Autopsy Round 8, 2021: Hawks stretched by Eagles

[Simon Crawshay]

Excruciating, but probably not wholly unexpected.

Our ability to execute is rock bottom.

How much is confidence, and trust in teammates to be where you want, and how much is individual ability? Probably hard to say, but I tend to lean towards the former...18 guys on a field means individual duels are of less significance, and the ability of the 18 man organism is of much greater importance.

But our 18 man organism is horrible to watch ATM.

Its a bit like the whole being less than the sum of the parts at the moment I am afraid!

 

[Judd2Sewell]

Its a bit like the whole being less than the sum of the parts at the moment I am afraid!

Exactly. We are playing much worse than we should be.

 

[Billyc]

Its a bit like the whole being less than the sum of the parts at the moment I am afraid!

The parts are pretty bad

 

[Rev08]

We’re certainly learning a lot about the state of our list. From today’s game, I would be very surprised if any of the following are around for our next premiership tilt:

Morrison, Shiels, Phillips, Howe, Breust, Hartley, Cousins, McEvoy, Hartigan, Moore and Hanrahan.

Question marks over whether Lewis and Jeka will be AFL standard.

And then you have to wonder how well Mitchell, Frost and Wingard will be going in 3-4 years.

It means, at a minimum, we have to find half a team to be competing again. Of course Day and Sicily are two that will fit in and, hopefully, DGB and Brockman. Still and long, long road ahead of us.

 

[Mercy Seat]

Our bottom 6 sucks at the moment. We will always be a bottom 4 team if the likes of Ollie, Howe, TOB and Morrison continue to get regular games.

Having said this still believe that we have a lot to work with and add in another group of good picks in this years draft things can change quickly. Go Hawks!

We have no depth. You just replace those bottom 6 players with 6 worse players that we all lose patience with after a couple of weeks. Our deficiencies are at the top end. We are probably fielding one of the worst top 6 of any teams and it shows. Get that elite talent in and the bottom 6 looks after itself. Unfortunately that might take a few years.

 

[savagelunchbox]

That turnover kick across goals from Shiels was as frustrating as it gets for fans.

What makes it even worse is the kick was to Phillips, the 2nd worst kick in the side behind Hartigan. Why would you give it to such a poor user on the last line of defense?

Screams of a confidence issue where Shiels is thinking he doesn't want the ball and wants to make it someone else's problem. If Shiels, who is a good field kick, is lacking confidence to kick the ball, then there is worrying problems about his trust in the gameplan and his trust in his teammates.

 

[Nick the Pig]

Impey probably our best on I thought. Stringing together a very good season. Scrim also in our best again and looked good in the midfield. Hardwick puts in the effort week in week out.

Worpel the stand out mid. His best game of the season. Loved his attitude.The stats watchers in the media will probably look at Mitchell but I thought he was average. Shiels needs to be managed next week. Looks defeated this season. Hopefully JOM fit to come back.

CJ will hopefully learn alot from today's game and the extra attention he received.

In summary we were simply a shambles.

 

[KAMSTAR HFC]

Just my opinion, but we have far too many average or below average ball users running through the midfield. This can be compounded by the opposition's defensive pressure and our lack of options for the ball carrier. It's hard to get a read on that part of the game without being there and only watching what is happening up the ground. That is why we have line coaches. However:

Below average:
Howe
Cousins
Phillips

Average:
Mitchel
Worpel
Morrison
Shiels

Needs to be addressed at the draft and trading as a priority

 

[Hawk_francais]

Last year was a completely different side to be honest. Smith, Henderson, Scully, Gunston, Sicily, Day would all makes us a much better side right now.

Eagles can cover there outs because they still have class on every line, that we don't.

They're gunning for Top 4, we're trying to get out of the bottom 4.

Don't forget Patton. With all that talent back in the side we would be headed for a great finish like last year, when they were all in the team.

 

[Lickmesocks]

Its not just that we are bad at disguising what we are going to do though, its the time we take to make the decision to do the thing that we subsequently badly disguise. A double edged sword of poor play.

Watching footy this year it is more and more obvious that if you want to score you need to transition from the back half quickly to not let teams get their defensive structures in place.

We won the possession count by 19 today yet lost the inside 50 count 35 to 63 which tells me our gameplan is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing (to paraphrase the immortal bard)

gee whiz don’t question the game plan or style whatever you do. It’s a work in progress.

 

[Maybloomer]

i disagree with people saying we haven't hit the bottom yet

last year post-relocation was infinitely worse than this year. infinitely. i don't care if we don't win a game for the rest of the year, that was by far the least I've ever enjoyed watching and supporting the club and probably ever will

I was pissed off last week. Now it's just a feeling of apathy and acceptance that we are truly a bottom 2 side.

Apathy and acceptance are good for the blood pressure. Easily the most relaxed I’ve been watching Hawthorn, even including the Schwab years. I expect to lose to North, Noble (and every AFL side) knows exactly how to beat Hawthorn.

 

[Glacier]

gee whiz don’t question the game plan or style whatever you do. It’s a work in progress.

I'd question if I knew what it was

 

[westhawk]

The good part is that we are going to get a great draft pick.
The bad part is that with our game plan, we are never in the contest. We are never going to kick a score good enough to contend with 16 other teams. I can handle losing if we are trying to play attacking running footy,but we are so stagnate and defensive. If we are going to be this bad, then at least play young guys instead of Howe, Shiels, Hartigan, Hartley. We cant play any worse and then the rebuild will be happening. At the moment I don’t think Clarkson is dinkum about our rebuild.

 

[SA HAWK]

Apathy and acceptance are good for the blood pressure. Easily the most relaxed I’ve been watching Hawthorn, even including the Schwab years. I expect to lose to North, Noble (and every AFL side) knows exactly how to beat Hawthorn.

I had to check my pulse several times today to check that i was still alive.

Usually i am yelling or cheering for something today just nothing.

 

[Roddy]

Apathy and acceptance are good for the blood pressure. Easily the most relaxed I’ve been watching Hawthorn, even including the Schwab years. I expect to lose to North, Noble (and every AFL side) knows exactly how to beat Hawthorn.

Yep, just show up. We make it very easy to beat us right now.

I’m more philosophical than apathetic. This is the cycle of footy. A huge period of glorious success often leads to a major drop off, and you have to go through the down times to get back to the good times. This is where we’re at right now.

 

[Jaeger007]

I was concerned last season with the form of Shielsy

Last off season was talk about Smiss, Gunner & Punky.

The wheels come off quickly I just think time is fast approaching for Liam. Been a great servant but now looks slow, banged up & can’t hit a target to save himself.

 

[A Diakos]

"the cycle of football"

when we traded out lewis hodge Mitchell for a bag of chips we should have traded out 3 of smith Stratton bruest Gunston sheiks in 2017/2018 when they had currency

bottom out 2018 2019 2020 and rebuild through the draft

do not trade in chad and omeara for that price

thats the cycle......not wasting 3 Years

 

[Glacier]

Yep, just show up. We make it very easy to beat us right now.

I’m more philosophical than apathetic. This is the cycle of footy. A huge period of glorious success often leads to a major drop off, and you have to go through the down times to get back to the good times. This is where we’re at right now.

Agree but then the cats have been up for 15 years so not always the case
I just think we have made some really crap decisions

 

[Lickmesocks]

The 3rd qtr against essendon and Adelaide we played with freedom.

we had no option as in both games we were slaughtered in the second qtr so had to score quickly to get back in the game.

When I watch us chip backwards, sideways and go nowhere for 45 minutes of football to start a match blows me away.

Watching Clarko screaming and yelling in the box makes things worse for me . Clearly we are being instructed to play slow safe football around the boundary to avoid being blown out so you can’t scream and yell when the players take forever to move the ball to the wing and then have to try and pin point a laser pass between 15 players at HF.

our ball movement is horrendous to watch.

 

[Maybloomer]

Cats have a gameplan that has stood the test of time and encourages new recruits to be attacking. Hawthorn has one that stifles attack and creativity. Hawks players shine at Box Hill (less structure, less role playing) and suffer in the ones for the opposite reason.

 

[TylerDurden]

Cats have a gameplan that has stood the test of time and encourages new recruits to be attacking. Hawthorn has one that stifles attack and creativity. Hawks players shine at Box Hill (less structure, less role playing) and suffer in the ones for the opposite reason.

No doubt we are playing stifled. As much as the talk from the club is that we want to be "bold" with the footy, we are not. We take a mark at half back, and we stop. Time after time. Then we bomb it down the line, or just turn it over. Rinse repeat.

I'd rather stab my eye with a fork than watch this s**t at present.

 

[MasterSamurai]

Gotta say, after last week's no show, I thought we would have been ready to play some of our best footy for the year . I was wrong. We scored efficiently only because the Eagles backline is full ' gap fillers ' for the time being. We were monstered all over the ground and other than Worpel and Impey the rest were pushing s**t uphill!!

 

[Bardo State]

Adam Simpson before the game mentioned that we handball and play on as much as the Dogs and his main aim was to stop our running transition game.

We genuinely TRY to play quick and risky, NOT safe. We emphasise diagonal ball movement across the centre square and Mitchell at Box Hill plays the same system and challenges his players to kick 20 goals a game. I like the blueprint and it will take a while for players to do it second nature and to get better skilled players in to pull it off.

 

[Sizzlesilk]

Thread title should say Hawks beaten by WAFL side they had that many out.
Last year was not an anomaly and just us not coping with Hub life.

We are actually a really poor side.

What? Kennedy, Darling, Gaff, Sheed, Nic Nat, Kelly, Sheppard.. plus Redden.
WAFL side my arse.

We have very few A/B+ Players on our list...Gunston, Bruest, Wingard, Day, Titch, Sicily, JOM. Plus Burgs. 5 of those 8 are out.

 

[Brishawk]

The 3rd qtr against essendon and Adelaide we played with freedom.

we had no option as in both games we were slaughtered in the second qtr so had to score quickly to get back in the game.

When I watch us chip backwards, sideways and go nowhere for 45 minutes of football to start a match blows me away.

Watching Clarko screaming and yelling in the box makes things worse for me . Clearly we are being instructed to play slow safe football around the boundary to avoid being blown out so you can’t scream and yell when the players take forever to move the ball to the wing and then have to try and pin point a laser pass between 15 players at HF.

our ball movement is horrendous to watch.

So the players are doing what they are asked to do and Clarko is screaming about it in the coaches box? Yeah, nah, sounds like bullshit. Players stop taking risks when the players upfield are static and not giving them something to kick to. Have you seen our forward line? A handful of games between them and they regularly get caught out of position.

We got the ball out of defence cleanly time and time again and when we did that the forwards were playing behind or late to the party. We are clearly trying to open up the ground by switching and then go in board to a runner. We get runners going by regularly but often they have an opponent or the timing is off and it is too soon or too late. Why would we have runners going past at all if the desire is to chip our way forward?