Autopsy Round 5, 2021: Hawthorn defeated by Melbourne

[View from the nosebleed]

Theres currently only 1-2 key talls in the top 20 rankings. It's all mids.

Would love a silky mid with pace and decent kicking.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Would love a silky mid with pace and decent kicking.

Why not 2?

 

[Jables]

It's funny to me that people consistently think the forward line is the reason we lose. Yeah it's not exactly the 2013 forward line, but we had 20 less inside 50's and the delivery inside was completely indefensible. This might seem unfair but if Mitchell and O'Meara have 60 touches combined and we get cut up in the middle, something is off.

My uneducated thoughts:

1). Worpel is turning into Will Langford post 2014, if he's tagging then I wish we'd stop. It's not helping us win and his confidence seems low. I thought tagging was why Howe was in the team.

2). Maybe my praise is too much but Jiath reminds me of Josh Gibson

Josh Gibson

Age

40

Ht

189cm

Wt

93kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.4

4star

K

9.0

3star

HB

8.4

5star

M

5.1

5star

T

2.1

4star

MG

196.5

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.8

4star

K

6.2

3star

HB

7.6

5star

M

3.4

4star

T

2.6

4star

when he's in the backline, unlikely to be as good Gibson was supremely underrated IMO outside of the B&F, but his ability to guard space is something we've nearly completely lacked without Sicily, and he can get some incredible spoilers.

3). I had to take a meeting late in the 3rd so I missed our downfall, but we simply have too many low IQ players to execute a game plan. I saw some really basic mistakes that come from a lack of focus all game, and I do not blame the effort. A good team can carry one or two players like that, dare I say it we have a fair few more than that.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Clarko has 2 years owing on a huge contract. Cannot see Jeff paying him out that sort of coin but would love to hear from the club what our direction is and a plan forward.

When we were flying we kept sending out 3 and 5 year plans to everyone.

One top 10 pick is not enough.

DGB, Day, Jiath and Scrimshaw are untouchable as we build.

Our high priced assets that other clubs would look at regarding trade value would be Wingard, Mitchell and Omeara.

Clarko has a list that is battling for talent and the continued “I promise to never give in ads” the club is spruiking are getting a tad tired.

I am at the point if we are winning 5 games each year to avoid the spoon then we need to stop and make some bold moves.

How clarko looks a Chad or Mitchell in the eye after recruiting them into the club and says we need to move in a new direction I have no idea how that would happen.

I think if the club pushed that path to clarko that would seal the deal for him to move on also.

I'm curious. Did you have us beating Geelong, Richmond, Melbourne and Freo at home before the season started knowing that we'd be missing Gunston and Sic?

 

[eldorado]

low IQ players... I saw some really basic mistakes that come from a lack of focus all . A good team can carry one or two players like that, dare I say it we have a fair few more than that.

This is unfortunately true at the moment.

Again, it's hard to tell.... the best teams are doing things without thinking; when you can function on auto-pilot, a lot is taken out of your conscious decision making

 

[Bruno Oresar]

Went to footy. Oh boy we are crud. Diabolically bad recruiting and list management has left us with a bottom 2 side for at least 2 mores years. Can Clarko really survive if we finish bottom four this year and the next?

 

[hawkman]

Someone needs to point out to our defenders that a short kick back to Frost or Hartigan is just going to result in a goal the other way. Scrimshaw did it today

 

[Lickmesocks]

I'm curious. Did you have us beating Geelong, Richmond, Melbourne and Freo at home before the season started knowing that we'd be missing Gunston and Sic?

No and that’s a big part of the issue.

 

[Roger Rogerson]

Would love a silky mid with pace and decent kicking.

Slow blokes in the middle and on the wings. Somethings got to give.

Imagine CJ and Jars thru the midfield. We would look so different. We need zip so badly in the midfield. Everyone has it. We don't and it looks like we don't care about it. We can't chase opponents down when we lose possession. It's a major issue and stood out like dogs balls at the ground.

Plus none of our mids are damaging with the footy which compounds the problem. We haven't been able to kick goals now for 2 years. It is the midfield cattle that is the problem. Change the cattle. Mark a hard call on a big name.

 

[Lickmesocks]

Someone needs to point out to our defenders that a short kick back to Frost or Hartigan is just going to result in a goal the other way. Scrimshaw did it today

The opposition do homework and know the players to leave free and that’s a trap we fall into unfortunately.

 

[savagelunchbox]

No surprises about the loss. I predicted it.

We play conservative, safe football by only running the ball when there was a lot of space to run to. When the space was closed up, we went the chip-chip game to the boundary to try and force the stoppage. There was no overlap run where a handball is given to a running player from the half back line and/or midfielders playing deep as they all stayed back waiting defensively. Not a lot of risk taking with the ball, either. It was going the safe option, and if that wasn't there, force a stoppage.

Worst thing was, a lot of the running space that was closed up could have been helped had a marking target come up to the half forward line to give the runner something to kick to. But conservative Clarko sees that as too risky should we miss the target, so we bomb it to nooneinparticular and try to keep it in the F50 and almost always turn it over.

Playing safe and along the boundary to hope that the flood gates don't open. We did alright for three quarters with some help from Melbourne's poor goal kicking, but wallpaper will only stop the leaking pipes leaking out the cracks for so long...

McEvoy is cooked. Tried his heart out, but he's done.
Nash proved everyone right. AFL is a level too high.
Howe is only stopping another player from developing.
We continue to go with the same midfield combo that gets murdered on the spread. Mitchell and Worpel offer very little around the ground once the ball has been released from the stoppage.
Chad gave up at half time and started playing for free. Knock that s**t off.
Ollie was electric in that third quarter. Pity it's only limited spurts here and there.
Scrimshaw is our best overhead player. Needs to play higher up the ground.

The players tried hard again, but there's a lot of deadwood playing a defunct gameplan. Just wish we would try and play attacking football to give us some hope. Playing for honorable losses hoping that we'll be near enough to sneak a win at the depths of the fourth is not sustainable and not morale boosting for anyone.

 

[Bruno Oresar]

No and that’s a big part of the issue.

Stop being defensive. Don’t you realize our start to the season has been acceptable and that you should be happy with the state of our list? ....

The lashings of delusional optimism I keep hearing from fellow Hawks fans is as depressing as it is delusional. We are god awful and the stocks we have to come in from BH are b-

 

[Lickmesocks]

In the first qtr today we played on at all times and tried to get the ball moving quickly. Watch the replay if you don’t believe me.

I am not sure if all that energy and buzz left us short on petrol tickets but after that we turned back into slog mode. Stop chip stop chip kick to contests down the line.

Perhaps the Dees pressure lifted and halted our momentum a bit but the whole game style reverted and cost us badly.

 

[LeBuddyRoughShow]

O'meara is leading this club though! Absolutely loving his 2021

O'Meara I find so frustrating. He gives effort, however he needs greater impact by kicking more goals, and hitting up leads entering forward 50. I was at the game today, he missed a target inside 50 were our forward was clear, a certain shot on goal missed. A couple of weeks back against Richmond, ran to 52 metres no body in front of him, chipped it to the top of the square. He's on big money, yet has flaws in his game that means he'll never get to elite level. A solid player, not a match winner. Not sure he can kick more than 45 metres

 

[Lickmesocks]

No surprises about the loss. I predicted it.

We play conservative, safe football by only running the ball when there was a lot of space to run to. When the space was closed up, we went the chip-chip game to the boundary to try and force the stoppage. There was no overlap run where a handball is given to a running player from the half back line and/or midfielders playing deep as they all stayed back waiting defensively. Not a lot of risk taking with the ball, either. It was going the safe option, and if that wasn't there, force a stoppage.

Worst thing was, a lot of the running space that was closed up could have been helped had a marking target come up to the half forward line to give the runner something to kick to. But conservative Clarko sees that as too risky should we miss the target, so we bomb it to nooneinparticular and try to keep it in the F50 and almost always turn it over.

Playing safe and along the boundary to hope that the flood gates don't open. We did alright for three quarters with some help from Melbourne's poor goal kicking, but wallpaper will only stop the leaking pipes leaking out the cracks for so long...

McEvoy is cooked. Tried his heart out, but he's done.
Nash proved everyone right. AFL is a level too high.
Howe is only stopping another player from developing.
We continue to go with the same midfield combo that gets murdered on the spread. Mitchell and Worpel offer very little around the ground once the ball has been released from the stoppage.
Chad gave up at half time and started playing for free. Knock that sh*t off.
Ollie was electric in that third quarter. Pity it's only limited spurts here and there.
Scrimshaw is our best overhead player. Needs to play higher up the ground.

The players tried hard again, but there's a lot of deadwood playing a defunct gameplan. Just wish we would try and play attacking football to give us some hope. Playing for honorable losses hoping that we'll be near enough to sneak a win at the depths of the fourth is not sustainable and not morale boosting for anyone.

Solid post. Our first qtr we played on and moved with some flare and energy.

 

[Pessimistic]

İn the last QTR we got pantsed the way we used to pants others!! Awful feeling.

O'Meara , scrimshaw were on top of their game while Hanrahan, Jiath were very good.

Tom Mitchell looks slower than the oppo ruckman and is just digging out handball's on ' Auto-pilot' . Chad Jaeger and Worpel should be spending more time in the middle as free wheeling mids and try and turn Tommy into hf/mid with a tagging job on a Oppo dangerous half back!
Really worried with his lack of speed, I'm talking way slower than Hodge Lewis or even Sammy. Worth remembering that Tommy DİD tag Sam Mitchell back in 2016 to good effect. Something a bit different may be the balance or spark we missing.

there seemed to be enough speed in the pre season... who was that again?

 

[Lickmesocks]

Stop being defensive. Don’t you realize our start to the season has been acceptable and that you should be happy with the state of our list? ....

The lashings of delusional optimism I keep hearing from fellow Hawks fans is as depressing as it is delusional. We are god awful and the stocks we have to come in from BH are b-

Yep I know I should be happier but I find it hard getting excited watching the same blokes who have been around for a long time keep getting games and a slow boring game style that is not one bit exciting.

 

[Pessimistic]

O'Meara I find so frustrating. He gives effort, however he needs greater impact by kicking more goals, and hitting up leads entering forward 50. I was at the game today, he missed a target inside 50 were our forward was clear, a certain shot on goal missed. A couple of weeks back against Richmond, ran to 52 metres no body in front of him, chipped it to the top of the square. He's on big money, yet has flaws in his game that means he'll never get to elite level. A solid player, not a match winner. Not sure he can kick more than 45 metres

we appear to have spent a lot of recruitment collateral on midfield compared to fwd and back, it really shouldn’t be the weakest line

 

[WWSD]

It seems to be a common theme with our inside midfielders. They don’t kick goals.

 

[TylerDurden]

It seems to be a common theme with our inside midfielders. They don’t kick goals.

JOM got close today.

 

[kenneje]

The midfield were fantastic for three quarters, but were absolutely gassed in the last 25 minutes.

O'Meara/Mitchell/Wingard were going flat track for three quarters while Oliver/Petracca/Viney were able to rotate all day with Brayshaw/Neale-Bullen/Salem/Jones/Melksham/Jackson and then explode in the last quarter.

It doesn't help that our second run of midfielders - Shiels, Worpel & Howe are out of form.

No real surprise that every game this year we've had at least one god awful quarter. We just don't have the midfield depth required yet to compete with other teams for full games.

 

[HAWKSBESTEVA]

Dogs will win the flag this year because their midfield kick goals. Bont 3 and 30 touches + this week, Dunkley 38 I think and 2 goals. Treloar 28 and 2 goals again. Goal kicking mids are the most valuable players. Should of went hard at treloar, he would of added a nice dynamic to our mid.

 

[Roby]

Went to footy. Oh boy we are crud. Diabolically bad recruiting and list management has left us with a bottom 2 side for at least 2 mores years. Can Clarko really survive if we finish bottom four this year and the next?

I'm confused. Did we only turn up for one quarter?

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

No and that’s a big part of the issue.

So we're about on par where we should be, in reality, but we've found a few players.

 

[borgo]

I can't remember a time in my 40 years watching the Hawks where we are so poor and have such scarce talent coming through. Our midfield is so shallow and we are bereft of any young talent in the forward half. Thankfully North will prevent us from winning the spoon.
When's the draft?