Preview Round 4, 2021: Fremantle v Hawthorn, 11 April 2021, 4.40pm AEST @ Optus Stadium

Status
Not open for further replies.
Worpel should be the first out even if his defensive efforts have been off the charts as his disposal and offensive involvement in the game is sub standard.
No thanks.

Would rather we keep our inside mids together against Freo.
 

Simon Crawshay

Premiership Player
Jun 4, 2016
4,805
13,067
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Just flicked through the season fixture on Wikipedia for 2013-2019 and I don't believe this is true. We basically lived on Saturdays (as requested by the club due to the family friendly time). Plenty of Friday and Thursday night time slots also. Seemed the only time we did end up on Sunday was due to the necessity of other games (like Easter Monday) and we largely only played them against interstate or smaller Melbourne clubs, or in Tassie - which makes perfect sense.

We had a very good run when we were up and deserved it. I loved attending Friday and Saturday night games at the MCG with crowds over 50k. But currently we haven't shown the AFL or the broadcasters that we deserve to be back in prime time. We're getting there though with performances like the second half against Essendon, the last quarter against the Cats, and basically any time CJ has the pill.

If we start consistently winning (or at least keeping things excitingly close) with an attractive style of play and they don't start putting us on Saturdays again next time they do a fixture release then I think we can be justifiably aggrieved by it. Until then, Sunday is sadly where we have to be.
We have to start kicking more than 8 goals a game to justify the prime time slots.

We are definetly playing a more attacking brand of football but our offensive game / forward line looks very sub par at the moment.
 
Dec 23, 2008
2,598
3,004
behind enemy lines
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Cousins has to play in Perth. The conditions will suit him. He gets to heaps of contests and pops up for the odd goal.
Am I right in that Greaves and Downie haven’t exactly been lighting it up the last few weeks in the VFL? Cuz also pretty ordinary until last weekend. Seems strange we’d bring in guys not based on form.
cousins, will play- nothing surer.
 
Aug 31, 2008
23,265
46,440
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Nuggets
Am I right in that Greaves and Downie haven’t exactly been lighting it up the last few weeks in the VFL? Cuz also pretty ordinary until last weekend. Seems strange we’d bring in guys not based on form.

The Cousins talk is a fallacy. He needs to come in for Howe or Worpel.

Game 3:

James Cousins
"Jimbo was very strong. His work-rate to get from contest-to-contest made him again the highest possession winner on the ground. He was able to finish his work with a couple of beautiful goals. He had a really good balance between offence and defence. His decision-making with ball in hand was really good as well which is pleasing that it has improved over the last three games."

Finn Maginness
"Another strong defensive role on Paul Ahern, keeping him to just six disposals in the first three quarters. His ability to defend first but then make an impact offensively improved this week. His last two weeks have been very pleasing."

Damon Greaves
"He played a deeper defensive role this week. His defend-first mentality was very strong, with multiple one-on-one wins and some clean, simple ball-use ensuring he was a strong contributor for the side."

Connor Downie
"A big step in the right direction for Connor as he seemed to become more comfortable at VFL level. He found more of the footy and was able to use it well. The next step for him is to back himself and run with the ball. His assertive positioning and voice will enable him to take the next step as a player."

-----

Game 2:

James Cousins
"Cousins was strong. He was our highest possession-getter and he made simpler decisions with the ball in-hand this week. He had some very good tough and hard moments which we loved."

Damon Greaves
"Greavesy had some good, physical moments as the game wore on. His defend-first mindset wasn't quite where it needed to be on the weekend though, we'd like to see his balance slightly better than that. That area continues to be a work in progress for him."

Finn Maginness
"Finn did a tagging role on Richmond midfielder Riley Collier-Dawkins. He was outstanding in the role. His development as a player to progress his football is to try and shut a player down, then work off him to gain some footy himself. So, we will continue to progress his roles in this area over the coming weeks. But we were really pleased with his diligence and discipline in executing his role."

-----

Game 1:

James Cousins
"Cousins got a heap of the footy. He played three quarters in what was his first game back after a while. He will be better for the run in terms of his disposal with some uncharacteristic skill errors."

Finn Maginness
"He found a bit of the footy whilst playing a bit of a defensive role on one of the Essendon midfielders. His work ethic continues to be impressive. We are trying to aid his development and education with a few defensive-minded roles."

Damon Greaves
"Greavesy just played a half as he was the carry-over emergency for the AFL game. He was solid in defence. He went on to Jake Stringer after he caused us some trouble and was able to nullify his influence. He had an outstanding play right on the boundary line where he was able to push Stringer off the ball and save a likely goal."
 
Last edited:
No thanks.

Would rather we keep our inside mids together against Freo.
Seriously, what you have you seen in the past three games that warrants a place in the side? Would he be getting this 'pass' if he hadn't had a breakout season in 2019?
He's lost out there and playing with over-urgent panic.
I think for his benefit it would be better for him to go back and be given the instructions of 'win the ball'. He may get his confidence back, Clarko may realise a 'better' way to coach him to get the best out of him and whilst he is in abysmal form we give someone else a chance to improve, learn and if they can grab their opportunity.
Keeping him in the team is the tragedy, not dropping him.
 

offtherails9

Norm Smith Medallist
May 30, 2012
6,257
7,951
-
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Just flicked through the season fixture on Wikipedia for 2013-2019 and I don't believe this is true. We basically lived on Saturdays (as requested by the club due to the family friendly time). Plenty of Friday and Thursday night time slots also. Seemed the only time we did end up on Sunday was due to the necessity of other games (like Easter Monday) and we largely only played them against interstate or smaller Melbourne clubs, or in Tassie - which makes perfect sense.

We had a very good run when we were up and deserved it. I loved attending Friday and Saturday night games at the MCG with crowds over 50k. But currently we haven't shown the AFL or the broadcasters that we deserve to be back in prime time. We're getting there though with performances like the second half against Essendon, the last quarter against the Cats, and basically any time CJ has the pill.

If we start consistently winning (or at least keeping things excitingly close) with an attractive style of play and they don't start putting us on Saturdays again next time they do a fixture release then I think we can be justifiably aggrieved by it. Until then, Sunday is sadly where we have to be.

It felt like most of our games were on a Friday night during our successful period. With a fair few Sat nights too. Then we had a heap of Sat arvo which suck for local footy players but great for family so I missed a heap too.

The AFL did look after us and give us the benefit of the doubt with a fair amount of prime time games over 17/18/19 I seem to remember. There was a Thursday night game at AO when we got rolled and I thought that maybe they might get rid of us next year. But then for every game like that there was the classic against the Swans on a Thursday, the game in Adelaide when Hodge was mic'd up etc.

We have had 2 nationally televised games so far this year, this is our first real s**t time slot. The Freo time slot lol. At least with the rolling fixture we can still get a few nice time allotments for the rest of the year. I'm not sure if people realise either, but the Channel 7 game on a Sunday arvo at 3 is considered a good, almost prime time slot. It's a shitty time for fans I know but I'm assuming the tv audiences are pretty large.
 
Seriously, what you have you seen in the past three games that warrants a place in the side? Would he be getting this 'pass' if he hadn't had a breakout season in 2019?
He's lost out there and playing with over-urgent panic.
I think for his benefit it would be better for him to go back and be given the instructions of 'win the ball'. He may get his confidence back, Clarko may realise a 'better' way to coach him to get the best out of him and whilst he is in abysmal form we give someone else a chance to improve, learn and if they can grab their opportunity.
Keeping him in the team is the tragedy, not dropping him.
He doesn’t learn how to share duties with Tom at Box Hill.
 
The Cousins talk is a fallacy. He needs to come in for Howe or Worpel.

Game 3:

James Cousins
"Jimbo was very strong. His work-rate to get from contest-to-contest made him again the highest possession winner on the ground. He was able to finish his work with a couple of beautiful goals. He had a really good balance between offence and defence. His decision-making with ball in hand was really good as well which is pleasing that it has improved over the last three games."

Finn Maginness
"Another strong defensive role on Paul Ahern, keeping him to just six disposals in the first three quarters. His ability to defend first but then make an impact offensively improved this week. His last two weeks have been very pleasing."

Damon Greaves
"He played a deeper defensive role this week. His defend-first mentality was very strong, with multiple one-on-one wins and some clean, simple ball-use ensuring he was a strong contributor for the side."

Connor Downie
"A big step in the right direction for Connor as he seemed to become more comfortable at VFL level. He found more of the footy and was able to use it well. The next step for him is to back himself and run with the ball. His assertive positioning and voice will enable him to take the next step as a player."

-----

Game 2:

James Cousins
"Cousins was strong. He was our highest possession-getter and he made simpler decisions with the ball in-hand this week. He had some very good tough and hard moments which we loved."

Damon Greaves
"Greavesy had some good, physical moments as the game wore on. His defend-first mindset wasn't quite where it needed to be on the weekend though, we'd like to see his balance slightly better than that. That area continues to be a work in progress for him."

Finn Maginness
"Finn did a tagging role on Richmond midfielder Riley Collier-Dawkins. He was outstanding in the role. His development as a player to progress his football is to try and shut a player down, then work off him to gain some footy himself. So, we will continue to progress his roles in this area over the coming weeks. But we were really pleased with his diligence and discipline in executing his role."

-----

Game 1:

James Cousins
"Cousins got a heap of the footy. He played three quarters in what was his first game back after a while. He will be better for the run in terms of his disposal with some uncharacteristic skill errors."

Finn Maginness
"He found a bit of the footy whilst playing a bit of a defensive role on one of the Essendon midfielders. His work ethic continues to be impressive. We are trying to aid his development and education with a few defensive-minded roles."

Damon Greaves
"Greavesy just played a half as he was the carry-over emergency for the AFL game. He was solid in defence. He went on to Jake Stringer after he caused us some trouble and was able to nullify his influence. He had an outstanding play right on the boundary line where he was able to push Stringer off the ball and save a likely goal."
I’ve followed all the games and seen this. Sounds like Cousins is the only one of the lot that is really putting his hand up.
 
Jan 17, 2008
29,053
59,119
Brisvegas
AFL Club
Hawthorn
i still find it hard to believe that some Hawthorn fans don't think that Tom Mitchell is an extremely good player and buy into the metres gained rubbish that is spouted by other supporters
Meters gained stat is usually led by someone on the hbf who kicks long down the line a lot. I’m not sure it really says anything...I really wish the media would use the much more meaningful statistics collected by champion data. Make a refreshing change from ‘wins contests’ and ‘kicks long’ narratives.
 
Feb 5, 2018
13,936
33,319
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Chicago Blackhawks Melb Renegades
i still find it hard to believe that some Hawthorn fans don't think that Tom Mitchell is an extremely good player and buy into the metres gained rubbish that is spouted by other supporters

Take the Richmond game for example. We only managed 14 shots on goal for the entire match. Mitchell had the footy 37 times and gained less than 200m with his disposal, around the same as O'Brien that day. Nothing he did caused any headaches to the opposition. He was calling for the ball when not in the correct position to receive it, then being forced into short kicks or backwards handballs putting more pressure on his side and not moving us forward.

Interestingly, Cam Guthrie against us last Monday had 43 disposals for the same metres gained as Titch the week before. If Dangerfield plays and has 43 touches we lose by about 4 or 5 goals minimum. You know he would be trying to advance the ball at every opportunity giving his forwards more chances.

Titch is a great midfielder in a sense that he guaranteed to find a heap of the ball every week. Does that strike fear into the opposition though? I'd argue no. Is it entirely his fault? Also no. If we had a Merrett or a Kelly for Titch to feed the ball out to then we could overlook the low metres gained a little more. Unfortunately O'Meara is usually inside fighting for contested footy alongside Titch as opposed to being the release option.

It's still my wish that Wingard becomes the Yang to Mitchells Ying as the seasons progresses. That will instantly make Mitchells game more effective.
 
Apr 14, 2009
199
395
Adelaide
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Worpel should be the first out even if his defensive efforts have been off the charts as his disposal and offensive involvement in the game is sub standard.

Go revisit his form in the 5 or 6 weeks leading into him hurting his shoulder last year. Bloke is a 22 year old PCM medalist who has internally just been voted into the leadership group.
Some what of a patchy start to the year with ball in hand but he isn’t getting dropped.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back