember when he was All-Australian he was almost unbeatable in those situations as he is deceptively good overhead and is catlike on the ground.
 
When Wingard was last All-Australian, so were Josh Gibson, Robert Murphy, Matt Priddis, Sam Mitchell and Brett Deledio. Things change. He's a very different player now with a very different body type and skill set to what he had four years ago.

'Wingard is a midfielder' is the hill I will die on. He doesn't even play for my club anymore and it still pisses me off to see him wasting away in a forward role that he's no longer suited for and he hasn't been for some time. He was playing so poorly there for us last year that was serious talk that he might be dropped, then he went into the middle and dominated the second half of the year, scored more B&F votes than any other mid on our list over that period after not even being in the top 10 after the first half of the season. Then he moves to Hawthorn, goes back to the forward pocket, and there's talk of him being dropped again. It's not a coincidence.

Clarkson may well have originally brought him in to be a forward, but he's a very smart guy and it won't take him long to figure out that in 2019 he's a midfielder. Looked like he played that role more on the weekend and it was probably the best game he's played for the Hawks so far. Keep him there and he'll play plenty of better games than that one. He certainly did for us last year.
 
Schulzenfest said:
When Wingard was last All-Australian, so were Josh Gibson, Robert Murphy, Matt Priddis, Sam Mitchell and Brett Deledio. Things change. He's a very different player now with a very different body type and skill set to what he had four years ago.

'Wingard is a midfielder' is the hill I will die on. He doesn't even play for my club anymore and it still pisses me off to see him wasting away in a forward role that he's no longer suited for and he hasn't been for some time. He was playing so poorly there for us last year that was serious talk that he might be dropped, then he went into the middle and dominated the second half of the year, scored more B&F votes than any other mid on our list over that period after not even being in the top 10 after the first half of the season. Then he moves to Hawthorn, goes back to the forward pocket, and there's talk of him being dropped again. It's not a coincidence.

Clarkson may well have originally brought him in to be a forward, but he's a very smart guy and it won't take him long to figure out that in 2019 he's a midfielder. Looked like he played that role more on the weekend and it was probably the best game he's played for the Hawks so far. Keep him there and he'll play plenty of better games than that one. He certainly did for us last year.
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Good post. Thanks for making the effort.

As we have a pretty thin midfield this season, it is a complete no brainer that he plays as much midfield time as he can handle. You are spot on that he played through the midfield last weekend and it was his best game bar a cameo against the Kangas as a fwd. Having heard Hawthorn talk about him playing forward i was surprised but very pleased to see him start in the midfield last week. Perhaps the club has worked out we will get more out of him around the ground rather than as a fwd where he continually got to the same spot as Breust which was often on the wrong side of the pack for the side he was on. Quite simply as a side with a limited number of class players we need the ball in his hands as many times as possible.
 
Schulzenfest said:
When Wingard was last All-Australian, so were Josh Gibson, Robert Murphy, Matt Priddis, Sam Mitchell and Brett Deledio. Things change. He's a very different player now with a very different body type and skill set to what he had four years ago.

'Wingard is a midfielder' is the hill I will die on. He doesn't even play for my club anymore and it still pisses me off to see him wasting away in a forward role that he's no longer suited for and he hasn't been for some time. He was playing so poorly there for us last year that was serious talk that he might be dropped, then he went into the middle and dominated the second half of the year, scored more B&F votes than any other mid on our list over that period after not even being in the top 10 after the first half of the season. Then he moves to Hawthorn, goes back to the forward pocket, and there's talk of him being dropped again. It's not a coincidence.

Clarkson may well have originally brought him in to be a forward, but he's a very smart guy and it won't take him long to figure out that in 2019 he's a midfielder. Looked like he played that role more on the weekend and it was probably the best game he's played for the Hawks so far. Keep him there and he'll play plenty of better games than that one. He certainly did for us last year.
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While he was at port adelaide, I was firmly opposed to this POV and thought he was being wasted in the midfield. Just couldn't grasp why you would move the most exciting forward prospect in the game(or thereabouts) away from his dominant position.

I have now seen the Chad's first game as a majority midfielder, and you sir are correct.

2019 Chad is going to be primarily a midfielder.

Who knows what the future holds.
 
mustang said:
If we got Cogs a midfield of O’Meara,Mitchell,Cogs,Wingard,Worpel would a hard midfield to play against.
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If we land Coniglio... Wingard could kick 40+ as the most damaging small/med forward in the game. Pinch hitting in the middle.

Mitchell, Coniglio, O'Meara, Shiels and Worpel.

I suspect tonight he will spend majority forward. I feel last week was about Clarko getting his confidence up. We shall see.
 

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OnceKicked50 said:
If we land Coniglio... Wingard could kick 40+ as the most damaging small/med forward in the game. Pinch hitting in the middle.

Mitchell, Coniglio, O'Meara, Shiels and Worpel.

I suspect tonight he will spend majority forward. I feel last week was about Clarko getting his confidence up. We shall see.
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It's just about the best midfield in the comp. Then add wingers Scully, Smith and Hendo.

If we land Cogs, no excuses. We're slap bang in the window again.
 
TylerDurden said:
It's just about the best midfield in the comp. Then add wingers Scully, Smith and Hendo.

If we land Cogs, no excuses. We're slap bang in the window again.
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With mitch lewis and Jack Gunston as our key forwards?
Gunston is a great forward but not a KPF.

Kaiden Brand and TOB as our key backs?
How much can we rely on Frawley moving forward?

Luke Bruest as our only dominant full time small forward? Most good sides have 2-3 at a minimum.

How convinced are we that Smith and Scully will be premier wingers again in 2020? Will Smith get back to his best? That means consistantly impacting on games and kicking goals.

I see a lot of question marks.
 
NICE1 said:
With mitch lewis and Jack Gunston as our key forwards?
Gunston is a great forward but not a KPF.

Kaiden Brand and TOB as our key backs?
How much can we rely on Frawley moving forward?

Luke Bruest as our only dominant full time small forward? Most good sides have 2-3 at a minimum.

How convinced are we that Smith and Scully will be premier wingers again in 2020? Will Smith get back to his best? That means consistantly impacting on games and kicking goals.

I see a lot of question marks.
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All fair points. But all great premiership sides build from the inside out. We've also got quality ruckmen. Add Tom and Cogs to this side, and it's game faarken on.
 
NICE1 said:
With mitch lewis and Jack Gunston as our key forwards?
Gunston is a great forward but not a KPF.

Kaiden Brand and TOB as our key backs?
How much can we rely on Frawley moving forward?

Luke Bruest as our only dominant full time small forward? Most good sides have 2-3 at a minimum.

How convinced are we that Smith and Scully will be premier wingers again in 2020? Will Smith get back to his best? That means consistantly impacting on games and kicking goals.

I see a lot of question marks.
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Kinda pessimistic view though isn't it? I 100% on the key forwards point, Mitch Lewis is a great prospect but needs time.

I will also agree our key backs lack depth, but Frawley is playing better footy now (imo) than any time since joining the club. He is blanketing opponents when fit this season and has cut down on his errors with the footy.

The rest is where i start to disagree a little, Breust wouldn't be our only dominant small forward as in this scenario Wingard would be still be spending significant time down forward and i am not sure any club can boast a better 2 small forwards in the game. Not sure where you get the fact that most sides have 2-3 dominant small forwards when i think the comp barely has that many at the moment. Lots of workmen type small forwards but not many guns.

You talk about Scully and Smith but leave out that we currently have the best performing wing in the game in Henderson. Scully has been playing damn good footy over the past month or so and is still returning to his best, no reason to think he won't get back to being one of the top few wingmen in the game.

So we do have some areas we need to improve on but i don't think any team currently has a perfect (or close to it) list like the previous Cats and Hawks teams. This is also neglecting any other additions we make to the team.
 
OnceKicked50 said:
I suspect tonight he will spend majority forward. I feel last week was about Clarko getting his confidence up. We shall see.
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Not sure we can afford to not have him in the middle.

JO’M, Shiels, Cousins & Worpel just isn’t enough IMO, even with Burger, Broost, & Popeye swinging through there.

I reckon Wingard needs at least 1st half as a mid or we may leave too much to too few & prematurely tire out the other dudes.
 
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