Autopsy Round 1, 2024: Hawks fail against Bombers

[cryptor]

Couldn’t kick straight in front of goal. Let them walk it out of the middle. Backline reacting to their opponents rather than the ball.

Still could’ve won with a little luck with goal kicking.

Very disappointing but definitely a lot to look forward to if we can be that bad across the park and still get close.

Worpel, Ginnivan, Impey, Massimo and Moore the stand outs for me.

 

[HairyO]

Not going to lie I experienced serious pain in my buttock region watching McKay today. Anyone saying he was a spud eat your hat, he absolutely killed us for most of the match

He was taking marks on Ginnivan. Our entries to F50 were bad and our kicking for goal was atrocious.

Lets wait and see how McKay goes against an average team.

 

[Leather Poisoning]

All the new recruits did well - that's a massive positive.
Weddle just hit a new level of confidence in that last quarter.
Moore did so much good work. Great finishing, great marks. Real leadership game from him.
Lewis took way too long to get into the game.
Was really pleased with Massa - awesome pick up! He looks really really good!


What in the hell was going on with the coaching? We had no answers in the midfield. We let Merrett and McGrath run around doing what they wanted all day. Chol off was not the right move. Maginess as sub is weird and incorrect. Let's never do that again.
Goal kicking was a disaster, and conceding a goal immediately after every one we kicked was not fun to watch.

 

[Buzz Hawk]

Lost it in the midfield specifically the centre clearances. That was horrendous. Nash and newk were average.
If Finn is going to play then he needs to play the full game (or at least start on the ground) and lock somebody down.
Essendon's four best players were in the midfield.
Forward line showed some good signs.
Defense average, Sicily, scrimmers and hardwicke very poor.
Massimo was excellent on debut.

 

[rdhopkins2]

How do you reflect on that?
Sicily with a shocker (sorry skip).
Midfield couldn’t win a clearance and were dominated.
17 behinds. Wasteful.
Some good plays throughout the game and the final score compliments Essendon probably a bit too much.

A learning curve. An educational experience.

Bring on next week already!

 

[theiaofseed]

Dominated the majority of the game despite key players having shocking games, kick straight and we win that game.

Massimo, Ginnivan, Macdonald, Worpel, Moore and Weddle all showed where the clubs headed.

 

[TylerDurden]

Also Merrett has 31. No opponent. Serious?

 

[onthemoney]

Frustrating to watch, but also some signs of positivity.

Spoil of riches up front and we didn't struggle to create chances. Should be no shortage of tape from this game on how to improve... e.g don't lead in front of each other and don't all go up or all stay down.

I reckon Lewis looks better for the new structure the further he is up the ground.

Chol looks lost when he's outside the forward 50, so keep him there as much as possible please.

Massimo fantastic, saved our arses on multiple occasions.

Someone smarter than me needs to tell me how it makes sense to make Finn the sub, particularly in these conditions.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

A week of set shot practice please Sam.

Need more than a week. They need a month minimum, also, they need to train somewhere that doesn't have a gale blowing through. Noone understands how that impacts ball drop

 

[lethalselbow]

At least we weren't dumb enough to have Maginess as the sub...

Oh wait...

 

[RoughysMullet]

Bad goal kicking hurt us but the game was lost around the clearances- gave up so many soft goals straight out of the middle... some loose defending too particularly early

I’d like to see us target the best clearance mid in the draft - assuming we’ll have another early pick…

They targeted Sicily early and he got sucked in and never recovered.. Lewis smashed by McKay - geez he would’ve been a handy recruit.. on the positives we were on top for a lot of the game but just couldn’t make it count- Weddle, Moore, Worpel, Massimo, Ginni (1st half) impressive

 

[Baz_hawk]

Some really good signs today. Need a bit of practice in front of the sticks and some defensive work for the midfielders but I like what I see.

Ginni was excellent early, might have been like an excited toddler and ran out of energy midgame but he was our best in the first half. D'Ambrosio was great, looked at home and attacks the ball hard.

Plenty to improve on, but we'll learn a lot from this.

 

[WWSD]

Maginness could’ve tagged Merrett. Some strange coaching decisions by Sam Mitchell.

 

[Bumpswithagrin]

Disappointing but it is only round one.

Can only improve from here (I hope!).

 

[HairyO]

Also Merrett has 31. No opponent. Serious?

With Finn on the bench for more than 3 quarters of the game.

 

[VandoHawk]

I walk away from this game feeling frustrated but cautiously optimistic. So many things went wrong for us: our midfield got demolished convincingly, they got the general rub of the green, we kicked 17 behinds (to their 5) and arguably our three most important players in Sicily, Newcombe & Lewis didn’t fire a shot.

Despite this, we still managed to look potent going forward and if our radar had been slightly better early the result may have been different. There were also some clear teething pains, which suggests things should look better the more this group players together.

I thought we got good value out of our recruits. Ginny looked great until a sore hammy in Q3. Chol took important marks, and I was disappointed he was subbed off. D’Ambrosio accumulated, was tough, and used it well. Gunners will be handy. Watson was quiet but still generated a few scoring shots.

When our midfield does get on top, we’ll be dangerous. But they were comprehensively beaten by a young Essendon unit today, both at winning the ball and defending in transition. Not sure what the answer is.

 

[The Jet From Poowong]

Mass, Ginni, Moore outstanding.

Sicily, Newcombe, Lewis been listening to their own hype. Dreadful.

Weddle was also reasonable

Nash and Duke just kept fumbling and getting in each other’s way

Lewis needs to lead this side


But it appeared we didn’t want body contact today. Just wanted nice clear ball without scrapping and putting the body behind the ball. And then we butchered it far too often and took the wrong choice

 

[SSSSSS]

If Moore isn't our next captain I'll eat my hat.

Seriously I'd make him captain now.

The effort today in the heat after glandular fever is heroic. Sicily couldn't be arsed the last five minutes.

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Everyone keeps saying McKay smashed us. No. Our midfield smashed us.
I could walk into any game vs our midfield and put up a fight as a defender.
Slow and high balls do not work, and never have.

 

[RobHawk]

People should cool down a bit. Sure the better team won but anyone watching could tell the team with the much better future didn't.
This time next year we beat those pretenders by at least 4 goals

 

[smish]

Kick down the line to an outnumber

High ball into the forward 50 and intercept mark

Rinse and repeat

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

That's a disappointing start to the season. Two sides that looked bottom 6 to me.

That pretty much sums it up. We really needed a win today to give us optimism for the season. We weren't able to pull it off. I'm optimistic about the future, but it may take longer than I hope.

 

[cryptor]

Did Chol get subbed because of an injury? If not, what the eff?

Was cramping in the middle of the ground during the 3rd quarter. Gave his kick at goal off to Amon because of it too.

Don’t know if he’s injured or we were preventing it turning into a hamstring injury.

 

[Bedi]

All the new recruits did well - that's a massive positive.
Weddle just hit a new level of confidence in that last quarter.
Moore did so much good work. Great finishing, great marks. Real leadership game from him.
Lewis took way too long to get into the game.
Was really pleased with Massa - awesome pick up! He looks really really good!


What in the hell was going on with the coaching? We had no answers in the midfield. We let Merrett and McGrath run around doing what they wanted all day. Chol off was not the right move. Maginess as sub is weird and incorrect. Let's never do that again.
Goal kicking was a disaster, and conceding a goal immediately after every one we kicked was not fun to watch.

he came back superbly after being caught holding the ball

 

[CaptainWorpedo]

We lost the game, bad kicking and our midfield clearances like many have said above!

There is something’s to like though. Gunston and Bruest will find their goal kicking touch again.

Ginnivan had a great game, an he can build on a good start.

D’Ambrosio looks like a find for us, earned his stripes today.

The Wizz got his hands on the ball and kicked 3 behinds, he will settle!

We were in the game for most of it right up to the last quarter.

Sam Mitchell will make a few tweaks and the boys will ralley again for the Demons game next week.